InvictaMoto's Red Pepé Blog

Moto2 was the first of a Marquez brothers benefit day.  British interest was minimal with Jake Dixon on the Angel Nieto team Triumph. In the end there was a three Spanish rider podium. I was down behind the VR46 grandstand at the end of the start/finish, queuing for the chance too pee up a wall in the official pissoir, when Marquez was on the podium. Suddenly loads of them in the grandstand starting booing and stamping their feet. Not very sporting. Back in position and before the MotoGP race there were speeches (in French) and then La Marseillaise. Hardly a whisper from the French. WTF? Tune into a rugby international and especially in Paris the French blow the roof off the stadium with their singing! Our interest was in Cal Crutchlow who had qualified 15th. And a second choice of Jack Miller from Australia. And of course Valentino. In the end Miller briefly took the lead in front of us before   Mark Marquez cleared off. Jack eventually dropping ...

Started off badly!! We loaded the bikes and Neill set off and I went to follow. CLUNK!! In all the messing about I had set off with the bright yellow disc lock still in the front wheel and we took a tumble in the car park.  Luckily I had my left foot on the ground but Pepé is a heavy bastard and my leg crumbled and I had to lay it down.  It looked as though it rested on the left pannier. One of the French guys ran over to help. Filled will embarrassment I had it on two wheels without much help. Adrenaline I guess! The only damage was to the lock itself in that the key wouldn't unlock. It turned part way but the lock body itself was a bit skew-wiff in the casing.. Luckily another  French guy (GS1200 owner)  with an adjustable grip wrench broke the casing to get the key to turn. Otherwise I'd not be going anywhere. Phew. Modified Lock After that the ride down was a little odd as I was picking up every noise and weave in any uneve...

Up early and breakfast taken in the hotel. We were away by about 0845 and the non toll road route took us the best part of 50 minutes. In the Rouge car-park they check the bike and with a log book put a sticker on the headlight and matching receipt for you. As we didnt have log books with us we ended up with wrist bands. Then we were off with our chairs and waterproof trousers. It drizzled all-day. At least with somewhere to sit it was less miserable between practice and qualifying. We'll a bit nearer the Dunlop bridge tomorrow. On the way back we stopped at a war memorial to Leclerc's armoured division that battles locally after D-Day to capture Alençon. Some shopping at Lidl and then dinner at Buffalo Grill again. Tonight was Caesar salad night. Up earlier tomorrow.

When we went in 2012 it was pretty miserable and it rained nearly all the time.  We hardly had chance to get out of our waterproofs the entire weekend. The weather forecast id looking better this year - but do we trust weather forecasters at all? So what to pack? And more importantly what to wear on the ride down? And what to pack it in?  I have the Klicbag panniers but they are rather small for a long weekend away and need something extra.  Okay, four days and three nights away. When Claire and I went  to the Somme for the centenary I bought the Saddlemen sissy bar bag. It is enormous. Superb for two of us for a long weekend including dress-up suits and dresses. Later the same summer I used it for Czech for the GP in 2016 and It was great for a longer trip and I was able to stash some wine bottles in it.  So I need to find space for pants/socks/.t-shirts for three days, jeans and trainers (that take...

In France there is a move towards reducing the level of congestion in the city and on the périphique and as a product of this to reduce pollution. The system is called Crit'Air . The movement is spreading to other areas of the country with major cities and départments signing up to the "lower emissions zones" (LEZ) idea. Essentially the idea is that when the air becomes bad, and it is usually in summer when the warmer air holds the smog in the air, that they can close areas of the city, and open them to lower emissions classes of vehicles.  And that is determined by the CO2 output of the vehicle. Every vehicle accessing the city must carry the crit-air sticker on the windscreen/shield on the right side lower. On the bike it goes on the upper right of the fork leg.  They even produced a video on how to affix it! Pepé is Cat 2.   As we intend to go to France in the summer, I have applied for a sticker at a cost of €4.21 incl...

Once the widened and more comfortable seat comes back we can get some longer trips under our belts to get Claire back into the swing of being on the bike. It's a few years since she last had a longish journey when we went to France for the Somme Centenary in July 2016. Three years is a long time away. But planning goes ahead. Ideally for the bike or failing that in the car. I am planning it as a bike trip but the posts are on the Devall Travel blog that we both contribute too.   That blog can be linked here :   The target area is the Vercors region to the south-east of Lyon and north of the Cote d'Azur. It is an area of some dramatic scenery and some rather odd roads, many of which are on the  bucket list of many riders, such as  Combe Laval and Petits and Grands Goulets .

It's a bit premature, but if you don't act quickly then the opportunity is lost.  I was looking at the "local" MotoGP dates in the calendar for 2019. As we are going to Assen in September for the BSB Round in the car or by bike (to be decided) I discounted that round.  It doesn't leave that many within a few miles of the channel ports and so I thought of Le Mans and the French MotoGP. It's the weekend of 17-19 May.  It's not a school holiday and so I should be able to get the Friday and Monday off the "book-end" the weekend.  I checked on booking.com and of course there's hardly a hotel in sniffing distance of Le Mans itself.   So I have booked a hotel,  on the usual "no prepayment/free cancellation" basis in  Alençon .  It's called the  Hôtel Inn Design Resto Novo .  Part of a small chain across France. When Neill and I went in 2012 (!) we stayed at the Formule 1 hotel in  Alençon .  We ate in the n...

After attending Vimy100 in April 2017 I have been looking at going again 2018. I fully expect that it will be a more relaxed affair than the Centenary this year where there were around 20000 people attending the event. When we went in 2014 we were able to park in the parking​ lot right by the visitor centre. Unlike this year where there were park and rides setup with buses to the site. I'll probably be Jean Sans-Amis again but hopefully less of a cock-up like 2014 when I managed to get lost after deciding to leave the satnav at home! Although I did all the planning for the 2015 trip I was unable to go after my heart attack less than week before. So fingers crossed for good weather etc. More information. Update 23/10/17 Booked the Eurotunnel shuttle today. The cost is £30 so no point using the £50 voucher they gave me after so many delayed and cancelled services.

Day 2. After the long day the day before I was feeling a little tired and after the early night,aided by two pints of Monaco at the restaurant, I slept most of the night. I set my alarm on my phone for 0800. By the time I had showered and got changed I got to breakfast to find all my travel mates already there.   We had a good chat over breakfast and by the time we were ready to leave it was easily 0945.   The first stop was to be the site where the Red Baron was shot down. Somehow we had missed it last year.  It would be easy to miss as it is simply a small notice board at the side of the road. The next stop was only a few miles along the road. Grove Town Cemetery where David wanted to look up one of his relatives buried there. Although from Google Maps the cemetery looks to be in the middle of farmland, what it didn't show was the rough track to get there. Unlike the Pals, we couldn't miss this one. At least Neil got to take his new Honda Cross Tour...