Off on a jolly boys !!

[NattyBoy]

Well im off in an hour on what will be my first trip abroad on a bike ! (something ive been wanting to do for years) - bit nervous to be honest !

The monnies all laden up..and its down to portsmouth with 12 mates for an overnight ferry to le havre..then a 400 mile ride down to magny cours for some playtime tommorrow !

Will post some pics when I get back..wish me luck (and good weather coz ive spoent most of the afternoon cleaning the bloody bike !!)

Cheers
Nat

[Shandy]

Have a good en Nat sounds like a laugh, look forward to the pictures :flag:

Cheers,

Shandy

[giler]

Good luck, well jealous.
Still, at least Swindon will be safer for a few days!

[scrumpster]

Me thinks he could have a bit of a rough crossing as the wind has got up and it's a bit stormy in these here parts!!!

[Shandy]

I wonder if any of them get sea sick :chuckle: :chuckle:

I think i may have crossed them on the A419 coming home from work tonight, it was a big pack of LOUD bikes going the other way towards the M4 sounded great :yoparty:

[scrumpster]

I wonder if any of them get sea sick :chuckle: :chuckle:

I think i may have crossed them on the A419 coming home from work tonight, it was a big pack of LOUD bikes going the other way towards the M4 sounded great :yoparty:


Let's hope they took their sealegs :) alright for some bogging off to France for the weekend!!!

[spacemonkey]

Good luck, well jealous.
Still, at least Swindon will be safer for a few days!


Not so... I'm off to look at a 916 tomorrow and I'm probably bringing it back to Swinedon in the evening... :yoparty: and it's got luvverly Leo Vince titaniums on it...

[Shandy]

Not so... I'm off to look at a 916 tomorrow and I'm probably bringing it back to Swinedon in the evening... :yoparty: and it's got luvverly Leo Vince titaniums on it...

very nice mate, so i guess you won't be wanting that go on mine after all :biggrin: good job too cos i still ain't put it all back together yet :hissy: i really need to get my lazy arse in gear :freak:

[spacemonkey]

Yup, yours is safe for now! ;) However, I will be hunting for some black panels/tank very soon, so you'd better hope yours isn't black!! :look:

[Shandy]

Thats lucky for me then cos ive got a red un :thumbsup:

[NattyBoy]

Well got back safe. And what an experience..despite it lashing down half of the 1150 miles we covered in 3 days !!

Arrived at the ferry terminal with my 4 swindon mates to meet the other 14..smooth crossing and plenty of beer before getting our heads down at 23.00.

Woke up at 7 to a downpour and rode a short distance to a lovely little village where we had brekkie..then took the scenic route which saw us arriving at our gites about 5.

Bike was looking VERY sorry for itself by now (anyone who knows me will tell you im a bit anal with my cleaning so I was gutted when it was covered in crud !!) but I have to say that the S4R is one hell of a touring tool...especially with the DP comfort seat ! My R1/748 riding mates were fighting for a spin due to sore necks !!

Magny Cours was interesting ! Very laid back format with an open pit lane! Also very professional - free t shirt, bar of chocolate, hot drinks and pastries all day - yum yum !

I was surprised that the organisers requested we lockwire our sump plugs for the day - until we arived and saw that they had slotted in a race for the afternoon and issued everyone with race numbers so anyone could enter !! (the bikes also got scrutineered). The morning session was treated as qualifying !

Soon got to grips with the (fantastic) track. Very very fast and billiard table smooth. There is a hairpin at the end of a long straight which was like an upside down 'v' shape and it was quite amusing out turning some of the slick shod racers by using the monnies big wide handlebars !!

Would have loved to enter the race for a laugh but it was never really an option when a) I value my road bike too much, and b) I had to ride it back 500 miles!

So it was back to the village for a night out with the locals who were very welcoming, and then up in the morning for the trip home.

Funny (read muppetary) moments;

- Slamming my tank bag shut on the bike after 40 miles into the return leg, only to realise my key was still in the tank cap and I had bent it into an L shape. Absolutely shat myself getting it back for the fear of snapping it !

- Nearly running out of petrol - twice (why the hell dont any of the petrol stations take our cards ?!)

- Getting caught by a speed trap on the motorway just outside Paris doing 120 in a group of 6. The gendarmes car was only a cacky old fiat so I looked around and everyone signalled to do one (our turn off was only 6 miles up teh road. Cogged it up to 150mph for about 3 minutes and never saw them again !!

- Drinking the local boozer out of Kronenbourg Friday night !!!

The whole trip was an awesome experience - even with the weather problems and main memories I will take away are;

a) I've changed my opinion/perception of the French. EVERYONE welcomed us with open arms, the car drivers are very courteous, and everyone from small children to old grannies waved at us at every opportunity !

b) The fact that they have such great roads (and there is hardly any traffic on them) - makes you realise what a cack country we live in.

c) The S4R is just an unbeatable all rounder. How many bikes can cover that distance, in comfort, and then hoon round a track all day and embarrass many a tricked up jap IL4 (one ZX9 pilot I went past refused to believe my bike wasnt tuned to the hilt !!)

d) getting bored on the (empty) motorway..and having top gear roll on compos with all the other lads - a right hoot !!

e) Hitting 154 on a section of empty motorway and holding it for a minute or so - felt like a naughty school kid !!

So thats me..im going to get the sponge out now as you can see !!! (this was the bike at scrutineering)

http://www.ducatisportingclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1328&d=1159301280

http://www.ducatisportingclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1329&d=1159301518

Cheers
Nat

[bigredduke]

Glad you had a great time. I totally agree, riding in France is fantastic, everyone seems to have a much more positive attitude to bikes and the roads are not choked with traffic, speed cameras and knobheads in souped up chavmobiles determined to burn you off at the lights!

[MistaMonsta]

a) I've changed my opinion/perception of the French. EVERYONE welcomed us with open arms, the car drivers are very courteous, and everyone from small children to old grannies waved at us at every opportunity !

b) The fact that they have such great roads (and there is hardly any traffic on them) - makes you realise what a cack country we live in.


a) Yep, they are absolutely fantastic.

b) Yep, this IS a cack country and their roads are amazing.

Now imagine a fortnight of that: bliss! Ok, I've not done the going round in circles stuff (if you don't count multiple laps of roundabouts trying to find the right exit) but touring Europe and doing mountain roads is just the best adventure on Earth.

I say we all move to Fance or Spain or Italy!

Ian
PS My mates have bought me another track day voucher so might see you on track again sometime :biggrin:

[Lizard_King]

Sounds like u had a riot, Nattyboy, cool write-up! Glad ur back in one piece :)

Did a similar trip up from Nice in June on my S4R + DP Touring seat and totally agree, what a fantastic all rounder it is! Even fully laden with tank-bag, ventura rack and my girlfriend the bike was a dream and didnt give us a days jip (mechanically or physically) over the 2300 miles!

I second the move to the mainland! Vive La France! (...lets not get carried away!) :)

[Shandy]

Good write up Nat, sounds like a blast.

I like the bit about legging it from the cops :D

Cheers,

Shandy

[Darry]

Sounds like you had lots of fun!

I arrived on Bike in Paris this morning and agree with your comments about the french attitude to bikers, everyone is so curtious, and the roads are so empty (accept Paris).

Darry.

[NattyBoy]

To save me arsing about resizing pics...a few here...

http://www.ducatisportingclub.com/showthread.php?p=345323&posted=1#post345323

[Pedro]

OI!

can't you use www.photobucket.com instead of the dsc site, I can't see the pics, keeps asking for a log on

[NattyBoy]

Cant use it...works PC bars the site and im getting fed up of arsing about resizing pics...