EuroBARF 2014 Pic Thread
- Thread starter flying_hun
- Start date
clutchslip
Not as fast as I look.
Fantastic. Thanks for the vicarious adventure.
veefereefer
Well-known member
Such awesomeness! Thanks Kurt for taking us along!
flying_hun
Adverse Selection
Thanks much, Bud. Let's go riding again soon. :ride
Thank you. The pleasure is all mine. :laughing
Chuck, you need to come along as cameraman next time so folks don't have to look at my crappy cellphone pics. :cool
When we got back down to Castletown Wednesday evening, the place was already pretty filled up. I just followed other vehicles into a field alongside the start/finish straight to find a place to park. We ended up sitting in the stands by the last corner, which may not have been the ideal place to watch the races, but it was very sociable. On one side of us was an Irish couple who's involved in putting on the Bush road races, and on the other side was a Manx family who just love the races. Unfortunately, we had quite a bit of fence between us and the racing. I already posted up some sidecar vid taken from there. Here's still or two.
Strange, the second pic in the series won't post.
We decided that on Thursday we'd look for something better.
PS: I added some video of the TdF passing by to an earlier post.
flying_hun
Adverse Selection
Thursday morning we were back for a full day of racing. We started by going to a place called Stadium (I think), and sat on the wall with a group of hardcore fans. On one side were an Irish father and son, and on the other was a Manx couple that runs a motorcycle tuning shop on the island, and the guy races, and made his Manx GP debut in 2013.
Here are some shots from the 600's.
And some vid so you can hear them.
youtu.be/BaKyIt9SQPk
youtu.be/QDix3lImlVo
Too bad you can't smell the race gas. :teeth
Here are some shots from the 600's.
And some vid so you can hear them.
youtu.be/BaKyIt9SQPk
youtu.be/QDix3lImlVo
Too bad you can't smell the race gas. :teeth
Time for my own crappy phone pics. Luckily Kurt covered the video content pretty good 
DAY 1
Picked up my Hyperstrada outside of London and headed North. Had it in my mind I wanted to get up to Scotland before meeting up with Kurt and Kevin in Leeds so I took the A1 for a couple hours to get out of traffic.
Here's the bike
Stayed on the A1 for a couple tanks (Hyperstrada range was only about 150 and I never went past 130 or so). Here's where the good stuff started :ride. I honestly don't know where I was aside from the GPS telling me I was going the right direction
A bit farther down the road I ran into a gate which was probably OK to go through, but I didn't feel like taking a chance. Ended up taking mostly single lane roads till I was officially in Scotland
Started getting dark so I found a small hotel in Melrose and had some pub food before turning in
DAY 1
Picked up my Hyperstrada outside of London and headed North. Had it in my mind I wanted to get up to Scotland before meeting up with Kurt and Kevin in Leeds so I took the A1 for a couple hours to get out of traffic.
Here's the bike
Stayed on the A1 for a couple tanks (Hyperstrada range was only about 150 and I never went past 130 or so). Here's where the good stuff started :ride. I honestly don't know where I was aside from the GPS telling me I was going the right direction
A bit farther down the road I ran into a gate which was probably OK to go through, but I didn't feel like taking a chance. Ended up taking mostly single lane roads till I was officially in Scotland
Started getting dark so I found a small hotel in Melrose and had some pub food before turning in
Last edited:
DAY 2
My ambitious goal was to make it to the northernmost point in Scotland, but that ended up getting dashed by traffic and rain. Here is where I pulled over to put on my rain gear, and what it looked like ahead on the way to Edinburgh
Thought it would be cool after getting north of Edinburg to check out St. Andrews which was a big mistake because it seemed to be a mecca for idiot tourists…the slow driving golfing kind. Was too wet to take any real pictures and after losing patience I decided it best to continue north which was when the rain went from a light drizzle to the real thing. Spent most of the ride on some cool side roads, but finally decided to jump on the A1 again to find gas. When I did, I ran into a couple Scottish moto cops, who were super cool and recommended the road to Fort William, which lived up to their description. They also lived up to their promise not to follow me
I turned off before Fort William and headed north to check out the infamous Loch Ness. No Nessie sighting, but the ride had dried out and traffic was light
I eventually wandered back down to Fort William. Luckily the chain hotel I tried first was booked and I ended up with a room for half the price and a traditional pub and view that was much better than the bowling alley next to the other place
Amazing sunsets this far north, and it really helped out my jet lag staying light out till after 10
My ambitious goal was to make it to the northernmost point in Scotland, but that ended up getting dashed by traffic and rain. Here is where I pulled over to put on my rain gear, and what it looked like ahead on the way to Edinburgh
Thought it would be cool after getting north of Edinburg to check out St. Andrews which was a big mistake because it seemed to be a mecca for idiot tourists…the slow driving golfing kind. Was too wet to take any real pictures and after losing patience I decided it best to continue north which was when the rain went from a light drizzle to the real thing. Spent most of the ride on some cool side roads, but finally decided to jump on the A1 again to find gas. When I did, I ran into a couple Scottish moto cops, who were super cool and recommended the road to Fort William, which lived up to their description. They also lived up to their promise not to follow me
I turned off before Fort William and headed north to check out the infamous Loch Ness. No Nessie sighting, but the ride had dried out and traffic was light
I eventually wandered back down to Fort William. Luckily the chain hotel I tried first was booked and I ended up with a room for half the price and a traditional pub and view that was much better than the bowling alley next to the other place
Amazing sunsets this far north, and it really helped out my jet lag staying light out till after 10
Last edited:
DAY 3
Time to cover some distance to get back to Leeds by 5pm and meet up with Kevin. Headed south from Fort Williams and traffic was light, roads awesome, and scenery couldn't be beat.
Unfortunately it didn't last, and it became pretty clear I'd hit the weekend. Had more traffic than I'd have liked and just enough rain to keep my camera safe and dry. But my timing was near perfect rolling into the hotel at 5pm and seeing Kevin pull as I was starting to unload the bike
Time to cover some distance to get back to Leeds by 5pm and meet up with Kevin. Headed south from Fort Williams and traffic was light, roads awesome, and scenery couldn't be beat.
Unfortunately it didn't last, and it became pretty clear I'd hit the weekend. Had more traffic than I'd have liked and just enough rain to keep my camera safe and dry. But my timing was near perfect rolling into the hotel at 5pm and seeing Kevin pull as I was starting to unload the bike
DAY4
First order was to head up to Knaresborough and meet up with Kurt to check out the Tour de France followed by a ride to the Yorkshire Moors. Looks like Kurt has most of these photos covered which is good because I seem to suck at taking pictures
We got a spot on the street and grabbed a pizza until these guys came through
Then a few quick sights at the nearby castle
And time to go ride through the Moors with these guys :ride
As usual, the more interesting parts were just too fun to stop and take pictures of. In the distant hills (or somewhere around there) are a bunch of little roads that we traversed, dodged sheep, and managed to avoid speed cameras (I think). Little bits of spotty rain towards the end, and I was really liking the Hyperstrada's suspension travel.
First order was to head up to Knaresborough and meet up with Kurt to check out the Tour de France followed by a ride to the Yorkshire Moors. Looks like Kurt has most of these photos covered which is good because I seem to suck at taking pictures
We got a spot on the street and grabbed a pizza until these guys came through
Then a few quick sights at the nearby castle
And time to go ride through the Moors with these guys
:ride
As usual, the more interesting parts were just too fun to stop and take pictures of
. In the distant hills (or somewhere around there) are a bunch of little roads that we traversed, dodged sheep, and managed to avoid speed cameras (I think). Little bits of spotty rain towards the end, and I was really liking the Hyperstrada's suspension travel.
carries an axe
meat bone meat meat meat
riding my jellycycle right now
flying_hun
Adverse Selection
Great stuff, George! :applause I particularly like the Reliant Robin Rallye Edition in the background! :laughing
Sorry that we're going to be jumping around a bit in our timeline, but back to Thursday at the races.
We were concerned that if the races ran long in the afternoon that we might not get back to the ferry in time. May not sound like a big deal, particularly if you've ridden the ferries up in Puget Sound, where if you miss a ferry you just wait for the next one. On the IOM, you book a particular ferry in advance. They've got your money, and if you don't show, well, they've got your money. There are two ferries per day that leave Douglas for Heysham, so you've got to make your ferry, or you're stuck.
With that in mind, we wanted to be sure we could get out of where we were parked to get to the ferry on time. The place where we were in the morning would have been problematic, so we changed locations. Our new location was on the start/finish straight, and right by where the podium is. In retrospect, it wasn't the best spot, but not bad.
Some shots from the afternoon. Starting with the 250/650 class, showing Davey Morgan (pink helmet) and others.
Here's a crappy clip of the start.
youtu.be/STsOOzobXzI
I'll just point out that this class is ruled by 650 Kawasakis. There's probably 5 Kawks for each SV, and I don't recall any SV's in the top five, or ten, or... :teeth
Another crappy pic from the class. I only know it's from that class because that pinkish/reddish front fender belongs to an RS250. :dunno
The big race of the day was solo championship, which was mainly superbikes, but included some 600's too. Basically, if you went fast enough, you could qualify on any bike. Practically, that meant 600's could get in, but 650's, 250's, etc. were not quick enough. The reigning champion was Guy Martin. Michael Dunlop was there too, and had come from behind to win a race on Wednesday night on his BMW, but was complaining that it wouldn't pull coming off the corners. Also on Wednesday night, Conor Cummins and Ivan Lintin and two others had been involved in a crash, so didn't race on Thursday. William Dunlop still had not fully recovered from his IOT-TT crash, and was not there.
The young man who was making a big splash was Dean Harrison who had won his first TT this year, had contended for the lead on superbikes on Wednesday night, and had badly spanked the field in the 250/650 class earlier.
Here's the start of the solo championship.
youtu.be/erpgpyEg7qk
The boys went at it hammer and tongs.
artyA couple of really crappy pics.
There were four riders up front for a while, but Michael's BMW got sicker and sicker, dropping further and further back until he retired, and Dean Harrison and Guy Martin pulled away into their own little race.
At the line, Martin prevailed by .001 of a second! Racing doesn't get any closer! Originally, Harrison had been announced as the winner, then the race judges reversed it, saying Guy had won.
At that point we began to hike to where we'd left the bikes as the sidecar final got underway.
In the end, we probably could have waited and still made the ferry. Next time we'll know.
BTW, the club that puts on this race runs it really, really well. Almost everything went off on time. The Irish guys couldn't believe what a tight ship the Manx organizers run. Very impressive.
On the way back on the ferry we had a couple of neat vehicles with us, neither of which I could be bothered to photograph. There was a Ducati Desmoseidici (Gawd, what a sound!) being ridden back from the races, and a ~40 Willys hot rod with a big old blower sticking out of the hood and a gorgeous paint job. I can't even imagine what that thing cost to run. We were paying about $8.50/gallon for regular unleaded.
Our route took us back to the hotel at Crooklands where we found the keys to our rooms where they said, and we spent the last night on EuroBARF before going our separate ways the next morning.
flying_hun
Adverse Selection
A few notes on riding there.
Riding on the other side of the road really exercises your brain. Many, many of your habits and reactions need to be overcome to make it work. It's not overwhelming, but it does focus your mind. This rally, in terms of road conditions, road customs, and pace was not n00b friendly. It's easier when your control of the bike is not something you have to think about so that you can focus on putting the bike where it needs to be, looking the right way when pulling out of parking lots, using roundabouts, etc. Don't let the wrong side thing keep you from doing it, just understand that you can't ever let your guard down.
I spent a Friday afternoon coming back up from visiting a school friend in London splitting on the M25, and I'll take splitting on I-80, thank you very much. Believe it or not, Bay Area drivers are a bit more courteous, and only a little less competent. Also, it's rather unusual for slow traffic on two land roads to pull over to let you by - quite a contrast with France! The flip side of that is that there is very little of double white (their equivalent of the DY) lines. There are lots of place where passing is legal where I was thinking, "There's no way I'd overtake here!" For those of you in the political forum who like to slag the UK as a nanny state (in some ways it is), there is no comparison with their definition of no passing zones vs. CalTrans' definition.
The next time I read some post whining about fucking chipseal I'm going to refer to this thread. Guess what, the TT course is remarkably bumpy, and chipseal is the most common way of surfacing the roads on the IOM. Those guys race on that shit. It's just the way it is, so the next time you see it, think:
Riding on the other side of the road really exercises your brain. Many, many of your habits and reactions need to be overcome to make it work. It's not overwhelming, but it does focus your mind. This rally, in terms of road conditions, road customs, and pace was not n00b friendly. It's easier when your control of the bike is not something you have to think about so that you can focus on putting the bike where it needs to be, looking the right way when pulling out of parking lots, using roundabouts, etc. Don't let the wrong side thing keep you from doing it, just understand that you can't ever let your guard down.
I spent a Friday afternoon coming back up from visiting a school friend in London splitting on the M25, and I'll take splitting on I-80, thank you very much. Believe it or not, Bay Area drivers are a bit more courteous, and only a little less competent. Also, it's rather unusual for slow traffic on two land roads to pull over to let you by - quite a contrast with France! The flip side of that is that there is very little of double white (their equivalent of the DY) lines. There are lots of place where passing is legal where I was thinking, "There's no way I'd overtake here!" For those of you in the political forum who like to slag the UK as a nanny state (in some ways it is), there is no comparison with their definition of no passing zones vs. CalTrans' definition.
The next time I read some post whining about fucking chipseal I'm going to refer to this thread. Guess what, the TT course is remarkably bumpy, and chipseal is the most common way of surfacing the roads on the IOM. Those guys race on that shit. It's just the way it is, so the next time you see it, think:
DAY 5
Monday the plan was to meet up with Stuart (from EuroBARF 1) and have him take us through the Lake District. Jet lag was gone by now so meting up early to pick up Kurt was no problem. Once at the park the roads were narrow and in cases REALLY steep. In one section we passed some poor guy who'd unfortunately stopped at the apex of a tight uphill hairpin. We all felt bad passing him by, but couldn't really stop to help or we'd likely be in the same predicament. Thought I had more pictures, but this is all I could find. Once I get my PGS downloaded I should at least have a route map to post
Who knew Kurt was starting his own tour service
End of day was pretty relaxed. We got back and Kurt's wife graciously fed us some home cooked food. Then Kevin and I headed back to our hotel just in time to catch a quick downpour
Monday the plan was to meet up with Stuart (from EuroBARF 1) and have him take us through the Lake District. Jet lag was gone by now so meting up early to pick up Kurt was no problem. Once at the park the roads were narrow and in cases REALLY steep. In one section we passed some poor guy who'd unfortunately stopped at the apex of a tight uphill hairpin. We all felt bad passing him by, but couldn't really stop to help or we'd likely be in the same predicament. Thought I had more pictures, but this is all I could find. Once I get my PGS downloaded I should at least have a route map to post
Who knew Kurt was starting his own tour service
End of day was pretty relaxed. We got back and Kurt's wife graciously fed us some home cooked food. Then Kevin and I headed back to our hotel just in time to catch a quick downpour
DAY 6 - The Isle of Man
By sheer luck I noticed our hotel reservation for the coming Thursday, and how the front desk closed at 11pm. Kind of significant since we were on the late Ferry and wouldn't get there until closer to midnight. So our first stop was Crooklands where the staff was super friendly and said they'd leave keys for us. Next, onward to Isle of Man!
For this and the prior Europe trip my old Garmin GPS came through with some incredible route suggestions. Just tell it to avoid highways and traffic and you'll find yourself on incredible back roads. However…things aren't always so smooth and the short trip from the hotel to the Ferry was less than incredible. BUt in the end we arrived, loaded and were on our way!
Got the bike tied down. In testament to my mad photo skillz I didn't bother photographing the mint condition RC30 parked just in front of me
Once we got the the island we checked into the hotel and immediately went off the take a lap of the TT course.
I think Kurt has already mentioned, but the surprising thing is how bumpy the road is. I let Kurt lead the charge and just barely managed (most of the time) to keep up with the mad Hun on his Versys. We were nowhere near race speed, but I did manage triple digits for a few spots when we in the unrestricted zone.
Afterwards we went back to the hotel and had some good old fashioned pub food…and watched in amazement as Brazil tanked in their World cup showdown with Germany
By sheer luck I noticed our hotel reservation for the coming Thursday, and how the front desk closed at 11pm. Kind of significant since we were on the late Ferry and wouldn't get there until closer to midnight. So our first stop was Crooklands where the staff was super friendly and said they'd leave keys for us. Next, onward to Isle of Man!
For this and the prior Europe trip my old Garmin GPS came through with some incredible route suggestions. Just tell it to avoid highways and traffic and you'll find yourself on incredible back roads. However…things aren't always so smooth and the short trip from the hotel to the Ferry was less than incredible. BUt in the end we arrived, loaded and were on our way!
Got the bike tied down. In testament to my mad photo skillz I didn't bother photographing the mint condition RC30 parked just in front of me
Once we got the the island we checked into the hotel and immediately went off the take a lap of the TT course.
I think Kurt has already mentioned, but the surprising thing is how bumpy the road is. I let Kurt lead the charge and just barely managed (most of the time) to keep up with the mad Hun on his Versys. We were nowhere near race speed, but I did manage triple digits for a few spots when we in the unrestricted zone.
Afterwards we went back to the hotel and had some good old fashioned pub food…and watched in amazement as Brazil tanked in their World cup showdown with Germany
DAY 7
Today we did a lap of the island, then Kevin and I did some souvenir shopping before we all went down to Castletown for the Southern 100 races that evening
Here we are at the northern most end
The southern end
Checked out an old castle, although we were too cheap to pay and go inside (actually I was too poor having to pay $8+ per gallon)
Back to the hotel. Kurt seems to have had one of the rooms in front. Ours was at the very top with a wonderful view of the garbage dumpsters.
Lots of decorations as we walked down the promenade
Although the Isle of Man is part of the UK, they have their own currency. While it's worth the same as a pound, and identical in shape, supposedly it's not valid on the mainland UK.
Luckily Kurt has the race covered as I don't have much from the evening races. One thing you'll notice in the race pictures is that they aren't obstructed by fences. In many places the only thing between you and the track is a simple pedestrian fence, or in cases (like sitting on a wall), just common sense.
After this it was back to the hotel, the pub, and to bed
Today we did a lap of the island, then Kevin and I did some souvenir shopping before we all went down to Castletown for the Southern 100 races that evening
Here we are at the northern most end
The southern end
Checked out an old castle, although we were too cheap to pay and go inside (actually I was too poor having to pay $8+ per gallon)
Back to the hotel. Kurt seems to have had one of the rooms in front. Ours was at the very top with a wonderful view of the garbage dumpsters.
Lots of decorations as we walked down the promenade
Although the Isle of Man is part of the UK, they have their own currency. While it's worth the same as a pound, and identical in shape, supposedly it's not valid on the mainland UK.
Luckily Kurt has the race covered as I don't have much from the evening races. One thing you'll notice in the race pictures is that they aren't obstructed by fences. In many places the only thing between you and the track is a simple pedestrian fence, or in cases (like sitting on a wall), just common sense.
After this it was back to the hotel, the pub, and to bed
DAY 8
Today it was a full day of races and then back to the ferry. As Kurt mentioned, we probably could have gotten better locations but were concerned about being able to get out with the race road closures.
First stop we picked was up on a wall near the Great Meadow. No fences, just a gentleman's agreement no to let your legs dangle over the edge. Super friendly folks to talk to, and perfect weather
After lunch we relocated. Was hoping to get to the SW corner of the track, but couldn't figure out how to get past the paddock area. We compromised by sitting next to the podium area. Just a straight, but cool watching the fast guys blow past. Again, note how close we are to the track
All good things must come to an end We made it to the ferry with plenty of time to spare and eventually pulled away. Good bye Isle of Man
Made it to the hotel a bit before midnight and found our room keys and end of day 8
Today it was a full day of races and then back to the ferry. As Kurt mentioned, we probably could have gotten better locations but were concerned about being able to get out with the race road closures.
First stop we picked was up on a wall near the Great Meadow. No fences, just a gentleman's agreement no to let your legs dangle over the edge. Super friendly folks to talk to, and perfect weather
After lunch we relocated. Was hoping to get to the SW corner of the track, but couldn't figure out how to get past the paddock area. We compromised by sitting next to the podium area. Just a straight, but cool watching the fast guys blow past. Again, note how close we are to the track
All good things must come to an end
We made it to the ferry with plenty of time to spare and eventually pulled away. Good bye Isle of Man
Made it to the hotel a bit before midnight and found our room keys and end of day 8
DAY 9
Everyone met for breakfast before we split off our separate ways. Kurt had plans with his wife, Kevin had to turn his motorcycle in, and I had aims to check out some of Wales.
I slabbed down to close to the Welsh border and when I hit the back roads they were among the best of the trip. The scenery wasn't too shabby either
Everyone met for breakfast before we split off our separate ways. Kurt had plans with his wife, Kevin had to turn his motorcycle in, and I had aims to check out some of Wales.
I slabbed down to close to the Welsh border and when I hit the back roads they were among the best of the trip. The scenery wasn't too shabby either
DAY 10
Had about a half day of riding before I had to turn in the bike. A couple good roads, but being close to London on a Saturday made for less than ideal traffic. Time to say goodbye
Guys at the superbike rental were awesome and highly recommended. Chatted up about the trip and then they gave me a ride to the train station in Brentwood. After that I made my way back to London and settled into my posh hotel off Hyde Park for a nice long hot shower
Had about a half day of riding before I had to turn in the bike. A couple good roads, but being close to London on a Saturday made for less than ideal traffic. Time to say goodbye
Guys at the superbike rental were awesome and highly recommended. Chatted up about the trip and then they gave me a ride to the train station in Brentwood. After that I made my way back to London and settled into my posh hotel off Hyde Park for a nice long hot shower