27/02/12 - THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A BIKER AND A “BIKERETTE”

22^nd February 2012 : The Police, Speed Cameras and the 14 day rule (continued.)

I was surprised to receive a reply back from the police to my initial letter almost by return of post.  In the letter, they state that the NIP received by myself was not the initial document but a second one after I had been nominated as the driver.

I wrote a reply and it was sent by return post.  Again, it is reproduced in full below.

Copy of second letter sent to Warwickshire Police :  

Dear Sir/Madam,

Y***/**/**** - Notice of Intended Prosecution

I have received your letter dated 20^th February 2012, the references for which are detailed above. I have enclosed a copy of the letter sent to me, for ease of cross-reference.

 
You state “the first Notice of Intended Prosecution was sent to the Registered Keeper as detailed from the records we are entitled to use when the offence was viewed”

The Registered Keeper (per DVLA) is :

Carelogic Limited

Pottal Pool House

Pottal Pool

Penkridge

Stafford

ST19 5RR

You will note that that address of the registered keeper is my home address.

I mistakenly informed you in my letter of 16^th February 2012 that I personally was the registered keeper of R111 BSA.  I own in excess of 15 vehicles, all recorded at this address.  In respect of all of the vehicles with the exception of R111 BSA, I am personally shown as the Registered Keeper.  On receipt of your letter dated 14^th February 2012, my natural assumption was that you had written to me as the Registered Keeper and not as I have now checked as the hirer/named driver of the vehicle in question.  I apologise for this error.

Nevertheless, my statement in the final sentence of the third paragraph of my letter of 16^th February 2012 of “The written Notice is the first indication from you of any intention to prosecute.”  still stands.  There had been no Notice received before that date.

The only people who open post addressed to Carelogic Limited is myself and my wife who are both directors.  The company employs no staff and the only other person residing at Pottal Pool House, is my youngest son.  The original Notice of Intended Prosecution which you claim was sent within the 14 days did not arrive at this address.  I can also confirm that no documentation has been returned to yourself nominating myself as the driver in question.

Accordingly, could you please provide me with :

1. A copy of the original Notice of Intended Prosecution addressed to the Registered Keeper
2. A copy of the document nominating myself as the keeper - the description used in your letter of 20^th February 2012, or;
3. A copy of the document nominating myself as the hirer/named driver - the description used in your correspondence of 14^th February 2012

It will be interesting to see what information I receive back regarding my requests.

24^th & 25^th February 2012 : Motorbeurs Utrecht and the Butte du Lion IBAUK RTE – aka “Hele” goes European ……..

I have a teddy bear.  There, I’ve said it now.  However, this is no ordinary teddy bear.  This is “Hele” the teddy bear, who last year completed the Iron Butt Rally in the USA with me.  Now given that the Iron Butt Rally is the Worlds Toughest Motorcycle Rally and IBA riders are billed as the Worlds Toughest Riders, then that would make Hele, the Worlds Toughest Teddy Bear.  In any event, I though it was time I introduced Hele to Europe …………

Don’t mess with this bear – he may look cuddly but looks can be deceptive JJ

The plan for the weekend was simple.  Leave home early Friday and catch a morning shuttle to France.  Ride up through France, Belgium and Holland and get to the show at Utrecht mid afternoon.  Spend the afternoon and early evening at the show and stay overnight in Utrecht.  On Saturday, I’d begin to make my way home, making a slight detour to meet up with the guys from the IBA UK at Waterloo for a couple of hours at the RTE (Ride to Eat).  Leaving there late afternoon, I was due to catch an early evening shuttle back to the UK and be back home for around 11.00pm “ish”

Just after 5.00am on the Friday morning, the Daytona headed towards the very familiar journey down to the Chunnel.  Of course, with my current speeding ticket dispute hanging over me like the sword of Damocles, my usual gung ho journey down to Folkestone was a little more restrained this time, turning what is already, at best, a tedious journey, into one of total boredom.  As ever in these situations, my mind started to wander …….

I reckon over the last five years, I must have made at least 100 tunnel crossings as we use the tunnel at least 15 to 20 times a year.  So that means I’ve done the M6, M42, M40, M25, M26 and M20 drag at least 200 times (there and back).  At four hours per trip, that’s 800 hours, or 48,000 minutes or hold on, hold on ……. 2,880,000 seconds.  That’s nearly three million seconds of my life has been travelling back and forward between home and Folkestone.  I considered if there was anything useful in knowing this statistic and after mulling the thought over for a few minutes, I came to the conclusion there wasn’t.  It was an absolutely useless piece of information – but one that nevertheless, I’m glad that I now know J  On the other hand it did pass 50 miles or so as, over the years, my mental arithmetic has become, at best, rusty and calculations, with so many zeros like that, do not come easy to me any longer !!

Three hours of 70 mph tedium later, I pulled up at the tunnel, checked in and ignoring my pre-booked time (as normal) rode straight around to the loading bays and onto the next train.

Once in France and free from the fear of dreaded speed camera, I relaxed, wound up the 955i and was on my way.  I should point out here that I don’t ride stupidly fast, but 80 to 85 mph on a bike like the 955i, is barely is holding the throttle off the stop.  It’s a nice comfortable pace to ride at and more importantly, that extra 10 to 15 mph makes all of the difference over a long journey.

Hele arrives in Belgium for the first time

As I passed Gent, then Antwerp and crossed the Dutch border, it occurred to me that apart from a brief trip through it’s southerly tip last year on the way to Germany, I hadn’t been to the Netherlands for a couple of years.  The Netherlands has always been one of my favourite European countries, if only because, it’s one of the few European countries where, as a British person, you feel genuinely made welcome.

By 3.00pm, I’d reached Utrecht, checked into my hotel, had a quick shower, changed, jumped back on my bike, ridden the further 5 miles to the bike show and was inside the halls.  This was great, I’d told no-one I was going to be in Utrecht and so I was just able to do my own thing – which I did – meandering around the show, with no particular plan.  It didn’t close until 10.00pm and I was in no rush.

The great thing about the Utrecht show for me compared with our own NEC show, is the wide diversity of exhibits on display and the very first bike (and I use that in the loosest sense of the word) that I saw as I walked into the first hall, demonstrated this.

If you’ve got 6 litres of Aston Martin V12 spare, what better use could there be ? J

Someone, (presumably high on some kind of illegal drug at the time), had clearly had the good fortune to come across a spare 6 litre V12 Aston Martin engine and rather than “waste” it by using it to power a car (like any sane person would do) had decided that it would be much better utilised to power 2 wheels !  The resultant machine is pictured above.  Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder ….. JJ

As with many shows, there was a live action arena outside and at this show it was a display of trials riding.  The two lads riding the bikes were going through an endless routine of seemingly impossible stunts - ones that I think I would have had trouble climbing over let alone riding a bike over them.

As always with these sort of shows though, eventually your envy for the supreme skills that these guys possess overwhelms you to such an extent that when they do have a slight slip, you allow yourself a wry smile and for a millisecond or so, you stand there feeling pretty dammed smug.  The fact that they then get up, dust themselves off and on the next attempt execute the “impossible” perfectly, soon puts you back firmly in your place !!

Ooops ……

Made it this time !

One of the “must see” stands at any show for me, is always going to be the Triumph stand.  At Utrecht, all of the manufacturers stands are grouped together in the one hall.  It seems that at any show you visit, the Triumph stand is always busy and Utrecht followed the same pattern. 

Given the amazing success story of Triumph over the past 20 years since their “rebirth” in 1991, it still both surprises me and saddens me in equal measures at the general lack of public acknowledgement of this fact.  As a country, the United Kingdom has hardly covered itself in glory recently regarding its manufacturing capabilities and yet the success story that is Triumph barely ever gets a mention in the mainstream media.  Even now when parking the bike up, from time to time, some misty-eyed old gent will come up to me waxing lyrical about a Triumph he had way back in his youth and then be surprised at the fact you can still buy a modern Triumph.  I’m never quite sure who’s at fault here, Triumphs marketing guys or whether this is just another example of the rather worrying secret agenda that a succession of governments seemed to have had, of killing off biking.  Phew, time to put the soap box away …. J

My next bike – mine arrives in 3 weeks.  The next time we’re in Europe, we’ll be on the Explorer, complete with comfy (and heated) seat, upright riding position and a whole host of other modern luxuries

Although I’ve seen the bike several times now, I spent most of my time looking at the 1200cc Explorer.  Mine arrives in just over 3 weeks time now and I’m looking forward to riding a more comfortable bike than the 955i.  Although I’ve covered nigh on 100,000 miles on the Daytona over the last 5 years, I’ve noticed that I’ve started to ache a little more after each long journey.  I think that I’m making the transition from being a sports bike rider to an adventure bike rider just at the right time.

It was well after 7.00pm when I’d decided that I’d seen everything and left the show.  As I walked outside, the rain that had been threatening all day had finally arrived and it was a wet few miles back to the hotel.

After a quick meal, I was in bed by 10.30pm and asleep by 10.31pm.  These days, I can do early starts or late nights – but not both !!

By the next morning, the rain had stopped, the sun was out and it was a beautiful, late winter/early spring day in the Netherlands.  I was in no rush today.  The RTE location was barely 130 miles due south of where I had stayed overnight and we weren’t due to meet there until 4.00pm.

An RTE is a “Ride to Eat” and tend to be held once a month somewhere in the UK and 4 or 5 times a year in Europe.  There’s no set pattern to these gatherings though.  Someone will simply suggest a place via the IBA UK forum, we all turn up, have a bite to eat, hang around for a couple of hours (some will then stay overnight), take a group picture and then disperse gain until the next time.  As one of my buddies from the USA so elegantly put it, “we ride alone to be together”.

Even with a leisurely ride down and a detour for a coffee for an hour or so in Antwerp, I was still at the Butte Du Lion a good two hours before the official time - not that I was the first though.  Mark and Angie from London were already there and as I rolled up into the car-park, Roland, Steve and Deb, more or less followed me in.  We retired to the café for coffee and food.

Ere !!  Who’s nicked my bike I was sitting on ? Sartorial elegance at its finest J

As more people arrived, someone then had the “good” idea that we should climb to the top of the monument – all 226 very, very steep steps of it ….

It’s a long way down for a little bear

Half hour later, I realised that 6 years on from running my one and only marathon, I have lost more than a little of whatever fitness I had back then J

The IBA flag flies

But it’s an even longer way up !!

And then, all that was left was the group photograph.  As always, the group assembles and some poor passing person is asked if they wouldn’t mind just taking a photograph.  After having a succession of 20 cameras or so later thrust into their hands, the poor soul, finally escapes presumably to have some sort of physiotherapy on his/her, by now, aching index finger …..  

The obligatory group photograph.  I’m second from the right looking “cool” - note the Monument near the top left hand corner of the photograph 

Those that were then staying overnight, left for their hotel and those of us returning home left for the tunnel.  It was 138 miles back to the tunnel from Waterloo and inside a couple of hours, we were on the train heading back to England.

On the shuttle home and Heles first European adventure is nearly over

As we left the Chunnel terminal and joined the M20, Hele who was riding pillion didn’t say much.  I think he’d enjoyed his first trip to Europe.  Myself on the other hand was again lost in my own world as  I started to calculate how many seconds it would be until we arrived home …….

26^th February 2012 : TR3OC Cogenhoe Swapmeet

Although I didn’t arrive home on the Saturday evening until almost 11.00pm, by 8.00am the following morning I was back on the bike heading for the TR3OC annual swapmeet at Cogenhoe near Northampton.  This has been a feature on the club calendar for as many years as I can remember.   Although the amount of rubbish (sorry, I mean spares) that people bring along has diminished over the years, no doubt due to the rise in activity on e-bay, it is still a well supported event, with many members simply seeing it as a social event.

The older we get, the faster we were – or so we remember !! J

As treasurer of the club (although not for much longer as I finish my term at this years AGM) for me it’s a chance to settle a few outstanding accounts and catch up with other committee members on general club business.

With the NVT Runs, the L.P.Williams Re-unuion and Beezumph already looming large in 2012, I certainly had plenty to talk about and once I’d had breakfast, spent the next 3 hours chattering away. 

This year, I even bought something from one of the stalls – a air filter assembly for a X75 Hurricane (without boring you too much, this was a special one year only model, that had an air filter assembly that are difficult to get nowadays).  I bought it simply as a spare on a “just in case” basis, presumably just like the guy who was selling had done some time previously.  As I handed over the £20 for the air filter, both Pete (the seller) and myself both knew deep down that at some point, this air filter would re-surface at a future Cogenhoe Swapmeet for someone to buy from me, presumably again on a “just in case” basis.  In the biking world, there is a sea of spares that spend there entire life, never actually being fitted to a machine, just moving from one bikers garage to another …..

One mans rubbish is another man treasure

As I left the village hall and headed for home, I realised that I’d now got the next 3 weekends at home – or rather in the garage.  The “jobs to do on bikes” had now reached into a two page list.  It was time to curtail accumulating the miles for a while and time for some spannering to begin.