Motorbiking
"Biker" for me usually means motorbiking, though I also have a couple of mountain-bikes... see Trail Bike
My current motorbikes are a Honda CBR600RR ABS 2017 and a Kawasaki Ninja Z250SL.
Previously I have owned: Kawasaki ZX4-RR (Ninja anniversary edition), Honda CRF300 Rally, Honda CBR600RR 2005, Honda CBR600FW, Honda VF750F, Yamaha FJ600, Suzuki GSX750EX, Yamaha FJ750, Yamaha XJ900, Kawasaki Z750 and I passed my riding test on my Kawasaki KH250.
See also my Motorbiking web links
Coffee stop, Middleton-in-Teesdale
GBMCC AGM weekend, Patterdale
Four counties ride day with GBMCC to the North Pennines and Dales
Cumbria, Durham, Yorkshire, Lancashire then back to Cumbria. In just one run this route took in most of the best of riding in the UK. After the twisty lakeside road out from Patterdale, then up the multiple hairpins to Hartside Summit, the route took in single track roads, moorland open roads and narrow roads with dry stone walls on both sides and grass in the middle. Steep climbs and hairpins, deep valley bottoms compressing the bikes’ front forks, summits with a tendency to go airborne and straights to hit the revs limiter, at least on my 250. Views over to Cumbria, Morecombe Bay and down Teesdale to the North Sea coast.
Very physical but great sport for me wrangling my little Ninja Z250SL to stay in the same time-zone as the litre-plus bikes, and good of Scott, Paul, Nic, Cal and Ian to accept me to ride with and encourage me in this group of famously “progressive” riders.
More photos: Teesdale - Wensleydale - Littondale - Ribblesdale - Dales National Park
Hardknott Pass (30%, 393 m.)
Fell Foot, Little Langdale
Stunning scenery riding the steepest and wildest road passes of the Lake District with Nic who’s here early for the GBMCC AGM meet. We enjoyed lunch at Dalegarth station cafe on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Heritage Railway. Little roads like these are where I could really do with a Trail/Rally bike: we chatted with another group on a KTM 690 and a CRF250 who were clearly having a lot of fun.
More photos: Hardknott Pass (393 m.) - Birker Fell - Dunnerdale - Wrynose Pass (393 m.)
You know you’re in Cumbria when... the sign about lambs in the road is written in dialect. Cracking evening for a ride over to Crummock Water and Buttermere via Whinlatter Pass (318 m.) and Newlands Haus (333 m.), fine view back to Bassenthwaite Lake and Skiddaw (931 m.)
Great morning for accessorising my Ninja Z250SL, with a view of Skiddaw (931 m.) fine and clear. My garden’s not looking bad either. That’s going to be a stone guard for the delicate radiator.
Black Hill (609 m.), view East
Black Hill (609 m.), view West
Riding the highest altitude roads in the North Pennines. The Helm, the only named wind in England, was blowing strongly from the North-east, keeping the clouds moving and the air clear. By eye, I could see the North Sea from Black Hill (609 m.) and the Irish Sea from Hartside (575 m.). This was a loop from Alston to Weardale, pause with a GBMCC member at his pub in the mining town of St. John’s Chapel. Then over high moorland ridges to Teesdale, passing High Force and back to Cumbria over Yad Moss (598 m.). Routes popular with bikers but there are many warnings posted to ride safely.
The Village Bakery on the green in Melmerby provided an excellent stop for coffee and cake once safely down down the challenging (and therefore unmissable) road down from Hartside Cross (575 m.).
A fine ride: big, bleak and windy but clear and dry too.
Subcategories
Alps Biker 2016
I'm riding light for a week on the mountain roads of the Alps. No laptop, although I do have my SLR camera but photos will have to wait till I'm back in Marseille..
I left Marseille for a long ride north via the Col de la Croix Haute (1179 m.) to Saint-Gervais under Mont Blanc. A bit of rain towards the end of the day which cleaned the Provence dust off my white leathers and boots but didn't soak me through.
