MooN

Left home at 08:00 this morning, 10 hours and 450km later ( including proper lunch, coffee and beer stops) arrived in Saint Cirgues en Montagne, about to attack the apperitfs… tomorrow, The Ardeche.

daughter signed up for amazon prime so I've hacked her account and am watching "The Good Doctor" but I imagine I will get bored with it before series 3

Hi Russel, Ignore the peanut gallery... you'll learn to sift throught he dross and find some pearls ( you'll need to look hard, but they are there). Bobo neleg's question is the good one, cos a 650 sports bike might be a bit of a handfull for starting out, and yet a 650 cruiser or traily type would be better adapted, so don't stick at cc but horsepower and size. Remember this mantra f your looking for a budget 2nd hand machine; Cheap and fast won't be reliable Cheap and reliable won't be fast Fast and reliable won't be cheap on top of that, remember that if the deal looks to good to be true, it probably is... I would advise getting something you can get both feet flat on the ground with, its reassuring for a first bike. add to that something the will retain some resale value so that when you get bored and want something bigger and faster, you can sell it on ( so not italian or chinese). let us know how you get on and we eill take the piss accordingly

Nope, i was busy doing “me”.

Brother in law is going on a temporary transfer to a specialist centre in Hyeres tomorrow and needed some stuff dripping of for him in Lyon before he leaves. Wed planned to go and spend the afternoon with him sunday to take him his stuff. But, the cat escaped from the colditz courtyard on Thursday night, reappeared on friday in a bad way. Vet says she got bitten by a dog so 4 stitches and convalescent. Didnt want to leave her alone all day Saturday so Mrs Moon stayed home & i decided to run down to Lyon and back by bike. 4.5h run south ( no motorway) getting there at 14:00. Sit around in the warm and dry taking the piss out of brother in law whilst a storm front goumes through from sw to ne and then a 3 h night blast up the autoroute home for 22hoo ish. Boy did i get that plan wrong! left here 09:00 having checked the weather radar and realised the storm front was moving faster then forcast and starting to rotate north. i stopped about an hour out to zdd a layer under my jacket cos the temps dropped 5°. Again an hour later for a quick slurp of coffee from my flask and a 2nd thermal layer. I was already on the northern edge of the storm fron and the rain was coming down steadily. I got a bit further south before finding a bus shelter to eat me sarnies in whilst watching alternately the rain and the weather radar. It become very clear over half an hour that i was going to have to bail on the brother in law and rely on that age old tried and tested military strategy of” running away”. The storm front was moving much faster than id thought and the main body was now right between me and Lyon. The weather radar shows the storm had reached the Rhone valley and stalled, curling north in an anticlockwise rotation, generating wind and lightning strikes along with heavy rainfall. i misread that completely! And rode home with my tail between my legs ( metaphorically. Though the rain eased as i got further north i definitely found the limits of ALL my rain gear well before i got home. I dont remember being so thoroughly soaked in years. i am decidedly too old for that shit. i’ pit brither in laws stuff in a box and sent it “chronoposte”. 400 odd km round trip, 300of which in steady rain. on the plus side im not aching all over this morning, and the bike didnt miss a beat.

I got some saddle time on monday, Rode down to St Pourcain sur Sioule ( between Moulins and Clermont ferrand). 435km round trip in 7 hours ( 5 hrs riding) bike running great after a half days fettling sunday, greasing the brake discs, tensioning the handlebars, topping up the blinker fluid and all that...

I'm a little surprised that I still haven't recieved my invitation to the coronation yet...

Thank you gentlemen, I will pass on your remarks.

"There's no excuse for suzuki ownership"

Oh I never said h'd listen to me... but I did say I'd ask.

Gotta be sofia I think. Pete' pic is... well it's Pete innit... Marcel has snow which is good, but that bike is just fugly! Buckster has a trailer, so obviously not Ren mahaged to get photo bombed by some miserable looking SOG Alfalfa had the makings of a good picture but then some eejit dopped a boat anchor in the forground blocking the view Pedro has a great shot but Pedro ALWAYS has great shots, which I'm borderline jealous of Specs has a castle in spain but Sophia's better looking than Specs, so she gets my vote

or anybody else who's actually ridden one. Srambler 900 questions, not for me, but daughters boyfriend is passing his test at the mo and is looking for a bike. He was looking at a triumph scrambler 900 (2nd hand but from a dealer) and I stupidly said " I know a bloke wot's got one, i'll ask him how he likes it" ( I was probably a little drunk at the time...) His will be restricted to 47.5 HP for the A2 licence ( I think) I'm vaguely trying to steer him in the direction of a Trident as being better adapted, and more saleable as and when he changes his mind as to what he wants. Thoughts?

old enogh to know better, young enough to not care.

i believe he was

that actually sounds quite nasty

OH FFS! The Cat just fucking farted on me and it bloody stinks! I think we mistook a skunk for a cat, it's bloody awful.....

organise. I've ridden in groups for years one way or another and 2 stand out in the effective simplicity of the organisation. It only works, however if everybody is aware of how it works. The group I usually ride with here, I rode with for years on my Tralp whilst others wre riding FJR1300's, R1, CBRR thingies, all much faster bikes and some petty capable riders. Not everybody needs to know the route, but when riding, a fster groupe will often break away and leave the slugs ( me) in their dust. I just keep going straight on at my best speed knowing that they will be waiting for me at the next direction change or at the top of the pass or whatever. When we're overnighting we usually plan to get to the overnight spot with enough time left for the speedfreaks to do a short sprint loop or even an out and back, depending on terrain. simple but effective if everybody plays the game. When we have a rider we're not used to, one of the group will always play the trundleslug and let the new rider know that when the nutters right wrist gets too much for them then at least one other bike won't be trying to keep up. The other group whos' system I liked was Aus Touring when I met up with them in the Vercours in 2013 Glitch ( the organiser and experienced tor leader) and his wife Goodie had it sussed and a short explanation from them alloed me to fit almost seamlessly into the group for 2 days with no problems, Glitch leading ( failrly fast most of the time) and goodie bringing up the rear, whenever there was a change of road or direction, the 2nd rider would wait at the junction till Goodie arrived, with 8 or 9 riders, all experienced and capable, this worked brilliantly, progress was good and nobody got lost ( despite a couple of them falling off a some point before I joined them I would still maintain that the price to pay for being a better rider in a group is that you have a responsibility to the less able.

in my misspent youth... swept out to sea in an 8 foot wooden sailing dinghy when I was about 13. The fact I didn't drown that day was pure luck.

to be fair, that shouldn't be happening. the better, more expeienced riders should be able to adapt their speed to the lowest common denominator and not incite them to ride beyond their abilities. ( yeah, idealistic I know)

Cars only. you're supposed to be equipped to replace a headlight bilb at the roadside. So many modern cars ( specifically Renault & Citroen) need the fron bumper taking off and the light removing to do this that it is no longer enforced. On top of that vehicles with xenon lights and such don't even have bulbs so... If you need a bulb most supermarkets and all motorway service stations have large selections readily available. happy to look at whatever you've planned.

I'm leading a ride from here down to Saint Cirgue en Montagne in the Ardeche last weekend in May. " too long, too short, too much autoroute, too much minor roads, we should eat here... and so on and so forth. Friday we have a club meeting where I will say that i'm happy to navigate the ride down, I have already plotted the route, I shal be leaving from this point at this time, following this route via here and here. either follow me or don't, I'll see you at the hotel at 18h00 for l'apéro. End of.

gimme a shout if there's anything I can help with France wise.

ive asked him to send me a pic of finished bjects, as and when.