Third week's riding

Been working to much to fit in any real rides this week. Spent some time last weekend fitting a Scottoiler to the bike. Seemed a daunting task, but with some encouragement from the F650.co.uk forum, a with a new set of Torx rachet sockets and a very handy set of notes supplied by Gazzer I was filled with confidence, took the FI body off and removed the rubber gasket for drilling. 3/4 hour later and the bike was back together and the Scottoiler primed and dripping on demand.

The only memorable ride was going on a scouting expedition to look for lambs. Took Mellow Yellow up a green lane at Hailey and found a field full of tiny lambs. Went further on up the lane and found that Bridgestone Trailwings are not optimised for mud tracks. Felt like I was riding a greased pig down a bobsleigh run. Interesting but not fun.

Still what the Trailwings lack in off road performance, they more than make up in their on road performance which I am more than happy with. Accurate cornering with plenty of grip, a confident feel and no weaving at speed even in the strong gusty winds we have been getting recently. As road riding is where I am at, the Trailwings fit the bill perfectly.

Went over to Crowthorne with Pondgirl on pillion to deliver a birthday present to her father today. Managed to miss the worst of the rain although it nearly caught up with us after we stopped at Cooper Reading to pick up a replacement numberplate screw.

While we were there we had a good look at another Yellow Twin Spark GS that had been ordered by the lady I talked to at their launch in March. She had a black Dakar fairing and aluminium panniers fitted, so I think it is going to be used for some serious touring. The Dakar fairing looked good, but I think I would prefer to put the cash towards an new exhaust.

Easter Sunday

Went down to Poole with Pondgirl on he back of Mellow Yellow for our first real ride out. Had a great run down through Andover, Salisbury and Ringwood ending up at Salterns Marina where Pondgirl's brother has a 1st floor flat in a very 50's style apartment block with great views all across the harbour.

Although the day started out a bit overcast, by 2.00pm the sun had broken through and we managed to get this shot of me and Mellow on one of the slipways.

By the time we reached home, another 190 miles had gone on the clock and Mellow Y. has nearly reached the 1,000 mile mark. She ran faultlessly, overtook when we needed to and even the seat proved no obstacle to such a jaunt.

A misread road sign caused a moment of madness with me getting onto a section of dual carriageway and then immediately weaving through heavy traffic to get back off on the same sliproad. It attracted the attention of some traffic police, which meant a chat and a review of some video footage. They realised I knew exactly what I had done wrong and was pretty ashamed about it, so I got off with a bollocking. I have to say when I saw the video, I was pretty amazed at the gaps I had managed sqeeze through while moving at 45% to the rest of the traffic. Bad move, not to be repeated.

Made a boring but fast run up the motorway (in close company with a Honda TransAlp) to Kingsclere, then across country up some of my favourite roads, only having to stop where the lock bridge was up where we crossed the Avon and Kennet canal. Back in 1 1/2 hours and a none to tired for it.