¡InvictaMoto!

Great resource for interesting roads!

After a damp squib of a week it was nice to get up this morning to see the sun blazing in through the curtains. A relaxed ride in even. It was the last day of half-term and so most people had decided to take the day off and so the run right upto the Blackwall Tunnel before the clag started. Since the bus lanes were opened it has opened a few more miles of tarmac that we don't have to share with four wheelers. Catch up with a bus and try to get out and round it and then things can get more complex. If you encounter some midget at the wheel of a 38-tonner. A guy on a CBF in front had a slanging match with a Scottish dwarf ranting at him from the safety of his cab. Quite exciting viewing though. Amazing though how many tough guys need 38 tons to feel like a man. The ride home even better. Away from work at 4.15pm and down to Holborn to Infinity to see about getting my C2 fixed at long last. Although I have never managed to get it working with my Cardo setup, I want to be ...

As you get older do you really ride more defensively because you want to, or do you compensate for failing mental functions? I've found that even though I lane split I do it more slowly and give in and let others past. I do get a bit annoyed by the human cannonball arseholes that can't wait and swerve round you. Why human cannonball? Without exception they wear helmets that look like they saw Dan Walsh from BiKE Magazine and copied the look without the riding and writing ability. Maybe it is age, but I let them get on with it and hope to get home in one piece.

A month to go until some of us from the Kent Centre of the Suzuki Owners Club go across to Assen for the Dutch TT, or MotoGP as they call it now. Our group 5 on 4 bikes will include my GS, my brother Neill's GSXR1000, James and his 1250 Bandit and another Neil (with one L) and his wife on an XJR1300. We'll be joined by Brian on another 1250 Bandit at the hotel. Everything is booked and we have put a note on the Suzuki Owners Club's new forum to see if anyone else is going; maybe meet up for a beer in the evening? No contact as yet! The outward journey is mainly on motorway from Calais. We're on the 0925 P&O boat so allowing for 90 minutes to cross the channel and the hour time difference it will be gone noon when we emerge into the French sunshine. The sat-navs give the quickest route through Belgium as the motorway to Ostend and then down to Gent and up to Antwerp again, but I have always favoured an N9/N49 route that goes across from Brugge to Antwerp more...

Sunday was anyway. I had a ride up to London for the last Premier League game of the season. I was late setting off and had to stop for petrol. So I could dump my gear in the bike I had the Zegas fitted; who wants to sit in full gear including a Frank Thomas textile jacket and boots in 80 degree heat.  Not me.   At STOP 24 I filled up and the place was humming with bikes, a nice looking and heavily laden 1200GS with rider in blue and grey "twat suit" was there as well. I nodded and got ignored. Maybe an 1150 is too last decade for them!   Cruising up the M20 at a steady 70 (cough!) was okay, not a lot of traffic until the A2 when I noticed signs saying the Blackwall Tunnel was closed. Nice of them to have waited until Falconwood. "Use alternative crossing" it said on the sign. No diversion set up, nothing. Had they put this on the M25, then I could have gone over Dartford and in a different way, instead was stuck with the A2 across Blackheath and Old/New Ken...

After a week in Italy and the experience of driving narrow country and coastal roads with suicidal overtaking manoeuvres and the solid white line down the centre line meaning nothing, it was quite relaxing to ride into work today. In contrast with the Italian drivers, our great British commuters were the epitome of calm and manners. I suppose it is what you get used to. In Italy, considering the standard of driving, we saw no accidents where life or limb were at stake. Practically every other car on the road had a variety of bumps and scrapes on the body work. Some were vying for a record of having the most body panels dented or battered or simply scraped. The rental Punto we had came with the extremes of the front bumper (fenders?) scraped and the wheel trims scuffed on all four wheels. I added to these scuffs with both front wheels when forced to make a few avoidance manoeuvres when faced with a car coming the other way, sharing my side of the road. Brakes on the Punto were surpr...

Positano , originally uploaded by Devaldinho . On the way back up the hill to the car-park. Remarkably looking in good nick despite blisters on feet and tired joints.

Until we were in Italy earlier in the month I had no idea that there are so many FIAT 500 "Cinquecento" cars still in daily use. They were built in the same sort of period as the Mini in the UK and to be honest you hardly see any of them on he road unless there's some Mini festival. I took a photos of ones I saw but in the end there were so many! FIAT Cinquecento Originale , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto . Positano Cinquecento , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto . Positano Cinquecento , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto .

Smoke from a pile of rocks not far from the top of the crater. Hardly visible so on the original picture on Flickr I had to put a note to show where the smoke is!

Our room This is where we stayed when in Sorrento earlier in the month. The hotel is an agrotourism hotel in the hills above the city. A little more than a walk away, but and easy bus ride from just down the hill. We had a great time there and although not a motorcycling holiday it was a good area with so much to see. https://www.casaleantonietta.com/site/ https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g187782-d503636-Reviews-Casale_Antonietta-Sorrento_Province_of_Naples_Campania.html

Weather excellent. A bit too hot at some times. Can't imagine what it will be like later in the height of summer. Driving standards are suicidal, both cars and bikes cut every corner. But views are spectacular. This one of Capri.

Final packing underway. As usual the one suitcase is looking already overfilled! At Easyjet’s prices it pays to get it all in the one. Okay, so I’m cheap and think that £16 per case is an insult after you have paid for the seat. I have the satnav setup and have stripped the power leads out of the car and ready to take with me. So what is airport’s security’s view of satnavs in their sunglasses case and a heap of wiring? On that subject. Modern life means we have gadgets and gadgets need power. To get the power we have power leads. So after the phone charger, there’s the power lead for the camera batteries (different ones so different charger doobries), then the lead for the satnav to connect it to the PC, oh yes, the PC is going to… free WiFi in the hotel….. We hope. What else, have I mentioned the phone charger, oh yes. Spare SD and CF cards for the cameras, the cameras of course, plus spare batteries. Then there’s the iPod and speakers, plus power lead. It never sto...

It seemed like a great leap forward. Years of pressuring local government to allow motorcycles to use the lanes, then Boris the London Mayor said as part of it campaign that he'd do it. And then from January the bus lanes were opened in London to motorcyclists.  Not all bus lanes though. Make sure you check the sign as the lanes that are open are on "Red Routes" only. So the reality. For me at least it has taken the some of the attention away from looking for the coppers that might see you illegally riding in the lane.  That said, it seems that there are more loonies in the bus lanes, not just the bikers, but it seems pedestrians and cyclists are magnetised to the red tarmac. To get to where you hope to be in the future means spending more time on the look out for the car (9/10's of the time) that will poke its nose out on the left, and of course, the curse of everyone, the wanker turning right across your path.  Safer? I can't say, but in the last two days...

Blimey this was a bit of a long drawn out experience. For a while I have wanted a decent pair of sunglasses but as I am a spectacle wearer I've not had any other than a cheap pair for holidays and those few days I sit on the beach! So before we go to Italy, where I hope it will be very sunny, I thought I'd get a pair of Oakley's. I've ended up with these! A bit over the top I thought when I tried them on, but grew to like the idea. As they are fitted with prescription lenses I am able to claim some of the cost back from my HSA insurance. Luckily. Even they cost a fortune they don't come with a case. Maybe normal punters would get away with the microfiber string tied bag. Not a lot of use for a biker, even if they are secured in my mini tank bag. So I've been searching the net for a decent deal on a case for them. They are too bloody expensive to leave it to chance!! Paul's new sunners , originally uplo...