TETers?

[Crosshair]

Last minute effort at the Middle England Trail today. Did around 50 miles but it was great! Heaths, climbs, descents, whoops, fords, the works!

[Crosshair]

[Crosshair]

Finished the Middle England Trail yesterday. It was quite a good section with lots of trails! Would be fair sketchy in the wet but was simple enough in the dry.

So far then, I've done the 560 mile Great Southern Trail and the 210 mile MET and around 190 miles of the 850 mile Great Western Trail!
I think my next trip will be down to Sherborne to take the GWT north to Keynsham.
After that, I reckon I can smash a few hours of the Great Cymry Trail from home but then I'll probably need to wait until next year when I have the time to stay overnight if needed.
At least by the time I get to mid Wales and the Peaks, I might have learned how to ride

Voge has really run-in nicely now. It's a joy to ride on and off road. The Michelin Trackers seem to be getting even louder though

[weeksy]

Nice job... needs more pics

[Crosshair]

Was racing the clock yesterday sadly

[matt]

Went up the peak district on Monday for a ride to find some interesting back roads and easy green lanes.
Stopped near Flash bar stores after a couple of hours for a drink and decided to have a look at the Tet route on my phone,and realised I was right on the line -so cautiously decided to follow it.
I was riding alone on the F800Gs which is a pretty big ,heavy bike ,with fucked tyres,and no tools ,spares etc so was a bit unsure if it was the right thing to be doing after some of the stuff I've read on the TET FB group!
I followed the line from Flash to Calver and thought it was brilliant. I went places I would never have found on my own,
a mix of small roads ,gravelly lanes ,and some tricky rocky steep /muddy bits through villages,great views etc.
A lot of it is easy but I got out of my comfort zone a few times on the rocks and also came very very close to dropping her in one of those huge deep puddles the landrovers had dug out but just managed to hold it up! If I' had dropped it I'd have been fucked I think, I'd have never got it out on my own and I hadn't seen a soul for ages!
Anyway I was getting low on fuel so when I came into Calver I stopped at the station ,filled up and got some food.
My phone battery was getting low and I was a sweaty mess so decided to head for home and pick out any interesting looking lanes on the way rather than push my luck any more.
Had a brilliant day and covered over 200 miles. I scared myself a few times and actually feel lucky to have got myself and bike home unscathed !
Can't wait to do some more but next time I'll be better prepared,, and I am seriously considering picking up a smaller bike !

[Supermofo]

Only just found this thread via the Chinese bikes one. Cracking thread @Crosshair

[Gregor]

Can't wait to do some more but next time I'll be better prepared,, and I am seriously considering picking up a smaller bike !

Do it.

After years greenlaning heavy old things like the DRZ and Tenere, I’m kicking myself for not getting something smaller and 2T sooner.

I’ve been having an absolute hoot riding my wee KDX 250 ……….it almost feels like cheating

[matt]

Been to have a look at a Voge this morning. Looked really good ,need to make some room in the garage, and convince the Mrs that I really do need another bike.
Still not 100% sure about buying Chinese though ! I'll see how my thoughts go through the winter I think.

[Crosshair]

The Voge really is ace. I don't have millions of bikes under my belt but have had a VStrom, XT660Z, 1150gs and a Himalayan from the 'ADV/mini ADV' segment and this is far and away the most fun I've ever had on any of them.

It comes up lovely with a quick wash and a film of GT85. Might get round to painting the exhaust, might not bother



I'll treat it to a service at about 3500 miles I think. I bought an air filter, oil filter, gasket, fuel filter, two levers (the left came with a new ABS switch), a clutch and throttle cable (levers and cables for the spares box obvs) and it cost me £124 delivered in 48 hours

I managed a bit of redemption this week. Did a section of fresh TET and then went back to the first climb out of Keynsham to show it who is boss

[Crosshair]

Went up the peak district on Monday for a ride to find some interesting back roads and easy green lanes.
Stopped near Flash bar stores after a couple of hours for a drink and decided to have a look at the Tet route on my phone,and realised I was right on the line -so cautiously decided to follow it.
I was riding alone on the F800Gs which is a pretty big ,heavy bike ,with fucked tyres,and no tools ,spares etc so was a bit unsure if it was the right thing to be doing after some of the stuff I've read on the TET FB group!
I followed the line from Flash to Calver and thought it was brilliant. I went places I would never have found on my own,
a mix of small roads ,gravelly lanes ,and some tricky rocky steep /muddy bits through villages,great views etc.
A lot of it is easy but I got out of my comfort zone a few times on the rocks and also came very very close to dropping her in one of those huge deep puddles the landrovers had dug out but just managed to hold it up! If I' had dropped it I'd have been fucked I think, I'd have never got it out on my own and I hadn't seen a soul for ages!
Anyway I was getting low on fuel so when I came into Calver I stopped at the station ,filled up and got some food.
My phone battery was getting low and I was a sweaty mess so decided to head for home and pick out any interesting looking lanes on the way rather than push my luck any more.
Had a brilliant day and covered over 200 miles. I scared myself a few times and actually feel lucky to have got myself and bike home unscathed !
Can't wait to do some more but next time I'll be better prepared,, and I am seriously considering picking up a smaller bike !

That’s awesome Matt
I can’t wait to get to Wales and the Peaks. Hopefully once life allows me the time, my riding will be good enough

Although I may get back to Tintern this weekend to start the GCT

[Tricky]

Not sure how but I've completely missed this thread until now- hats off to you both @Crosshair and @matt too- loving it for both the TET adventures and the Voge feedback-, will be following with interest from now

[Couchy]

Yup I’d missed the voge purchase, gonna have a look myself as I do like riding the peaks and shouldn’t have sold my 250 rally. When you make it this way drop me a note

[Crosshair]

Headed to Wales on Saturday. It felt like a significant step up in technicality. Watching the footage back, I was annoyed with how I made hard work of stuff that would have been easier a few mph faster. But solo, with a long ride home due and a still relatively heavy bike, I find going full-send on blind trails pretty tricky. That said, I was pleased with how well I rode some things- I've definitely gotten better at keeping the bars light. Even caught a tiny but of air off of a water channel but the GoPro totally flattens it out
The next coupe of days of riding in Wales looks amazing (from other Youtube vids) but it's getting a bit tight to day-trip it now. I reckon I may start just trail riding locally for the winter and save the rest of Wales for a long weekend in the spring.

[matt]

Good stuff. I wouldn't want to take a big bike up there .

[KungFooBob]

More Crap than News have done a head to head test against the CRF.

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/mem ... main-test/

No idea if it's a bullshit as the first test cos it's behind a paywall.

[porter_jamie]

How do you do GPS? Just the phone? Use a Garmin or anything?

[Dodgy69]

When I dabbled at green laning I really enjoyed the easier stuff, but when you get in the 2ft water filled ruts it was always a matter of hope for the best. Didn't like big rocks either and always went with a mate.

Fell off 3 times in mud one day and the enjoyment disappeared. Its just getting away from all the traffic I liked.

Good stuff.

[Crosshair]

How do you do GPS? Just the phone? Use a Garmin or anything?

I use GURU maps on iPhone with a quadlock and a cycling Garmin (830 or 1040) as back up.

[matt]

I used the free version of osmand on my android phone ,did the trick good enough for me ,need to sort out a charger for next time though.