10-23-2014, 12:13 AM
Our journey continues following a mixed week. After recovering from the wind, rain and cold on Tuesday, our hero prepared to avoid such a journey again. Never again, thought our novice rider who had endured 300 miles of England’s roads. A new car must be obtained.
So with Autotrader and Google as his allies, our rider set about trying to find a new car within his budget to use for his trips to university. But darkness swirled in the back of his mind when, every time he found a car that he liked, he checked the economy and baulked at how much lower it was than the bike. One was better than the previous car, but nothing can beat the bike. There and back again on £20 was surely worth the wind, rain and cold?
By Friday, hope of finding a car, taxing it and insuring it was running thin, there were few cars available and a decision must be made if another form of transport were to be used. Taking up the flame of NationalRail, hours* were wasted trying to find a train that would get to university for 9am on the Tuesday morning. The only one that came close was the 2:37 from Bath Spa, which went to Bristol, then waited for 3 hours before going to London, and up the country from there. It did not take much deliberation** to decide that a train would not suffice.
* It took 15 minutes but felt like hours
**£147? You can feck right off…
Saturday arrived, and with errands to run and chores to complete prior to a game of poker in the evening, car hunting was a hopeless affair. Indeed, by the time our hero returned from poker in the early hours of Sunday morning, even his winnings could not afford him a car by Tuesday and as he parked up the bike for the night, he knew his fate was sealed.
Sunday afternoon was a glorious afternoon, mocking our hero as he performed his weekly bike maintenance and additional checks for the long journey ahead. The rest of the day was spent packing the bags so that when Tuesday arrived, the top box just needed to be packed, without trying to find all the odds and ends. This worked well, and allowed for an early night in preparation for the 3am wake up and 4am departure to university.
Unlike the previous week, which had started dry until approx. 15 minutes into the journey, the rain was coming down hard and fast. I was happy with that however, as it meant things could only get better. After all, if it isn’t raining, then it can start raining, which is sad. But if it’s already raining, it can’t start but it can stop, which is better.
Top box loaded, water proofs donned for a second time and away our hero went into darkness. For those unaware, Tuesday morning was the morning the edges of the hurricane *insert name here* hit most of the UK. This made the journey slightly more trepid but, with the aid of an excellent memory for directions I didn’t get lost until I was 20 miles from university and the rain had been on and off, but light. If anything, it had been an enjoyable journey, presumably because I recognised the roads and was thus slightly more confident going along the B4455. Only when I was nearing uni did the heavens open and the wind start to pick up and only then did I realise that perhaps I should have added more ballast to the bike.
Thankfully however, our hero arrived safe and sound at university at 7:30ish, plenty of time to dry out before the lecture. Luckily, through some foresight of what got damp the previous week, better waterproofs in strategic places were worn and there were only minimal damp patches. Very much an improvement and as such, allowed some time to check emails and get settled prior to the lecture.
The lecture, of which I won’t bore you with details as it was 4 hours long and necessary only to those doing a masters or EngD/PhD course, began with a nice introduction. “some rambling here and finally, don’t forget to submit your coursework outlines by next Monday, signed by your supervisors and myself.”
Panic mode activated. Alarm bells ringing, all defence systems are a go. What coursework? There had been no mention of coursework prior. But of course, the previous lectures had been missed inadvertently, but why had this not been found on the Learn server? As it turns out, it wasn’t on the Learn server; it was on this other server that only the Masters students knew about. But the other EngD students knew from the first lecture to go there.
After the lecture, it became a panicked rush to the library to find out what the coursework was, what needed to be done, and get it done before 5pm, otherwise another trip to university would be required to get it all signed before submission. All while the sun blazed and tempted our hero into riding home during daylight hours.
But this day was a lucky day. When the coursework was discovered, either by coincidence (if you believe in that) or by luck (luck doesn’t exist but you believe what you want to) or by some subconscious thought that may have picked up on some mention of this previously, a variation of what was needed for the coursework had been written for a presentation at work only a few days prior. So a quick phone call to the office and it was emailed over, allowing me to re-write it into the format required and submit, all by 2:30. Not bad going. But now came the journey home. But it was sunny. It was daylight and the trip up had been very good. What could go wrong?
Turns out the wind was strong in that hurricane, which I discovered when leaning through a corner (probably no more than 30degrees of lean) and found myself suddenly bolt upright and unable to lean because of the wind. Then the headwind. Open throttle, downhill in top gear, 50mph. Wonderful. Well at least if I fall off I should get carried into the wind and not hurt myself I thought…
Thankfully the wind died down and I began the trundle home on the B4455. There were many branches down along the route and some trees blocking half the road. Traffic moving slowly but I was whizzing (comparatively) through the holdups in the warm (comparatively) sun. Until suddenly I encountered a line of cars not moving, something up ahead was holding them up so, on the off chance of something coming speeding the other way I slowed down and prepared to pull in behind one of them. As I crested the hill I saw what was causing the delay.
A tree was down blocking the whole road. Nothing was getting through either way. As I began to contemplate what on Earth to do, a biker came the other way and pulled up next to me. He told me there was no way through the blockage, everyone would have to turn back and go round the long way. I thanked him for his warning but something must have given away my uncertainty as to where to go. Perhaps it was the L-Plates, or perhaps there was unease on my face. Whichever one it was, this unknown rider proved why bikers are better than car drivers. “Where are you going?” he asks. “Back to Bath.” I reply. “That’s a long way to go. Do you know the way round?” I shake my head. “Well then. Follow me.”
For the next few miles I followed this biker through a village and up a hill and down a hill and round a hill until eventually, we were back on the B4455. He let me overtake and I thanked him for showing me the way and I carried on. A few miles later he turned off and I gave a thumbs up to show my gratitude one last time before we were parted by different paths, and I continued the journey home alone.
It rained a little more but nothing could dampen what had been a good day. Getting home was when I finally realised I was once again cold but not damp this time. Just a little shaken from the wind. No near misses which was good. But a firm standing that the fellowship of the bikers can accomplish anything was established.
Who knows what will happen to our hero next? Chances are, a kebab and some beer but, until then, ride safe, ride fast and most importantly, ride until JJ tells you the story of his leg which in itself, is a saga worthy of any trilogy. Perhaps the 50 shades trilogy?
So with Autotrader and Google as his allies, our rider set about trying to find a new car within his budget to use for his trips to university. But darkness swirled in the back of his mind when, every time he found a car that he liked, he checked the economy and baulked at how much lower it was than the bike. One was better than the previous car, but nothing can beat the bike. There and back again on £20 was surely worth the wind, rain and cold?
By Friday, hope of finding a car, taxing it and insuring it was running thin, there were few cars available and a decision must be made if another form of transport were to be used. Taking up the flame of NationalRail, hours* were wasted trying to find a train that would get to university for 9am on the Tuesday morning. The only one that came close was the 2:37 from Bath Spa, which went to Bristol, then waited for 3 hours before going to London, and up the country from there. It did not take much deliberation** to decide that a train would not suffice.
* It took 15 minutes but felt like hours
**£147? You can feck right off…
Saturday arrived, and with errands to run and chores to complete prior to a game of poker in the evening, car hunting was a hopeless affair. Indeed, by the time our hero returned from poker in the early hours of Sunday morning, even his winnings could not afford him a car by Tuesday and as he parked up the bike for the night, he knew his fate was sealed.
Sunday afternoon was a glorious afternoon, mocking our hero as he performed his weekly bike maintenance and additional checks for the long journey ahead. The rest of the day was spent packing the bags so that when Tuesday arrived, the top box just needed to be packed, without trying to find all the odds and ends. This worked well, and allowed for an early night in preparation for the 3am wake up and 4am departure to university.
Unlike the previous week, which had started dry until approx. 15 minutes into the journey, the rain was coming down hard and fast. I was happy with that however, as it meant things could only get better. After all, if it isn’t raining, then it can start raining, which is sad. But if it’s already raining, it can’t start but it can stop, which is better.
Top box loaded, water proofs donned for a second time and away our hero went into darkness. For those unaware, Tuesday morning was the morning the edges of the hurricane *insert name here* hit most of the UK. This made the journey slightly more trepid but, with the aid of an excellent memory for directions I didn’t get lost until I was 20 miles from university and the rain had been on and off, but light. If anything, it had been an enjoyable journey, presumably because I recognised the roads and was thus slightly more confident going along the B4455. Only when I was nearing uni did the heavens open and the wind start to pick up and only then did I realise that perhaps I should have added more ballast to the bike.
Thankfully however, our hero arrived safe and sound at university at 7:30ish, plenty of time to dry out before the lecture. Luckily, through some foresight of what got damp the previous week, better waterproofs in strategic places were worn and there were only minimal damp patches. Very much an improvement and as such, allowed some time to check emails and get settled prior to the lecture.
The lecture, of which I won’t bore you with details as it was 4 hours long and necessary only to those doing a masters or EngD/PhD course, began with a nice introduction. “some rambling here and finally, don’t forget to submit your coursework outlines by next Monday, signed by your supervisors and myself.”
Panic mode activated. Alarm bells ringing, all defence systems are a go. What coursework? There had been no mention of coursework prior. But of course, the previous lectures had been missed inadvertently, but why had this not been found on the Learn server? As it turns out, it wasn’t on the Learn server; it was on this other server that only the Masters students knew about. But the other EngD students knew from the first lecture to go there.
After the lecture, it became a panicked rush to the library to find out what the coursework was, what needed to be done, and get it done before 5pm, otherwise another trip to university would be required to get it all signed before submission. All while the sun blazed and tempted our hero into riding home during daylight hours.
But this day was a lucky day. When the coursework was discovered, either by coincidence (if you believe in that) or by luck (luck doesn’t exist but you believe what you want to) or by some subconscious thought that may have picked up on some mention of this previously, a variation of what was needed for the coursework had been written for a presentation at work only a few days prior. So a quick phone call to the office and it was emailed over, allowing me to re-write it into the format required and submit, all by 2:30. Not bad going. But now came the journey home. But it was sunny. It was daylight and the trip up had been very good. What could go wrong?
Turns out the wind was strong in that hurricane, which I discovered when leaning through a corner (probably no more than 30degrees of lean) and found myself suddenly bolt upright and unable to lean because of the wind. Then the headwind. Open throttle, downhill in top gear, 50mph. Wonderful. Well at least if I fall off I should get carried into the wind and not hurt myself I thought…
Thankfully the wind died down and I began the trundle home on the B4455. There were many branches down along the route and some trees blocking half the road. Traffic moving slowly but I was whizzing (comparatively) through the holdups in the warm (comparatively) sun. Until suddenly I encountered a line of cars not moving, something up ahead was holding them up so, on the off chance of something coming speeding the other way I slowed down and prepared to pull in behind one of them. As I crested the hill I saw what was causing the delay.
A tree was down blocking the whole road. Nothing was getting through either way. As I began to contemplate what on Earth to do, a biker came the other way and pulled up next to me. He told me there was no way through the blockage, everyone would have to turn back and go round the long way. I thanked him for his warning but something must have given away my uncertainty as to where to go. Perhaps it was the L-Plates, or perhaps there was unease on my face. Whichever one it was, this unknown rider proved why bikers are better than car drivers. “Where are you going?” he asks. “Back to Bath.” I reply. “That’s a long way to go. Do you know the way round?” I shake my head. “Well then. Follow me.”
For the next few miles I followed this biker through a village and up a hill and down a hill and round a hill until eventually, we were back on the B4455. He let me overtake and I thanked him for showing me the way and I carried on. A few miles later he turned off and I gave a thumbs up to show my gratitude one last time before we were parted by different paths, and I continued the journey home alone.
It rained a little more but nothing could dampen what had been a good day. Getting home was when I finally realised I was once again cold but not damp this time. Just a little shaken from the wind. No near misses which was good. But a firm standing that the fellowship of the bikers can accomplish anything was established.
Who knows what will happen to our hero next? Chances are, a kebab and some beer but, until then, ride safe, ride fast and most importantly, ride until JJ tells you the story of his leg which in itself, is a saga worthy of any trilogy. Perhaps the 50 shades trilogy?
Just goes to show that there are still a few nice people out there that put helping others above getting from a to b at warp speed. 
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Croft 2005, Cadwell 2006, Cadwell 2007
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