I passed my car test in 2001, and, realising a day later that it was a lot more convenient than the bike, left the poor ZX-6R to fester in the garage, unloved, unused and badly maintained.
Hence, every time I come to use it, I have a real struggle to get the thing going. Conjure up images of me and my mate pushing it down the hill to try and get a bump start. Conjure up subsequent images of me pushing it back up the hill after the failure of said bump start.
Luckily, I'd looked at it a few weeks ago and realised that the battery needed charging, so when the car disaster arose last week, I was pretty sure that the bike would be available to standby.
But its three years since I last rode it to any extent, and there's an awful lot I'd forgotten :
- I'd forgotten how to turn corners - that I shouldn't touch the brakes at corners - how to go over roundabouts - that I should watch out for spilled diesel at roundabouts - that you have to lean into the cross winds - that this gets fucked up when you overtake lorries - that your visor gets covered with dead insects - that's its all too easy to open the throttle and be doing a ton, yes, the speedo does go up to 170 for a reason - that you should always wear a scarf.
Mostly, I'd forgotten just how cold it is when you're doing 85 miles on the bike first thing in the morning.
Related news : The car is still in the bodyshop.
Also : I'm quite enjoying biking again.
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