InvictaMoto's Red Pepé Blog

Today a short ride out to the  Blue & White Café  to meet Cal and Ian G from the Meldrews for breakfast.  Afterwards I had a short ride around Ashford and the back across country and home. I hadn't intended the Tour D'Ashford but I was in the wrong lane and a guy in an Audi stopped me changing. When I say stopped he almost ran into the back of the car in front to block me from slipping in front of him.....  Rather than give the wanker the opportunity to think he had won I went a different way. A warm day and hopefully the start of another attempt at summer.

Late. Eventually got around to buying one of these. Maybe a bit too late after the hotel tumble in Alençon. If only the Oxford lock had come with one! Reminder!

The last ever St Nicks Rally to be held.   St Nick and his Piets I have lost count how many I have been to since my very first back in 1985.  Then we went on my MZ250ETZ. Two-up  with a cheap plastic top box with our things in.   Back then we went practically every year and stayed in the the Hotel Polaris. That became quite the annual event until one year the Polaris wasn't available to book and it had closed down.   We gave the weekend trips another year but it wasn't the same and gradually the "tradition" was over.  We revived it some years later and began going for the day and joining the run to meet St Nick at the quay, where he came in by fishing boat along with his Piets. Eventually we started going for the ride and later to watch the ride out with St Nick.  It seemed it was getting smaller each year.  One year I went and couldn't find the meeting place and the city was devoid of the usua...

I missed the run to Hinckley and the visitor centre experience at Triumph due to sickness. I picked up a stomach bug that lasted for four days!  Saturday to Tuesday.  Two days off work and my weekend ruined. Even more of a pisser was that the two days off work meant I had a train ticket that was wasted as there are no refunds! The next event will be the Allied Memorial Remembrance Ride to Madingley Cemetery on the outskirts of Cambridge. It's July 6th this year.  I am probably going to be Billy No-Mates again but it means I can go at my own pace and not have to ride as a group until we get to the rendezvous at  the services on the A14 to the west of Cambridge.  I have planned a route up to the services and from their to the cemetery and home will have to be from memory!  ;) Last year I thought of visiting the NAAFI canteen that is open at a former WW2 fighter station at North Weald.  In the end I missed it as I was in a hurry to get ...

That was quick. Less than a week after sending my report and pix this certificate arrived in the post. Hopefully my bit will appear in the August "Nacelle", the TOMCC magazine.

Almost time to do the Meerkat Shuffle and check potential premiums for the next year. I don't just do "Compare the Market" aka Meerkats but also "MCN Compare".  With a start date of 27/6 I've not had long to get any premiums to check. They only quote 30 days in advance of renewal. Currently I am insured with Just Motorcycle Insurance, their address is the same as Carole Nash in Altrincham. I've not a renewal through yet but on the comparison sites JMI has disappeared from both.   Instead Carole Nash Select has turned up. Same deal as JMI?  I was with Carole Nash for many years and their policies come with included breakdown cover whereas the Select doesn't. But Select is basically very cheap with plenty of add-ons like the breakdown cover. With a car and Claire having a car we already have cover for them too. I emailed JMI and mentioned that they had gone off the comparison sites to see what they say and what my renewal is ...

Not quite as planned as the extension of a trip to the dentist but as a separate run in its own right. Not that I got away with going to the dentist. That was done in the morning. Four minutes in the chair and £22. Kerrching! As it was sunny, rather than do nothing or watch TV, I got togged up. Changed the route on MyRouteApp to miss out the dentist stop and found that the prospective route became 70.5 miles. I set off in warm sunshine. So I wore my Joe Rocket mesh jacket.  Of course my waterproof jacket and pants were with me. Wrong. The first planned stop for a photo was  Walmer Castle . In the end going through the seaside village of Kingsdown, firstly the narrow road was blocked by a truck delivery beer to the village pub. And then by a huge truck with a digger on the trailer reversing into a new building site. Another load of millionaire homes to be built? By the time my phone recognised my face it was almost done . Through a screen .. P...