D-14 Essex

Pickup day.   The sun is shining.  I take the train to the middle of nowhere with my kit in a bag and walk the 3/4 of a mile to the bike dealer.  It starts to drizzle.  Just great.  Wet roads. Brand new bike!

Formalities are completed.  A photo is taken of me standing next to the bike before it is wheeled outside for me to ride away.  It’s really happening!

I squeeze into my leathers and put the boots on.  Feeling rather stiff from the protective gear I get a final walk through of the controls and a reminder about the servicing appointment I have booked in ten days time.  I have to ride an average of 60 miles a day but I have no work so this shouldn’t be difficult.  Should it?

I get on and take my time.  Mirrors, check.  Sat nav programmed for home but not on the motorway, check.  No-one watching before I pull away, check.  Nervous but gradually building in confidence I snick the bike into first and pull away.  T-junction.  Turn left.  Then right and into the trading estate to stop.  I’ve forgotten to put ear plugs in.  By god its loud and rattling without earplugs.  Is it supposed to sound like this?

I’ve always ridden with ear plugs.  Wind noise is a real issue for motorcyclists and not everyone realises just how LOUD it is at speed.  High frequency noise is really bad for your long term hearing and damage can occur really quickly.   That ringing noise after a ride is not a sign of having a blast but having your cilia cells in your ears get overloaded and die off.

Anyway.  On the big.  Earplugs in.  Sat nav set.  Off I go.  Sat nav set to “Curvy Roads” which wasn’t sensible after rain as there is mud on the roads.  Anyone who read my sideline on the bike’s spec will have seen it has “dynamic ride’ which is a fancy way of saying the throttle response, traction and stability control can be tuned at the flick of a switch, or in this case the pressing of a button and twisting the controller.  Rain mode is set and I take the turns as they come.  My first rear end slide comes after about seven or eight miles of this and I decide discretion is sensible and head for an A road and relative safety.  

I make it home through some bizarre route on roads I don’t know and pull up outside. Will anyone be as excited as me? Turns out William is curious and Sophia excited.