Although I’m into bikes it has never all been about speed.  Yeah it’s thrilling but I like the whole thing.  I like sitting higher, looking over hedges seeing buildings you’ve never seen. As I’m smaller than Andrew I have to look between his shoulder and his helmet, one side or the other.  I never have a direct view of what is coming.  If we ride the same route home I have a whole new view on the way back.

I love the exposure to the elements, good and bad. Living in Scotland I shouldn’t really complain about the sunshine and heat but I’d like to point out that our weather invariably jumps from 9 degrees Celsius to 22 degrees overnight.  It is my theory that we Scots complain that it is too hot as we miss out on the transition, then it’s just the same in reverse. You go from unable to walk in your leathers for the heat to suddenly looking out liners for your all weather gear.  It’s all part of the interest of Scottish biking.

Smells are more pronounced, you can smell rain on hot tar, fields of rapeseed that are so strong you hold your breath as you ride past.  The transition from moor to forest and unfortunately the smell of death, there is no mistaking the smell of road kill.

Well it was an MOT month.  When you have several bikes this adds up to a couple of busy weekends.  Can’t complain too much as at least we have a local(ish) garage that works a Saturday morning.

After all the routine checks, tyres, lights indicators, horn we set off on two separate bikes.  Andrew set off first on the XJR1300 and I set off about five minutes behind him on my Gladius 650. 

As mentioned at the start, speed is not my main concern, even less when I’m riding.  I know that I need to watch myself as my wee bike can shift, not too badly.  Enough to keep me out of trouble and give a bit excitement.

Heading out after Andrew I was in no hurry to get there and just enjoyed meandering to the town where the test centre is.  When I rode down under the building to the garage Andrew was standing waiting on me.  Much to his chagrin the first words of the man at the garage was ‘where is she?’ Good job I turned up, I didn’t think not having your wife with you was an MOT failure.

MOT day is also breakfast out day.  The guys at the garage always keep the helmets so we can mosh up town for food.  We take up enough space with all our kit in the wee butchers (David Stein, Bathgate) café.  The staff are always really welcoming and I can recommend the minute fried steak roll and onion, it fair fills a hole.

Also this last few weeks Andrew bought me a drain inspection camera.  He bought it to that we could use it to view into all the awkward bits of a bike without having to take it apart first. However I am of the mind that I don’t really want it used like this and have managed to connect it to my film camera to save the images and then use it to film in places like my pond and fish tank.

The first few attempts were not very easy as the flexible part for putting down drains is, well flexible.  This can make it hard to point and steer the way you want to in the pond if it encounters weed.  Can’t wait for the spring next year to start gathering footage of frogs and developing spawn.

Off for now todays projects are just starting coming together.  Not sure how the results will look as my head is too busy.  I must focus.  I must focus.