My TT, by Champ, aged 46 and 3/4 (long)

I didn't organise anything til a few weeks before, but it turned out
to be pretty easy to book a crossing for a single bike and rider from
mid-week to mid-week, and having friends on the IoM also meant there
was no probe with accom. But I wanted to be there for several reasons
this year - to put to bed the ghosts from last year, and to celebrate
the 25th anniversary of my first visit to the TT, back in 1984.

Foolishly, in my zeal to minimise the number of days holiday used, I
booked the 3am sailing over, arriving at 6am on Friday 5th June. I
spent the evening at F's place, and somehow had decided that I didn't
need to leave until about 11:30pm, for a 2am check-in. Almost
immediately on leaving, I re-did the sums in my head and realised I'd
given myself 2.5 hours to do 200 miles. Idiot. I got to check-in at
2:10, rolled straight on, to find nowhere to sit. Bugger - should
have booked a seat or cabin. So, I found a quiet corner, and lay down
to sleep, and actually did sleep, fitfully, for a few hours. On
arrival I necked a can of red bull, and felt immediately energised.

Rolling out into Douglas on a bike always feels wonderful to me, and
early in the morning is even better. As we left the port, I was
behind a Gixxer Thou who obviously knew where he was going - a quick
glance to the right and he was off into the light traffic. I
followed. We joined the TT course at Quarter Bridge and immediately
he opened it up, accelerating quickly and then taking a near perfect
line through Bradden Bridge. He acknowledged the speed limits through
Union Mills and Crosby, but was then fast and accurate through
Appledene, Greeba Castle and all the way to Ballacraine. I came
alongside at Ballacraine traffic lights to acknowledge, and got a grin
and a thumbs up, but unfortunately he was going straight on to Peel,
so I was by myself in the run up to Ramsey.

Lord, but it was glorious, in the sun on near empty roads, renewing my
acquaintance with the TT course. This ribbon of road has been a
significant part of my biking life for 25 years, and has a near
spiritual hold over me. I'm not ashamed to say I was near to tears
(but also grinning widely) as I flew along, rejoicing in being there,
doing this, after nearly a year of recovery.

I enjoyed it so much that I decided pretty quickly to do a full lap
before stopping at Ramsey (so, 1 2/3 laps really). I headed over the
one-way mountain, overtaking the few bikes who were also out early.
It was bloody marvelous. I had a smile a mile wide when I finally
arrived at Keith's for breakfast.

<considers 5 paragraphs covering first 8 hours of trip. Decides to
precis the rest>

The days after that merged into one, as they usually do at the TT.
Keith was up to his eyeballs in the ManXTT electric bike entry - I
only got to go to the pub with him once! Every other night, he was in
the workshop or on the dyno til 2am. I even helped do a few small
jobs on the bike. I did some laps (not many, as the police seem keen
to close the mountain road at every opportunity nowadays), did some
marshalling, met a whole bunch of friends, and generally reveled in
the greatest festival of motorcycling in the world. And, for reasons
that don't really stand up to scrutiny, I even went to see Whitesnake
(who were extremely professional, even if Coverdale has become a
dreadful old roue).

One story that stands out - and old friend (Mark Forsyth) was on the
Island working (he's a freelance journalist, and was there on Honda's
tab, covering their 50 years at the TT celebrations) and we arranged
to have a beer. Being a journo, he turned up late, and we were
halfway down our first pint when the Honda PR girl came and hassled
him to get on the organised bus to go to a dinner for Honda dealers
and dignitaries and the like. He asked if I could come, and I could.
So there I was, sat on the bus to some Douglas restaurant, and Mark
said "Do you know who that is behind me?" I looked - it was Carlos
Checa. At the restaurant there were only a dozen of us, and I was sat
next to Ryuichi Kiyonari and diagonally opposite Checa. Kiyo was a
very polite and pleasant chap; Carlos seemed to have a bit of Spanish
haughtiness, but mellowed when I got him talking about climbing. I
got photos of the two of them stood next to the George Formby statue
on our walk back to the hotel.

Still, you don't need to have dinner with WSB riders to have a great
TT. It remains the greatest festival of motorcycling in the world.
If a bike has been in production, and example will be at the TT.
Everyone who professes and interest in bikes should go at least once.

 

snip>

I've been getting more and more pissed off with people asking why I
haven't been over there this year but I'll be back before too long.

I'm glad you enjoyed it and put the ghosts to bed.

 

Nice well written post. Makes me want to go next year (hopefully on
something a bit classier!).

 

says...>


<snip tale of TT visit>

Which bike did you take?

 

Where I live, they would attribute that to him being "típico catalán".

His website says his favourite country to visit is "South America".

 

Champ wrote:

<snip stuff>

Nice write up Neal, must have been very poignant going back after last
year's events.

I really must do it some time, maybe I can persuade the boy to take a
father and son trip there at some stage

Nice one

 

Pahnd - high speed braggage, but not fast enough.

Should have stuck your head into "First Class" and begged an upgrade for
a tenner. Big comfy seat, waitress service, free coffee and buns,
pillow for your head.

Gave you wings, obv.

13 quid @ a pahnd/landmark/place name, plus a pahnd for keeping up but
being (apparently) unable to dust the punter. Lucky it wasn't Bear,
two-up on the R1.

Top geezer. Well up on the list of good guys, is Keef.

That has to be 50p returned, for sympathy.

Words fail me. Tenner a name drop, fiver for the hack and two quid for
Formby, I suppose.

Bung us a cheque for fifty and I'll hold it till we go racing again,
then I'll buy dinner with it.

 

Champ wrote:

<snip chap obviously having a good time>

I enjoyed reading that, thank you.

 

The ZX10R. Of course!

 

uh huh.

Geographical inexactitude aside, his girlfriend is Venezuelan, and
fairly gorgeous. That can colour a chap's opinion.

 

That was my very first idea, but it was full. And it's 12.50, not a
tenner.

 

I really am going to go next year, it's a must.


--


Nige,

BMW K1200S
Range Rover Vogue
Suzuki GSX-R600 Racebike

 

Bugger.

Should have known a veteran of your standing would have cottoned that.
And it's gone up too.

Bugger.

 

No Cunts allowed ...

HTH

Paul.

 

I'll not see you then

--


Nige,

BMW K1200S
Range Rover Vogue
Suzuki GSX-R600 Racebike

 

If only that were the case :-(

 

It's a big enough island to avoid them if you know where they're
staying.

 

Its a shame Bear polluted the place I know!

--
Gavin.

For the road: GSXR600K1
For the track: <gone>
Current project: Peugeot Speedfight 2
For everything else: Citroën Berlingo

MSN:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gavin_wilby
Blog: http://www.stoof.co.uk

 

I'm definitely going next year, but I'm not a **** so that's ok.

 

I'm thinking of going next year but I've no idea if I am or not.