After almost two weeks of waiting my insurance documents finally turned up and I was able to tax my bike. This coincided conveniently with an early finish from work and, even more conveniently, I had an important errand to run; the delivery of a pair of trousers to my brother 55 miles away. They were a belated birthday present but seeing as he regularly soils himself a certain urgency was required.
First stop, as the fuel light was on, was the local petrol station. Managed to get 16.6 litres in. Seeing as I have no idea of the tank volume I can't surmise if I was sailing close to the wind or not. The light had been on for about 12 miles though.
Onward with the journey and I'm starting to feel comfortable with my own riding. It's damp in places but the bike's very unobtrusive, admittedly a bit lumpy low down (well, wtf did I expect?) but you could feel the quality of the suspension coming through on roads that are far from billiard table smooth. I'm enjoying the soundtrack of the induction roar and a faint rumble from the Blueflame (I think) cans. I ponder the irony of spending good money on cans only for everyone else to benefit from the noise. Then I tell myself to shut up.
The rain gets heavier as I get closer to my destination, Grantown-on-Spey caravan park (yes, he owns one of those), so I'm glad to have been cossetted thus far with heated grips, a comfy seat and double bubble screen. My arrival is greeted by a grateful sibling, seems he's on his last box of Tena for Men and the constant drumming of rain on the caravan isn't helping his bladder.
The rain continues so I have a cup of Earl Grey and discuss the troubling issues of the day with my nephews. Seems girls are 'rubbish' and the 5-year-old's miffed at not being allowed to watch a horror film. These aren't things that can be solved in an afternoon so I bid them farewell and set out on the return journey.
There's plenty standing water about by now so I'm just trying to smooth things out and maintain momentum (Officer). To be honest I don't think the speed crept much above 80 at any point as I was still quite rusty after the winter lay-off and getting used to the bike was my main priority. For the last 40 miles the rain was persistently heavy. It was at this point I gave thanks for the bike's ability to find traction. Who needs crossplane crank big-bang bullshit when you can have two 500cc pistons doing the work?
So I arrive home, happy. No incidents and I felt like I got to know the bike a bit better. Certainly no nasty surprises or let downs, just confirmation that buying it was money well spent. Here's to many more rides like it, maybe some in the dry.
It could do with a clean now. Manyana. I can't help feeling the cable tie on the fork was a bit optimistic, but I'm sure in the dry it'll prove worthwhile.
