Spring 2015

   Well Spring has arrived at last, the thicker gloves have been put away until next winter, my leathers have shrunk *coughs* so I bought an exercise bike and a pair of Joe Rocket leather trousers with the armour that fit much better!
   We have been making plans for rides and places to go in 2015. Col and I are looking at doing a tour of the Swiss Alps trying to visit the most popular of the mountain passes, taking some inspiration from Top Gear and the Italian Job along with a website called AlpineRoads.com, and then so the others can come on a trip later in the year, a 1 nighter in Wales going to the places we are just to far from to do on a Sunday morning which has the others intrested in aswell.
 We aim to ride the A4069 over Brecon Beacons, the A483 as usual and the A5 through Snowdonia to mention a few.
 The MCN fantasy road race manager has started and we have set up our own league, During the 1st game round Ryan has come out on top. (see the news section)

  So far in 2015 Col and I have had a few rides out. The first of our longer routes of the year when the sun made a welcome appearance was on a trip to Dom's in Leominster for a coffee, unfortunately Sam his little dog is no longer with us, RIP little buddy.
 The sun had put a little heat onto the tarmac and the new Pirelli tyres I have bought gripped well and we had a fun morning along the Worcsester side of the A44. 

Dom's Cafe Leominster

 While on the carpark outside Dom's cafe we saw a Fireblade with rebound adjusters on the top of the fork legs which looked imressive so Col has bought some and is trying them out.

 On the look out for places to get a coffee we came across the Station at Arley and watched the old Steam train go past.

Arley Railway Station Cafe

 We also made it to Shobdon airport to the cafe there, this was during our coldest ride this year, the temperatures promised to be 8 degrees but in reality with the wind chill etc it was more like 4, we were miserable, and bloody froze when we got home.

 Matt has done a few evening rides with some friends over his area, Rich and Jon are both yet to make an appearance but both are talking about a few weeks from now, we will see.

 Camera

 I have been experimenting with different camera mounts for my SJ4000 digital video camera we use to take onboard footage when on our trips away.

(an excellent Chinese alternative to the more expensive GoPro, which uses Go Pro fittings) 

  I have stumbled on to the perfect mount, again it fits into the side crash bobbin and uses a rubber transit bolt from a Bosch washing machine, the footage even at above 7000RPM has next to no distortion unlike the previous versions which distorted as soon as you moved away. (I have an endless supply of these bungs if anyone needs one.)

Believe me thats 7000rpm and hardly any distortion