The bike deck from the return ferry in May. For some reason it wouldn't let me load it with the previous post.
Segovia yesterday. Did a special trip to the Moto gourmet burger bar..... It's shut on a Tuesday. No Ducati burger for me. I'll have to go back again.
Pic above is Trujillo. Lovely place Froze going over The Picos. 6 layers on. Headed south then west, much warmer now. In Caceres. Trujillo was a beautiful place to stop. The road from Navamoral EX118 to Guadalupe is supreme. That area is so good were headed back over that way today then down the fabulous N502 to Córdoba. It's not a direct route but who cares?
On Friday I watched my brother on his BMW K1300 with Conti Attacks. We weren't wringing every last ounce out of it but we were getting on with things. That bike, with those tyres we're imperious. We went on my favourite road in the world. 100km of absolutely empty silky smooth Tarmac, bend into bend into bend. No traffic, empty. Fab-u-lous. I had to work the old ST4 but he looked effortless. I thought, right Conti's. I'll ride his for a bit on Saturday and Conti's for the ST4. Last time I rode his K1300 it felt like it was on rails. Yesterday was an interesting day. I had a go on the K1300r, what an impressive machine. Smooth flexible engine and it handled like a 250, really light. With the Continental Sport Attack 2 tyres on, you picked a line and it just went round. No drama, no corrections or wriggles. It went exactly where you wanted to go. I hadn't realised what a wrestling match I'd been having with the 16 year old ST4. No wonder it looked so easy for my brother the day before, it was easy. An interesting cross between Jap and European. I'm sure those of you that have experienced the BMW 4's will understand. I didn't get on with the sit up n beg sitting position. It made my back ache between my shoulder blades. This is entirely down to my latest car accident and not the bike but I know I couldn't do more than an hour in that position. Curious, most people would say the opposite. I was glad to get back to the forward leaning semi sport position of the ST. I really do like it, my other brothers VFR1200 Honda has a similar position. 'Have a go on this, just do 10 miles or so, see what you think.' I was off, gone, zip zip zip. He didn't get it back for a half hour, which is a good comment. He's recently changed the bars, he had flat ones but they caused 'Zinging' in his hands. I found my fingers were going a bit so I pulled over and stopped. Doesn't happen on a Ducati. Back on the ST the back ache and tingling fingers went but the counter steer increased. These tyres are shagged. Over the top of the Picos mountains I was a bit concerned about the snow but the road was mostly dry and not many breaks in the surface. We headed down this gorge for something like 40 miles. It was massive. As soon as we started the decent I knew it was going to be good. Not just because of the hairpins and faster bends on the way up but because two sports bikes came flying up towards us. They were locals out for some fun. Not only did they know where to have it, they were having it, rapido! One of them ran really wide into our path as he tried to catch the other round a long right hander, our left. We all had time for a bikers wave though. As the weight transferred to the front tyre it really wanted to turn in on every bend. I really had to give it even more counter push. Not just a little. Faster bends were more neutral but this was a wrestle, a major wrestle. It hadn't been as bad as this at the start of the trip. The other way of dealing with it was to really break hard before the bend and wind the power on quite seriously all through the bend. Which normally is all very well of course and was fine on the way up. Except for when you're headed down a bloody steep incline, wondering which is going to break away first, the front or the back? Not with these barriers and that sheer drop on the other side. It was a long long way down that side of the barrier. It did work as a technique though and under acceleration the counter steer disappeared. Ooh sir! With yesterday's ride and Andy's tyre advice I've decided to try the new Metzler 01's on the ST4. The M7rr's are great on the Panigale but the 01's are supposed to be more sports touring. It'll be interesting to see if they can counter my brothers sad comment. "I think you've got so used to the performance of a modern machine that 16 year old is showing how much things have moved on". 48,000 miles of ultra reliable, well maintained Ducatism. I can feel a Monster coming on.
Great. Glad it made you happy. It's a great way to start the season. I've done 1000 miles this week and my bro reckons 'I'm in the groove'. I'm on the ferry now with very slow wifi, headed north to a small island with very overcrowded but small roads.... most likely rain expected. Tip of the day. No need to shake Orangina any more. Apparently it's fizzy.
This is my favourite pic of this trip. When I saw these two fella's ogling the Pornygirly I thought 'good for them'. Just look at his expression. Shame I couldn't move and get a clearer shot but it would have blown the moment. Funny suggestions as to what he's thinking please. The pic was taken in a beautiful little hilltop village called Zahara, just shy of Jerez.
just read your thread from start to finish fantastic read mate and certainly inspired me to get off my arse and over to the continent on mine cheers :thumbsup:
Great. Very pleased you liked it. Thinking of doing Aragon myself but we'll see. Once you've ridden in Spain you won't want to go back. Take time out to do either the Picos mountains or the Pyrenees. You won't regret it.
Have just finished reading the whole post having not long since joined the forum...what a cracking read!!! Have toured Spain/Portugal once back in 2004 on a Mille Factory and visited some of the places you mention which brings memories flooding back. Four of us on a Honda SP1, ZX7R, me on the Aprilia and.......a BMW 1200 GS! Has anyone ever witnessed a GS scraping its panniers round the bends? It truly is a sight to behold and had us all laughing in our helmets most days. You're absolutely right, the Picos and Pyrenees are both incredible and well worth a visit. A different group of us went 12 months later and had a much less successful trip as we went in early April rather than May and the whole of Spain was raining with the exception of Valencia which is where we headed and stayed. Still fun but nothing like the previous trip... Many thanks for your light-hearted diary, it made me smile warmly
That's absolutely great Rollo. Glad people are still reading it. I thought I better ease off in case people had enough but more and more people seem to be reading it. I'm very glad that you read it and very pleased that you find it entertaining. Must do more hey!
On Tuseday we went to Gibraltar, because we could. Went with Bazzer from the forum, who has a very nice 999r. Weather there not great but not as bad as in the Uk. So we turned round and headed back to the sun. The most dangerous people on the road here are the scooter riders. They wanted to race us!!!!!!! Barry rode up next to the idiot on the scooter and gave him the look. I just sat behind laughed. We let him go, it's sad to think that fairly soon he'll be seeking medical attention. We're heading back to Blighty today.
