Throttled

Yesterday I had my worst ride ever. I knew it was going to be a challenge, riding from Lewis home, via the Uig ferry. I left my friend's house on Lewis at 1430. The first part included a ride over the A859, Bunavoneader, a mountain pass in Harris, in some very heavy winds, battling to keep the bike on the road and away from the bastarding sheep. The ferry crossing to Uig on Skye was fine, arriving at 18.00, as was the ride across Skye and the mainland at Lochalsh. Then, about 20.30, on the A87, in Glen Garry, the rain started. It should not get dark until 2130, but the rain was so heavy, it went dark. My kit is all gorextex, but that does not stop driving rain getting in around the coat cuffs and collar and even my waist. My boots and legs, as well as my body remained dry and warm, but my hands got so wet I struggled to get the gloves off at a stop in Fort William. The hand drier in Macdonald's worked wonders getting them dry again. I had to ditch my glasses, due to them streaming up. I can see, but my speedo and dials are now out of focus. The helmet visor leaked a bit, but pinlock meant it was always OK. I set off south on the A82, still in heavy rain, but stopped as something was not quite right. My dipped beam bulb had blown. Thankfully the running lights on the Versys are good enough not to draw attention from passing cars, but going from main beam to running lights and back again was not ideal. I hung back behind cars, riding on main beam as much as possible. The rain kept my speed down to 40-50 mph. About 5 miles south of Fort William there had been an accident. Someone had ended up in the verge, so we had to wait for the recovery and an ambulance to take the driver away. A Porsche Cayenne, likely driven too fast, was driven away on a low loader, its front bashed in. The delay for the first cars to arrive was about 1 hour, I skipped a lot of the queue and had to wait 30 minutes. Sheep are bad enough, but in Glen Coe, I encountered a stag. It was on the verge and I hit the brakes, hoping it would not move, which thankfully it did not. The road was not too busy and I just let cars overtake. Bikes in heavy rain and wind, with the risk of animals, need to go slow. The lack of a dipped beam caused more problems on the winding northern part of the road from the Drovers to Tarbet. I had very little light on right hand bends, so some were taken at 20mph. Thankfully no car was behind me the whole time. The rain also stopped and the last part home was fine, arriving at 0015. Ten hours and 281 miles. But, the satisfaction of getting home safely is immense.

Loch Tulla view point

A regular fish and chips at our favourite, the Fish Box in Whitby is £9.90. Locally it is £7.

I will not be able to attend. My father pretty much needs constant care and there is no one about then, so it is up to me.

I take it the building owners know, as they could make a claim to ownership, to recover costs of storing, disposing of the bike.

I got a Ring RTC 2000 battery powered inflator. Going by other pressure gauges/inflators I have, it under reads slightly. I guess, from my use, when fully charged, it will inflate 2 tyres pretty much from flat before the battery goes. It has a handy light, enough to move about in a tent with and it can act as a power bank for your phone.

Got my bike booked on to the Uig in Skye to Tarbert on Harris ferry, which I could not get any space on last year.

I just used some clear tubing that fitted over the brake valve nipple thingy and a plastic jug. Loosen it and pump out the fluid by squeezing the brake lever. The last of it would come out when refilling. Slowly pour brake fluid into the reservoir, making sure the hole at the bottom was always covered and again squeeze the brake lever until the reservoir stays full.

Same here. A shelf for helmet and gloves, trousers and jackets in a wardrobe, boots in a cupboard and bits at my lock up.

Is the wear marker in the middle of the photo and tyre, where the long tread is split by a cross piece?

Tread wise the tyre looks fine. It does look a bit squared off though.

What do think? Replace now, or wait till the service in November, at most 2000 more miles?

Bridge 49 Cafe (South Scotland) The Red Lion

Thanks for the birthday wishes. No work today, curry this evening.

How about armoured denim? This jacket looks just like my Red Route jacket that J&S used to sell. They still sell the jeans, but not the jacket for some reason. https://www.bikersparadise.co.uk/Rida-Tec-Denim-Biker-Jacket.html The air just flows through the fabric. I suspect like other armoured denim, it will cope with one off and need to be replaced, but the other side is the relatively low cost. I have armour for both of my jackets (denim summer, goretex textile winter) now, but I used to just swap it over between them.

I have ridden a lot with pillions, but I always have bikes with a sizeable pillion seat and a top box. I don't need to move as one with my pillion, who I encourage to sit upright and to keep their back against the top box. I would not like to take a pillion perched on a tiny seat like that, unless they were also a biker. If I had to, we would start with lots of short, slow rides and go somewhere to practice heavy breaking & accelerating, so you both learn to move as one.

I'll go, to camp, if camping is confirmed. Are there showers?

MOT. Pass, no advisories.

I do that. I find the cheapest canned chili or curries have more water in them and they heat up better, without burning. Breakfast is thick slices of bacon on my frying pan and I boil water for coffee. That is the extent of my camp cooking. You cannot do much more than that, with the smallest of camping gaz stoves.

The final result was we both got a warning that is active for 2 years, which does not count as a criminal conviction. My life of crime is at an end.

I thought I would go to the gym for the alert, to see what it would like in a busy place. Mine came through at 1 minute to and I could barely hear it. I heard a few phones go off, but no one reacted. Another monumental waste of government money. It is only of use in a nuclear war and then what? It will not save any lives.

The Hardknot Pass is the worst road I have ever ridden. I was looking forward to it, but it was just horrible to ride and I got it on a quiet day.

Agreed. I do not think squared tyres are dangerous, so I have ridden on squared off tyres for long periods (the squaring coming from attending TMBF rallies, which for me involves hours on the motorway there and back).

Can I get an extra 10 points for a named dog breed. The drookit dug is a breed of dog that is unique to the west of Scotland.

Took my battery pack on today's run and twice I needed it to start the bike. The sat nav and then the heated grips. Turn the bike off and they stay on, and in less than a minute they flatten the battery. So got a new one.