September 18th, 2016

Hi there, long time no speak. The reason for my absence these last few weeks is that I've only recently got back from a holiday to Italy, where, thanks to Carolina, we got to see the MotoGP at Misano. What an experience! You have to see it to believe it. Over 100,000 people crammed into a very small circuit with very limited access, 99.9% of whom were there to see Valentino Rossi at his home race. It was yellow everywhere - mostly adorned to semi naked Italian men. Me, I was wearing red. Well, I had to really.
As you can see, the weather was good and it was really hot on race day. To think they were out there racing really brings it home as to the level of fitness these riders need to have.
With the bike at home, Carolina and I rented a car, which was both a blessing and a curse. After the race, we needed to be back near Milan and in the end, the journey, including getting out of the car park, took nearly ten hours. Thankfully, the company was great, which made it feel like a fraction of that and we had air con. Gotta love air con.

Unlike my last visit to Italy, we headed over on the plane. A very quick and easy flight, followed by a bit of driving down to Bologna where we were based. Being so close, we were able to get a look at the revised Ducati Museum and with a slightly different line up of machinery, it was more than worth the nominal entry fee.

Apart from that, its been pretty quiet. I managed to take the 'Blade out for a spin after getting back and it was good to get out riding, especially as 'Winter is Coming' and I'll soon need to wrap up warm just to go to work.