Eunos Chump

BRRRRMMM, BRRRMMM! This was great fun and I reckon an improvement on last time (certainly got passed less), but it was a sea of red flags.  I think we only completed 1 session without incident.   A chap fell off right in front of me, I believe he was OK but it was sickening to see - one moment he's confidently hooning out of a bend, the next he's tumbling down the road in a foetal position.  It exposed the fragile human-being beneath all the gear and bravado and left me questioning what I was doing.  It is such a high though; pushing the machine and yourself to the ragged edge of your ability, having your fate quite literally in your own hands; perhaps it's satisfying some primordial instinct.

My old Heine Gericke Boost 2 jacket is sadly no longer waterproof, despite 2 dips in Nikwax TX Direct.  It's 4 years old and has done a lot of miles, so I'm not upset - I'd probably buy another if they hadn't gone bust.  It's replacement is an Alpinestars Andes: I've only worn it around the house so far, and I regret to inform you that the waterproof membrane and armour have provided precious little protection from insults from family members about how fat/bald I am.  Hopefully it'll fare better against rain/Vauxhall Vectras. I've also bought a Forcefield back protector seeing as trackday shenanigans are becoming more regular.  No, it doesn't protect against kicks up the arse - ask me how I know. Also... fed up with the MX5.  I used it yesterday as there was huge rain going down, and it was horrible.  It's noisy (more so than a bike with ear plugs), the footwell filled with water, the clutch is heavy... basically I want a big soft luxury ...

Visited Brackley Bike Festival at the weekend, and witnessed these fine vehicles: Also sat my arse on a MSX125 again (still want but not enough to pay actual money for one), and a Suzuki GSX-S1000F which was excellent .  It's sporty-ish yet very comfortable, has enough fairing to keep the wind off and is about £10K new.  Probably all the bike you'd ever need. In other news, Angry Roger is going back to Rockingham on August 29th.  He loves that track, and soon the long months of cold and wet and dark will return so I can't deny him.

I've been on me holidays, on the Norfolk Broads! The only available crew was this youth (seen here making some kind of nautical hand signal): Norwich (which is Anglo-Saxon for 'Miserable Shithole'), is surprisingly scenic from a boat. Yarmouth - always more disappointing than you remember.  Check out the treats in store at Britannia Pier (OK, the Frozen film is good but £15 for a ticket?  And what sort of person doesn't already know the lyrics?) Sometimes the broads are huge... Sometimes narrow... Being August, finding a mooring for the night was often difficult.  If you wanted to play it safe you'd start looking at 3pm.  On this occasion we left it very late, and had to settle for some 'wild mooring' before it got dark.  My GPS showed we were miles from any houses or roads, and it was pitch dark and absolutely silent during the night. Unfortunately I kept being woken by nightmares about the boat floating away and sin...

This was an absolute blast, the final sessions were some of the most exhilarating times I've had on any kind of vehicle.  Sadly there's no video as the camera didn't record; some Googling has revealed that if you start recording immediately after switching on the Drift HD camera, it'll cut out after a short time, with zero bytes recorded.    Morning sessions were not so good.  First session, the new Brembo pads hadn't bedded in and the brakes were so poor I considered going home.  There were also several people who were clearly in the wrong group, and pretty much every session ended with a red flag as somebody chucked their bike at the scenery. Come the afternoon, all the naughty folks had either been sent home or crashed, the brakes had bedded in, and I'd found my way around the track at last.  Didn't pass many folks, mostly I was working on my cornering technique (the International circuit is full of bends), and body position.  Still ...