The Winter Months

I had my zx6r around for a few months leading up the christmas. It was great but I didn't have the right location to be able to effectively clean and maintain it. It became a big distraction when it came to work:

Sitting at University doing some work and my foot would tap my helmet under the table. It would get to around 2 o'clock before I gave up and succumbed. It got me thinking that maybe having the bike around (in my final year) was a bad decision. I looked into my (ridiculously) expensive insurance and realised I could get around £400 back from moving my bike to a garaged location back home. I set about planning an end of season trip before my bike would go into storage, indefinitely. The plan was to go across the A69, west, to the road leading down to Alston - the Hartside Pass. I would take the bike down to Lancaster where I would stay with a friend living there. Then I would take the bike south to Helvellyn in the lake district, climb the mountain, return, stay a further night, attend the MCN show in birmingham before finishing in the south east.

The anticipation was immense, I suddenly realised this was the best part of biking for me, long, complex trips. Although it was roughly planned, the route was completely down to how I felt on the day. I left early on the first morning, I was carrying a lot of stuff, especially considering I had gear to climb a mountain the following day. The Hartside Pass is familiar to me now, I must have been down it 3 or 4 times. The weather on the day was supposedly terrible, the start of winter and I was running cautiously. As I peaked over the top of the pass, the way was misted and desolate  The cafe was closed and I was the only vehicle around. The road surface was damp and cold, not ideal. As I started down the first series of U-turns the sun begun to shine through the clouds. After around 30 minutes, I witnessed the best views of the pass I'd ever seen.

I carried on down to lancaster, arriving late in the evening. As usual I was freezing cold - the final dual carriageway is endless and harnesses the winds from the surround hills. It took me around 3 hours to fully recover from the cold and aches of a hard days riding. The plan to climb a mountain the following day looked worrying as the winds had really picked up. Some forecasts had predicted extreme weather conditions for the lake district.

I awoke very early the next morning to be greeted to ridiculously high winds, some of the fastest I've ever experienced, let alone ride in. The way down to Keswick was hard but bearable, it wasn't until I got onto the less maintained and more exposed roads that it became stupidly difficult. The bike was heavy on the back and it was catching awkwardly on the side-wind. The bike was weaving dramatically and in points, the bike was crossing the white lines that signal the side of the road. I was doing around 40mph in a 60mph which I thought would be frustrating for the cars behind me but I think they understood the elements I was up against. There have been a handful of times I've been scared on the bike and this was definitely up in the top 3. The combination of extremely heavy rain and wind had completely drained me by the time I had reached the car park at Helvellyn's base. Nevertheless, I packed away my biking gear, covered the bike and headed up the 12 mile route, alone and already drenched.

I never made it up the mountain. I got to around 800 metres before the wind stopped me from going any further. I hadn't climbed any summits other than this and I didn't know my physical limits. The weather was terrible and I was alone. The situation got far to dangerous for me to continue and I walked back to the bike. I had walked around 15 miles to get back, I hadn't done anything so tiring in my life. The thought of riding for an hour and a half back to cumbria in the same conditions as the morning was scary. I weighed up the option of staying overnight in a cheap hotel but I persevered. The following two hours were my worst experience on a bike. It was dark and I couldn't see anything but dazzling brake lights. The side wind must have dropped the temperature below -10c - I had been wet and cold all day, I was in a bad way. I decided to stop 3/4 of the way at a service station and try to recover a bit of core warmth. In the station I got shocked looks - I don't think anyone could believe I was out riding a bike. My clothes were fully saturated and a made a complete mess everywhere I went - I was beyond caring however. I managed to finish the ride and get back to my friends house in Lancaster. I was ruined though, I sat there shaking for a good hour - I was relieved but ultimately impressed with my ability to persevere.

I took the following day off before being ready for the final stretch to Birmingham then onto Hertfordshire. The start was thankfully dry however just as I entered Birmingham, it bucketed it down. To make matters worse, I got lost finding the excel centre. Eventually I pulled into Yamaha's warehouse, come bike garaged about parked amongst the other hundreds of bikes. The show was amazing, I couldn't believe how big it was, every manufacturer was there and I managed to see Tommy Hill getting interviewed and sat on a KTM SMT 990 - a bike I've become interested in.

The final stretch was around an hour and a half. Again it was hell - wet and dark. When I finally reached my home I wasn't sure if I'd had a good trip or not - at least I'd experienced terrible conditions that would probably never would again. I cleaned the bike, garaged it and left it, somewhat happily. The bike has been in the same place for around 4 months now. I've returned twice to ride it for a few days - I really do need a sunny period to fully appreciate the bike.

I've gone of sportbikes slightly. The are pointlessly fast and aggressive. I want something rugged, practical, comfortable and cool. I'm seriously tempted by super moto style tourers such as the Multistrada and SMT 990. I think the Ducati is a little out of my price range though, can't wait till August! I've also invested in a new helmet, an Arai Quantum in grey. So far its worked well although its a little cold around the chin. This post is probably full of grammatical mistakes but hopefully I'll go back and correct this all.