The Night Before Christmas

On the Biking Blog “Ride it like you stole it!” which is sadly no more by Dave Dragon, there was a poem “The Biker’s Night Before Christmas”.

I have posted this before but as it is Christmas Eve I thought I was worth posting again.

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the pad,

There was nada happenin’, now that’s pretty bad.

The woodstove was hung up in that stocking routine,

In hopes that the Fat Boy would soon make the scene.

With our stomachs packed with tacos and beer,

My girl and I crashed on the couch for some cheer.

When out in the yard there arose such a racket,

I ran for the door and pulled on my jacket.

I saw a large bro’ on a ’56 Pan

Wearin’ black leathers, a cap, and boots (cool biker, man).

He hauled up the bars on that bikeful of sacks,

And that Pan hit the roof like it was running on tracks.

I couldn’t help gawking, the old guy had class.

But I had to go in — I was freezing my ass.

Down through the stovepipe he fell with a crash,

And out of the stove he came dragging his stash.

With a smile and some glee he passed out the loot,

A new jacket for her and some parts for my scoot.

He patted her fanny and shook my right hand,

Spun on his heel and up the stovepipe he ran.

From up on the roof came a great deal of thunder,

As that massive V-twin ripped the silence asunder.

With beard in the wind, he roared off in the night,

Shouting, “Have a cool Yule, and to all a good ride!”

New BMW R1200RS Released

R1200RS 2014

BMW announced today a new BMW R1200RS.  The old RS from pre 2010 was a much loved bike.  Called a sports tourer, it was less sport and more sensible, comfortable commuter/tourer, with all day comfort for two and luggage.  It was not the prettiest bike in the world but owners loved them.

Well we finally have a new model, much more a sports tourer then the old model, I look forward to testing one next year.

Day Trip to Whitby

So what else have we been up to.  Well last week to have a break from all the work we had been doing at home we had a quick blast up the east coast and over the Humberbridge to Scarborough and Whitby.Whitby-2

It was a great day and despite the weather forecast for rain we managed to miss the bad weather, though we did have to ford across some flooded roads, but what better way then on a BMW GS motorcycle.

WhitbyI took the little Nikon V1 with me and grabbed the odd shot with the 30-110mm lens (90-300mm.

 

No Blog Wednesday

As you may have noticed its been a bit quiet on the blog front this week.  We have been on holiday so its been up and the east coast and round North Yorkshire on the Motorcycle.

BWM GS at Castle Howard
BWM GS at Castle Howard

We ended up in Whitby and enjoyed ourselves immensely, somehow we managed to miss the bad weather though we did have to ford some rather deeply flooded roads at times, but thats the fun of owning a GS, you can generally get anywhere.

The Motorcycle Season Starts

Crossing the Ford
Crossing the Ford

So the clocks have moved forward from GMT to BST here in the UK, that means as well as MotoGP starting, the British biking season  has now started, so every bright sunny day from now on will see the roads crowded with bikers.

Over the next two months we will see more bike accidents and deaths then at anytime during the year.  Unlike some of us who ride all year round most bikers hung up their leathers back in September/October so have not ridden in sometime, but many of them will jump on there bikes thinking they are Valentino Rossi, trying to ride flat-out.

If your a biker take it steady and respect other road users; and if you fancy really seeing what your bike can do, book a track day.  If your a car driver lookout for bikers coming from anywhere and give them space, sometimes bikers are not as respectful to other road users as they should be.

Break down

Well it’s rare but occasionally modern vehicles do break down.

Our BMW GS developed a fault this morning making the attempted commute to work. It would die when we turned right.

Sounded like a broken ignition wire. We managed to get home again and I called BMW who are collecting the bike next week. So we are car users for a while.

Quick shout out for Astle BMW Grimsby and their bike service department who where very helpful this morning to sort me out.

Wind

BWM GS at Castle Howard
BWM GS at Castle Howard

Its been a gusty few days; over the last few months its been storm after storm here in the UK.

Railways washed away, harbour walls broken and ships sunk.  At least here in the UK we have not yet had the snow and cold weather that our American cousins have had to put up with.

As someone that commutes everyday by motorcycle, I’ll post one of my regular reminders to four wheel drivers, please take care when motorcyclists, scooter riders and cyclists are on the roads in these high wind, give us plenty of room as you never know when a gust of wind may carry us into your path!

Cold Snap

20131122-070427.jpg
The quick arctic blast came and went. It started with a minor frost in the morning so did not effect the commute into Lincoln. The evening was another matter, travelling home in -2.5C at night on country roads is no fun. Still it makes the photography interesting. The frosty lincoln west common with low sun through the trees looked very pretty.

I often see nice photo opportunities when stuck on my morning commute. They never seem quite as nice when I go back with some free time and a camera. Such is a photographers life.

MotoGP comes to an end – the beginning of a new legend?

Well its the end of the MotoGP season for 2013 and Marc Marquez becomes the youngest ever MotoGP Champion.

Its been a great season with good performances from the British Pair in the Tech 3 team.  It is a shame that Cal Crutchlow has to move on but lets hope with Audi investment Ducati will become a force again in MotoGP.

It was also sad to find out that the BBC has lost the coverage of MotoGP, they did a good job and made MotoGP accessible for everyone.