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

My photos of the Auvergne

Postcard from the Auvergne, the volcanic mountains in the middle of the hexagon that is France. The last area of ancient Gaul to fall to the Romans.

Extinct volcanic plugs, deep valleys and many ancient churches in the Romanesque architecture.

Cheeses: St Nectaire, Salers, Cantal, Fourme d'Ambert, Bleu d'Auvergne and many others.

Brilliant autumn light and colours but winter arrives early here and stays late.

An all-too-brief visit to be present for the annual general meeting of AMA, the French bike club.

Fish Hill, Moreton-in-Marsh stocks and the Rose & Crown in Stratford-on-Avon

Fish Hill near Broadway is one of the finest road hill challenges in Southern England. Multiple curves as it rises from the Vale of Evesham to the Cotswold Hills. But biker beware: several of the picturesque villages in the Cotswolds maintain their medieval stocks!
Cotswolds roads are about straight lines and then right-angle bends so a different challenge to the very technical style that works for the roads of Provence and the Alps.
Met with some of the bikers from GBMCC London and Cardiff at The Rose and Crown in touristy Stratford-on-Avon. No stocks in that town but you have to pay up front for just about everything.
A ride through five of the counties whose names my French friends find most difficult to pronounce: Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire; useful to remember for encouragement when you are tripped up by Espigoulier, Carpentras, itinéraire, Marignane or Forcalquier!

Postcard from Camp des Baous (AMA), May 2013

Some souvenir photos from an enjoyable camp of twenty-eight bikers from all over France, all of us members of the French club AMA; we were exploring from the Côte d'Azur to the Alpes Maritimes, the frontier range between Nice in France and Ventimiglia in Italy.
Pictures on my postcard show the palm trees on the promenade at Fréjus, the Col de Turini (1607m) a mountain route known and appreciated for its numerous corners, curves and hairpin bends, great for practicing lines and ballistics. And other halts at Puget-Théniers, Dolceacqua and somewhere high up in the Var just before we had the fun of encountering a group of bikers out from Marseille also out for the sport in the sunshine. See also my postcard of our base at St. Jeannetwhere the club had booked a gîte in a rustic style.

Parked underneath the orange trees at the Gîte des Baous, St Jeannet

Parked underneath the orange trees in the garden at the Gîte des Baous, St Jeannet.

Gorges du Verdon - Moustiers Sainte-Marie - lac de Sainte-Croix

Moustiers Sainte-Marie is a pretty Provencal village at the foot of the grand canyon of the Verdon. There’s a spring and a waterfall which lead to fountains in the Roman style. A fine place for a biker halt in spring before the tourists and caravans are too numerous. Onwards round the lac de Sainte-Croix, much of the route is suitable for very sporty riding style; a good route to play on the racing line with apexes, low gears and later braking and get the eye back in practice after winter.

Screen grabs from practice day 2 of the 2013 Losail MotoGP

Screen grabs from practice day 2 of the 2013 Losail MotoGP. Marquez riding well today but Lorenzo and Rossi established their authority yesterday. Thanks to UK television for the coverage... unfortunately I'm not there!

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En route from Marseille to the Alps

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.