Invited to join a rideout with some local riders I was looking forward to the planned swoop through Hampshire and Sussex in the sunshine. The starting time of 10am suggested a more laid-back approach to a day's riding than I'm used to. We IBA riders normally start rides before daybreak and after many, many miles of boring and pointless motorway we stop somewhere, often back where we started, and call it a day.
Well today was very different, not just for delaying the start until the middle of the day, and we set off towards the wild open countryside, no motorways, around us. Three youngsters - Panigale, Fireblade, GSXR and me bringing up the rear on my old man's dirty V-Strom. Soon we were moving at a somewhat faster pace than I normally adopt but fortunately it turns out that I actually can ride a motorbike and I quickly realised that speed limits are regarded as mere suggestions. Indeed, I later discovered that Sussex police "performance awards" are considered to be badges of honour among the real riding community.
So yeah, turns out even Iron Butt riders can do fast twisties when following proper bikes, head down, throttle open, just do it! Anyway, having just got the cobwebs off my handlebars and warmed my tyres, 25 miles, we pulled into ye olde biker cafe complete with a carpark full of assorted motorbikes (wierdly, not a single GS) and picnic tables laden with assorted bikers. This is surely the life! Who can resist the fit young leather-clad eye-candy, the cappuccino, the bacon bap, the sunshine.
Blending in seamlessly with the youngsters I learned probably all there is to know about the different kinds of cans that can be fitted to a Honda Fireblade, where to get reduced size number plates, the fact that a "tail tidy" whatever that is costs £120 when fitted to a Ducati Panigale as well as the relative merits of HJC and Arai helmets (the latter is better apparently). After almost three hours, when the others started ordering refills and more food, I realised that we had done all the riding we were going to do and "normal" riders spend quite a lot of their time cleaning their bikes, modding their bikes, or talking about bikes, rather than swooping about in the sunshine. Also, it being a reasonably warm day meant that some of the fit young things were having to peel off tight-fitting leather racing suits and, as well as me being a very happily married (to the hottest woman for miles around) man (she was looking over my shoulder), I'm pretty old now and have to take blood pressure meds even without external stimulation.
I made my excuses and found a rather longer, twistier though calmer, ride home, alone. We're all different and there's a time and a place for everything but that particular example of "twisty riding with mates" didn't press too many buttons for me. I've long understood that the long-distance stuff I routinely do is regarded as hard work, boring and dangerous but almost all of my experience of biking other than that leads to the conclusion that actually riding a bike is the real minority sport. Today's 20 minutes in the saddle followed by 150 minutes in the cafe was perhaps one of the more extreme cases but didn't seem too removed from my earlier experiences. It was fun sitting in the sun talking bollocks and admiring the views but I'd really prefer to be out riding my bike.
Well today was very different, not just for delaying the start until the middle of the day, and we set off towards the wild open countryside, no motorways, around us. Three youngsters - Panigale, Fireblade, GSXR and me bringing up the rear on my old man's dirty V-Strom. Soon we were moving at a somewhat faster pace than I normally adopt but fortunately it turns out that I actually can ride a motorbike and I quickly realised that speed limits are regarded as mere suggestions. Indeed, I later discovered that Sussex police "performance awards" are considered to be badges of honour among the real riding community.
So yeah, turns out even Iron Butt riders can do fast twisties when following proper bikes, head down, throttle open, just do it! Anyway, having just got the cobwebs off my handlebars and warmed my tyres, 25 miles, we pulled into ye olde biker cafe complete with a carpark full of assorted motorbikes (wierdly, not a single GS) and picnic tables laden with assorted bikers. This is surely the life! Who can resist the fit young leather-clad eye-candy, the cappuccino, the bacon bap, the sunshine.
Blending in seamlessly with the youngsters I learned probably all there is to know about the different kinds of cans that can be fitted to a Honda Fireblade, where to get reduced size number plates, the fact that a "tail tidy" whatever that is costs £120 when fitted to a Ducati Panigale as well as the relative merits of HJC and Arai helmets (the latter is better apparently). After almost three hours, when the others started ordering refills and more food, I realised that we had done all the riding we were going to do and "normal" riders spend quite a lot of their time cleaning their bikes, modding their bikes, or talking about bikes, rather than swooping about in the sunshine. Also, it being a reasonably warm day meant that some of the fit young things were having to peel off tight-fitting leather racing suits and, as well as me being a very happily married (to the hottest woman for miles around) man (she was looking over my shoulder), I'm pretty old now and have to take blood pressure meds even without external stimulation.
I made my excuses and found a rather longer, twistier though calmer, ride home, alone. We're all different and there's a time and a place for everything but that particular example of "twisty riding with mates" didn't press too many buttons for me. I've long understood that the long-distance stuff I routinely do is regarded as hard work, boring and dangerous but almost all of my experience of biking other than that leads to the conclusion that actually riding a bike is the real minority sport. Today's 20 minutes in the saddle followed by 150 minutes in the cafe was perhaps one of the more extreme cases but didn't seem too removed from my earlier experiences. It was fun sitting in the sun talking bollocks and admiring the views but I'd really prefer to be out riding my bike.