On the Road Again!

I have decided to cut down the number of blogs that I have active at any one time.  I closed Dora the Explorer when I sold the bike back in 2015 although I didn't delete it. It has sat in the background on list of blogs ever since.  The R3R blog was started once I had picked up the Rocket and rather than duplicate stuff, I have imported the contents into here too. Sometimes you have to cut back. Both of them will hang on there, in the background. If anyone wants a read then there they will stay. Suzi Triplo , the Suzuki GT750 blog, will continue 

The last two weekends were crossed off as potential bike runs out as we were on holiday in France and in the car. With such a log gap between rides I begin to feel guilty. Since I stopped commuting on two wheels I haven't even become a regular and fair weather rider. So when I saw on facebook that some Meldrews were having a breakfast run to thr Blue and White I decided to go.  Otherwise I was going for an aimless ride across the marsh. Yesterday I found a bottle of cleaner in the garage I had forgotten I had. The petrol/gas tank was a little dirty. A few squirts of this magic no water needed elixir and a rub over with a microfibre cloth and it was super shiny. So I hauled Pepé out of the garage and headed to the café. Egg sandwich for me. After an hour of chat we went our separate ways. Mine was to Tesco to fill up after the ride to Wimbledon a month ago! Tesco to Tesco was 160.2 miles. I was dreading filling the tank but was surprised at at an average cruising speed of 75mph (cou...

Today would have been the Meldrews' March meeting but most of the regulars were away and I was down with a cold. So I didn't feel like a breakfast meeting. We took the dog for his walk and were back for lunch.  By 3pm I needed to get out and so it was. Firing up the engine I saw that the miles to empty on the clock was 12. I am sure it would have been more when I was last out. Obviously not. First stop was Tesco for petrol.  A ride up the A20 and past the Blue and White where I should have been some five hours earlier.  No waiting but annoying that "pay at the pump" wasn't working again. Always seems up the swanee when I am on the bike. Where next? I decided to head for the coast and then loop back home. So opted for the B2070 to Brenzett and then the A259 to Romney, then Lydd and onto the Dungeness Estate. I was too late for the railway cafe although there was a train in the station. Instead I tried to get a pic of the bike by the old lighthouse. The sun wasn...

Yesterday was the first decent weather day for weeks and weeks.  The last time I had Pepé out of the garage was over a month ago and then for a ride to the January Meldrew's Monthly meeting at the Blue and White. That day it was cold.  Very cold in fact. Since then, although we haven't had any decent snowfall nor any appreciable rain we have those horrible damp days where the air seems to consist of water just waiting to make itself into rain.  The roads are damp.  Occasional overnight frosts have the local gritters out coating the "major routes" with a mixture and gritty sand and salt. It's the salt that plays havoc with bikes.  Over the years car manufacturers have got wise to this and use galvanised metal. Even the traditional rust-buckets from southern Europe are made of it.  Hence no more rusty two year old FIAT cars on the road... But. Motorcycle manufacturers may have caught up with this for the frames and stuff like petrol/gas tanks but not wheels! ...

The popular name for the Rocket's in black with white stripes is "Pepe" after Pepe le Pew the cartoon character. So my R3 can be "Red Pepe".