BikerDown – Wednesday 10th April

Cambridgeshire Fire & Rescue are running their first CAM-exclusive BikerDown course of 2024 on Wednesday 10th April (6 to 9pm). Use the link below to request your place on this enjoyable, informative & potentially life-saving course when volunteer fire officers will take attendees through:

Initial Scene Management  |  First-aid for Motorcyclists
The science of Being Seen

All our Members & Associates are welcome on this FREE course, including those who have attended previously and wish to brush up their skills. Members of our Observer Team – as well as all Ride Leader & Tailers are encouraged to attend in order to keep their first-aid skills up-to-date. Click here to request a place

An evening with Barbara Horley, National Speedway Referee

Over Community Centre | Monday 8th April | 7:30-9:30pm
Please use this link if you plan to attend

Members, Associates & their guests are warmly invited to Over Community Centre on Monday 8th April, where Barbara Horley will make a presentation to CAM on her experience as a National Speedway Referee. An accomplished speaker, Barbara’s presentation is sure to be lively & entertaining. The evening will conclude with a Q&A session
Barbara describes how it all began…

My interest in speedway started when I was very young, accompanying my father & uncle to the track. Having attended Speedway School nearly twenty years ago, I decided to become part of the sport: riding wasn’t for me and so I trained to become a referee. In this role I have to travel all over the country, from Glasgow to Plymouth, taking charge of meetings in all three tiers of racing

I have one other link to speedway: six years ago I began studying for a PhD and am about to submit my thesis on Speedway Racing in England from 1928 to 1965. I have also presented a number of papers on speedway at academic conferences. I can honestly say that speedway has been an important part of my life for a very long time!”

Full details in the Events Calendar

Mid-week ride to Southwold (27th March)

Full members only: don’t delay if you would like to join Paul Norman on Wednesday 27th March for his 3rd mid-week winter ride, which this time heads to the Suffolk coast at Southwold. Paul outlines the day:

This outing is limited to 7 riders in addition to me. We’ll meet up at Fourwentways, and set off at 9:30am. Our route east will take us through the middle of Suffolk, stopping for a coffee break along the way before our arrival in Southwold in time for lunch
The return route will take us through Thetford and down to Walkers Café at Barton Mills, where the ride will conclude at 3.30 – 4.00 pm. The total milage should come in at around 145 miles. I’ll be handling the bookings myself, so please email me directly if you would like a place
Paul’s previous mid-week rides proved very popular… So if you’re interested in joining him, contact Paul now using the link in his route description above!

Sunday ride to Shuttleworth, 17th March

Ian Dunckley & Keith Curtis lead & tail respectively on this ride, which both starts and ends at Caxton Gibbet, into Bedfordshire and the Shuttleworth Runway Café at Old Warden Aerodrome. Ian outlines the route:

Departing promptly at 9:30am from Caxton Gibbett, we head through Eltisley, Abbotsley, Everton, Tempsford, Blunham & Cople before arriving at The Runway Café (see menu here). Total distance covered on the outward leg is approximately 30 miles.
Our return journey takes us through Old Warden, Cardington, Great Barford, Ravensden, Great Staughton, St Neots & Toseland before finishing back at Caxton Gibbet on the service road a few hundred metres from where we set off. At around 47 miles this is the longer leg of our ride

Photo by James Lewis on Unsplash

Departs:       McDonalds Caxton Gibbet     what3words
Ends:             Caxton Services                        what3words
Briefing  9:20am        Ride departs 9:30am        12 participants maximum

Departs Caxton Gibbet, Sunday 17th December @ 9:30am
Use this link to request a place. Ride limited to 12 participants

An evening with Simon Weir

He’s clocked up more miles than a space shuttle, and test-ridden more motorcycles than Henry Cole. Formerly editor of RiDE magazine, and author of numerous guides including Bikers’ Europe, Simon Weir has spent almost 35 years touring Europe and now plans bike trips for other people… but where would he go back to for his own biking holidays?

Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash

Find out at Over Community Centre on March 21st, when Simon shares his tips for alternative, undiscovered destinations in France, Spain, Italy, Austria and further afield in a special presentation to Cambridge Advanced Motorcyclists!

Simon’s previous presentation to CAM was a packed event and the venue has limited space, so to avoid disappointment head to the Events Calendar for full details on the evening and a link to request a place

Sunday ride to Little Braxted (departs BP Whittlesford)

Our next Group-organised ride, on Sunday 3rd March, will be led by Phil Duffy & tail-ended by Steve Rowdon. Setting out from a novel departure point, Phil will also be trying a new breakfast destination at The Braxted Bakery. The bakery is in a tiny Essex village which not many will be familiar with; Little Braxted boasted just 170 residents in the 2011 census.

Phil describes the outing: We will set out from BP Whittlesford, heading south to Saffron Walden and then south-east following mostly minor roads towards Braintree. Having skirted the town we will head south again, passing near Witham and to our breakfast stop at the Braxted Bakery (which serves breakfasts as well as cakes!). Our return route passes through Kelvedon, Halsted and Finchingfield – along some interesting Essex roads. We bypass Linton and finally head back to BP Whittlesford

Start/End: BP Whittlesford, A505/A1301 roundabout, CB22 3HD    what3words
Breakfast: The Braxted Bakery, Little Braxted, CM8 3ET                 what3words

Limited to 12 riders bikes   |   Use this link to request a place
Briefing 9:20am    |   Ride departs 9:30am    |    Events Calendar for full details

Taster Ride initiative

Don’t wait for our Taster Ride Day in June if you want to know more about Advanced Riding: Cambridge Advanced Motorcyclists are taking part in IAM RoadSmart’s Taster Ride initiative

If you have a full motorcycle licence & would like a free 30-minute ride with one of our Observers (followed by a debrief on your riding) then head here & fill in the form to request an obligation-free Taster Ride. We’ll be in touch if we’re your nearest local Group – but this initiative is nationwide

Take your first steps towards Advanced Riding – request a Taster Ride today!

A proper breakfast at Springwood Grill

Having negotiated a one-time only Sunday opening at the Springwood Grill in Braintree, ride leader Robin Freeman & tail-ender Mark Fox take participants for a CAM-only, proper truckers’ breakfast! Join Robin & Mark on this special Group-organised ride next Sunday (18th February), departing Shell Fourwentways & ending at the BP station in Newmarket

Photo by Waldemar on Unsplash

Robin describes the route: leaving promptly at 9:30am, we head east to the new A1307 roundabout and turn for Ashdon, passing in front of Hideout Leather and on to Finchingfield, Wethersfield and eventually Braintree for breakfast at the Springwood Grill
On the way back we head west along the B1256 to Great Dunmow, then swing north on a route through Thaxted, Great Sampford & Steeple Bumpstead to Haverhill. On the final stretch we pass through Witherfield & Dullingham to Newmarket, where the ride ends after ~75 miles

Limited to 16 participants  |  Events Calendar for full details

Sunday Ride routes restored to website

Sunday Ride routes are back! Urgent action had to be taken last summer when the website ran into its storage limit: numerous .gpx routes were culled – a temporary fix to the immediate problem which put these popular resources (over 2000 downloads so far) out of reach

Following a thorough spring clean 40+ routes have been restored, with a backlog of our more recent rides in the pipeline and coming soon. Visit our revamped Sunday Rides SatNav Routes page for inspiration on your next leisure outing

Fish’n’chip lunch at Wells-next-the-Sea

 

Paul Norman has revealed the details of his second mid-week winter ride: a 143-mile round trip for a fish’n’chip lunch at Well-next-the-Sea. Limited to full members, this outing takes place on Tuesday 27th February

His January ride was fully subscribed and once again Paul is limiting his outing to seven participants, so avoid disappointment by using this link to book directly with Paul now!

Paul outlines his plan… we’ll setting off from Fourwentways Services at 9.30am on a ride which will take us east of Thetford – with a coffee stop along the way – and through Dereham & Fakenham and onto a fish lunch at Wells-next-the-Sea. After lunch we’ll head down to Walker’s Café at Barton Mills, where we can enjoy a hot drink. The formal ride will end here at around 3.30pm and riders heading home solo or in informal groups ride