Oh the Joys of an open road!

Well- I guess that I did my first 'proper' ride out yesterday- my mate Ollie has just bought an 06 ZX6-R and wanted a riding partner to head to the coast and back. I would be a handy rider- as I'm still new and not as bold, it'd discourage him from dissapearing off down the A24 at the speed of light- well, that was the theory anyway- he still did this (who wouldn't on a road rocket!), but within reason.

I got up early (good effort for me on a Saturday!), washed the bike, lubed/checked the chain and did the tyres. All good- quick photoshoot by the flat as I'd still got no decent pics of me on the bike etc. Then took her for a spin round the block to check for problems (no rain for a coupla days so the front cylinder seems happy!).

So- we did the traditional stop off at Rykers- saw a couple of SVS curvy riders- yellow and red- if you're .org'ers, sorry I didn't pop over for a chat, then off down the A24 toward Worthing and then across to Brighton. Was quite late in the day and being a nice weekend, fulla cars! Learned a few more things about overtaking traffic- it's always handy riding with an experienced biker... That Kwak goes like the clappers though- it took a bit of catching up when he did go. I nearly kerbed the bike in the suburbs of Hove as we went up a hill that had a hard right hander at the top- d'oh!

We stopped by to see a friend of Ollie's, who wasn't in, so went straight down to Brighton beach- parked on the front, found the cafes were too pricey (not my call- Ollie was lending me petrol cash for the day as I'm absolutely stony broke and therefore called the shots with the snacks!!). Spotted that my clutch cable is on the way out- gets well stiff when the steering's locked right and the cable has popped out of the socket on the lever (though not disconnected thank God!- will try and get this sorted under the warranty as the dealers already messed me about this week- managed to secure it in place with some insulating tape- did the job a treat for a temp solution.

We headed down the coast towards (and eventually through) Worthing, passing bikers and occasionally riding with another bike while our journeys met- a guy on a cruiser passed us on the other side of the road and actually saluted! Nice change from the nod of the head!

Off toward Littlehampton and I wondered if Ollie actually had a plan- my neck and hands were getting knackered by now, so we eventually stopped off at a big Tesco for a coffee- so much for a cuppa by the sea!

So- heading back to Worthing, we hit the A24 again with less traffic. What a blast we had- I managed 115mph (Ollie did 127)- having stopped at 95 (though had to get right over the tank for that- at one point, while doing about 110, a car flashed us from the other side of the road- a minute later I saw lights on our side- he was warning us- the police had stopped a van and an officer was holding something pointed our way- we managed to get down to 60 fairly nonchalantly and were relieved to see it was a mobile phone! Stopped off at Rykers again then to Ollie's for another cuppa and home.

I spent much of the day with a HUGE grin on my face and feel that I really picked up my riding skills- overtaking, cornering, roundabouts (getting the bike down a bit more), doing 90mph on long sweeping curves is a joy and almost how fast my bike will go. I will stress, though, that I did ride very sensibly for the most part and without taking undue risks (a couple of slightly hairy filtering moments though- sharpens the attention and prepares for next time) but got so much out of one day- I'm itching to do it again!! ROLL ON THE SUMMER!!!

That sounds like you had a good day.

I've just had my best ride since getting the machine in November. Only 60 miles or so, but for the first time I'm actually very confident that I am a better rider now than I was when I passed my test. I'm confident about the machine, the levels of grip, I'm much smoother squeezing the throttle on and off, and I never fluffed a shift (hah mistyped that first time ) once. All of which made me more relaxed and comfortable, and probably more aware of everything else going on. I'm certain now that the SV is exactly what I want for the time being.
I love motorcycling!

Sweet- nice to hear it. We cleared about 125 miles yesterday- sheesh- it was knackering, but that's not a complaint!!

[mattSV]

I was in the cage going down to Brighton along the A27 today - saw a rusty SV1000 with blue flames, a CBR6RR & a Gixxer all playing along the dual carriageway. Managed to get behind them throught the Shoreham tunnel -damn that SV sounded shweeeet.

Also saw another CBR cane it away from the lights at the start of Madeira Drive - redlined 1st, 2nd, 3rd and then brown lined his cacks - he hadn't seen the copper parked up at the side of the road, who then read him the riot act

Haha brown lined! Ugh imagine bouncing off the limiter.