On the Road Again!

Thank goodness the weather was good over the weekend, Saturday especially. We had to go up to Suffolk to see Claire's Dad, Victor, in his new home. We expected the traffic to be awful and so planned to take the bike. Not only is it more economical on the bike but we could sneak past any traffic. In the end the weather was good and there traffic was quite light. A consequence of the cup-final? The Garmin, Doris, gave us a route that once on the Essex side of the Dartford Tunnel would take us up the A12, to Chelmsford, round the ring road and off to Braintree (didn't see any evidence of it as the drivers were the most moronic I've seen in ages!!) and then towards Haverhill and off right to Clare. By the time we were close to Braintree the yellow light came on and the last bar on the fuel gauge disappeared and as we were wondering how much fuel was left a Tesco hove into view. Odometer showing over 186 miles and I squeezed almost eighteen and half litres in the tank. The sceni...

What a demoralising experience it really is to travel into London everyday by train. The alternatives? Ride the bike. Been there, done that and I may well have the sodding t-shirt. Although with the change back to wet weather in May, sodden may be more apt. Get a job nearer home? BTDTGTTS too. Not an option. In Kent we are near London, have London prices but low wages. So for now it's grin and bear it.

Yes me! On the way in to work today, just in the end of the line of traffic queuing up for the Blackwall Tunnel, at the back of a line of bikes, maybe as many as four in front of me I hear a revving engine. Blip, blip... I look in the mirror and some race-rep bike is right up my arse. Had I lifted my cheeks of the seat he could have given me a colonoscopy with his right mirror. "Out the f* cking way" he shouted. I didn't move as I really had nowhere to go. As I got to a gap on my left, we were splitting lanes 2 and 3, he tried to squeeze past... He looked at me through his black visor "It's c**** like you in jeans that cost me more insurance". I was taken aback! So much so I let him past... Jeans? Moi? For his information they are Hood Jeans, lined with Kevlar and probably as strong as his cheap no label Levi-cut leather jeans!

I've had the new specs for about a week now and still haven't really got truly comfortable with them. I still can' get used to wearing them and looking where I like. In the shop they said you have to use your head a bit more - "looking where your nose is pointing". This means a major re-education of the way you look at things. If you look too low you then start to look through reading glass bit when you want to look at distance objects. I always seem to try them in the evening when my eyes are a bit tired and then my eyes feel a bit strained. I need to try them in the day so will have to give them a go on the bike! Maybe fit the GPS and see if I can read it!

It's true an earthquake in Kent! About 0818, there I was sitting on the lav with a Robert Rankin in one hand, the radio playing Sounds of the Sixties on Radio 2, when the whole house shimmied from side to side a few times, maybe three or four times each way... A fart too far?

If this week hadn't already seen spending on Abramovich levels I picked up my new varifocal specs. No problems with the normal vision bit, but the reading bit quite difficult. It is hard to keep the bit you want to read in the 'zone'! They are quite cool and made by Police. As well as varifocal I've gone for "reactions" auto-tinting and anti-scratch for bike work.

I saw these on another person's site and they looked good for a laugh. Don't know how accurate they are as the times look a bit off!

The train is quite handy really. Okay, I have to get up earlier, it costs a lot and can be woefully late. But it is dry and generally warm. In the bike's favour, I am not tied to a timetable and most importantly, I don't pay to travel when I am on holiday. With Easter due soon, that's a big plus. Fingers crossed for a bit of global warming next week; week commencing April 2nd!

MoT After a week of mild weather I set off for Alford Brothers in Folkestone inquite chilly weather but it's not far, only 3 or 4 miles or so. After booking the bike in I had a look around the upper showroom, the Suzuki M1800 is one hell of a pile. Christ only knows who in our area will buy one! But a sit on it proved the seat to be comfortable for the bloke blessed with a far arse. I then wandered off into town to WH Smith's and bough the latest RiDE and retired to Costa Coffee to read it. Amazingly, Costa is inhabited by the old and wheekchair bound. On Friday I had stopped in one in Maidstone for a read of the Sun and a coffee and the place was inhabited by what seemed to be the Teenage Pram Pushers Club; ignoring their mini-chav offspring as they ran about pissing off the other customers and then nipping out front to have a drag on their Marlboros whilst taking it in turns to ignore little Jayzee or Kylie. On my return I found the GS had as expected passed the MoT...

Tyres done. Got to Watling at Maidstone just before the appointed time at 1030 and left it there. Had a walk down into the town centre calling in at Hein Gericke for a look at boots; some nice Puma bike boots at £179.95. Then dropped into Maplin and bought a 4-way USB 2.0 hub. It's a powered one and looks quite good alongside the screen! Plus it works so hopefully my printer won't turn itself off all the time. When I got back to Watling at 1130 or so, it was done. Ride-In/Ride Out was £180. Gulp. Took it a bit easy on the ride back to scrub them in a bit. A marked difference between worn tyres and brand new ones. Mileage on the clock at I pulled out of the tyre place: 36174. MoT tomorrow.

In the evening paper tonight someone mentioned "Proper Londoners". Has anyone got the foggiest idea what one is? Someone born in the city? Someone who lives in the city? Both? Are there more points for how many generations you can count back? I for one would love to know if I am one. I was born in London. So was my dad and his dad before him. I've not lived in London much, but have put in plenty of hours working in the place. Proper Londoner? Too bloody right I am.

Tyres? What do to do for the best? Stay with Tourances? Move to a more road oriented tyre like the Bridgestone BT020 or Michelin Pilot-Road? I called Watling Tyres in Catford and the Tourances are much the cheapest option, RIRO (ride in ride out) is about £180. The guy there wasn’t as excited about moving to the road tyres though and wouldn’t recommend the road tyres at all. I have had BT020’s before and have to say that I hardly noticed any difference and the longevity didn’t really pay for itself. You can work out a pence per mile rate for your tyres and from my rough numbers, 020’s were more expensive for little added benefit. Still confused, I had a look on UKGSer to see and they have a few informative FAQ threads but still not that conclusive. Looks like I’ll stick with the Tourances this time! Rather than ride all the way up to Catford I can get them done at the Maidstone branch. MoT? Booked for Saturday morning at Alford Brothers in Folkestone. Apart from the tyres (sor...

Was a sunny day, not a cloud was in the sky... And the GS was stuck in the garage. I went out full of the joys of a warm dry day. Checked the tyre pressures (a bit low both ends so popped them back up to my favourite 32 front and 36 back for solo riding), fretted a bit how dirty the wheels were, then moved onto the oil check. Window almost full... Then I had a finger of Autosol (not to be confused with Anusol ) on the back wheel to see if it cleaned up some of the depressing matt look... it did, well a bit anyway. Big job next week then. As I turned to go back to the house I saw... aaaaaaaarrrrgggghhhhhhh ! "Where has all the tread gone?". Looking at the undulations on the "tread" where it was worn on the leading edges of the blocks. Now I need new tyres before the MoT on Saturday.... Thank you God!

My MoT is due any day now. It's definitely March and I am certain it's early March. Can I find the old one? Can I buggery. I've looked in all the usual places. Was it in a plastic wallet? Or just in an envelope? I know it was with the GS' new log book and the insurance and the paper bit of my driving licence. But where the **** is it! FOUND IT! Monday 9pm.... 5th March After a day of checking on the web for the forms that would get me a new logbook ( £19 ) and a new insurance certificate ( ebike ) it was all rather previous as... ... the folder had slid off the back of the filing cabinet in the office and it was halfway under a pile of crap alongside it.... If only I had seen it before pulling the contents of three drawers out and piling it up all over the floor. I also know that my MoT runs out of the 16th March. Now I have a job for tonight to tidy that up. It had to be done!!!!

Seemed like a good idea to join this bunch of chaps and chapesses on the 'Net. Now is the time for the MBI Annual Awards and anyone that visits my blog can take part. Click on the logo and then go to the public voting page. I've had a few goes as a member and the blogs etc that appear in each of the categories were whittled down from a cast of thousands or maybe hundreds.

Fair weather biker status is officially mine. As soon as you see a bloke all togged up on a freezing day like we had today and you immediately think "how can he do it?" you know you are an FWB! That was me as I walked 300 yards to the sandwich shop at lunchtime!

Trussed up like a chicken, or rather a pork(er) joint, I waddled across to the garage to get the GS out for a short run up to London for the Arsenal home game with the Scousers, aka Liverpool FC. The weather forecast was for cold and blustery. So it was in bright sunshine that I set off complete with thermal undershirt, rugby shirt and thick jumper. I also decided to give my Nitro N700 helmet a day out. When I don’t need the GPS headset, it is quieter than the Caberg J1S, and more restful. I bought it a few years ago and it had an outing and promptly fell of the seat on a trip to Ypres and the paint got damaged on the chin, apart from that it shows no other damage, but there’s always a suspicion, isn’t there? Time seemed to be slipping away as I was stuck at 25mph on the lanes getting to the A20. A succession of pensioners wrapped up in their coats and hats despite, no doubt, having the heating on at full pelt in their 51-reg Protons or Daihatsus! I took the A20, as once again I needed...

It seems like ages since I last sat on the bike let alone had a ride. Things to do have meant that it has sat in the garage waiting for a trip out. The last ride was the weekend in Arras over a month ago! Today’s outing was a ride up to London to watch the Arsenal at home to the transient Premiership side from Watford . Despite having a rail season ticket, I decided to ride up. Why? Well, fair weather biker that I am nowadays it was going to be a dry day and reasonably warm. Plus the journey home after a game is horrendous with a train service running one an hour from Charing Cross back to the Kent Coast. Of course, you have to get to Charing Cross in the first place. Sadly, the tube services haven’t been upgraded to support 60000 leaving the new stadium and so the queues to get into the stations are quite horrendous. They could barely support 38000 leaving the old one but no one seems to have spotted that there might be some contention? Or did they and just thought “b* gger it”? ...

Darnit. Being away for the weekend not conducive to winning EBAY auctions and I lost the Caja Sahel by £159. Looks like it is back to the drawing board. The winning bid came to near enough £480 with postage and according to Phil at Caja Sahel they are about £500 new.... so who would buy off EBAY for secondhand... must have been the spanish bull sticker on one that did it! I can leave the subject of luaggage now for a while. I'm not planning any long journeys on the bike apart from the occasional run to work (160 miles round trip door-2-door) and some club runs so none needing panniers! The next big journey will be a week to the Isle of Man in June for the TT, and I don't think we'll need much "civvy" gear for that anyway!

Petrol prices? If the so-called "price war" has meant the price at the pump coming down around 9p a litre locally to where I live, why didn't it happen sooner when everyone was on holiday? Why the end of August when the kids holidays are almost over?