Like a freight train, only smaller…

Weekly Update 3 – 28/07 – 06/08

It’s been an eventful week and a bit, more so towards the end of the week but nevertheless, eventful.

I was off for a week following 2 weeks of utter exhaustion. I was glad to get time off to get my brain pointing the right way, but it took 2-3 days for the transition. I did weekly update 2 during that time so was a bit spaced out. Towards the end of the week both Blair and I went out for a quick trip, it’s been a long time since our last outing and the weather looked ok.

We decided to head around the coast via Leven to St. Andrews, “East looks the brightest so lets go that way” Blair said. Ok.

Within 10 minutes of being on the bike I was soaked, we drove through a torrential downpour only to get to overcast skies. It did start to clear up the closer we got to the coast and dried up in time for us to get some fast corners in. We arrived in St. Andrews with the sun shining and we stopped for petrol.

“You going to give me a shot to the beach?” Blair asked.

“No, I want to rumble through the streets.”

And rumble we did, it was glorious. We got through the streets and got to the beach, where the remnants from the Open (golf tournament) still stood. We had a quick look about, Blair called his lady and I called Em to see how she was getting on but she didn’t answer. Probably because she was getting scoofed with her work colleagues in the middle of Edinburgh but that’s another story.

I gave Blair the MT for our ride home and he was loving it. Every time I got close he would tear away, leaving my open visored face reverberating from both the shockwave and the sound from the exhausts. He did sit really close to the middle line as I was trying to see the right hand side of the bike (the best bit) and he wouldn’t take the hint and move over, so I just had to make do with the left. A few dodgy manoeuvres from Blair thrown in to the mix as always and it was a good day out.

All he said was “yeah, it’s great” when we arrived at my house for the switch back.

That was Saturday, covered around 100miles.

Sunday came and I decided to head to Lochgilphead to visit my Aunty and Uncle. Em and I got ourselves ready to go, complete with tankbag and rucksack, love handles etc and we were off by 10:30am.

Quick nip in to Perth Broxden services for fuel, where the till woman came out to see the bike because “I’m just being nosey”, Em filled in that she had a bike too. A fella on a Ducati Multistrada rumbled in beside me before I ba-boomed the MT in to life. We were taking the usual route of Lochearnhead up to Tyndrum, back road to Inverary and up the coast to Lochgilphead. Stopping in Tyndrum for some chow, which was pretty good, the weather remained decent, with only a small spattering now and again. I had fish, Em had sausage…

We carried on West after our lunch and the roads were on off wet/greasy.  Arriving just before Invarary I was suddenly aware of this small, slow moving thing going in front of my bike.  Realising it was a frog, I could do nothing but hold my course…spllaaaafff.

I stopped at Inverary to fill up quickly and then finish the journey, which we did in about 25 minutes.

I love Lochgilphead. It’s just a fantastic place to be. If I had the chance, I would move there in a heartbeat. We had a quick bite to eat (read 3 different types of cakes) and caught up with both Aunt/Uncle and Mum and Dad who headed up earlier than us. They were surprised to see us (Mum and Dad) even though I told them the DAY BEFORE that I was heading up with Em. Oldies…

We then headed back, which was a total killer. Emma got a bit tired and was losing concentration (if you can do such a thing as a pillion….hahaha Em) so because we were following Dad in his car, I suggested/forced Em to relax and get in the car. She wasn’t happy at all with this, but later admitted that it was good to have a rest. I trucked on and headed in to a massive rain storm, arriving at Mum’s totally drenched.

Em quickly got her gear on at Mum’s and we nipped back to our house, 5 minutes down the road, soaked.

And that concluded the weekend. Too fast.

The following week was good until Wednesday night, when I got to the roundabout at Kinross and I was quickly aware that the bike felt weird. I ran a bit wide on the first corner, got to a mini roundabout and the bike was all over the place. I stood up on the pegs and looked over the front to see if the front wheel was ok, as it felt like it was going to come off. All fine there, so that left only the rear tyre as the next logical place to look. Pancake doesn’t quite say it.

By the time I got to the turn for my street the tyre was as flat as you could get a tyre. The MT is a heavy bike (quarter tonne) so even when the tyres are inflated it’s hard to shift it round corners. When a rear tyre of this gurth (190 section) is flat on a bike this heavy, it’s near impossible to steer it. Aye you can try turning the bars, but the rims were pretty much on the deck if it wasn’t for the rubber squeezed between it and the road.

I trundled up the street passing many a teenager, feeling like a total muppet. Got home to see this:

The silver scrapes on the rim are from Hagon re-truing the wheel after the SB farce.

So pretty annoyed, and had to get the bus the past few days including today when I was stuck on the bus for over an hour due to the most anti-climatic “serious accident” I’ve ever seen. Tailbacks to dear-knows where, ambulances up the middle of traffic (2 of) and numerous police cars, all for a 5 car fender bender. I have footage. Here it is:

So that’s been my week. New tyre is being fitted today, a Metzeler Z6 which is fundamentally the same as the Pirelli Diablo Stradas, bar the fact that the Stradas have “better technology and grip” in them. Stuart doesn’t seem to mind, so that means I don’t either.

Can’t wait to get my beast back. This is a taster though of what it will be like in winter when I sell my GSR…more on that next week.

Thanks for looking all, keep doing it or I’ll not have the motivation.

All the best for the coming week,

Gordon