IoM Day 3

I needed to check-in for marshalling at 12 today - an extra “contingency” session had been added to make up for the Monday evening cancellation and red flag last night.

But I had time in hand to do another lap of the circuit, this time in beautiful sunny conditions. Anna was running beautifully but the climb up the mountain was relentless and I was in 3rd gear for a lot of it to prevent the engine flogging up in 4th. So the sight of the Victory cafe at the top was welcome to give her a break. 

Before I had my helmet off and ear plugs out, I was accosted by a madly enthusiastic guy whose first motorbike in the late 70s had been a Crusader. He kept me chatting for ages, which was very nice but meant I didn’t have time for my planned coffee and cake! 

Setting off for the final small climb before the long descent back to Douglas, Anna felt in her element - she actually seems to respond pretty well to a gentle thrashing 😳. What Rob would call “an Italian decoke” 🙂 I particularly loved the gentle popping on the over-run as we came down the long incline to the Creg-ny-Baa Hotel, where a policeman with radar gun awaited us!

I signed on for the afternoon session and was at Transmann again, this time with a lovely guy from the Lake District called Alan. What an interesting life he had lead, including spells as a welder, shipwright, Army reservist, mayor (twice!) and theatre nurse. 

The session ran in perfect conditions until the last 5 minutes when there was just a very slight hint of rain. By the time we had packed up and I was walking back to the campsite, it was full blown rain and the evening session had been cancelled. I can’t say I was disappointed, as I was pretty knackered by then!

As I arrived back, a group were arriving from Galway, including a well used motor home, which subsequently disgorged 2 motorbikes from within(!!), one of which was a '61 Crusader. Roy, the owner, and I spent lots of time over the next couple of days comparing notes on our restorations. He had done a video blog of his, which is way over my head! Watch it here.

I particularly liked his tool store that he'd made out of an old crash helmet, to go on his rack!

With the evening session cancelled, after cooking some tea I headed for a big walk into Douglas and along the prom, returning after dark. Then settled down in the warm evening with a beer to read a book.