sunday, i'm so nervous about the coming weekend's racing at cadwell i feel sick, yesterday i nipped up to neil's at ashfield and dropped the oil on the ducati, new filter and a quick 80 mile blast from mansfield to newark on what neil calls 'the test track', i turn off onto the a617 through sherwood forest, got wet through in a really heavy shower and back home, today i head out on the sporty, i'm fed up with derbyshire after last weekend, i head south into leicestershire, through kegworth and onto the a6006 down through rempstone and wymeswold into melton mowbray and down the 606, skirting rutland water and into oakham, onto the 6003 and another county, northamptonshire, i pull onto the forecourt of the harley/ducati stratstone dealership, have a brew and kit-kat and observe the two-tribes, one harley davidson [tm], people, buying lifestyle [tm] clothing, and blister pack nick-nacks to add to their already overweight, overpriced over-rated bikes, proudly flying their 'hog' patches, listen, if you want to wear a back-patch, man-up, go and join a proper club, the other lot are dressed head to toe in dainese leathers complete with hydration humps and custom shoei helmets
it's interesting to listen in on the conversations, 'yeah, i'm going for the big 300 backend, custom spray-job with gold leaf and performance machine calipers over winter' and the 'yeah, i bought my girlfriend the 848, it feels so slow after the 1198 especially with the drive out of the bends', i finish my tea and clean my visor, i'm ready to do what i've come here for, the thirteen miles of road known as the b664, probably the best biker road in britain, technical, hairpins, jumps that remind me of kell's in ireland, [never been, hope to next year, but iv'e got the dvd], brilliant, no old bill, bumpy and fantastic, i'm panting as i arrive in market harborough after fighting the big harley, i must stop here one day and have a look around, it's a lovely place, i head out onto the second best biker road in britain, the b6047, imagine the most scary theme park ride, times it by six, add a dash of blind summit's, off-camber triple apex bends, gravel on the line, tractors turning out of fields and flat-out, stupidness and you still can't imagine it, it fucking scares me to death but i still love it, ride it before the powers -that- be ban it, back into melton and i slow it down, i make my way over to melbourne via peggs green and wilson, past donington park, this time last year it was the international norton day, today it's eerily quiet, into sawley, past the marina and into dale abbey, last time i stopped here the kid's were little, 8 miles away from my house and so much history, i pull off and park up, walk to the surviving eastern arch, it's massive, the abbey, long gone now must have dominated the skyline, it dates from the 12th century and stands proud over 8 metres high, 'with every morn's uprising, pouring wide, along dark aisles a splendour still the same, as when, each dewy prime, with reverent guide, the white robed company came. and now thou standest broken, bare and lone, reft of thy pride, a crumbling frame of stone', dale abbey by thos.l. turner.
it's interesting to listen in on the conversations, 'yeah, i'm going for the big 300 backend, custom spray-job with gold leaf and performance machine calipers over winter' and the 'yeah, i bought my girlfriend the 848, it feels so slow after the 1198 especially with the drive out of the bends', i finish my tea and clean my visor, i'm ready to do what i've come here for, the thirteen miles of road known as the b664, probably the best biker road in britain, technical, hairpins, jumps that remind me of kell's in ireland, [never been, hope to next year, but iv'e got the dvd], brilliant, no old bill, bumpy and fantastic, i'm panting as i arrive in market harborough after fighting the big harley, i must stop here one day and have a look around, it's a lovely place, i head out onto the second best biker road in britain, the b6047, imagine the most scary theme park ride, times it by six, add a dash of blind summit's, off-camber triple apex bends, gravel on the line, tractors turning out of fields and flat-out, stupidness and you still can't imagine it, it fucking scares me to death but i still love it, ride it before the powers -that- be ban it, back into melton and i slow it down, i make my way over to melbourne via peggs green and wilson, past donington park, this time last year it was the international norton day, today it's eerily quiet, into sawley, past the marina and into dale abbey, last time i stopped here the kid's were little, 8 miles away from my house and so much history, i pull off and park up, walk to the surviving eastern arch, it's massive, the abbey, long gone now must have dominated the skyline, it dates from the 12th century and stands proud over 8 metres high, 'with every morn's uprising, pouring wide, along dark aisles a splendour still the same, as when, each dewy prime, with reverent guide, the white robed company came. and now thou standest broken, bare and lone, reft of thy pride, a crumbling frame of stone', dale abbey by thos.l. turner.
mint, wats this best bike pic in gateway competition
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