Unfortunately I’m going to cancel the planned ride out tomorrow due to a YELLOW weather warning for snow and ice across the Dales.
Ride outs are meant to be enjoyed, not endured – and most importantly – SAFETY FIRST. There’s always another day (even if it is taking forever to arrive).
The upside, of course: you get a lie-in, brownie points for going food shopping with the other half, and you won’t have to spend half your weekend scrubbing nasty corrosive road salt off your pride and joy.
It’s February already and time to gear up for our monthly meeting at Bilton Cricket Club. The meeting will start at 7.30pm so get there earlier for a quick chat before business commences. Some of the membership have requested a talk on the Masters Programme. This will take place during this meeting and if there is time after all your questions we can show part 2 of a DVD about different styles of riding. For first timers to a HAB meeting the address is Bilton Lane, Harrogate HG1 3DQ.
This is what the IAM say about the Masters Course. “The IAM RoadSmart Masters standard offers the ultimate challenge for civilian drivers and riders. Open to all current IAM RoadSmart members, our Masters programme provides true one-to-one mentoring support and guidance that will help you to attain the highest standard of civilian driving or riding ability in the country. There are no exemption qualifications to our Masters standard. On completion of the Masters programme, your name will be entered into the Masters Register.”
We have been getting very good attendances at our group meetings for the last few months and it would be great if this continues. It is not just an opportunity to get to hear interesting subjects from our guest speakers and fellow members but also a forum to meet new friends and fellow riders. Please keep up the good work!
On another note, there has been a spate of “spam” email messages going around the membership supposedly from a known contact. You may have seen these and probably spotted a fake. This is just scammers phishing email accounts and pretending to be someone else and attempting to extort money. This is not our HAB account that has been hacked. The way to deal with it is for the person who has been impersonated to change their password on their email account. Anyone who receives them just needs to not action and delete. Spam emails appearing to come from a trusted contact are likely a result of email spoofing or phishing (forged sender address) or a compromised account. Scammers use these to steal credentials or spread malware. Do not click links, reply, or open attachments; instead, verify by contacting the known contact via a different method (phone, text).
You can get information to help avoid the scammers from:
Just a quick note about the upcoming social ride on Wednesday 4th February. We’ll be covering approximately 124 miles, starting from Booths Car Park in Ilkley. Our route will take us through East Morton and Gargrave, with a stop for a brew at Elaine’s Tea Rooms in Feizor. After that, we’ll head through Ingleton towards Garsdale Head, stopping for lunch at the Coppice Café in Aysgarth. The final stretch of the ride will take us by Ellingstring heading south through Healey and Pateley Bridge, and wrapping up in Ripley around 4pm. Looking forward to seeing you all there for a great day out!
Meet at Booths Supermarket car park in Ilkley at 9.15am for a 9.30am start and return to Ripley at 4pm approx.Ride details, Leader and TEC contact numbers are included in the map above.GPX file available below. If you intend to upload using Garmin Drive-select .gpx 1.1 (route, track, POI).
PLEASE NOTE: If you intend to join this social ride out and it will be your first HAB ride out, please e-mail beforehand.ds55dcs@outlook.com
IMPORTANT: This route covers some of the higher peaks in the Dales so it may have to be revised at short notice, and if the weather is particularly unkind it may have to be cancelled. Should this be the case any changes or cancellation will be entered on the HAB Facebook page before 8am on the morning of the ride so be sure to check before you leave home.
HAB 4-Day (3 nights) Trip Monday May 11th – Thursday May 14th 2026 – Scottish South West Coastal 300 (SWC300)
For 2026 we’re extending our regular May ‘mini-break’ from three to four days to allow the group to do the SWC300 over the two middle days.
Two hotels have been booked – Somerton House, Lockerbie (Mon and Weds nights) and the Waterfront Hotel, Portpatrick (Tues night).
This promises to be a wonderful few days away with great riding on some of the most scenic roads in the country . . . Reserve your spot now to avoid disappointment!
Please contact John Blanchfield (johnblanchfield@talktalk.net) to register your interest and for details of hotel rooms still available.
It’s a Ride-Out this Sunday. Temperature’s are up (a bit) and it might rain (a little) but who cares, it’s been a month since we’ve had a reasonable day to go riding.
Meeting at the Boar’s Head in Ripley at 9.15am for a quick hello and a pre-ride briefing before setting off at 9.30am. The morning’s route includes Scotton, Ferensby, Great Ouseburn, Easingwold, Appleforth and Helmsley to our mid-morning stop at Beadlam Grange Farmshop and Bistro. It’s worth bringing a small cool bag for brilliant sausages to take home. The bacon butties are the best and all washed down by a hot cuppa. We will then be set up for the next leg taking us to Royal Albert Drive in Scarborough with free motorcycle parking, a choice of cafe’s and a splendid sea view.
After another snack or fish and chips we will set off south on the A64 to Staxton, forking off onto the B1249 for a cross country route getting us back in good time to finish at Morrison’s in Boroughbridge where fuel and toilets are available if needs be.
Outward 67 miles, return 59 miles. Please arrive with plenty of fuel in the morning if you can but we can make a fuel stop on request. Please inform the ride leader at the break stops. The ride leader is, your’s truly, Barry Ring 07847786608 and a willing TEC on the day.
The route is simple and on familar roads but it’s worth doing a reece on Saturday. Same meeting point, time and weather, if you prefer a ride tomorrow.
Hope you can make it. I think the weather is going to be okay but watch out for any last minute weather notices going out.
Hopefully you have had a lovely Christmas holiday and a Happy New Year to you all as well.
I’m sure you’ve noticed its’s very cold and well below our minimum temperature guide for club rides. In the next few days we could join many parts of the country and get some snow, but in the meantime, it’s too cold for riding anyway. Consequently we won’t be running a ride next week. The usual “1st Wednesday of the Month Ride-Out” might become the last Wednesday if we are very lucky. We can watch and wait.
We have a club meeting on Monday 12th of January at Bilton Cricket Club with a visit from our IAM Area Delivery Service Manager Steve Ellis along with an IAM Examiner and a National Observer Assessor. This will be an ideal opportunity for Associates to ask what is expected in tests and National Observer’s to get an idea of what the Assessors are looking for. It’s also a great chance for all members to find out about changes at the IAM, initiatives there and the shape of it’s future. Please do your best to attend the meeting and have your questions ready. You can read the meeting details by viewing this link: https://harrogateadvancedbikes.co.uk/hab-12th-january-meeting/
There’s a planned Ride-Out on Sunday 18th January, weather permitting of course.You can view all the club calendars on the website:
You may be thinking about leading a Ride-Out this year so please have a look at the Ride Calendar’s. The Wednesday slots are filling up quickly but there are plenty of monthly Sunday one’s available. If you are a full HAB and IAM member you can lead a Ride-Out or indeed be a Tail End Charlie. For first timers plenty of advice is available or of course if you need a refresher please contact the writer. To get you started the Ride-Out guidelines are on the HAB and IAM websites.
I know that this is a busy time of year but I would like all members and associates to get it in their 2026 diaries to attend the club meeting on Monday the 12th January at the usual venue, Bilton Cricket Club, start time 7.15pm for 7.30pm. Our Area Service Delivery Manager, Steve Ellis, is coming to talk with us and is also bringing an Examiner and a National Observer Assessor.
Please have your questions prepared and let me know of any topics that you would like to hear about if you are too shy to ask yourselves. I have some ideas myself but don’t want to be the only one asking questions or to have a thundering silence!
This will be an ideal opportunity for Associates to ask what is expected in tests and National Observer’s to get an idea of what the Assessors are looking for. It’s also a great chance for all members to find out about changes at the IAM, initiatives there and the shape of it’s future.
Please make every effort to come along.
It only remains for me to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful, safe and successful 2026.
As mentioned in the Monday meeting, the December Sunday Ride-Out was due to be on the 21st and was then brought forward to this Sunday the 14th. The weather forecast for tomorrow did improve but has now gone the other way-high winds for our planned lunch destination and rain everywhere with localised flooding.There’s no point any of us being a martyr and if we get a break in the poor weather before Christmas we can organise a ride-out at short notice or indeed look forward to the New Year.
The 2026 Ride-Out and Meeting Calendar’s will go live this weekend. Please have a look on the HAB website. Seasoned ride leaders may wish to get their choices in before the calendars start to fill up, as we already have a few pencilled in. You can contact me on 07847786608 by text/whatsapp. If you are a full HAB and IAM member and new to Ride Leading or Tail End Charlie duties, and are keen to get involved please get in touch for advice and guidance.
Sharp-eyed members will have realised the error on the last HAB post and for all others the correct email for the HAB secretary is: secretary@harrogateadvancedbikes.co.uk
Following the post about the Christmas Quiz at our club night on the 8th December we need to get a good idea of numbers to get the food right. We have had a few replies and as Bilton Cricket Club will be organising the catering on a per head basis we will need to give them adequate notice to arrange it. We don’t wish to under- or over-cater so please let us know if you are coming. If you are intending to come, please let us know by Wednesday 3rd December at the latest and please include if you are bringing a guestalong.
Hopefully plenty of the membership will want to take part in the quiz but more than anything a chance to meet together for a fun social occasion.
Please get in touch with secretary@harrogateadvancedbikes.co.uk
