How many miles did you travel in total Tom ?
Highlight of the trip ?
Worst part of the journey (excluding tolls )
We travelled just over 3000 miles.
It was outstandingly good Boo. I've been planning it for a long time and it exceeded all my expectations.
I will post some bits and bobs but to be honest I've been a bit reluctant because I know neither the words or the pictures will do it justice.
There are too many highlights to list just one, but visiting the casino in Monte Carlo was up there.
I first read Casino Royale when I was 11 and although I've been in grander casinos it was such a thrill for me to walk through that iconic doorway almost 50 years later to follow in the footsteps of my boyhood hero James Bond.
I almost expected someone to say "Mr McCready. We've been expecting you...."
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The worst part? Probably during a descent of the Alps when I came into a hairpin bend too fast. It looked like a gentle turn at first but it tightened as I got into it. I went from comfortably in control to "Oh my God I'm going to die" in the space of about a second.
On the outside edge of the bend the tarmac ended abruptly in a 4 or 5" step down on to the base layer of loose stone, this continued for about a foot until it met with 2ft 6in crash barrier, beyond that was a sheer drop.
The barrier would have stopped a car no problem, but a bike would just flip right over it.
When I realised I wasn't going to make it around the bend I panicked for a second, and then for some reason I recalled an article about common causes of bike crashes that I had read months ago. It said that most riders who come into a bend too hot crash because they panic and brake hard, this causes the wheels, (especially the front wheel) to lose traction and skid, and from that point on, you're toast.
What you should do, according to the article, is lean the bike more. "It doesn't matter how much the bike is leaning already, you can always lean it more" it said.
I leaned it more. The stand scraped the road and I was terrified that it would dig in and throw me right over the edge. Still, I wasn't going to make it.
I feathered the rear brake, then I was at the apex of the bend and my front tyre was on the very outside edge of the tarmac, I could see the void beyond the barrier, surely I was going over...
A moment later I was safely through the bend and pulling over to the side. I was badly shaken and needed to sit down for 10 minutes or so before I felt like I could continue.
Rather than putting a damper on the ride through the Alps, the incident actually made the rest of the journey better. I suppose it's the same thing that makes base jumping or mountain climbing fun, it's pretty safe if you do it properly and it's the doing it properly or face dire consequences part that makes it fun and exciting.
We had other mishaps of course, and they were frustrating at the time, (like when I spend an hour in the blazing sun trying to start my bike and slowly dismantling it as I looked for the problem, and then realising that I had accidentally activated the kill switch) but afterwards, but when it's all over, you look back on that stuff with a wry smile and it becomes part of the fun.
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