I recently joined SAM, but hadn’t joined in any of the social rides because to be honest, I was worried I may not be able to keep up. You see it was only a year ago when I rode a motorbike for the first time and I didn’t pass my test until November. In January I took delivery of my first big bike, a Suzuki 650 Bandit, and for the next 5 months
it spent a lot of its time in the garage due to weather and work taking me away from home.

When I saw a social ride for new associates I thought this would be the ideal opportunity to see what it was like. We met at Ower Services and I thought I was going to be early, but on arrival there were already 6 bikes there so the first problem was finding a parking space. Everyone was very friendly and we all introduced ourselves. After an explanation of how the system worked about a dozen of us headed off.

I needn’t have worried about knowing where to stop when its your turn to show the way. The leader points and you find a safe spot. Then watch for the back marker and you know when to move off again. It was very easy and throughout the entire ride I think I only had to mark the way 3 or 4 times.

The pace of our ride was ideal so it was easy to keep up. Sometimes we got separated at junctions but the leader would slow down so we could rejoin the group. At one junction in the New Forest, one lorry driver stopped to let all of us out which was very nice of him.

Half way thru the ride we stopped at a really nice pub where it was time to chat and get a drink. Then we were off again, winding along lovely roads in the New Forest. If you are not use to following people at first its a bit strange, but with so many bikes you can’t really lose the pack although the odd motorist does get in between sometimes.

It had been a lovely day out with the sun shining and it was quite warm.

Unfortunately as we came out of Salisbury, there was thunder and lightning and then this very wet stuff starting coming out of the sky. Of course I was wearing my very summer gear which leaked liked a sieve. After being additionally soaked by a wave of water from an oncoming lorry, by the time I got back to Ower I was extremely wet.

Would I recommend going on one of the social rides? Absolutely, it was a really enjoyable day and a good chance to meet other SAM members and practise the skills I has been shown by my observer. I now know which types of social rides suit my skill level and next time I’ll be taking my waterproof suit with me, although it will probably never rain like that again on a social ride for a long time.