The 2007 Road Trip

We set off early on the Friday morning, the bikes were loaded with the most stuff we have ever taken, as we needed to take our tents and sleeping bags on top of the usual stuff we take. My clutch seemed to be playing up as we pulled away, We made it to the ferry at Haversham and there was hundreds of bikes all loaded up like ours.
The crossing was good, and we arrived as the track was closed for testing by the racers which ment we had to wait an hour before we could get to the Rugby club to set up the tents. We all had 2 man tents which cost about a tenner each, these will be good enough and if there rubbish we can throw them away when weve finished with them Col said.
We pitched our tents which took a while as we tried to work out what went where and then put our stuff inside. We had had enough of the bikes for the day so went to explore our surroundings. The Rugby club had got a porta loo with 4 cubicals and the Club house toilets had got 4 cubicals, there was about 400 blokes staying on the site, so you can imagine, there was always a cue for the toilet and when you eventually got in the smell was horrible. Luckily Mac Donalds was opposite and closer to where we had pitched our tents. Oh and the showers were communal! The club house had layed on a big screen TV which showed TT highlites and Rock videos so we liked it in there. Suprisingly we saw a real life pair of breasts in there as this woman decided to do a flash!
Day 2 we decided to do a lap of the course so we could find best place to watch the race from, unfortunately we all got split up and ended up watching from different parts, well we would have if the weather wasnt raining so after an hour they called it off. We went to Castletown Castle and had a look around and a beer in the castle pub next door and later walked into Douglas to watch the seafront entertainment and have a few more beers. It rained most of the night and our tents leaked. So in the morning made a few adjustments.
Day 3. Mad Sunday.. It rained we did a full lap but the mountain section was covered in clouds so visability was about 20 feet in places. Still it was quite mad though!
There was lots of things going on around the pit area so we went and looked around there. It chucked it down all day and the tents leaked, we were soaked from the rain all day our stuff was soaked, with nowhere to dry anything we stayed in the club house ate a pizza and waited for the rain to stop. It didnt and it all was becoming a let down. It drizzled all night and when we got up in the morning the Sun was out. We had socks drying and the atmosphere on the site was better.
My clutch had got worse as the days past and was now in a bad way, I had bought some clutch fluid so decided to top it up, I found the problem was caused by the mechanic I had used a few weeks earlier. Id asked him to change the fluid while he was putting a new chain and sprocket on the Thunderace. He had put the rubber seal back on but not lined it up properly and the clutch fluid had slowly seeped into the bit where the air was supposed to be. I re fitted it and it worked a treat.
We decided to watch the race from Creg ne Ba, the sun beat down and the races took place, John Macguiness won and broke the 130 mph lap record.
Another night in Douglas had to be cut short as we had to be up at 5am the following morning to catch the ferry back home.

Summary
Date:- May / June 2007
Weather:- 3 dull day, 2 sunny.
Hotel:- Our own tents pitched on Douglas Rugby Club
Miles:- 500 approx.
Fuel cost per litre:- 96p
Aim:- Lap the TT curcuit, watch the TT races.