I decided this morning that the worst sound in the world is hearing your baby grinding up the road..

I was on my way to work this morning, I pulled up at a roundabout and stopped to wait for a gap in the traffic. I inched forward a tad to bring me closer to the white lines and stopped again as there was still traffic coming round the roundabout…… and the next thing I know I’m shooting out on to the roundabout and and me and my bike are going down!

The car behind me thought I was going out on to the roundabout (inspite of the traffic coming round it!!!) and drove into my rear wheel and propelled me out into the traffic!!!! As I was going down I was thinking “Feck, I hope nothing hits me” and luckily nothing did.

A lady dived out of her car and told me not to move and called the police and the ambulance but a passing ambulance stopped too.. They checked me all over and I’m fine-ish.. I reckon my knee is gonna develop some lovely bruises and I think I’ve pulled a muscle in my back but other than that was more shaken up than anything..

Initial reaction was “IS MY BIKE OK?????????” “WHERE’S MY BIKE?????”

Damage to my baby seems to be a bent rear brake lever, and possibly the mounting for it (need to check her over properly).. The crash bung on that side looks a tad knackered but protected my fairings from everything but a few extra scrapes.. And part of the engine casing is worn away at the bottom…

Both me and my baby came away relatively unscathed thankfully.  The police are looking at charging the other driver with driving without due care and attention, and I’ll be putting in a claim for a new crash helmet for starters..

Oh hell..

I think I’ve discovered the disadvantage of just riding a bike and not having a car licence too..

I’ve got a flippin’ great tooth abscess and as my face is so swollen (think John Merricks twin sister and you will get the picture) I cannot get my crash helmet on to be able to get to work.

The evil tooth started aching a bit Thursday evening and I thought it would stop after a day or so.. How wrong I was

My first look in the mirror on Saturday morning showed me the image of the kind of monster you normally see in old horror movies and the pain level was off any kind of scale I’ve ever known, and yes that did include having my kids!!!

One emergancy dentist visit later I’m on 2 kinds of antibiotics and codeine which makes me fall asleep all the time :-S

The result?  I’m off work, after having last week as holiday (boy do I feel guilty about that!) until such times as my face shrinks enough to be able to get my crash helmet back on..

The tooth will be sorted out as soon as the antibiotics are finished.. Flippin thing!!

I was wandering out of work practically dancing for joy as I have a week off to relax and chill after a hectic few months, so I go to my bike parked in the car park.. I start her up to get the engine warm, put on my crash helmet and my gloves and on I get..

I grab hold of the bars and go to paddle her backwards out of my parking space… and nothing…. She’s not moving at all…

So I push a little harder… Still nothing… No movement at all..

WTF!!! I think to myself…

I get off thinking there’s summat preventing one or other of the wheels moving and notice I’ve got a flippin flat tyre

I go back to work, swearing my head off (as you do on occasions such as this!) and announce that I’m not going anywhere.. My boss very kindly offers me a lift home, via Kings at Kidlington to pick up my boyfriends birthday present and I make it home..

When my boyfriend goes back to the office to pick a few things up later he takes a look at my tyre and notices I have a rusty screw poking a good 2″ out of my tyre!

So now I’m at home, my bike is 20 miles away in the garage at the yard and now I have to somehow get her home to our local shop to get the tyre sorted out..

I’m not impressed..

Bloody Friday the 13ths!!

I flippin hate them!!!

It’s definately getting colder out there now and some mornings my poor fingers are so cold after the 20 mile run into work that they ache.

So my sweetie of a boyfriend bought me a set of the Oxford Sport Heated Grips for my bike, and they arrived in the post yesterday.

Woohoo! I can’t wait for the weekend so I can get them fitted.

I’ll let you know how I get on with both fitting and using them.

To the majority of road users the sight of this in front of them means the light is going to turn red, which means to slow down and prepare to stop, right?

I can’t believe the number of people who will simply put their foot down and gun it to get through the light, which is normally red by the time they go past it!  I see it happen every day on my journey to and from work, in fact I saw the driver with a bus full of passengers do it yesterday on my way home!!!! The light was red when he went through, not even amber anymore!!

How come nothing is done about drivers who do this?  We see the police and cameras targeting speeding motorists but how often have you see any kind of presence at traffic lights where the red lights are being jumped? Probably as often as I do….. NEVER!!!

Turina and 383mph speeding fine

Imagine this……..

There you are, eating your breakfast in the morning when the post pops through your letter box. You pick it up and when you see a letter containing a speeding ticket your automatic reaction is “Oh Bu**er!”

You open the envelope and immediately burst into hysterical laughter!!!

Well that would have been my reaction to this speeding fine

Apparently Paolo Turina, 26, has been charged with doing 383mph, yes you did read that right 383mph on his unfaired Moto Guzzi!

As you can imagine he is appealing the charge claiming the camera must have been defective, and he is also disputing the £200 fine the police have issued.

He says

"If I could go that fast I’d enter my bike in the MotoGP world championships. Valentino Rossi would not stand a chance. What did they think they were clocking – a jet fighter?"

"If the court rules the fine will stand then I’m going to send it to the Guinness Book of Records – after all if the court says its true then I should get the credit for this remarkable feat."

The bike he was riding has a top speed of about 115mph, which is nowhere near the 383mph claimed by the police.  The Italian Police say they suspect a ‘clerical error’ is to blame for the outlandish charge and Paolo Turina is awaiting the appeal courts decision on the matter…

Now, where can I get me one of those 383mph bikes

This is a bit of a handy find for those of you who own a Yamaha bike released since 2000.  The Yamaha website has a page where you can download the owners manual.  They are available in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch & Portuguese.

Here is the LINK for the page.

Riding home for the first time after the clocks went back at the weekend!

I left work at half 4, the sky seemed bright enough but boy oh boy did it get dark fast!  I’d completely forgotten that the clocks had changed and it was getting quite dark by the time I got home!

I really must remember tomorrow

I’ve been running up and down part of the M40 for about 3 months now, going to and from work, and the attitude of some drivers has me amazed!

Tailgaters, for example, are a flipping nightmare!

Picture this.. I’m riding down the motorway, going with the flow of traffic, in the overtaking lane while passing the cars and trucks in the middle lane.  I’ve left a space between me and the car in front of me so I have some stopping room, just in case like, and some t**t comes up behind me, proceeds to drive 6 inches off my rear tyre and starts flashing their lights at me to get me to move out of the way!!!

Ermm… Like where the hell am I supposed to go?

I’m overtaking the cars in the middle lane, most of which are tailgating each other anyway so there isn’t really a big enough space for me to slot my bike safely back into.. There are other vehicles in front of me so I can’t go any faster.  Yes, I know there is a gap between me and the car in front of me but that’s deliberately left there so I have a bit of stopping distance just in case the worse happens.. and I can’t move to the right as I’ll be in the central reservation!

And still they flash their lights at me.. WTF!!!!

On the occasions it has happened I’ve pulled over as soon as it’s SAFE for me to do so, NOT when they want me to.  I’m not going to argue with a car six inches off my rear tyre as I know who would be the loser in the event of an accident.

But….. I just don’t get it!  It’s not like these drivers get much further ahead, normally just a couple of car lengths until they come up against the next car and then they are caught up in the traffic again!  Obviously people who drive like this have completely forgotten about stopping distances and how their lives are at greater risk if something happens and they can’t stop in time to avoid a collision.  I’ve even seen cars tailgating lorries in the pouring rain, and seen how the spray kicked up by the lorries wheels makes visibility almost zero in the car!

It just makes me wonder what, if anything, is going on in these peoples heads!

I got this news in by email (I just love mailing lists telling me of special offers and sales )

Infinity are holding an end of season clearance sale at all their 8 stores and on their new online store.

They have some great deals on all kinds of things from helmets and gloves to jackets and accessories.  They do say every store has varying stock and clearance lines but if you are looking for something in particular then give them a quick ring or pop in and they will try to help you

You can find more details, and a chance to win a R1 in a competition, on their new website