Mad dogs and English men. We’re off for a ride, Bazzer my usual wing man will be sorely missed, this time it’s going to be ‘Jorg the laughing German’. So it’s going to be mad dogs, an Englishman and a German. Are we bonkers with the current Covid situation in Spain? Noooo, I’ve had Covid19 good and proper and figure it has to give me some kind of immunity until the virus mutates. Let’s hope my antibodies are still going strong but as for Laughing Boy, yes he’s bonkers! Besides, Cooperman of this Parish has just returned from the Picos and my thanks go to him because he says take masks and the usual sensible precautions and it’s fine. Added to that the situation in the UK is going horribly wrong and you could catch it just as easily here. Above all inside a full face helmet and behind a buff has suddenly become the safest way to travel, who’d have thought? Alternatively we could always wear condoms the whole way down, that’s supposed to keep you safe isn’t it? We’re going, that’s it and then isolating on return. To add to the confusion I’m not ‘Popping out on my bike’ I’m delivering a bike to southern Spain. Here’s the confession.... it’s a GS! A GS!!!!!!! I never thought I’d see the day when I rode a bike with a top box but last year I did a tour with the Mrs and a top box, as some of you may have read. Now this year I’m touring on a GS, “I.......don’t...believe it”! I knew this year was going to be bad but I didn’t expect to be confessing this. Here’s a picture of me on the bike. It’s going to be an interesting comparison.
I see the Heffers ESC is not working. Too much front hoof as well I see; that’ll always lift the back!
Be careful Sam, they do make life very easy. Next, you'll be posting in here. https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/forums/ducati-bikes-for-sale.98/
Strange days Up early and round to the local tyre shop to get Jorg the Laughing German’s rear tyre balanced properly. The drongo that put the tyre on originally set the red dot opposite the valve. Then unsurprisingly had trouble balancing it. By 9am the dot was where it should be, tyre balanced, wheel and silencer back on and I was cooking a full English. Only to receive a text saying the sailing was delayed by about 6 hours. Oh merde! We spent the day twiddling thumbs, weeding out unnecessary items from the packing and repairing my Ghost S action camera. To my surprise when I reassembled it, it worked perfectly. It pissed it down mid afternoon so the delay was a slight blessing and we took off at about 6.30pm. We figured if we put full rain gear on it would turn out nice and it certainly did. We rode through a lovely evening and saw the darkening evening sky come down through turquoise and orange to meet the black silhouette of the trees as we headed south. Even the flashing lights of the airliners looked good in the sky. You remember airliners. We got to the ferry terminal in Portsmouth bang on time and there was a bit of a wait until we could board. There were noticeably less men waving (Covid?) but eventually we got onto the ferry and went down the yellow ramp into the belly of the ship. Weirdly they made us socially distance going down the ramp but we followed instructions and did the big U turn to get to the bike lashing down points. Whereupon laughing boy put his foot on the side stand flipped it down, lost his footing and 110Kilos of straight faced German hit the steel deck, shoulder first. ‘Gott im Himmel, das ist not good’ I thought. Naturally we didn’t bother picking him up but three of us picked up his K1200s. A bit of a scratch on the side fairing but that was about it. No lever breakage. Result. Poor old boy, he was so cross with himself it was all I could do not to laugh. “40 years of biking and I fall off in front of everybody while stationary on a ferry”! I’m not sure what was more bruised, his shoulder or his ego but to compound issues the ships nurse turned out to be a male. ‘Not Laughing Boy’ is in the cabin with a sling and pain killers and I’m in the bar with a red liquid pain killer. I’ve always thought the thing about humour is someone has to suffer. It’s not politically correct but I’m sorry I can’t help but smile. Besides, he’ll be fine tomorrow. Strange days.
Das Boot Someone in the cabin behind us had left a door ajar and it was banging away all night. Eventually I got up to find my earplugs, turned on the phone only to find it was 7.55am...no point, game over. The Laughing German wasn’t laughing but at least he was beginning to smile. As I’d paid for Brittany Ferries ‘Club Voyage’ discount scheme breakfast came included in the ticket price and was good. The events of 2020 had prevented me using this discount scheme until now. I’d have been better off not being in the scheme paying full price for the ticket and the breakfast, but hey, hindsight gives you 20/20 vision but nobody saw 2020 coming. I thought I’d try out bro number 1’s Garmin to see if it was better than the TomTom. It clicked straight into the GS’s mounting and worked straight off the bat. The thumb dial on the left handlebar works well but it took me about 90 minutes to program in tonight’s hotel, which is only 15 minutes from the port. Mainly because the hotel gives its address as the street opposite the one it’s actually on. The Garmin refused point blank to accept anything I typed in so eventually I had to drop a pin in the location that I’d looked up within minutes on my phone. So far I like the Garmin more when en route but the TomTom is easier to input. However the Hotel’s stupid address caused the Garmin to malfunction, I can’t blame it for that so the jury is still out. I’ve logged onto the ships WiFi and a young girl from a Hong Kong dial code is trying to strike up a conversation with me. Oh yeah? No idea if she’s in Hong Kong or on the ship... I don’t think we’ll be chatting. Bulletproof Betty aka the Mrs has messaged me saying there’s been an announcement of 25 cases of COVID-19 occurring for the second time, happy days! Laughing boy is an Architect so he’s drawing up plans, which means his shoulder is beginning to work. Das ist good. The waiter has just told us we arrive at 10.30pm, which is an improvement, which translates to 11.30pm Spanish time, which isn’t. Rain is forecast so that’s not good either, maybe we’ll be lucky with it though. The forecast was worse when we should have arrived. I’m wondering how Dovi is getting on in qualifying verses Vinales and the quality Quatararo at Le Mans. What a debacle this season is turning into for Dovi. I get the feeling Ducati are shooting themselves in the foot, again. Das Boot continues to thunder it’s way towards Santander. Hopefully we won’t submerge before we get there. All is calm, in fact it’s boring.
Envious mate, I’m booked 26th but distinct possibility it’s next Sunday as I can be ready I reckon...ride safe....hopefully your mate can get off the boat upright
