DangerRuss58

Admin please remove if this has already been posted or if I have put this in the wrong place. For a little while now Pete and I have been talking about going on a couple of rides, relatively long rides, then in May he went into hospital to have a couple of stents fitted. I have tried to contact him a few times over the last 5 or 6 weeks then this afternoon I received a message from his son Scot who informed that Pete had passed away on the 18th May because of heart, failure he never left the hospital!! RIP mate

Sounds like a plan to me

Seems to be that way but it was a gorgeous day for a ride and it didn't cost me anything so....?

Sunday dawned and the sun shone so I decided to go to a bike and car show that I saw advertised on one of the Facebook pages. I rode down to Alguena which isn't that far from Alicante and found the bike show consisted of one guy doing wheelies and endos along with shredding his rear tyre, the sort of things that teenager do before they get their licence. I didn't stay long I made my way back along the N332 from Alicante which runs along the coastline pretty much all the way home. Interestingly enough I took my time I was in no rush I actually stuck to the speed limits, short shifted and never went over 71mph. When I got home my bike was showing 4,4 litres per 100 kms fuel consumption which is a little over 64mpg not bad for a 1200cc machine, I filled her up this afternoon ready for tomorrows ride out with my ex pat friends, I brimmed the tank and it only took a little over 16 litres I had dome 310 km and with a 23 litre tank, which meant I had another 100 kms left in I was impressed. I have to apologise for all my spelling mistakes I try to go through everything I write but being rather dyslexic means one or two do get through.

No I have looked around and to be honest I don't see anything I like, I don't want too many electronic gadgets. as an ex electronic engineer I cant think of a worse place to put electronics than on a bike LOL and at the monet all the manufacturers seem obsessed with making bikes lower shorter and more compact while I'm getting bigger LOL so think I will stick with the Yam for now

I really feel for all of you in England at the moment with al that cold wet freezing weather, here in Spain we have had some gorgeous weather lately I personally feel that temperatures in the low 20s are the perfect riding conditions LOL. So last Tuesday evening I got a message asking if I fancied a little ride the next day. I said yes of course. The following morning I set off for Castalla met up with a few friends and off we went around the mountains of Alicante and into the Valencia region. We stopped off for a coffee on the way and eventually we found ourselves not too far from where I live and we rode through the devastated landscape of what is left after the massive wild fire from last year. The fire that got so close to my village we were put on standby to evacuate the neighbouring village and already been emptied. I was amazed at how much land had gone up in flames we rode for miles and it was burnt trees all t he way. We eventually stopped for a lunch just outside Pego and headed for the coast and some sunny twisties.

That's exactly how I feel

On Wednesday the sun was shining the temperature was ok so I dragged the bike out of the garage early. loaded up and went for a ride to meet up with some friends for lunch in Cortas de Pallas which is in the mountains to the west of Valencia. The roads around that area are great biking roads. When i got home 300 kms later I noticed that my total for January already outstripped my total mileage for the whole of last year, Was that a bum year or what? In January last year the bike had its first ITV (mot) as it was four years old I took the crash bars off as I had added them after I bought the bike and as fellow Spanish dwellers know we have a sort of type approval thing going on here. I was going to put them back on but I never got around to it, it might be just me but I think the bike handles a bit better without them.

Yep the weather has been really kind to us here in this part of Spain, its getting colder at night now, and early in the mornings I have to put a jumper on, but I'm not complaining and yes I will be out and about a bit more now...fingers crossed

Yesterday I dragged the bike out of the garage again my brilliant wife had a day off and the weather was cracking so I decided to go on a ride out with the group of ex pats that I have been out with a hundred times in the past , so I managed 310 km and boy I couldn't move this morning lol It had been a while since I had ridden the twisites around the Costa Blanca and I have to admit I had a bit of a boo boo my foot slipped off the brake pedal and I missed the corner went down and along a concrete drainage ditch nearly hit a concrete post I managed to just miss it and steer the bike back on to the road where I had to stop for a wee moment or two until my heart started working again.

It seems like its been forever since I last made it here. The following is a boring video but for me it was like all my birthdays came at once. It took me years to sort out my licence exchange here in Spain we had been lied to, which seems to happen a lot in officialdom here, we were frauded, deceived and had all our on line records lost, but I got there in the end, just in time for the cataracts in both my eyes to be so severe that I could only see about ten feet in front of me, then came the problem with the hospital they lied to me as well. honestly I could write a book about what has happened to me in the last three years. So with he bike being all legal and with the ability to see again I rode down to Castalla to meet up with the boys that I used to go out riding with every Wednesday. I didn't go on their ride out as it was nearly 300kms and I had done 180kms just getting there and back, I'm not fit enough yet. But now I have a smile a mile wide on my face, god I missed the bike.

Sorry just seen this, yes it should go through now but I may have to have another medical as the previous one has now run out

Not yet no we have to resubmit to sort it all out our application but they have already had our uk licences LOL but we now have another 6 month grace period

Finally Spain and England agree on the driving licence exchange so I can legally go out on the bike again. My first problem was the battery was flat the bike had only been for a service along with it's firs itv (mot) test since las May. The problem being I have no electricity in my garage only a generator which packed up so I had to remove the battery which meant removing the crash bars etc. as I was doing all this I smiled to myself as a couple of weeks beforehand I found out that the wonderful Spanish government hadn´t actually made a law regarding ex pats and driving. Oh well. So yesterday I got the b ike out and went for a wee ride, not too far but far enough around 90km. When I got home every bone in y body hurt but I had a snake a mile wide so good to be back out.

Hi Pete the weather here has been very mild...at the moment so making the most of it..Happy New Year to you as well my friend