DAS Day Too

Seconds

Duncan from Saudi completed his CBT yesterday and joined Dave and I on the 500cc sprint today. Duncan's got a hankering for a Fat Bob Harley when he's qualified; I explained about Bob having sold his Harley and defended his weight (given his age). That aside, perhaps they should meet?

I started the day off riding to the school to sit around a while while Duncan became more familiar with his bike before we headed off into the town for a bit of riding out together. I was feeling a little uncertain still about the life-savers so threw them in whenever the mood struck to begin with while working hard on moving my whole head to look into each mirror every 10 to 15-seconds or whenever traffic lights or obvious hazards were closing where I might need to slow down. It soon became much easier though I still would have had trouble shaving.

Once in a game-on National Speed limit zone I opened the throttle and felt the wind near blow me off (the back of Bluey). Dave's Yammy FSJ (??) thing filled the right-hand mirror and he later added some verbal disgust for not taking that corner at at least 60mph. Duncan and I both agreed the wind had been strong enough to add some turbo power to our pants so felt satisfied I had kept to a safe limit, really.

I had two really good rides today: the last followed a brief by Gary at the Gosport Test Centre (run by my mates at the DSA). Under a large sign that declared, "NO PARKING OR UNAUTHORISED PRACTICING" we practiced exiting and entering the plot. It's off "the only dual carriageway in Gosport" by the notorious Halfords mini-roundabout where if the belligerent old grannies with their Morrisons trollies don't get you the swans for certain will. It's not an easy place to navigate and was probably as well thought out as their Hazard Perception Test so bound to be planned by a bloke with neurological activity bested by my Goldfish (Toby). The bloke from DSA: "Yep, drive out of here; automatically fail on safety, and we can get more of you through in a day to charge for your re-tests". Bastards.

Our emergency stops were well punctuated by Duncan's moonwalking his bike around the U-turns, which I managed okay, but nerves were telling on one or two of them - I put my own feet down once, too, but Dave wasn't looking so that doesn't count. Gary's hint on the emergency stop (using the front brake exclusively) would have gone better if I hadn't used the rear brake. Once settled, I managed to strike the balance, though.

We spent far too long in the cafe and still finished early is my only gripe, but given that I was still pretty exhausted and in truth, I had probably had enough by then I guess it was fair dincum. I missed the F1 though so had to settle for the last few minutes of Moto GP around Donnigton but it was a pretty lame race.