InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

In it's third year it seemed like a good craic.  Sadly Döra wasn't eligible for the ride itself but I decided to register and send a donation even if I wasn't going to be able to join the London ride out. Bikes that qualified were supposed to be cafe racers etc, not adventure bikes, but I have seen a few Harley's in the pics, that are further away from cafe racers than Döra!!! Big lumbering things with panniers... Anyway, money is coming in to the charity and they did send me the patch for my donation! http://www.gentlemansride.com

Last year we had a really nice couple of days in Metz for the Christmas Market. With a total of 11 days off again this year I have started to look at going away again. It looks like France again and I found that Strasbourg has one of the oldest markets in Europe each year from early Decenber to the 31st. I had a quick look on booking.com for a hotel and they are a bit on the pricey side, but have found a decent looking, and highly rated, three star close to the city centre by the railway station. Now just a quick check to see if we can get the cat looked after and about the channel crossing. Update: Plans were put on hold as soon after publishing this post the cat took a turn for the worst and we had to take her to the vet's and she was put to sleep.  She was nearly 21yo and had a tumour that was inoperable and she was unable to eat or drink. Although some people said that we were too rushed we had been thinking about a dog once we were cat-free and so that...

Story

Oh..... http://www.schuberth.com/index.php?id=124&L=1&showce=801

I have to say I lost a bit of interest in Google's Panoramio program. Whilst the app was available on the iPhone it was so easy to share a place with the billions that use Google Earth every day. Then for whatever reason they simply gave up supporting the app and made it totally useless. No doubt as they were developing it for Android? So revisiting it recently was a surprise that I have so many pictures that have been vetted and passed for Google Earth and Google Maps. http://www.panoramio.com/user/5023632 Have a look?

Not on the bike but in the car. It was Claire's friend, Elizabeth's birthday recently and a trip across to France seemed like a good idea. She's not been for a while and we don't need any excuse to get the bike or car packed for a day away. We chose the Tunnel, it's not cheap but split three ways it's not bad for something different. It also gives me a chance to fill the car up with cheap French diesel oil. Currently it's about £1.349 a litre and in France €1.275 a litre. With the € currently about 1.24 to the £ is it clear to see that the saving to be made in quite enormous, something like 30p a litre. So the 40 litres I put in saved me £13! Had the tank been lower at the start of the trip I could have saved even more! We were booked on the 0920 shuttle out and there didn't look to be too many vehicles ahead, but nevertheless we weren't offered an alternative crossing. Often when you arrive in good time, they offer you a chance to go ...

I have started feeling very guilty again. Why? Today I was out for a walk at lunchtime, just a mile or so around the park when I heard a familiar two stroke rattle.   Across the other side of the park was the unmistakable sight of a Kettle parking up on the pavement by the former Sondel Sport  bike shop on Highbury Corner.  Back in the days before it became a motorcycle clothing store, no bikes on sale, and more recently,  a Waitrose Supermarket,  it had the workshops out the back and it was  on this apron of concrete that the rider had hauled the bike up onto the centre stand.   By the time i had got over there he had gone and I took a look at the bike.  All I can say is that it looked "original". By that I mean it wasn't polished to within a mm of the alloy being so thin it would crumple under the touch of a butterfly landing on it....  Slightly faded orange tank that matched the old P reg it had on the lice...

I have no idea how this works, but when I was in my Gmail on the computer I saw the little alarm bell at the top was red. Clicking on it produced a "story" and here it is! http://tinyurl.com/kt5d2cp

After a pretty heavy butt cheek battering in Spain, and especially on the last two days either side of the ferry, I decided to try a new sheepskin approach.  One of the guys we chatted with on the quay at Santander and on the ferry, and his wife, two-up on a KLX1000 Kawasaki, said they had bought sheepskins off eBay from a company in Yorkshire. They looked a lot shaggier than the Alaska Leather ones that I bought for Claire and me way back in 2004. So I bought one. The jury is out.  It is a rectangle, with an anti-slip underside and a thick elastic to pass under the seat.  I think my arse cheeks need to recover before I can feel any benefit. The suppliers are www.sheepskinseats.net  and are available via eBay as well as direct.