Stuart’s GoldWing Blog

Bowness Waterfront, not always as quiet

CLICK ON ANY PICTURE FOR AN ENLARGEMENT

On a weekday in April this year I had a whole day to myself and since the weather was set fair, it was the perfect opportunity to get out and enjoy some riding with no one to please but myself.  The combination of a GoldWing and some decent biking roads is a huge blessing for which I am always grateful and never take for granted, even for a moment.

And since it was some time since I been anywhere near Wast Water, the hauntingly beautiful lake on the western side of the Lake District, that was the place that came to mind to head for.  By virtue of its relative inaccessibility, it’s steep-sided and dramatic appearance and its lack of development, Wasdale and indeed the Western Lakes as a whole, are a world apart from the Lake District which most of the tourists get to see.  So that was it then, off I would go to the Western Lakes.

The English Lake District is a beautiful area, arguably one of the most scenic in the UK and it’s also continues………

Arrangements for the 2010 GoldWing Light Parade at Blackpool Illuminations, aka Pose on the Prom 2010, are developing nicely and outline information about the practical arrangement for the Parade itself have now been released.

The Parade takes place on the evening of Saturday September 4th 2010 and is part of a Weekend of socialising, entertainment and activities to which all Wingers are welcome.

The Route is broadly similar to last year but it will start further north, avoiding the need to negotiate the busy Squire Gate Junction and also finish further north too, because it will be possible to ride directly from the Promenade, just after the Pleasure Beach, directly into the private South Shore Crescent where the Weekend Event is based.

The Route still covers almost the whole of the illuminated part of the Promenade, stretching over several miles each way and promising over an hour of spectacle and fun, riding past crowds of thousands of people.

Police and Council cooperation has been secured and all necessary special provisions will be made.

Further details can be viewed by clicking here.

Slogan reads "We're bringing Oil to American Shores"

I don’t often climb on to a soap box so I hope regular viewers of this Blog will tolerate this exception, especially those in the US, for whom this has been written.

The oil leak from a BP installation in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico has been world news and justifiably so because it does constitute a major event and it has already been very disruptive, for example of deep water fishing off the Gulf Coast of the USA, which has been banned over large areas.

I was on vacation in Florida as this incident started so I had the opportunity to see how it was handled by the US media and by the US politicians and the BP executives who found themselves having to answer challenging questions.

I am as disappointed as anyone that this incident occurred at all and also that sufficiently reliable contingency arrangements had not been made to prevent significant leakage even if, as BP have explained, it needed a combination of seven failures (of safety devices or systems) to allow leakage to become uncontrolled in the way it did.

But a very large leak of oil and gas there has been and despite the use of vast quantities of dispersant continues………

Thanks to bifocals, one of us could see where we were going

I’ve never been on a Track Day of the sort you see advertised to UK motorcyclists, when you pay a fee to take your bike on to a race circuit and maybe get some tuition, the idea being to let you explore or develop racing-type skills.  That sort of thing might appeal to sports bike riders but a GoldWing on a race circuit?   I didn’t think so.

I had taken the opportunity to ride my Wing around the Nurnburgring during one of its public access sessions a few years ago when I was touring in the Mosel with some other riders who were keen to do it, but that was a one-off experience of just two laps; the first one in a state of high anxiety getting used to keeping out of the way of the really high speed lunatics among the high volumes of traffic on the circuit and the second one less terrified and experiencing the beginnings of enjoyment of what only a race circuit can provide – bends and sequences of bends which have been specifically designed to provide challenging riding.

The Nurnburgring during public sessions is something of a madhouse and I have no desire to do it again.  But the opportunity to ride on a race circuit for a whole day, free of charge and without having to cope with lots of other traffic on it, well that’s a different matter altogether.  I jumped at the chance.

There are however no free lunches in this world so there was of course a catch.  Access to the circuit for continues………

Marshalling Organiser Barry and the two Police Motorcyclists

A mass motorcycle ride took place in the Lake District on Sunday 6th June in support of the Help for Heroes Charity.

Over 500 bikes of all types took part and the event went very smoothly indeed.  All credit to the brave dozen or so Cumbrians who rode mopeds and some in fancy dress.  Wingers were dressed in conventional biking gear except for Dave Sharp did his bit by dressing as a butcher.

One moped broke down and one moped rider went down at low speed on a roundabout and suffered a small graze but that was all – it was a very safe as well as successful Event.

The weather forecast which I looked at the day before was for a warm day with a risk of only light showers but there were gloomier forecasts too (for heavy rain) and this probably kept some away.  Over 600 riders had registered and made a donation so it was very worthwhile.

There was the odd spot of light rain en route but nothing worth stopping to put wet weather gear continues………

A selection of accommodation for this year’s GoldWing Light Parade at Blackpool illuminations has been available for booking via the BLP website for some time but there was an error in the link to the relevant information page on this Blog, for which I would like to apologise.

You can access information about the group of hotels and B&Bs which form the Venue for this Event directly by clicking here.  The Warwick Hotel is already full but there is still a choice of other hotels and B&Bs along the same Crescent.

Planning for the event is proceeding nicely and both Blackpool Council and last year’s Event Sponsors Knutsford Honda are both on board for this year too.

It’s going to be a Great Weekend!

Sharing the back seat driving

Apologies to regular visitors for disappearing from the internet for a couple of days over the recent weekend.

No sinister explanation for this, just a problem at the web-hosting server which couldn’t be corrected until after the weekend, so we may now be looking for an alternative home.

Meantime service will hopefully not be interrupted again either prior to or during any switch-over which may follow and the domain name of this and all associated sites will remain the same and there will be no need for viewers to change bookmarks or anything else on their computers.

Meanwhile I watched Drill Team Practice again on Sunday morning and here’s a picture of Trudi and Smitty doing their seat-swapping routine I mentioned in my Postcard from America article.  More pictures coming soon.

Selection on offer in Kissimmee

Yesterday was for hanging around, waiting for family to join us here in Central Florida from Gatwick, which fortunately was free from volcanic ash, albeit not entirely from its knock-on effects.  Fortunately their flight was delayed by only 3 hours but it did mean that a visit to Powersports of Kissimmee, a Honda, Can-Am and Suzuki Dealer, could be taken in without Grandmotherly impatience being provoked.

I’ve been under caution about visiting motorcycle dealers while on holiday in the US ever since I photographed Management alongside a new GoldWing colour a few years ago and emailed the picture home to a biker friend – who promptly posted it on the internet with the caption “Get the knobbly knees” or some such.  She was furious, so bikes only in the pictures this time.

This Dealer had four new (or at least un-registered) GL1800s in stock ranging from a 2010 model (which continues………

It's like Morris Dancing without the sticks and bells

Far be it from me to claim anything other than inspiration from the late great Alistair Cooke by adapting the title of his famous BBC radio reports from New York but I did used to enjoy his broadcasts when I was a lad and I am temporarily resident (or at least on vacation) in Florida, so it seems appropriate to send my Blog viewers something to read while I’m away from the UK GoldWing scene.

Management (as she’s known in our household) and I have been privileged to be staying with genuine Floridians (or rather one real-deal Southerner and his fully assimilated and acclimatised Yankee wife) and it’s been great to get off the tourist trail and spend time with the real people.

Out Host for our first three nights in Florida was Randy Rodriguez and his wife Cat.  We met them several years ago when I first saw a Drill Team in action, since when Randy has become the Captain and his Drill continues………

Two well known riders and a very conspicuous bike

The weather was really very generous to this year’s Thundersprint and Northwich in Cheshire, the Venue of this annual sprint racing event, enjoyed what would have been a very nice day indeed even in Summer.  Out came the Factor 50 and faces and balding pates were enthusiastically rubbed with it.

Special dispensation had been given by the Organisers, apparently with some hesitation, to allow us to arrive after the deadline for the road closure into the site – providing that we pushed our bikes for the 400 yards or so from the barrier to our display position.  In a fine example to our national Conservative and Liberal Democrat politicians of the art of negotiation and compromise, we declined this invitation and suggested that mass GoldWings, at least in our hands, presented less of a hazard to pedestrians (and ourselves) being ridden rather than pushed.

Common sense prevailed and a Very Senior Organiser offered to walk in front of us to see us safely to our display area.  The walking pace was negotiated up to a brisk trot on his part and together with our continues………