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Mooching around Polkerris last night. It occurred to me how big was that fecking stapler.

It was a beautiful day today , still cold but no wind so perfect for a ride so I decided to head for a cafe that someone had told me about near Cirencester. I tried to get there by taking as many roads as I could that I haven't ridden before.............. It didn't look like much from the outside but inside the cafe area was very neat, I like the ceiling lights made from used tyres ............ Next to the cafe was the showroom with some really cool bikes , some of which are for sale............

Forecast is great so tomorrow i will be staring with some van action and then styling and profiling on the XR with one or two others from the TRF. Sunday will probably be a recovery day. Planned route

A bunch of Kawasaki's ............ Some old skool off roaders ........... You don't see many of these ..........

Nice day for it

Coming out isn’t that important in this day and age @Buckster but I’m happy for you.

Used up a tank of fuel mooching around mid Cornwall today with Grace for company. First off headed up to Checkered Flag for their Wednesday bike meet. About 10 there, some interesting stuff there. Especially liked the new GB350S in Black. Real nice 1979 Suzuki GS1000G with 21k miles for £4.5k which I didn’t think was bad. Very tidy. Anyone know what a Cheetah is, can’t say I have come across one before Old boxer with 97k for sale. Could do with some cosmetic TLC, supposedly spot on mechanically. Grace had a look around the second hand gear but it was expensive I thought. The has a second hand Schuberth C3 Pro with a filthy headliner for £100, I know you can get new for it but seemed expensive to me for a second hand lid. Confused trying to work my phone After Checkered Flag we headed down the Glynn Valley to Bodmin to show Grace Thor. Proprietor still a Cunt, warned Grace never to spend there. He had a big selection of Indians and chinky chonky stuff. Still like the look of the Gold Stars but wouldn’t buy one there. I would rather travel to Exeter to get one than buy from Colin. We then headed on to Damerells to look at the good stuff I do like this new colour Hornet 750. and Grace is convinced she wants a Hornet 500 but her A2 is a while off yet. Hand some dinner in Damerells cafe then headed up the North coast to Bude for a coffee then back home via the A30 across Bodmin more. Trip stats and a fuel tank of fuel used. Filthy All cleaned up now. Good day out in good company. Bloody cold though and I missed the CBF’s screen.

The Dear Maid managed to drop her bike again. I got the phone call I dread last night, from a tearful Shadow informing she had dropped her bike. There is a railway bridge near Par Docks entrance where Artics from the docks often drip diesel, just for good measure there are two manhole covers on the bend as well. Just past the dew point last night when the road is a bit greasy she spun out coming out from under the bridge. Luckily is was low speed, traffic was light and she is okay if a little scuffed. Little damage to the bike, the footpeg bar is bent, couple of scabs on the plastic work on the bike but the bike already has some battle scars so nothing to worry about really. Also knocked the visor off her helmet. Helmet and visor aren't marked but one visor pivots is broken, ordered a new set from HJC for £20. Of more concern to me was that she was not wearing her boots but Nikes so she has scraped up her foot which is troubling her, not serious but painful., Also had a lump on her right leg that I can see will bruise up. The footpeg bar is going up to her uncles to be straightened out so I will repaint that and fit it. I had a moan at her for not wearing her boots and protective bottoms, but to be honest, in perspective it's probably the type of spill most of us has had when young and daft, she is okay and relatively unscathed. Quite impressed how tuff the little CB125F is. Stress I could do without nonetheless.

3,200 miles later and I'm back home after another drive to Ohio to move stuff. What's 475 miles wide and looks like this the entire way, you ask? Fuckin' Kansas. Cool sunrise pic as I was blasting down th road though...

Had lunch with my brother and a friend in a proper northern portuguese place, only just now making it back home. I barely survived the huge amounts of meat and wine. I was smart enough to be in a car with little brother although many people met there on bikes, a few shiny Harleys too.

In hospital, finally had the bits of bone removed from my vertebrae. Not sure how long in going to be in for, I’m hoping they let me out tomorrow. Absolutely hate hospitals ….

Hi all, I'm returning to biking soon. I started on an RD 50 in 1987, progressed to an RD 125 in 88. Had a couple of years off after being sinful and getting a car lol. Then passed my bike test. That was about when I met the wife who swore I would never have a bike as they are dangerous. Little did I know that she really meant it. Anyway after 30 years I'm finally divorcing her and my new Mrs is well happy for me to have a bike. So, what do I get? Keep getting conflicting opinions from people and online. Love the ninjas so first thought about the 400...then the zx4rr showed up and seemed ideal apart from some saying you have to thrash it to find the power. Then I've spoken to people who say don't bother you'll soon get bored, go straight for the zx6r! Tempted to use them as an excuse and go for it but not sure it's truly a wise thing to do. Then there is the Aprillia rs 660 Anyone out there with good advice. Ps I'm a very active 54 year old (scaffolder/ultra marathon runner) and did a fair bit of scrambling in my teens.

Took the Hornet for a ride today. Went to Ericeira unannounced, as usual, called Sofia but she was unavailable. So I went to watch the sea little bit. Came back home enjoying some twisties along the way.

Just got back to the UK, we drove 1000km across France, a bit of Germany and then Switzerland and back again, lovely smooth roads with no pot holes and people who understand the concept of lane discipline, only two tiny areas on roadworks. Back out of the tunnel at Folkestone, bumpy crappy potholed roads, utter inability of drivers to keep left unless overtaking, we got a total of 1 mile before the first cones started. Why people risk their lives to get here from Europe is beyond me. I’m going to check online to see if I can claim political asylum somewhere in Europe.

So you’re not ginger, you’re wife isn’t ginger, your daughter is ginger and Pete was ginger?

Yup, my hole is still bleeding and my farts no longer make a noise.

Rode an NC750X for 400 or 500 km the other day. Nice and capable bike, I like the integrated trunk Looked at Harleys today And also rode @Sofia’s speed triple for a little bit today. It’s way better than the NC so she wanted to change back Random Tenere picture, proper Tenere too And drove @Sofia‘s Barchetta for 300km today, too

Corrected

The day started with a friend (Adam) picking me up in his van, no promise of sweets but a ride was going to happen for sure LOL. He was arriving at an ungodly hour for a weekend 07.30, so i was up at at 06.00 to make sure i would curl one out before we left. Stopped for a bacon and egg rolls on route and arrived at the meeting place just after 9 full and ready to go. The two other lads we were meeting turned up a few minutes later. They were harder than us as they rode the hour and half up to meet us but they arrived freezing cold as it was -2c, the van was definitely the best choice today. Adam was leading the ride following a route i plotted the other two lads i had not met before one was from Swansea and the other i think Newport way but originally from Spain. Both on KTM 690's and Adam was on his GASGAS 701(KTM690) and me on my old XR. I ended up leading everyone to the first lane as Adam was having issues with the overly complicated way he was trying to navigate the route. After whipping through the first lane I hung around here as i noticed nobody was behind me, the ground was rather muddy and slippery and the two lads when they caught up were no longer complaining they were cold We stopped for mike to sort his handguard out which had worked loose and Adam took the opportunity to work out the bugs with his shat nav and then took the lead Done a few really mucky lanes and stopped in Erwood cafe for a coffee. We had been riding for about 2 hours but only covered 14 miles due to the sloppy ground conditions Erwood Cafe was an old railway station, the track has been taken up but the platforms are still there not much to see. After the Cafe we headed up onto the Llanbedr Hills where the trails opened out and were far less muddy, but the grass was deceivingly slippery so had to take it easy with the throttle. Look at the chemtrails, where's @zzzak when you need him LOL Further on Mike found out just how slippery the grass was when his bike flamed out and he tried to bump it on the fly ended up binning it and had to remove the loose hand guard as it was now hanging off. Look at that beauty best bike there LOL Adams Shat Nav went AWOL again and we missed this lane, he seemed a bit miffed when i said lets go back and do it especially because he got stuck there LOL Then mike decided to swap ruts and dropped the bike again. i couldn't put the stand down to help him so took a photo instead Halfway along the route we stopped at the service station at Crossgates for dinner bikes were a little dirtier than the other bikes there. After our bellies were full it was an 8 mile road ride to the next lane and our furthers point from the van. A lane called water breaks it's neck named after the waterfall on its southern end. It's a great lane with fantastic views but a hell of a lot of gates to open and close. Jose showing off again i don't think he's worn a front tyre out Adam decided he didn't want to do the next few lanes around new Radnor which i was a bit disappointed about and if i had rode the bike up instead of going in his van i would have split from the group and done them on my own. Travelling all the way up there to miss those seemed a bit stupid to me, anyhow we skipped them and moved onto Black Yatt which is pretty much the same as water breaks it's neck but with a lot of large puddles to go through. That's it for the photo's, the ride back to the van was a constant cock up of navigating with Adams overcomplicated shat Nav, he passed lane after lane and we ended up getting back to the van all on the road but it was still a good day. Now i have to go and ride the route on my own to do the lanes around New Radnor and everything else that was missed to fix my OCD issues. LOL

Had to drop of a bill to a client.....took the scenic route

Been in the mid 50f's the past 3 days...& not a cloud in sight So I've been running my chainsaw through the back yard, cutting up dead fallen limbs of a few trees....which is a bit challenging at times trying to hang onto it w/ my hook....but I prevailed & got my 4x4 wheelbarrow (truck) filled up with debris that I'll be able to empty at the local dump next Saturday....for FREE. It also felt great to get a coupla Rides in as well... With the fast melt we had recently, there's been a few signs of erosion around....makes me glad I live where I do & not down near the river as it's quite full & flowing pretty quickly. The hillside at my place is so full of tree stumps & roots, that erosion doesn't have much effect. The hill on the right side of these tracks, showed a few spots where run-off was apparent...yesterday there was a coupla rather large rocks that let go & rolled down onto the tracks...somebody obviously moved them so later in the year, the excursion train can pass through w/o issues...

So @Six30 is always taking the piss out of my car but today I saw proof that he knows nothing . In the village of Acton Turville they were celebrating it today , bunting , kids pictures, the lot Ok, so they got my name wrong , I'm not Steve but that's a small insignificance .............

You weren't being nosey Nute....its just human curiosity...no worries. A big part of my recovery was proving to myself that I could still follow through & finish w/ some of my projects.... like rebuilding a 5.0 ltr. V8 from the crank up & installing it into my truck....as well as doing the same w/ my '88 XT 600....all with these.... My 2 oldest grandsons now own those vehicles....which was another turning point in my recovery....learning to Let Go of the old life & embrace the new.

Shoshone Falls ID....

Prolly because we are the only ones actually riding this time of year . Excluding Bobnophone of course

@Gordon, sorry about @Six30, he is part of our DEI program, his proclivities mean we can tick at least four different boxes on the inclusivity requirements. Back to your bike choice, you should follow the advice given and buy used so you can see if you are going to be able to live with a particular sized bike before putting big money down, I don't think you would stay with a 400, you will pretty quickly find yourself wanting a 600 or bigger. You need to live with a bike, a test ride only tells you so much. You should speak to owners as well but remember that opinions are like assholes and @Six30 is the smelliest asshole of all.

Sweet '46 Chevy pickup...

That will last until @Six30 tries to bum you.

February 12th outside Damerells

Me a couple of times but i only have one photo. Didn't you go to the dragon this month

Young couple that live next door to me have just made a sex tape........ obviously they dont know yet..

That’s always the way Clive, I’m just not putting anything off anymore. If I can afford it I’m doing it.

marcel wants back in dont he ...

Lower than I thought it would have been. Cool. Our house is at 10,000' / 3048 meters. Cool today at 4F / -16C . Some pics from the journey to town today...

Found a new Bike Shop less than 15 minutes from my place. I sort of knew about the guy but for some reason I didn’t think he was up to much, probably cause someone slagged him to me. Anyway went up there to get Shadow’s new back tyre fitted, nice to be proved wrong top guy, friendly, helpful and with reasonable prices. Also finally got around to sorting the boys ped. It needed new front pads but being made of Chineseium one of the pad pins stripped and the old ones wouldn’t come out. When this happened I had a sense of humour failure and just got another calliper from eBay. All bled and fitted so he has new brake fluid as well now. I know if he ever buys one of these things again I will strip the callipers and anti seize them before use. To be fair the ped has been flawlessly reliable in the 2.5 years he has had it. Probably crumble to dust for it’s first MoT in August

Be very afraid ................

Few pics from bike show..

I think @Six30's brother nicked your scoot @boboneleg https://www.facebook.com/share/r/14hYecsdFp/

Planning next Summer's ride - that's what happens when you sit alone in you house for months one end in the Winter. So far, here's what I've come up with - 21 days and 9,300 miles. Who's in? Anyone?