InvictaMoto's Red Pepé Blog

Who would have thought on an afternoon ride I would get to lean the Rocket over further than Mark Marquez, the MotoGP World Champion does week in week out, lap after lap!!! Yep. Truly unbelievable. And of course bollocks.  The Yamaha My Ride app was running and in the same pocket as every other time. How it got my usual 20° or thereabouts totally wrong,  I have no idea. Anyway, today up through Hythe, Sene Valley up to Alkham Valley to Whitfield. Fuelled up at Tesco and then down the A2 to the Duke of Yorks, down past Dover Castle and back home up the A20 and then off to the Battle of Britain Memorial but it was closed so I went past without stopping. Down through Folkestone and the coast home. No photos today. Only My Ride. And that's it for today.

Another nice summer morning. I pulled Pepé out of the garage and tried to set the Yamaha My Ride app working. Since last time it lost my login details and I couldn't be bothered to mess about. H's cafe is near Lydden on the A2 between Canterbury and Dover. H's is alongside the Kent Motorcycles Honda dealership. Out back is a former Little Chef restaurant that Kent use a a rider training centre.  I was going to meet fellow Meldrews MCC member Cal there. And of course any others that made it. Today none did. My outward journey was up over Sandling onto the A20 where I was left for dead by Marc Marquez and his brother, or what passed for them in this part of Kent. The A20 between the turning by the High Speed Rail link and the M20 J11 as far as the J12 junction is a "bikers road". It can be fun. Some guys ride like they are the aforementioned MM93. I split off as the first junction through Postling, Lyminge and Elham Valley. All very relaxe...

An early start. Definitely. I guessed that Pepé wouldn't start without an infusion of electricity. I was of course right. Without dbPower he is d e a d. Looks like  new battery in the new year. Maybe one of the Motobatt "big yellers" like I had on the GS a while back. Plenty of cranking amps. Anyway, the miles to empty gauge showed 1. By the time I got to the first meeting point it was up to 81. Remember this. The ride across the top of the Marsh was done slowly. There are so many leaves on the road. On the edges, and down the middle where they have been thrown by cars and trucks. It is very easy to come a cropper!  At the bottom of Knole Hill in Aldington I set the Yamaha My Ride app running, then headed to the meeting place.  To my surprise the app worked!  Only short but at least it worked. The phone was upright in my inside jacket pocket. I will reveal  the stats later.  It was slippery underfoot remember! From Hams...

On the ride out to the transport museum I tried out the Yamaha My Ride app for the first time. My brother had it on one of his trips and so I thought it might be a bit of fun. I kicked it off before leaving the museum, sadly it cut off after just three kilometres. Have no idea why as I didn't move it in my pocket.  In that short distance I managed two roundabouts and it measured me with left and right lean angles of 14°. Only  14 degrees. And there I was hoping for better.... Not quite in the Mark Márquez zone.  Next time I am out I'll give it another try...  Bit crap.