InvictaMoto's Red Pepé Blog

Not a lot of news lately. The weekend was about chocked with all the usual life problems.  So I planned to pull Pepé out on Sunday morning. Instead  I was a bit under the weather. Something in the Tom Kerridge prawn curry upset my stomach.  Then I watched the crap football from Leicester and then it pee'd down. Heavy rain and the aftermath of Storm Hannah battered us. So. After work tonight I took the 🐕 for a walk and then hauled Pepé out. Although washed before the Meldrews' run a few weeks back. But all the mud on the roads was stuck under the engine and transmission. Panniers off and the extent of the muck could be seen. Spray with various concoctions and a bit of scrubbing with an old washing up brush. Cleaner. Some surface rust gone. Rear wheel still looks shitty.  Poor show from Triumph to leave uncoated alloy wheels! Ready for the weekend. Where to?

When I said to Claire I was thinking of a ride to Exeter to see Oldham play the local side in League 2 of the EFL. She just replied to say it was "fanciful". Then I had a look on Google Maps and it was perhaps a little far for a day trip.  Nearly five hours each way and that's without any traffic considerations to impact the journey. So that was definitely fanciful.  So where to instead?

Looks like I will miss this one again.  The changes to our flights back from the US mean that I can't get up there.  A PITA but that's something to accept. I should be able to get to the Dover Classic Bike day on May 12th though. The Meldrews go there in any case and the local R3 boys will have a meet and greet there.  Two birds with one stone. Update - Easter Sunday Jetlag. After 33 hours awake I was dead to the world until after 11am. So. No Ace Day for me.

Another Sunday and another Meldrews Sunday breakfast. This time we were meeting further north to give the more northerly members a shorter ride. So it was the turn of Gibson's Farm Shop.  It's only about twenty miles for me. The countryside through Sene Valley and Elham Valley is rolling downs dotted with sheep and vineyards on the south facing slopes  The downs here are chalk just like the famous Champagne hills to the south in France. Sadly the sun brings out all kinds of pests. The biggest is cyclistese lycracladious.  They can be found either individually or most commonly in large groups. And it is these that annoy everyone, whether in a car or riding a motorcycle. The arrogance level is through the roof. It's almost impossible to measure but it is evident as soon as you close on them. That aside. The weather was warm and sunny and with us now officially in Spring riding is so much better. Breakfast and chat over it was time to get back home. ...

It seems so long ago since I had an update and so I sent Messenger note across to Elsemade to see where I am in the queue. I am now 19th instead of 33rd. Hopefully it will be ready before summer in time for Claire to get some miles on it before we head off the France in August. Update 9th April Upto 8th.

Today was fitting day. After a few days of unseasonably warm and dry weather, it turned a little damp and colder. Luckily it stayed dry and with Claire bringing the tyre in the car I took the motorway route. Amazingly, the amount of mud around the new junction wors  on the M20 and the road down to Kingsnorth covered a once clean under carriage.  Once fitted I had a ride back. Luckily Pepé didn't need the dbPower to start at Laguna as he did first thing in the morning.  With "miles to empty" showing 23 miles I decided to drip into Tesco just up the road.  The fuel station was packed with three or four cars queuing for each row of pumps. I rode through and off to the M20 home. With the gauge telling me in about three miles that the 23 had become 0 I decided to fill up. I went along the coast to Seabrook and filled up. Nought to empty meant I could only get a fraction over 17 litres into the 24 litre tank. The first fill up since October! And a ...

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