Seize the day. Bro.6 had previously planned a bike tour of the Pyrenees this week with his mates. Undeterred by ribs and clavicle he got on a plane and went to pick up his Tuono from Malaga and ride it back home to the UK. Now this may or may not be such a good idea, we'll have to see. He wasn't going to be put off and his parting shot was, "I can always pick up a fresh rack of ribs on the way. Hasta Luego". Then yesterday, an opportunity cropped up for me to bring my Panigale back on the same ferry, so I grabbed it quick. I booked a cheap flight back to Malaga, sometimes you can get on them for not much different to the cost of the train to the airport. They're just buses with wings. Just as well I got some new rubber on the Pornigirly last Thursday, which seems a long time ago now. Between tyre fitting and now I've flown to Madrid then onto London. Got in the car and driven down to Devon for a friend's 60th birthday. Driven to Hampshire, done maintenance on the project I have down south and driven back up to London. Then I've driven the wife mad by dropping this trip on her out of the blue. Well, it came out of the blue for me too but when chances come up you have to take them. Like the purchase of the 999R last week. Both were bargains, how could I resist? The best bit of advice I ever gave my kids was 'adapt'. That's what I firmly believe you have to do. The world and life changes around you all the time. I find it stimulating, I enjoy it. The same old, same old, same old routine kills me. It really does. So here I sit unexpectedly on the silver bird. The question is; Does Norwegian airlines in flight wifi work?
The Great Escape. The escape committee had swung into action and Uncle Bazzer (of this forum) and I had done our favourite trick of flying over to Spain for a long weekend and pulling two Ducati’s out of storage. Empty roads, smooth tarmac, cheap food, good wine and sunshine. Only two S’s missing and I’m not talking ‘Supersport’. Recently I haven’t been enjoying riding in the UK. The recent trip ‘Oop North’ had been a debacle. The seriously overcrowded roads are decaying, potholes galore and average speed cameras everywhere. It’s no fun. You’re just riding to survive. Chains oiled, pressures checked, tanks gassed, there we were wafting along towards one of my favourite local roads, the Colmenar Creamer. I was thinking compared to England there is almost no traffic on the Spanish roads. There were however two cars in front of me. I breezed carefully past the first at an opportune moment, he looked like he wanted to overtake the leading car but didn’t have the speed or agility to do it. Unlike a bike. I didn’t want him to pull out as I was going passed him, so I took him when I knew he couldn’t take the leading vehicle. I felt safer having passed him, Bazzer must have come with me. We were in line, doing about 60 mph. I left a safety gap between myself and the leading car, I glimpsed at something really really quickly, maybe it was the mirror, maybe instruments, I don’t know. It was mega quick, no more than a blink. When my eyes returned to forward vision I was met with blazing brake lights for no apparent reason. I seriously thought I was going to have Renault embossed on my forehead. I grabbed everything I could. I even got my foot on the rear Brembo for what it’s worth half way through braking the front. They were magnificent! The front tyre squealed like hell, the forks went into free fall, miraculously I didn’t hit him. The car came off his brakes and fortunately Bazzer didn’t inspect me in a way that my doctor might. I don’t think I’d come that close to getting airborne solo since I did it 30 years ago via a Ford Granada. It was messy. Not many cars but still enough to have a damn good go at wiping you out. Baz said he though that was it, weekend curtailed. Afterwards we surmised that he suddenly thought he’d missed his turning and just jammed on the anchors without thinking. For sure he heard the squeal that came from either end of me and the tyre’s. When I passed him he wouldn’t even look at me, despite me pausing beside him, Bazzer got the same result. He knew he was guilty and had properly screwed up. Fck it gave me a shock, now there’s even more room between me and the car in front. Empty sweeping road ahead, we pressed on and headed for Colmenar and the mountains of Malaga.
Today I bought my wife a bike. Actually it was Thursday but I’ve been busy chauffeuring my visitor ‘Jorg the Laughing German’ and on parental duty babysitting the father in law so I haven’t been able to post. Here’s the deal. Thank God for Man logic. The present Mrs H declared that she would be prepared to join me on a bike tour of Croatia. Now this is not going to happen on a Panigale 1199, no matter if it’s an S or a Triclore. It maybe the most beautiful production bike ever but it’s not for two up touring. So, skyhook suspension here we come. You see the Mrs won’t actually be riding it, she’ll be pillion. But it is her bike. The brief was, armchair, like a Harley. As we know, they don’t go, they don’t stop and they don’t go round corners. F’ that! Enter the Multi. She wants to go slow = enduro mode . Armchair = top box and panniers. Never in my life did I think I’d buy a bike with a top box , nevvveerrr! = it’s her bike. Bonus ball, take it all off, press the mode button = it’s a sports bike . Happy days. You see Man logic is good, Man logic works. It started as a cheap back up bike but there’s no point touring on a old bike that may be a reliability worry. So the stakes rose. Man logic required cruise control = DVT. Adjustable suspension = S model. So that’s what I bought (her). Honest Guv it’s for her. A 2016 with only 2k miles. Might as well be brand new for half the price of brand new. Top box already supplied on Black Friday from the fabulous folks at Ducati Manchester. Once I’d bought that I really had to get a bike to go underneath it. Sounds reasonable doesn’t it? Panniers from our very own ‘Bradders’. Good man. All I need now is a tiny Givi tank bag for my gear and we’re good to go. It probably won’t see the light of day till Easter but I can sit on it and go Brum Brum. Also, it is red and I can once again offer Ducbird a ride out . Pictures when I can. None taken yet. Can’t believe I’ve got a bike with a top box. Well..... my Mrs has.
Great news Sam, I’m sure you’ll grow to love it solo (top box removed) it’s a great bike a sort of “multi purpose” multistrada throw some pictures up soon as, Nige
Really, A few months ago i brought my wife a very nice Panigale. But found out she does not have bike license, having to use it myself
The Tour de France. Suddenly after 4+ months of hard graft running up and down scaffolding and onto my roof with thousands upon thousands of tiles, a 3 week window opened up. Perfect I thought, ‘Let’s pop out on a bike’. Croatia I thought. I had been planning it for much later in the year but I received advice that in May the Alpine passes would still be closed. Many thanks to JoeC and the guy from Bikeshuttle, they don’t run until later in the year apparently. Plan B, The Tour de France and then some. Visit three friends in France and decide to turn left or right when I get to the Mediterranean. Dependant on the weather in Croatia and Spain. Simples. Finally I could get the wife’s Multistrada out of winter hibernation and give it a quick test ride, to Wiltshire. See previous posts. Everything worked but the screen had to go. I’d made my own Sat Nav bracket adapter so that went on. Seat riser kit went on, two panniers with new locks fitted and ....a top box! I never thought I’d see the day. However, it works as it gives the Mrs the illusion of security resting against the box and swallows up the vast amounts of kit that you’re required to take if you’re going two up. You know what I’m saying. Plus two ‘Gilet jaune’s’ in case we fancied a riot. I didn’t get time to fit and test ride the quickshifter which was a shame but we won’t be shifting quickly anyway. The Termignoni didn’t make it either on the same grounds, although the noise pollution would have been good. I deemed it safer to stick with the existing stock possibly leaky brake and clutch pot lids rather than risk the unknown of the billet replacements. I think the stock ones are ok now and I didn’t want to get 20 miles down the road and find I’d made it worse. I also didn’t want to catch the ferry to Spain as ‘Bro 6’ had been on it a fortnight before when it burst into flames. Resulting in many cancellations and delays. Therefore leave late Sunday, sleep on the ferry, save a night in a hotel and start 5-6 a.m. in Cean and have a full days riding. France will square off the rear Pirelli and give me the perfect excuse to fit a Metzeler...or Continental ...or Michelin Pilot 5. The debate goes on. So far the plan has worked. We’re in Sancerre just above the Loire valley checking out their really fine white wine in the Hotel Panoramic. Which strangely enough has a fabulous view. I booked it mid afternoon on booking.com when I finally knew where we’d get to. The early morning was really cold but sunny. That’s one thing I had booked, sunshine. It finally stopped raining on Saturday so I swung my leg over the bike at 7pm Sunday. If only the wind would abate. Ramelade, Lower Normandy. Perfect place to stop for mid morning coffee and warm up in the sun.
Sancerre is my favourite white tipple. Always have a bottle or two of it on the ferry on the way to Spain.
Brill, another 'Tour of contentinental Europe' thread At least your photos are of better quality than Chizel's Keep posting.
Always has been cos I started it on his behalf because for some reason at the time Sam didn't/couldn't. Nothing has changed. Other than you finally being observant.
I like Chizel’s posts and pics, they’re interesting because they’re different to mine. In fact I’m going to check his out right now.
High Plains Drifter. In a little place way up near the Swiss border called Pontarlier, visiting friends. It was a long ride yesterday, perhaps too long. Only stopped for gas and a cup of coffee. I don’t normally drink coffee in England but I can’t resist it in France, it’s so much better. Lots of winding roads high up on a plain, deserted, until we came across waving men, stopped cars and a truck with its trailer on its side blocking the whole road. How does that happen in the middle of nowhere? Cars couldn’t get past and we were told we’d have to detour back. Then Monsieur Helpful said we could probably get through on a bike, so we did. I slid narrowly by the black trailer underbelly with all the wheels in the air, loads of wheels. I don’t often see a truck or trailer on its side, I had to take a pic. Wish I could have taken more but the truck started dragging the trailer up the road, trying to let cars past. It was totalled. I didn’t want to get stuck behind the cars so I took off. Jeez this cattle truck had come off the road, across the ditch demolished a section of hedge, back onto the road, weaved and finally tipped over. 100 yards further down a car was half in half out of the ditch. Possibly the car pulled out of a field, nobody was hurt but it was a happening. 2 Km further down there was a cattle market in full swing. He’d dropped his load and was was heading off empty, probably at speed. Then about 5Km down the road another road block. This time a big totally burned out tractor was being craned out of the hedge. God knows what had happened there but there was nothing but a skeleton left. The whole thing had gone up. Again we narrowly slid by. The coffee stop was interesting. I spotted tables in the sun so we pulled in. The road went straight through a deserted village high up on the plains. We went in and there were what must have been most of the village drinking wine. Then an old woman at the bar ordered a double whisky! It was only 11.30. They were very friendly, we had our coffee in the sun and when I went back in to pay they were all gone except the woman with the whiskey. They must have all evaporated out the back door. Spooky. The present Mrs H otherwise known on this thread as Dulcinea del Toboso was understandably complaining that at speed the wind whips over the Puig sports screen, over me and near enough rips her head and shoulders off. The higher the screen the worse the effect. I need to keep the piece, so I’ll have to sort something. The last half hour was a nice climb up windy mountainous roads to Pontarlier. They had snow here 2 weeks ago. Of course the temperature dropped as we climbed and we got cold but did the stupid thing of pressing on as we were nearly there. It’s almost 900 m above sea level. The moment I stepped off the bike I started to shiver, took me hours to thaw out. Sancerre. Dulcinea and the Duke.
To Infinity and beyond. Nice easy ride yesterday. Now just north of Lyon visiting a mate that I’ve known since I was 11. We can’t believe how much hair we used to have and don’t have now. Life is cruel, how come it grows where you don’t want it but doesn’t where you do want it? It was steady going as Dulcinea had been struggling to cope with wind blast on the pillion. The wind was also pretty strong but not as strong as the previous day. We drifted down the mountain past lakes and woodland. Stopping for a surprisingly mediocre coffee which was lukewarm then for a late lunch. I don’t drink when on the bike but Dulcinea chirped up that she could and would. As we sat outside, the wind came up, blew the paper table setting up knocking the glass of red wine all over her brand new helmet. We’d picked it up from Infinity in London a week or so ago. I had visions of it staining the lining but we just had to laugh as the white helmet turned pink. Enough said.
