But… I thought you didn’t have a license?
November 19, 2007 at 6:32 pm | Bike | No comment
I rode to work today for the first time.
When confronted by co-workers I made up some cock and bull story about how I got my license at the beginning of the year, but kept it a secret in order to make it a surprise (I did something similar last year by not telling anyone about me buying a Lotus until I drove up in it, which leant some credence to my story).
I have my doubts as to whether my direct colleague was fooled by the story as he knows me quite well, but he said no more of it and I sincerely doubt he’ll make trouble about it.
Everyone else on the other hand just accepted it, as generally speaking people choose to believe what’s easiest.
The ride to work was fine, perfectly controlled no issues, though queuing at junctions I haven’t quite got the hang of yet and stalled once.
The ride back however was nightmarish.
I’ve never ridden at night before, and even though I only finish at five, at this godforsaken latitude (ie; Milton Keynes) at this time of year, it gets dark virtually before you’ve had breakfast (hyperbole? nay sir!).
I’ve equally never ridden in the rain before.
Tonight I did both, I hated it.
It’s the fear and loathing of inexperience, I eyeballed every draincover and every painted white line with dread, as though they conspired to throw me off my steed and bring my first dose of riding related pain.
Coming upon the home stretch of the journey I accellerate hard for the first time as I’m satisfied I have a straight line and hear a tap, tap at the back of my head.
Flexing my jaw I realise… Fuck… I haven’t done up my chin strap.
Not only does this completely nullify the point of having a helmet and worsen my fear of falling off, it’s also an offence, and flying long and wild behind my head like some traitorous tail of felony it’s sure to attract the attention of any sharp-eyed copper that might pull in behind me.
I ponder pulling over in a bus stop to do it up, but quite apart from the fact that I have such limited visibility that the unlit bus stops only appear to me mere metres before I come to them (a turn into which would surely invite an impromptu meeting with the car behind), a lone biker pulled over in a bus stop is even more likely to attract attention than a flapping chin strap.
I decide to press on and make it back home without incident, wondering to myself what the big deal was.
During the day I continued my theme of doing as little work as possible and researching my trip instead (it’s quite a thing to be paid to plan your trip is it not?).
I went through the seemingly endless possibilities of upgrading my bike, in terms of protecting the engine should I drop the bike, protecting the sump from damage when offroading or simply running over debris on the road to the panniers.
I’ve decided to go for Jesse panniers, even though this means importing from Germany, it ends up slightly cheaper than ordering from the UK manufacturer (though I do need to investigate potential importation charges, I’m not sure if they apply intra-EU).
De-catting the exhaust has to be done at some point, and through the faqs at F650.com I’ve discovered it’s reasonably easy to do without BUYING anything if you have access to welding equipment (not that I do, but I’m sure my friendly local welder would oblige given £20 and a couple of beers).
De-catting the exhaust this way doesn’t result in any increased noise (slightly dissapointing), but the real reason for doing it is to allow the bike to run on leaded petrol, as if you attempt to do this without de-catting, you’ll very quickly end up with a blocked catyltic converter to the extent that the engine won’t fire up (so I’m told at least).
Still, this is a job to be done once I’ve got some time (and light) on my hands, as I need to investigate how easy it is to take it off to give to the welder.
I also rang up the RAC’s Carnet department, apparently a Carnet is only valid for a single year, so if I’m to do as planned, I shall have to have a new Carnet issued on the exact date I enter Australia, else I’ll have to do all sorts of complex jiggery pokery regarding extension of stay on an expired carnet with switchover to a new carnet, which is apparently very difficult and best avoided at all costs.
Tomorrow signals the start of my DAS (Direct Access) rider training.
To ride there I’ll most likely park up at a nearby restaurant (which I scouted at the weekend) and walk the extra few hundred yars, as I feel that letting on to the trainers that I’m riding a bike illegally would probably not be the best idea in the universe.
Still, I should prove more competant than they expect from some-one who’s ‘not ridden since his test’!