This past Thursday I took a ride over to The Haven, just on the eastern side of Salisbury in Wiltshire to attend their Bike Night. I rode over with Lucinda and met up with a few friends when I was down there. It was a bit overcast but the riding there and back were both good, despite wearing my textiles, which made making process a little tricky. Just too much buffering.
The Haven, which used to be called The Hilltop, is a well know biking cafe, but despite this, the turn out was less than stellar. Maybe fifty of so bikes, which for The Haven, is probably a good little turn out for a weekday evening, but it did get me thinking. I see lots of signs around for bike nights at various places, but what is it about them that makes us turn up? Friends? Food? Decent ride there and back? In reality its probably a combination of all three. There are monster bike meets, like those at Loomies, Box Hill and indeed Poole Quay and it sometimes feels like there are loads going around. I wonder if the organisers of these events see them as a quick and easy way to make a little extra money. In effect, exploiting riders who are often, just looking for somewhere to ride to. Nah, cant be like that surely.
The Haven, which used to be called The Hilltop, is a well know biking cafe, but despite this, the turn out was less than stellar. Maybe fifty of so bikes, which for The Haven, is probably a good little turn out for a weekday evening, but it did get me thinking. I see lots of signs around for bike nights at various places, but what is it about them that makes us turn up? Friends? Food? Decent ride there and back? In reality its probably a combination of all three. There are monster bike meets, like those at Loomies, Box Hill and indeed Poole Quay and it sometimes feels like there are loads going around. I wonder if the organisers of these events see them as a quick and easy way to make a little extra money. In effect, exploiting riders who are often, just looking for somewhere to ride to. Nah, cant be like that surely.
This weekend, its been a case of Hired and Retired. My red and white Alpinestar GP Pro gloves finally succumbed to the years of riding. They had survived two track crashes, and several years of commuting, so all in all worth the money. They finally had to go however when the stitching on of the fingers went. As I was so pleased with these, I just replaced them with a new pair. Different colour though.
The second part of Hired and Retired came thanks to a new set of brake pads for the FireBlade. I'd been running some Ferodo pads since last year, and despite really good initial feel and bite, I've been really disappointed with the feel just before coming to a stop and the audible screeching they were giving out. So, despite having more than half the life in the pads left, I changed them out for a set of HH EBC pads. The Ducati already wears them and I'm very happy with them. Good initial bite and they certainly do what they say on the tin and these should work well with the EBC Prolite discs already on the FireBlade.
Thinking about it, the FireBlade is really due a bit of a service, at the very least at oil and air filter change. Must really get onto that as soon as possible.
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