Isle of Man Centennary

[emaN]

A quick round-up of our trip so far;
Stress? What stress?
slickD & Timmay combined efforts and made it possible for the mrs to be able to fly out last Sat (ie-we picked up her 'expired' passport by mistake; rang the lads who went to ours, found the current one, and drove it to Tga, handing it over to a pilot mate of ours who "happened to be" at Tga airport!!). So yeh, thanks lads!!
30hr glorified bus trip
eventually got in to Heathrow on Sunday afternoon, feeling like you do after only a couple hrs sleep since Sat morning NZ time.
Oh the memories
Had a great time checking out our old haunts; popped into Primark, got lunch from Greggs, toiletries from Superdrug, got the MCN from the local offy (ie-dairy), travelcards/tubes/trains and their delays... Scarily, it's all becoming rather 'normal' to us already!!
Mates
It's been awesome seeing all our mates again; only feels like we been away for 6mths, not 2 1/2yrs!
Bikes
Finally, the interesting part
Carlo's got hisself a Daytona since i last saw him; Leone's still got his Hornet; Pippo's got a Bandit since we left; finally got to check out Dave's 636 and perve at the goodies Diane's put on the SV!
Picking up the 748!
Rode over some great twisty back country roads on the way back to our mates' place.
The tyres are Battlax up front and a Macadam at rear( I'll wait to pronounce judgement)...Might have a wee fiddle with the rebound and front compression, but other than that, it feels like an ADHD 400 on steroids! So tight, compact, quick steering, responsive (when you're in the right gear at right revs)...I'm looking forward to blattting around the course on it!
Riding over to IOM
Leaving here at 10am tomorrow, ferry leaves early afternoon.
Already looking forward to the roads we'll ride just to get to the ferry! Rode them a few yrs ago on the RF and they were wiggid!

Will keep ya updated - mightn't be too regular, but hey...it'll be worth a fang over the Mtn back into Douglas to find a 'net cafe

[HDTboy]

Look out for Gingas.

[Matt Bleck]

lol, love the "we forgot the passport" bit.....

So did you go to the opening or are you not at the Isle yet?

Pics?

Don't forget........ Relentless........ T-shirt....... Black........

[Kornholio]

Go hard our little Eyetie friend

[kiwifruit]

have fun man
say gidday to the olds if you bump into them

[DingDong]

PICS Eman!... find a pu'ta and upload some pics for us... you luck bugga you.

have fun

[wybmadiity]

Keep safe.... Wish I was there!!!!
Looking forward to updates (when possible)

[Idrumm]

Cheers for keeping us posted dude, take care on the duck.

[Leong]

Yeah, Have fun man!!!! Look forward to the reports!

[Matt Bleck]

Cheers for keeping us posted dude, take care on Duck.

Actually I would like to complain about the lack of reports from our eyetie friend......

Bro, leave Shaun alone, he's got a job to do.

Did you find me a Relentless hoodie yet?

[Manxman]

http://www.iomtt.com/sitecore/shell/...ort%20pdf.ashx

Good start, 9th quickest in practice, but fairly slow lap time...prolly just relearning the course.

[saul]

Actually I would like to complain about the lack of reports from our eyetie friend......

Bro, leave Shaun alone, he's got a job to do.

Did you find me a Relentless hoodie yet?

Yeh me to How about just a bit of rubber off the relentless number 5 tyre, or just get Bruce to sign the IOM cap you are getting me

[Baldyheed]

Copy of MCN, a Greggs corned beef pasty, mug of Yorkshire Tea, those I do miss.

[TONO]

Hear you have been texting everybody with updates on the holiday????? obviously forgot my number???
Send us a report and some pics dude.

OH by the way we had a KB meeting at your place the other night and a BBQ.
Paul spilt the kero and the side of the house caught fire, but nothing to serious....we put a new tarpaulin over the burnt area to keep the weather out.
Nothing to serious man...... just an accident.
You have a great time and don't worry.
Cheers
TC

[emaN]

First things first, we were so worried when the radio said first Daniel jansen & then shaun had had a biggie at Union Mills; not a good place to come off.
Dan’s was in the SBK race, shauns in the Sstock one. I’ve checked on Dan, he seems ok. Hoping to check on shaun tomorrow.

I’m sitting back at camp typing on a flemish lappie with weird lettering, so this aint gonnq be a long one.
sitting bqck qt cqnp typing on q fle,ish lqppie zith zeird lettering so this qint gonnq be q long one (touch-typing on a weird laptop!)
Practice week
we got here sunday 10 days ago. weather during the first week was 'variable' to say the least. managed to see most of the practice sessions & be blown away by it all again. bruce was on a mission & looking good for S'sport & S'stock.
One of the many highlights was the commentators tqlking about Shauns paint scheme and sponsors, motott.co.nz
My runs
got a few laps in myself, on the better days. it's awesome being back on the course again!!
also found a couple of 'loops'; instead of doing the whole circiut to get back to the Mountain section, i turn off at the Creg, through Laxey &back up to Ramsey to do it all again!!! Yee ha! (had a front tyre slip-up along there too, just after i'd passed a slow 749).
Another loop brings me back through the Glen Helen section. Then there’s the original course they used way back then; it starts near Ballacraine, up through Glen Helen, left at Kirk Michael, then back down the coast road to Peel, then left along the ‘straights’ heading back to the ‘start’. Great circuit that one, and most of it as fast as you like!!!
heading out for a blat tonight too, weather has been amazing (infact, we've just spent the day ticky-touring; went up to the lighthouse, then had lunch in Port Erin, then popped down to check out the seals and the Calf of Man.)
Race week
kicked off with a cancellation - the disappointment was in everyones faces; the crowds were gutted. heard of guys who'd flown in from South Africa, only to miss it!
met up with shaun the next day who was stoked, cos it gave him that much longer to prep the bike.
Meant to just have a quick chat with Guy Martin about his next visit to Cemetqry circuit; when he realized we were from downunder he was real keen for a chat! Also met Daniel Jansen on the Sunday – we stayed & chatted for ages as he prepped his bike ( a zx10, he’d been out riding it in road trim &had to get it back into race shape).
Monday the SBK's roared past us at the top of Barregaroo; unreal speed as they peel left &then disappear down the hill on one wheel doing silly speeds!
Got video of Dan as he came through each time, and then got a bit concerned when he didn’t come past again. Heard on the radio that he’d offed at Union Mills. Called past his caravan yesterday, but he was out, so must be doing better.
Tuesday we watched the S’stock race at a corner dubbed ‘Ballascary’. They flash past doing 230-240, as we were stood on the inside of the bend, resting on a little wall.. Unreal seeing the black lines they leave, and knee slider marks pretty much on the identical spot, lap after lap!
When Shaun didn’t come past we got concerned, hoping he’d broken down, but he’d come off just a couple miles up from us.
I’m hoping to be able to see him at some point – give him some support or whatever we can.
On Wednesday the S’sport was Bruce’s, all tied up in the proverbial bag…until the bike wouldn’t kick back into life after his pit stop!!! It was painful to listen to!! The top four were so close, but well done to Hutchy for his 1st TT win.
Watched the race from an amazing spot, just 10min walk from camp. Got some great video of them coming into sight from a r/hander, then tuck in & yank the bars to lean left and crank through right beneath us…awesome!!! Gonna head back there tomorrow for the Senior.
Saturday we’ll be down in Castletown for the race down there. Missed it last time, in 04, so made sure we’d see it this time. It’ll be most of the TT boys, difference being mass starts. Rode over the course tonight on our way back to camp; most of it is lined with walls!
So that’s ONE update outta the way – geez… didn’t realize you lot were so interested in my life
Oh, tash is getting more & more hapu by the day! Maybe it’s all the rest she’s getting which is giving heshe the energy…?!
We head back to Newcastle Sunday, then fly out to Italy on Monday for a week.
Hope you’re all sweet!

Tones,don’t matter bout the house, as long as my rods are safe!!!