Month: Sep 2018

So today the vibe was certainly somber as many were either packed up or packing. There was noticeably less people around and out on the ride. A casual 100 miles. Unfortunately we left a little late by 30 seconds and got stuck behind a rolling road block for a cycling event.

So we had to divert via the back side streets until we got back on track. Still some lovely roads tho the bbq was a bit of a disappointment. One sausage in a bit of bread does not a bbq make.

We stopped for lots of pics along the way.

We then made our way to the Moto Piston Club House and what a setup!

And now its all over and tommorow the journey back begins!

So with the excitement of a nervous/giddy kid before Christmas I slept for as long as I could however with an on the road start time of 8.30 am we have to be up early for breakfast. Others were out doing last minute stuff to their bikes, I just put a few more snacks in the top box turned the key and rolled up out the car park.

Well I must warn you there are not to many pictures today, when on a time trial mapped to be 310 miles on the must curviest roads iv ever had the pleasure of riding on you don’t have too much time but the video will be epic for sure so I shall not spoil that.

What I will say tho is we all made it round, some more than others but we all have the mugs of completion.

Simply put tho the hardest and most rewarding day on a motorcycle even if it was a cx500 and I’m very sure there were more than 5000 corners but the video will tell the tale when I’m back and have time to edit it.

Oh and if your thinking that’s it well we still have two days of riding here but now we can throw the maps away and follow the arrows and have more time for pics and music and just soak the place in. Then we still have about a thousand miles to ride home! All bikes are now working tho and they let Danny help with the officiating today so he got to do the course officially on his R1 and helped the stragglers and helped out at the checkpoints. Alain is claiming victory on his Blackbird but we are still claiming sports bike breaks are cheating and next time he needs to try it on an age appropriate bike.

Marytn and I stuck together on the cx’s and finished a little under 7.30pm a very long but rewarding day, now to go sleep!

As we are technically late to the party as some people have been here since Monday doing other rides. But today was our first day so let’s explain how this whole thing works.

Let’s sort out the facts, the Moto Piston Rally is not just a bike ride with old bikes in the beautiful Picos de Europa Mountains. It’s a self navigated time trial.

So today was a practise ride today that was 180 ish miles long. You are given a crib sheet type document that’s a map that looks like this.

So you tape this thing to your tank, then you zero your trip meter so you can keep a check on your milage as your total milage gets very important. So those little boxes are your directional map for the next junction you need to take.

So as above this means in 1.2 miles you need to turn right on to the CA-286 road signposted to La Veguilla and you should be on the junction when your total millage is 64.2m. So once you have passed this, you move on to the next one but as you see in the top left corner. You have to know the number your on at all times. Because if you forget it then your lost. And just to bring this back, your navigating this while on a motorbike riding at 60mph lent over in a corner trying to avoid the bike in front of you, the bike wanting to overtake you behind, the cow shit/gravel on the road and remember that turn number, where you are and when you have to turn off the road. Needless to say its busy in your head on these rides. Now with all that said today was the practise run to allow you to do this and get used to the navigation but with arrows on the turns in case you go wrong.

However tomorrow on the 5000 curves there are no arrows on the lamposts so if you get lost, your stuffed basically and you will not be a Conqurer. It’s just over 300 miles this year and generally this will take 8 hours (if you don’t get lost).

So that’s the prep work done you now know how it works.

Today however due to it being practise as such we soon got used to how it all works and got in to the swing of things for a very enjoyable day around the Picos. They setup checkpoints to feed you and make sure your watered and there were some very nice bikes out there today.

We got back tired and it’s only half of the distance of tomorrow’s. Tonight is the welcome meal so we’re all in for a slap up meal but me and martyn shall be taking it easy on the wine, the grub is delicious tho! Early to bed once it’s done tho tomorrow is the big day.

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So we got up to get on the road early doors to arrive at the Piston Rally with time to spare. But as with all things Danny’s fix last night was not to be, he felt it wasn’t right within the first hundred meters and he headed to the Yamaha dealer once again. This time they took the back wheel off.

And indeed the true problem was revealed the rear wheel inner and outer bearings were collapsed and the bearing mounts worn. So a new wheel is required they sourced a second hand one and are same day delivering it but will be the following morning before the tyre can be swapped so as with all good adventures we’re leaving Danny behind and he will catch up tomorrow.

We headed up and made great progress managing it on a single tank of gas. We got checked in and awaited the bikes to roll in off the ferry.

Looking forward to the next few days where the real action happens!