InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

Highways England, MAG and others turn concerns into action Highways England continues to be a role model for action following its Motorcycle Infrastructure Sub-Working Group meeting on 17th April 2018. Lembit Öpik, MAG's Director of Communications & Public Affairs, regards this as 'amongst the most productive project groups in our Political Unit's calendar. Rarely have I seen a team which delivers so much and so well – in this case with a task list 28 pages long.'  These include: •       Recommending a review of roadside advertising, which can easily draw the attention of drivers – after all, that's the purpose of advertising.  Highways England already refuses advertising within their highway boundary. •       Assessing the danger of signposts and trees present near the roadside - with a request for inclusion of clear standards in safety planning.  Data shows 91% of impacts with trees by motorcyclists led t...

Donors by C.M. Sutter My rating: 4 of 5 stars Another enjoyable read. Less gruesome than the first two books in the FBI series. I did find myself willing them to suss who the perp was a bit earlier and have some pursuit. I didn't expect that ending. I guessed once 97% came up and they hadn't got him that it was going to wrap up quick. Now to download the next one from Amazon Kindle. Might have a rest from crime and death and finally read the Book of Dust I have had for six months in hardback. View all my reviews

London demo calls on Mayor Khan and Government to come to their senses about motorcycle-enabled crime and unfair pollution taxes. The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) held their biggest demonstration in years last Saturday to highlight the unfairness of a new pollution tax that London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, is threatening to introduce and which will hit some of the poorest workers in the capital. The demonstration, organised by MAG's London Regional Representative, Tim Fawthrop, drew support from all elements of the riding community including dispatch riders, delivery riders, commuters and leisure bikers. Selina Lavender, MAG's Chair, said 'A big thank you to the MAG members who put in the hours to bring the demo together. It was great to see riders turn out in support of the event and I really enjoyed riding with you all. Hopefully Mr Khan will get the message!' Keith Prince, Chair of the Greater London Authority Transport Committee and a mo...

In the end real life got in the way so no MAG Demo or Rocket III Run to the Ace Café. I wheeled Pepé out of the garage and fitted up the TomTom with the amended route to AFC Wimbledon ready to rock. Luckily after the hottest and driest day of the year on Thursday  (temp up to 27°C) it was still dry and warm today. With the forecast showing dry all day I pulled the Joe Rocket jacket from the wardrobe and back to kevlar cargo pants. The road into Hythe was a mile long of traffic and so I went out through the country lanes to the motorway. It took a little longer as there were cyclists riding three a breast on a road barely wide enough for two cars to pass. A bip on the horn had them scattered but hurling abuse. Had they met a car coming head on they might have been calling 999/911. Once on the M20 I dialled up to an indicated 75mph that TomTom said was more like 70. TomTom was suggesting 90 minutes for the journey and it seemed to pass pretty easily. Even the M25 was relatively clear...

This was a game that Oldham needed to win.   I wheeled Pepé out of the garage and fitted up the TomTom with the amended route to AFC Wimbledon ready to rock. Luckily after the hottest and driest day of the year (so far)  on Thursday  (temp up to 27°C) it was still dry and warm today. With the forecast showing dry all day I pulled the Joe Rocket jacket from the wardrobe and back to Kevlar lined  cargo pants. The road into Hythe was a mile long of traffic and so I went out through the country lanes to the motorway. It took a little longer as there were cyclists riding three a breast on a road barely wide enough for two cars to pass. A bip on the horn had them scattered but hurling abuse. Had they met a car coming head on they might have been calling 999/911. Once on the M20 I dialled up to an indicated 75mph that TomTom said was more like 70. TomTom was suggesting 90 minutes for the journey and it seemed to pass pretty easily. Even the M25...

This is a shock! I saw him on Sky Sports last night and he fended off all questions about his future and talked about the good of the club. Arsene Wenger to step down at Arsenal after 22 years in charge Arsene Wenger to step down at Arsenal after 22 years in charge Arsene Wenger is to step down as Arsenal manager at the end of the season, it has been confirmed. The long-serv...

The April selection will be cans.  A little unusual but ultimately recyclable, both the can itself and the contents........ ;)

With so many weekends to choose from in the course of a year, it seems some have too many things to do and others have none. This Saturday is Rocket III annual run to the (famous) original  Ace Cafe in North West London and if that wasn't enough for the motorcyclists, it also TriFest at all Triumph dealers. So as a Triumph Rocket III owner what should I do? It's also the last away game in the south for Oldham Athletic at AFC Wimbledon and I have my ticket to the game already. So that is a definite. I wil be riding there and that will score me another 50-50 Challenge 5E ! 50-50 Challenge - 5P & 5E It's a charity challenge set up by John Young of the Triumph Trident and BSA Rocket 3 Club. There are 50 cha...

London's motorcycling community is protesting against City Hall's lack of action in respect to rising motorcyclist deaths and against the unfair Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) tax which looks set to make pollution worse. Led by the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG), London's riders will hold a city-wide day of action this Saturday 21 April to protest against the Mayor's policies, which are contributing to the mounting deaths of Londoners who ride motorcycles and scooters. Thousands of motorcyclists will descend on Westminster and then rally near the Mayor's Office, where they will be addressed by supporters, including Peter Ramsbottom (Labour) and Keith Prince AM (Conservative). Liberal Democrats declined the invitation to send a speaker. Mayor Sadiq Khan also turned down the invitation. Tim Fawthrop, MAG's London Regional Representative, said: "For the last two years we have been trying to get the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to up...

Justified by C.M. Sutter My rating: 4 of 5 stars I enjoyed the book. Some reviews mention stilted language and sometimes the dialogue sounds more Dolly Parton than northern cop/woman/person. Very gruesome murders. View all my reviews

The link will explain more about this fantastic racing team -  https://trueheroesracing.co.uk/ At the BSB round on Sunday, the teams supporters came around with buckets collecting to help the team by raising money. Wristband

A while ago, I can't remember when, I bought a pair of cordura biking trousers.  These are the sort that replace ordinary jeans. They are waterproof and come with knee armour. I "found" them in the wardrobe and they still had the labels on. I have no idea where they disappeared to and how long they have been in there. As rain was expected I decided to give them a go.  Amazingly they fitted and were pretty comfortable. After last week on the trip to France when it rained for over half the trip, and I wore my Kevlar lined cargo pants and Held waterproof over trousers, and was uncomfortable I was actually looking online before I found these. I wore them for a total of 93 miles on the bike plus over seven hours standing watching the BSB racing.  The only problem is that they have a gusset affair at the front instead of the normal zip or button fly. Going to the loo for a Number One is none too easy. In the end the were comfortable and waterproof.  Th...

Up at 0745. Out by 0845 after breakfast for me and for Reggie. When I was getting my gear together last night I found a pair of cordura trousers I had bought last year and never worn. In fact had forgotten. These replace jeans and over-trousers and are waterproof. They fitted a dream.  Not too expensive and made by ARMR Moto . I was to meet my brother Neill at the lay-by opposite the Oakdene Cafe where the A20 meets the M26 at 0930. A few holdups on the way to the motorway meant that I was a few minutes late. He took a photo of me. I don't have many of me and the bike. The run up to Brands took about ten minutes. This year after all the bad weather and snow even, the usual parking was too wet and so they had a great idea. They opened the GP circuit to bike parking. What a great idea. Except this meant not going near the main entrance but in a side gate on the way from the A20 to the entrance to the Paddock. The day was miserable really, weather-wise, and with 9 races to get in some...

BSB Round 2 Another chance to score some 5E points in the Challenge and see British Superbikes. It's round two at our local track at Brands Hatch. It is a track we know well. I was corner commander for the marshals there and Neill was the chief flag marshal at Dingle Dell Corner. This is on the long GP circuit. This week's racing is on the short Indy circuit. We are going thanks to complimentary tickets from Suzuki GB. Thanks to Claire for them. She works with Suzuki moving bikes around Europe.

Should be another easy to get 5E for the 50-50 Challenge with this ride. I went last year to the corresponding game and the weather was quite good. Not raining at least. It's too far away at the moment, 8 days, for an accurate forecast. One of my nieces, Eleanor, works at the Met Office and that doesn't help!  I expect some old recluse with a pine cone can predict as well as they can!

I should claim another 50-50 Challenge 5E today as well.  I am writing this in the Eurotunnel terminal at Calais after a 90kms ride from Vimy in drizzle and the occasional proper rain. Presumably mild for the Canadians stoically singing "Oh Canada" at the end of the ceremony in drizzling rain. I did sing "God Save the Queen" but seemed one of the few.  There were quite a few British there and a lot of bikers. I will finish it off when I get home and add a bit of detail. Back Home! So to start from the beginning.  I was up at 0645 and by 0720 had got washed etc, togged up and fed the dog. Pepe started without the dbpower unit to give him a jolt.  I had it with me all day and fully charged just in case! I was lucky to get on the 0806 train rather than the 0820 I was booked on and curiously I was loaded in with the cars rather than treated like an inconvenience and tacked in the last carriage. Waterproofs went on before I had left the terminal area! It was misty at hom...

Today just the 56 miles to get another 50-50 ticked off. Again it needed dbpower to get Pepé fired up. After that no problems.  I had a run to Rye. It was quite empty considering it's still the Easter school holidays.  I had intended a 25 mile ride and then turn around.  As Rye was only 20 I had to think of something. So the return was via Ashford and then the M20 to Cheriton. Tesco had a long queue at the filling station so I stopped for a fuel up in Seabrook instead. Fuelly calculated that one at 43.9 mpg. The best since last July. I'll put together a claim for this later on the 50-50 website. I got back and stashed the bike away. It will need to come out on Saturday for a cat lick wash to get the mud and road shite that has blown up. Pepé needs to be clean for the ride to Vimy on Monday.

Michelin 576 A few days sitting at home looking at the Michelin Map 576 and getting a "larger picture" of the trip means yet another update to the routing. All the hotels for the first night have been either too far to the north and way off the path between Madrid and the first Extremadura stop at Trujillo.  So yet another review using the map to see where places are has been helpful. I have changed the first night stop again. That's what is quite good about booking.com ! The chance to plan and chop and change as need be. The biggest change is that I have decided that when we arrive in Madrid and get the car, it will be about 3.30pm so instead of an overnight on the way we'll go straight to Trujillo. I logged into the Parador website and "modify booking" didn't work. Luckily, they had a chat option and a nice lady called Viktoria changed the booking to make it a day earlier. That of course freed up another day in the week. A bit of shuffling around and I...

So what is coming up? Joe Bonamassa is on tour over there again and I would like to see him again. He's not very local and then the £80 a ticket price put me off.   I appreciate that it costs to put on a show, the transport, musicians and some dollars left, but this is a lot of money. With add-on costs like booking fees, travel and maybe an overnight stay (as I said not too local) we are looking at about £300 ($400+) for the concert. Next on the calendar are are The Shires at the Leas Cliff Hall.  This in in May the week before we go to Spain for a week's touring.   The Shires are categorised as "New Country" apparently. I have never been a great fan of country music as such. I can't help thinking of the Billy Connolly comedy song! Once in a while though, you hear something and like it. You follow that up with maybe getting an album. You like it and then you get all the albums.  And that's what has happened with The Shires.  Not ...

With Harry Bosch heading towards retirement, even from his part-time volunteer detective role in San Fernando, we need a new cop to take over the baton.  And Michael Connolly brings us Renée Ballard. The Late Show by Michael Connelly My rating: 4 of 5 stars I had read the first few chapters as they are appended to the end of the last few Bosch and Haller books and so when I was finished with them I downloaded this one to my Kindle. I guess with Bosch getting close to his pension that we needed a new character to fill the void. Ballard looks to be an inspired choice. At first I have to admit that she isn't all that likeable. In fact she comes over as the PITA very common in many US TV crime'/cop programmes. Gradually you warm to her but even by the end of the book, and she has solved the murders she is still pretty unlikable. I guess as her character develops in future books then we might see a change. As usual the book is up to Connolly's fine writing and I...

The Easter weekend has been pretty much of a washout as far a motorcycling is concerned. The long holiday weekend is 4 days. Friday was raining all day. Saturday was little better and we did manage to get out with the dog for his walks.  Sunday looked better on paper but we had things to do. So it all hinged on Monday. The forecast was for more heavy rain but in the end it turned out warmer. In the morning we did a bit of shopping and then had a walk with Reggie. Warm enough for a coffee outdoors. So. To Challenge 5E. Challenge 5E is for 50 rides of over 50 miles. It should be easy to do but we need to be able to get out and do it. So today was the chance to get a 5E under my belt. It was dry when I set off. Once again the dbpower unit was needed to fire Pepé up. The idea was to go around 25 miles and then turn about. In the end I headed out of Hythe along the M20 and A20 to Dover and then up the A2. No great plan just a ride to get some charge in the battery. As I approached Cante...