Ducati Diary Archives: Diary Entries

The diary of a returnee motorcyclist or, How to attain the Seventh Dan of Muppetry, with excursions into the Zen of purpose and the Tao of travel.

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Diary Entries

[August 18, 2007] Lots More on the A84…
[May 03, 2007] A821 Dukes Pass
[April 30, 2007] Pass Wide and Slow – Bikes and Horses
[April 09, 2007] "Honey, I Spent The Aga Budget…"
[December 08, 2006] When You've Had Your Kicks On Route 66…
[November 22, 2006] Scott of the West Midlands
[June 15, 2006] I have seen the Future…
[June 01, 2006] The Zen of Sports Touring
[March 14, 2006] Dear Ducati…
[February 04, 2006] Fool to Miss It: Rob Vine Fund Charity Auction, April 1, 2006
[September 13, 2004] State of the Art…
[August 24, 2004] Those Definitely Weren't the Days...
[August 23, 2004] French Leave
[September 07, 2003] Goodwood Revived
[June 23, 2003] Seeing the Light…
[April 18, 2003] Good Frideday
[October 14, 2002] (Un)Shiny Toy
[September 28, 2002] STealth Bomber
[September 16, 2002] IAM: Inevitable and Absolute Mayhem
[September 04, 2002] 999!
[July 01, 2002] Mild in the Country
[February 28, 2002] Been a While…
[September 06, 2000] Maxing Madly…
[July 16, 2000] This Little Piggy Went to Dorking…
[July 06, 2000] "My Fellow Amphibians…"
[April 12, 2000] England: Weather, Not Climate
[March 26, 2000] Gratuitous Nostalgia
[March 18, 2000] Making Progress
[December 29, 1999] Testing Times
[October 25, 1999] Mortality
[October 14, 1999] It's Started…
[September 14, 1999] Frankfurt Motor Show
[September 11, 1999] Commuting Practice
[August 01, 1999] World Superbikes, Brands Hatch
[July 15, 1999] Boring Farts?
[June 20, 1999] Goodwood Festival of Speed
[June 12, 1999] Getting the Hang
[April 29, 1999] Collection
[April 20, 1999] Committed!
[April 17, 1999] Test Rides
[April 16, 1999] Kitting Out
[April 12, 1999] Parallels and Prats
[April 08, 1999] Am I for Real?
[January 06, 1999] Sense and Insensibility
[January 04, 1999] A Family Thing…
[January 02, 1999] The Decision
[October 29, 1998] Radio 4
[October 28, 1998] Born-again Blogging

August 18, 2007

Lots More on the A84…

Categories: Diary Rides

I've mentioned before that I live next to one of THE great biking roads, the A84 from Callander to Killin. That's all of 20 miles of fast, wide sweeping bends that every so often turn into narrow, bumpy, twisty complexes that test machine set-up and rider anticipation, skill and basic sense. And far too bloody many people are failing that test: we've just had what (I think) is the third biking fatality of the year – and all of these on the mere eight miles between Callander and Strathyre, particularly through the twisties of the Falls of Leny, just North of Kilmahog and at the notorious "Doctor's Bend" a couple of miles further North.

The consequences of this aren't just limited to the motorcyclist and his or her (almost always 'his') family and friends but affect the local community: firstly, this is the only road South from here (without a 50-mile detour), so when it's closed for most of a day it has a real local impact. Secondly, and mostly importantly, people here are genuinely upset about the sheer bloody waste of life that's going – I haven't spoken to a single person who's anti-motorcycling in any way, but to many who are affected by the knowledge that another life has been needlessly lost on our doorstep and who genuinely feel the sense of lost humanity. While writing this blog entry, I've been approached by several friends and neighbours, each asking me if there's anything at all I can do to raise awareness of the specific risks of this road. So here it is.

Continue reading "Lots More on the A84…"
Posted by Richard at 08:42 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 03, 2007

A821 Dukes Pass

Categories: Diary Rides

Today I should most definitely have been working – too much to do, too little time, yada yada... But by 11 o'clock the temperature was about 23° and not a cloud in the sky. I also tripped over my Arai on the way to make a coffee, which was an omen not to be ignored, so the concept of 'early lunch break' had its definition rather stretched. Besides, I wanted to test out a new toy – a little Sony GPS that records everywhere you've been – the downloaded results then being used to tag the photos you've taken along the way, before mapping them in Google Maps or Google Earth. And where should I go to test this but a second (and third) pass at a road I discovered last weekend – the A821 from Kilmahog (I kid you not) to Aberfoyle, via the Duke's pass. That's the Duke of Montrose, not the Duke of Bologna, which would have been so much more appropriate. This road is something else – it starts with a couple of fast sweepers that throw in a decreasing radius 120° corner at the last moment, then into a switchback straight which has self and machine airborne at anything over about 70mph – even with the new suspension. A large number of sump gouges and suspicious stains along this stretch tell their own tale. The road is a mixture of old and broken surface (with the occasional pothole and patch of loose gravel) and brand new shiny tarmac – overall, not too bad by Belgian standards, and less than brilliant by anyone else's.

Continue reading "A821 Dukes Pass"
Posted by Richard at 05:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 30, 2007

Pass Wide and Slow – Bikes and Horses

Categories: Diary Riding

Here in the National Park, we've got pretty much every category of road user – bikes, bicycles, cars, walkers, horses and the occasional tap-dancing Pine Marten, all trying to do their own thing at their own speed, and often at the same time. While there's a wider concern about how all of these can share the roads (in like peace, light and harmony, man…) the technique for passing large, hairy quadrupeds does seem to cause some stress amongst all parties. So here, reprinted with the author's permission from our local community rag is a small plea on behalf of horsey folk everywhere:

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Posted by Richard at 07:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 09, 2007

"Honey, I Spent The Aga Budget…"

Categories: Bikes Diary Reviews

Time for a new toy. My old faithful STealth – my ST4s – has served me well for four years and it's a keeper, as a supremely capable all-round machine, so I'm looking for something more specific and more focussed for play on the local roads. Which is where the first of many dilemmas kicks in – which toy for which roads? Around here there are ballistically-fast, sweeping A-roads with sudden sections of tight twisties: that'll be a Ducati 1098S then. Then there are the smaller glen roads - rising and falling, twisting and turning back on themselves as they follow the edges of the lochs: much more Monster or KTM SuperDuke territory. Finally, there are bikes that seek the best compromise for all of these, plus my kilometre of potholed Belgium-on-a-bad-day drive: possibly a Multistrada 1100S - in fact if the Multistrada had the Testastretta engine, it would have been a shoo-in - I've ridden the earlier incarnation enough to know just how good a chassis they've got. But hang on, we're not talking about looking for an all-rounder here: we're looking for the maximum of engagement, hoot-inducing fun and the ability to get from A to B, usually via C to Z, with as much flair as possible and a decent tank range, given the distance between filling stations hereabouts. So I'm off to Ducati Glasgow to sample a selection of their range.

Continue reading ""Honey, I Spent The Aga Budget…""
Posted by Richard at 06:16 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 08, 2006

When You've Had Your Kicks On Route 66…

Categories: Diary Rides

…Then Get Some More On The A84

Been a bit quiet of late, haven't I? There's a reason for that and, I hope, a good one: self, partner, our businesses and the cats have all been busily uprooting ourselves from our past lives – in my case, twenty years in the hinterlands of Surrey and replanting ourselves in our new demesne, the Highlands of Scotland. We've been here for two weeks today, and I'm typing this whilst looking out over the local Loch as the low Winter sun glows off the hills opposite. Which isn't a bad way to start the day, and a distinct improvement on the absolutely solid rainfall of the last fortnight. And, if the viciously incompetent British Telecom ever starts keeping its broken promises to provide us with our landlines, things will be just perfect. The lack of photographs in current posting (since updated) are just a reflection of the very limited bandwidth I have here via my mobile.

Continue reading "When You've Had Your Kicks On Route 66…"
Posted by Richard at 06:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack