Well, that was very pleasant

New Year's Day mini-blat on the V11.

Only a couple of dozen miles but in a sort of hazy sunshine on quiet
roads. Fingers burnee though.

That's after a pleasant but wheezy 5 mile run, so I can feel smug and
virtuous too.

Now to sample some of that whisky I got for Xmas/b'day. Or maybe some
of the orher whisky I was given. Or maybe some of the whiskey I was
given. Err, there's a pattern to the gifts here.

 

quick blat for me too on the R1, up to Portsdown hill overlooking Pompey and
the coast.
Bike, Burger, Beverage and bloody chilly.
becoming a tradition to get it out on NYD
Cracking nuts at home now

 

<wince>

 

Crikey. That's all rather active.

By the time I woke up, it was starting to get dark.

 

Braver man than me.

Decided that traversing a lovely rutted ice rink street could wait for
the Elefantentreffen and then realised it's just a couple of weeks away
and I haven't even fitted my crash bungs.

Settled for starting it up in the garage and letting it get to operating
temperature. A warm fire beckoned so the crash bungs will have to wait
another day.

 

Wtf is this 'woke up' malarkey, I still haven't been to sleep from last
night.

 

Not round here. We had a light sprinkle of snow this morning and
that's it: roads are very damp but not icy. Off-road, ground is frozen
solid and the snow still survives in shadows but that's all.

 

Tell me about it - I hit the road at 07:30 this morning doing 80+ all
the way up to Battersea. No heated grips and I've lost my thermal
glove liners. Was fine until I ran out of motorway and had to use the
clutch again. I left my thermals on in the depot as the place has _no_
heating whatsoever.

 

get a set of bar muffs - best thing I bought last year. Great in the wet.
Good by themselves in the cold. Switch on the heated grips and toasty,
toasty.

 

When I did the Elefant that's all I had. Muffs and winter gloves (and
thermal glove liners) and I didn't really suffer with cold fingers.

 

I'm not sure they'll really work on a fully faired bike with clip
ons...

Heated grips are on the to-do list, but higher on that list is MOTing
the Fazer, which has hot grips already.

 

Good God. You're right. And he's done it all on a Ural, FFS. Bookmarked.

 

I have a set of muffs on the Versys and haven't bothered wearing winter
gloves yet this season. Heated grips are set on the lowest setting and
at time I'm taking my hands out and waving them in the cold air to cool
them down.

 

Exactly my approach; I hate winter gloves so using summer gloves all
year round is great.

Well it was in the days I rode bikes in the winter rather than fecking
trains.

 

I only put the heated grips on for the first few miles, just to knock off
the initial chill. I wear summer gloves too, my goretex Alpinestars ones
made from cordura & fake leather. I find leather ones get a bit clammy
inside the muffs.

 

He seems to have impaled a couple of dead bears onto his handlebars.

 

"I arrived in Irbit at the Ural factory after consuming 1/2 quart of oil
every 30 miles during the last 1800 miles."

<Shakes head in amazement and respect>

 

"1/2 quart"? Bizarre.

A flossie-fucker I used to live with at uni would refer to a quarter as
a half-half yet an eighth, bizarrely, was a half-quarter. I don't recall
what what he called a teenth but it was probably something just as daft.

 

Does he mean a pint, then ?