Pigeon
Arrived home to find a visitor in my front room.
The 'ready to wooooo women fire' was disturbed. I guess she had fallen down the chimney. I finally grabbed her and put her outside.
Results
I know i said i would never mention the side car weekend again.....but a small update.
We came second!! Hopefully the prize is in the post!!
May 28, 2007
No one had stolen Beauty, she did not go up in flames....she was still sat there in the barn. I made my excuses and left Adam as fast as i could heading for the M40 and home. A two hour ride on the wet motorways of England on MY bike was heaven compared to yesterday.
Never again.
May 27, 2007
Rain...we woke to rain.
We kitted up and left for the pub where the 'rally' was to start. It was organised by the Citroen Specials Club, and anyone on 3 wheels was welcome to join them....hence why we borrowed and 'outfit'.
The ride there was wet....big puddles! The Beauty had a special trick....water from the from wheel would be sprayed into the sidecar - nice!!
The pub carpark was littered with strange vehicles....all mainly based on 2CVs and most of them leaked fuel!!
We set off at 1131...in the rain. 12 answers were needed, then back to the pub for a quiz.
It rained. It rained some more. We got fuel...and it rained. We had a 70sec Rustler burger and it rained. We struggled up the steepest hill ever, in the rain. We misfired, coughed, ran out of fuel (still had reserve), and generally spent a lot of time discussing if the bike would make it home. The most common thing we said was - "Never again". "Never again will we borrow or ride a side car".
We made it back to the pub for 1518, did the 'quiz' (based around vintage motorbikes....i had no idea) and then set off home - of course, in the rain.
Topping up the oil turned into a mission....everything turned into a mission with this bike!! We had to borrow mole grips from the friendly AA man, just to get the oil fill cap off. By this, Adam summed it up with a picture:
The M42 was wet.....we 'cruised' along at 65mph (which feels like 100mph in the 'chair'). Then.....we start slowing....we head off the motorway and park up almost in the foyer of a service station out out the rain. We are losing power....no WD40, so we let the heat of the engine dry out the electrics. 10 minutes later, Beauty fires up again and we set off a little slower and avoiding the spray.
Off the M40....just 12 miles to go until we are home - where we can park Beauty and sit in the warm and dry of a house and just generally not be anywhere need her!!!
After making it up Edge Hill Adam lets out a 'whoop' and punches the air - nothing can stop us now....home is so close. 2 miles to go....coming to a junction we slow down...then this happens. We spend over 20 minutes swearing and laughing. She just wont start!! Finally, i end up pushing her down a hill and we have a one chance bump start....she goes and we are off!!
4 minutes later we are home....NEVER EVER AGAIN. If you ever hear of Adam or I talking about getting a side car, please remind us of this.
Over a beer and food, we decide NEVER to discuss this weekend again. Never again. Never ever.
May 26, 2007
The plan was to 'spanner' the Beauty. The clutch was very heavy, the throttle was very heavy and the engine made all sorts of noises and showed a general lack of wanting to power us along at any real speed!
Spannering actually involved establishing that the heavy clutch and throttle was not to be easily solved....the cables were fine, the heavyness was more that we were prepared to tackle. It also involved lots of people sitting on the Beauty and experiencing the experience.
We then set off to Church Stretton where we were to met Tarka on his Ural. The sun did come out once, then it started to rain, so i put the roof on and had a sleep whilst adam rode in the wet.....i was starting to like this sidecar business.
We also performed a few overtakes
The hotel:
We walked into town to meet the Ural crew....we guessed it might rain - Tarka came fully prepared - the last thing i expected him to be carrying was a small brolly!!
It was lashing with rain....it did not bode well for the next day......
May 25, 2007
Rode to work on the bike, then through the center of london and onto Banbury. A 30 minute ride to Buckingham to pick up 'Black Beauty':
We (Adam and I) have borrowed a 1981 1100GL Honda Goldwing with a Wessex side car. Adrian (ably assisted by son Jack) ensured the outfit was ready to go when we arrive. The ride home took twice as long.....we did hit 64mph at one point. Normally Adam would be racing superbikes.....now, we were flat out and just keeping on the tail of a 1998 VE63.
By a complete bit of luck, there was a rally of other side cars going on on the way back to Banbury....we took a liking to this beauty:
A 1942 Zundapp KS750. Room for 3 troopers, and a trailer. 4 gears plus reverse and a high/low splitter!!
Then, it was back in the 'chair' and a late night chinese takeaway at Chez Atkins - of course, we had to do a lap of Banbury town center first. It woooed the local ladies!!
- Posted by thestowe on 26/05/2007.
- 2 comments
New Job - May 23, 2007
Started the new job today....
Wanted - billionaire playboy type person to fund a few more months of travelling places.
Up early - May 22, 2007
Bed late...me and Chris were left to finish of the wine and champagne!
Then, at 0500 i woke up and could not sleep....so, are with the camera i documented the morning!!! Full pics here.
For those who don't have hours to flick through my photo obsession.....highlights:
Fossils - May 21, 2007
We went a fossil hunting!! Not really that successful:
Some of us slept
Then, another blast further south to one of the best places in the world - SALCOMBE
Me, Chris, NC, Rach and Mark
Lyme Regis for dinner - May 20, 2007
A long blast down down the excellent A303 to Lyme to meet Adam and Becks for dinner.
Pulling off the M3 round the big right hand bend and onto the A303 is one of the best feelings.....a sure sign that you are on holiday and going somewhere nice!! Passing Stonehenge is the second landmark....and then the left hand bend in some small village. The hatrick of landmarks was complete - i wsa on holiday!!!!!!!
Arrived in Lyme Regis at the old Customs House:
