June 08th, 2014

These things always take longer than planned, but thankfully, despite the early start, basically all I had to do was yesterday was to collect two bikes and bring them home. My original plan was to be near or at Silverstone to collect the Ducati by 10:00, but that turned out to be the actual time I left the house with the van packed and ready to go. I'd picked up the van at about 08:15-08:20 and picked up the straps I needed, but I had to hang around until 09:30ish to collect the planks I was going to use as a ramp. A quick dash home to collect my stand and some cushions and the two hour 'delay' was complete. So in the pissing rain I headed up the M1 (via Scratchwood services to get a half decent cup of coffee for the journey) and made my way to the Northamptonshire circuit for the 2nd time in five days.
The journey went well and by the time I'd reached the A43, the coffee had run out and the rain had stopped. The Ford transit I had borrowed was, once I'd got used to it, incredible easy and comfy to use. Quite fancy one to be honest. Would be very useful. Anyway, I pulled up to the circuit, explained why I was there and was directed to the Experience Centre that had been my bikes home since Monday afternoon.
I wandered into the garage and there, just where I had left it, was my bike but it was now joined by the track instructor bikes and a few race cars including a striking Aston Martin. As the circuit was live, I had to wait for around for 30mins until a few of the mechanics were free to help load my bike, so I killed the time by reading a magazine, texting my mate and eating an expensive, but disappointing burrito thing. It was 12:30.
Soon enough the bike was in the van and strapped down. It was the first time I'd had to do that and to be honest you could tell. The main thing was the bike was secure enough for the trip across to the M40 to where the FireBlade was waiting.

The sun was shining now and Graham Norton on BBC Radio 2, who had kept me company on the Northbound leg, had handed over to Tony Blackburn and I trundled across and down the M40 listening to poppy sixties music and for the first time since the previous Sunday, feeling very positive.
A reasonably quick collection of the Honda followed and Rob, the man who sold it to me, helped by loading and securing the bike in the van and I was back on my way home on the M25 when Mr Blackburn handed over to Dermot O'Leary at 15:00.
I eventually got back to Metropolis where Mike helped me unload both bikes and we propped the Ducati on the Abba stand and wheeled the FireBlade to one side. I took the planks and van back, walked back to my car, drove home, sponged a lift back to the shop and rode the Blade back home. It was 17:30. It had been a long day.

So the damage to the 1098 will be assessed at some point in the next few days and despite the weather being superb down South today, all I did was gently ride the Honda to the petrol station and filled her up. To be honest I wasn't really in the mood and my arm still hurts from the crash.
Over the next few days, I'll re-jiggle the website a little bit and get my FireBlade page up. In fairness to the bike, I'm looking forward to getting to know her.