Well that was equal parts exhilarating and exhausting!
It’s funny how the human mind has the capacity to ignore, and even forget, the suffering of the human body, when the suffering is in pursuit of a goal. For us, it was the summit of Snowdon. This was not the end goal, but actually the start of the reason we had travelled here; to descend on mountain bikes.
Continue reading Snowdon StruggleOh god what have I agreed to…
Steve has been pushing me to come mountain bike down Snowdon for a while and finally I had relented.
Continue reading Snowdon PreparationI had forgotten how much I like the smell of two-stroke, pine forest and sweat.
The chap in front had brought his own bike which was just singing along. We blasted along the fire roads and every now and again he would give it a cheeky squeeze sending gravel shooting back at me. It wasn’t a race, we were heading to the next area of technical trail to tackle, so I just hung back and enjoyed the view, the smell and the experience of handling such a wonderful machine.
Continue reading Yamaha Offroad Experience ’21We had spent the night in a Brecon car park with a Victorian river garden adjacent. We walked the promenade and around the quaint village and enjoyed a rare, warm and dry evening in Wales. Just because we were in a van in a carpark doesn’t mean it was all stodgy pasta and plasticky water. Oh no no!
Continue reading Home Sweet HomeThe email to Ducati clung to my fingers as they reluctantly depressed the keyboard rhythmically…
I had to get another document that was identical to the one they had already supplied, apart from one, minor difference. I hated every moment of it, because I knew that the request was completely unreasonable and that the poor secretary who, until this point, had been very nice and helpful, would shortly think I was being ridiculous for the sake of annoying her…
Continue reading The Tale Of The Ducati – Pt.5What came next, was the most vexing and pointless application of bureaucracy I have ever had the misfortune to encounter.
After checking off each of the points on the rejection letter I had received, I was confident that I had met all their requirements. I expected the next letter from the DVSA to be a bog standard template letter with my name at the top and a Registration assignment somewhere in the middle.
Apparently not….
The reasons, as you will shortly find out, caused me to literally seethe with anger. I’ve never seethed before. I may have hummed or growled with minor annoyance, but never seethed. I’m quite a calm person I like to think, but what followed next brought my blood up to boiling temperature as I achieved a level and intensity of anger known only as SEETHING…
Continue reading The Tale Of The Ducati – Pt.4Up to this point, while it had been vastly more expensive than I had ever imagined, at least it had been relatively straightforward. Basically, bend over and let anybody take a bite out of my ass for as much as they wanted.
Now I actually had to get the piece of paper that would let me ride the bike on the road, the registration document (V5c)
Continue reading The Tale Of The Ducati – Pt.3I was right!
When I got the quote for shipping it came to £542. I considered that a bargain ( compared to the abandonment and total loss I’d experience if the Ducati continues not to sell… ) and arranged with the motorcycle dealership to have the bike delivered to the port on my behalf.
Continue reading The Tale Of The Ducati – Pt.2Once upon a time a plucky young man decided to go on a journey. It would take him far away from home to a place of Wonder and Excitement. Amazing things he would see and Fantastic Experiences he would have on his journey. This place he travelled to was called…
And while it would bring the most entertaining tales to tell, it has a tragic and costly ending….
Continue reading The Tale Of The Ducati – Pt.1We woke with a triangular view out into the fields beyond our quirky AirBnb. The bed was on a raised sleeping platform in the eves. This allowed us a view directly out the window opposite where some huge horses were starting the days graze. From here we could look over the edge, past the beams, and down into the minimal living space.
