Riding in the rain

Let's face it, this is England. If you don't ride in the rain, your bike will hardly ever see the light of day. If you don't ride in the rain, you're missing half the fun.

Check out the wet weather fun on YouTube. (with music this time)

When I was a teenager (Lambretta Li 150 followed by a BSA Bantam) I only wore what was hanging in the wardrobe.  I spent most of my rides wet and cold and wishing I was back home. When I returned to biking I decided that I would get the right gear, and be as comfortable as I can.

Most important is protection - from contact with other things, mainly the road surface and any street furniture that is along your trajectory. So that means decent gloves, boots with ankle protection and CE grade armour for knees, elbows, shoulder, hips and back.

Keeping rain out, and warmth in, are next. I use a 3/4 length jacket with close fitting collar and cuffs, zip and Velcro fly fastening, air vents for the occasional warm day in summer, and removable quilted lining. Over-trousers to match. As a special treat I wear Gerbing heated gloves in the winter.

With all this gear, riding in sub-zero temperatures, or torrential rain, is not a problem.

To keep your head intact on impact, a good quality helmet, with a Pinlock anti mist system for the visor is pretty useful.

All this stuff could cost a fortune, but you don't have to buy the most expensive - £500 should get you covered.

Enjoy the video.

Out to play

The last video wasn't much fun. Let's face it a queue of traffic is pretty boring and frustrating - especially if you are in a car.

This time we are out and about. I started the day at Southampton General Hospital then transferred to an office in Winchester. The route - definitely not the motorway - this was much more fun.

The video is on my YouTube channel, Scratch600, or from this link - 'Out to play'

Chaos avoidance

I thought I'd try a different route to work.

Since the Highways Agency have bridge repair work at Juntion 9  of the M27, the adjoining roads have been gridlocked most mornings during rush hour - not the the HA care.

The roads are choked, the tail backs then bring Segensworth roundabout to a halt, that in turn blocks the A27 back as far as St Margarets roundabout - basically it's chaos.

Anyway, I thought I'd try something different. So instead of heading to Junction 9, I decided to head for Junction 8, via the A27. I happened to choose the day that the A27, Bursledon Road qualified as the worst traffic jam in Hampshire.

I thought you might like to see it, here it is on my YouTube channel, Scratch600

Why not subscribe and catch new videos as they are uploaded?

Bye bye, baby, bye bye!

Five years ago our son bought his first car, a 1992 Vauxhall Corsa. A neat little car with only 58000 miles on the clock.
It served him well, took him to college, to gigs in Bristol, work and university. He didn't clock up loads of miles, but the car always started, never let him down.
Last year, having got himself a better job, he upgraded to a Honda Civic Type R - quite a change.

Being a sentimental kind of family we couldn't let the faithful old Corsa go, so we transferred ownership to my wife. Having three cars in the family meant she was under used, and spent many days laying idle. The bodywork went from shiny red to dusty pink, the wheels coated in rust, and moss and spiders were taking over.

When we moved house, the shortage of parking spaces became apparent - so she had to go. Adverts on the firm's intranet got a bit of interest, but nobody would commit to buying, so we took her to an Authorised Treatment Facility - scrapyard to you and me. We said our goodbyes and went to the office to collect our cheque.

So, we had five years motoring (not counting the normal running costs) for £460 overall, not a bad deal.

Our thanks go to the Red Rocket for her faithful service ... bye bye, baby!

MotoGP Silverstone

Woohoo! My VIP ticket has arrived!

Julie treated me to a special ticket for my 'special' birthday, and I've had to contain my excitement since January. Now the ticket has arrived, and it's all coming together.

On Sunday 1 September my son, Alex, and I will be up at dawn and heading north to Silverstone. When we get there we will be treated to breakfast, balcony viewing of the days racing, lunch, and the VIP works.

I'll post a photo round up after the event.

Another Vid on YouTube

Whenever I ride I always clip on my Drift HD helmet camera. You never know when you'll need that little electronic witness.

On the days I work in Winchester I usually use the M27 / M3 to get there in the morning, and have a relaxed ride home across Morestead Down. On 14 August, as I had heard on the local radio - Jack FM, actually - that the M27 was blocked due to an accident, I decided to go in to work over the downs.

It was a sunny morning, which made the contrast between shadow and bright sun difficult for the camera to adjust to. My view, as the rider, was better than the video shows because the good old human eye works better than the best lenses in that department.

Anyway, of the 40 or so minutes I travelled to work, these seven are the best - overtaking!

I've got a leisurely ride planed for the beginning of September, I'll try and get some interesting footage for you.

Here's today's offering - The Morning Rush Hour

The bike is my Honda FJS600 Silver Wing, and the route is from Park Gate, through Burridge, Bishops Waltham and Morestead on B, and unclassified roads.

An observed ride

For reasons I shall keep to myself, for the time being, I have switched my allegiance from the IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorcyclists) to RoSPA's RoADAR (RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Advanced Riders).

It was my second ride out with my new observer, the first was about as wet as you'd like and in the growing gloom of a murky evening. This time we took the Silver Wing and his GS1200 from Ower Services on the A36 up to Romsey, Otterbourne, Wickham and Denmead, crossing back to Burger King at Hedge End for a debrief.

The Honda behaved perfectly, and I received favourable comments from the observer. In all, a good morning's ride, with constructive advice, and a good chat about the biking world.

What a different ride. Nearly 100 miles, by the time I got home, and in the dry, and in the daylight. Much more progressive. No Drift-cam footage unfortunately, but I will get some more on YouTube as soon as I can find something to entertain you.

Hampshire RoADAR can be found at : http://www.roadar-hants.org.uk/index.html
The group is not very active, unlike the IAM, but are helpful if you contact them. Why not join? With some new blood, things could be a lot different.

Home movies

Though I have recorded many hours of tarmac and traffic, none has been completely newsworthy. But I have found it interesting to review a few situations and learn from what I see.

I have tried editing with Serif Movie Plus, Apple iMovies and Windows Live Movie Maker. iMovies has the nicest transitions, and Serif a pretty good work space, but the best results overall seem to be with Windows.

There are three clips on YouTube, so far:

Winchester to Bishops Waltham 3Apr13 - highlights of a run home from Winchester across Morestead Down

NewForestShortcut 28Apr13 - On a run to Bovingdon Tank Museum we took a shortcut across the New Forest using the B3078

Rush hour traffic 2May13 - A short clip of rush hour traffic, and how not to filter

All these clips a from the Drift attached to the side of my crash helmet, in wide angle at 1080p and 30 fps

Let me know what you think ...

Watching them ...

As a motorcyclist, you become very aware of your vulnerability. You are exposed, not only to the elements, but also to the vehicles and hazards that surround you on your journey. Any sensible motorcyclist will take additional training to boost their skills - Skills for Life, as the IAM advertise them.

The principles of advanced riding - or driving - are, to observe everything that is going on around you, and to respond appropriately to the hazards that you see. You need to be in the right position on the road, travelling at the right speed, in the right gear, ready to react to the developing situation.

But, of course, things don't always go according to plan. For whatever reason, it is sometimes good to have someone on your side, when all there is, is the 'it wasn't my fault' situation. And just for such times I have invested in a helmet / dashboard camera, to record the antics of the average British motorist with  whom I share the roads.

The Drift HD has various mounts, a sucker for the windscreen, clips for the helmet and a couple of others. So far I've used it once in the car and once on the bike, and I'm pleased with the results. There is nothing exciting to show, but I have done some editing to remove the boring bits and added some fading for the scene changes and titles. My first production is on YouTube at:

http://youtu.be/u64jNrNb12I

Things I've learned; the camera was too low, I got too much dashboard. I reduced the resolution to keep the file size small, but the picture is grainy when when shown full screen, so I will experiment with the full 1080p setting (although it was better before it was put through the editing software). View from the helmet mount is good, but the audio is drowned out by wind noise.

I'll try and get some interesting footage for you...

Icy March Ride-out

Sunday is the day when all good motorcyclists go for a ride-out.

I could have gone with the Solent Advanced Motorcyclists - but they decided that the weather was not suitable, a tad chilly with the possibility of snow, and cancelled their run. Instead I went with two other Silver Wing owners for a thrash round Hampshire and Surrey.

We met at Petersfield, to the accompaniment of snow flurries and temperatures hovering around 0C (32F). Our plan was to head for Winchester along the A272, but as it was closed we headed north towards Farnham, and then west to England's ancient capital.

We dropped into the city via the A31, acknowledging King Alfred as we passed his statue. As we found that the Rifle Regiment's museum was closed, we headed back into the city for food and a chat.

Then it was time for the return journey, north to London for the others and south towards Fareham for me.

Nearly 100 miles covered (more for the Londoners) and new friends made. A good day, I'd say.

Outside the Rifles Rgt Museum.
They only sell The Wing in three colours in the UK; black, blue and silver