DangerRuss58

The camera is on one of those chin strap thingies the problem is here in Spain they will do you if they see camera attached to a helmet so its best if you can keep it as un obtrusive as possible not stuck on the top of your helmet where it can be sen a mile away I have tried to find places on the bike but not that easy.

I've been fiddling with camera settings and software settings int he video editor still cant make these vids look any better LOL

The latest restrictions are bit strange to say the least in our area..Valencia all towns over 50.000 inhabitants are shut and I mean shut don't try and get in or out from Friday afternoon till Monday morning my village has less than 1500 people so we are ok at the moment?? you didn't mention the way I went round the roundabout???

Last Wednesday I went on another organised ride out of around 420km..when I say organised well because of the new restrictions here you can only have a "meeting" with two people so three of us got together for a little bimble in the mountains. the problem I have is I live a fair way from the meeting place if you look at the map the red blob near the coast is where I live. Now not far from the meeting place there are some roadworks, new roads being built new roundabouts and even though I keep my sat nav up to date these particular road improvements hadn't yet made the update page. anyway I was sent up what was once the correct road but now nothing more than a mud track then a gravel track and in the middle of it all new tarmac...go figure! I followed this a for a couple of clicks then realised that because of a fence between the roads the only options was to turn around and back track which is where i got things a little wrong LOL. We eventually ended up in a place called Noria Hidraulica in the mountains which is where the oldest still in use wooden water wheel is located. On the way to the meeting place I was using my SJ cam I have been having trouble with high pitch screaming on the audio track, this time I had no sound at all so please excuse incidental music. I am putting together another vid of the trip where I used my go pro but that's for later.

I was surprised when one of the other riders mentioned salt but I could see it all over the screen etc,, its very fine salt nothing like they use in the UK

Until I looked at the map yesterday I had no idea how far from the coast we were probably up a bit higher than I thought LOL

That didn't go according to plan LOL

I also made a video of the trip I cut it short to around 10mins probably a bit too long to put up here as I don't want to hog all the memory so I have stuck it on YouTube here.

I haven't contributed much recently as I haven't done a dam thing for ages but last Thursday I was contacted by one of the local motorcycle groups that I belong to here in Spain called the PD Riders Group and asked if I fancy I ride out to the mountains...how could I say no! We were to meet at a petrol station just outside a town called Castalla which is in the mountains about 20 miles north west of Alicante some 60 miles from where I live near Gandia. Had to be there around 10am so left just after 8am to be on the safe side the weather was ok but a bit blustery as I rode past Alcoy I notice snow on the mountains, the first time I have seen snow in four years.. I made it in time and met up with 3 other intrepid souls we left a few minutes later. We made our way up and over mountains down passes and ended up at our first stop near Guadalest where we stopped for a bit and had a drink and a sandwich as all the cafes and bars etc ae closed in our region at the moment. From there we wound our way up and up to the Coll De Rates one of the if not the highest point in the region where we took lots of photos and ate more sandwiches. We parted ways at the bottom of the hill and I made my home I had to drop off at a car wash and give the bike a good soaking to get rid of road salt I had ridden a little over 300km and the next morning I knew I had ridden a fair few miles LOL

Just for a change nothing is going wrong I just hope it stays like that LOL

I did wipe the dust off before leaving and thank god no disasters this time.

It's been months since I last ventured out on two wheels, due to the wife going back to the UK to finish of her career as a nurse. I never knew 6 months would last so long LOL anyway the sun shone yesterday so I dragged the bike out of the garage and went across the mountains to Benidorm and had a blast. i found benidorm extremely quiet which is understandable I suppose considering whats going on in the world. Made a little video while I was at it.

Its been far too long since I last went for a decent ride on the bike, last Friday a friend of mine Eric,asked if I wanted to join him and his mate Les for a spin out in the country how could I refuse? The route was around 150km around the area to the west of Gandia, a gorgeous day for a ride even if we did take the odd wrong turning. Stopped off a couple of time for refreshments like you do when the temperature climbs to the upper 30's Unfortunately my front facing go-pro had a problem when i got home all the data on the card was corrupt so have to make do with footage from the older camera set up on my rear pannier, but you get the idea. Just part of the trip but it will do a great day.

Iberian Meet: sounds like a great idea to me but....! Long story short, my wife is a nurse been off work for a while, just over a year with a very bad knee she has had a knee replacement but was sacked just before Christmas RE: "Capability to work" after several weeks of phone calls to the UK nurses union and solicitors she has her job back and has booked a flight for the first week of June, That means I am restricted on where I can go as I have two dogs here at home and one is elderly so can't leave them for long. Also I haven't sorted out my Spanish Licence yet because of this Virus crap so if I get my licence change sorted I can only go on a longish trip once my wife is back here in Spain which will be roughly every 6-8 weeks. If we can work the meet around that...brilliant.! Excuse the delays in answering Pete I am in the middle of writing a book for the ride reports section .

It might be worth having a look at this web site Pete https://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/spain/abandoned

I know Pete it is a heavy old bike but my last few machines were three Harley's a Goldwing and a Valkyrie Interstate so compared top them......? still bloody hard to pick it up though LOL

Last February Pete not long after I picked the bike up I went to visit a retired racer friend of mine near La Murta he told me he was a bit off the grid...!! it was my first bit of off roading as such in over 30 years as you can see from the first bit of this video as I was leaving. and no I didn't drop it that time.

I found that place on the map Pete bloody hell it is in the middle of nowhere, around 145 miles from me which isn't too bad, the wife is going back to work as soon as this virus thing is over so will have to arrange it when she is home..two dogs LOL Looks like a good ride out

A good friend of mine Tony Smith from Tonypandy ( i hope that's how you spell it) is a keen photography and a lot of his photos are of abandoned places like the institutes already mentioned and old factories and the like, I'm pretty sure he's been in that place in Denbigh

Sounds Like a plan Pete

It is a kick up the arse and it's brilliant and I didn't even use the chute to slow down on hat run....I for got LOL but think about the Top Fuel Guys their rear engine dragsters are running on Nitro methane with engines that pump out somewhere between 11000 and 12000 bhp they hit 100mph in their own length in under a second and never stop accelerating up to 330mph when they hit the chutes +6g on launch and -8g when they hit the chutes, would love a go in one of them...the drag bikes are a no no those guys are just mad.

The fuel pump is a 5.5 gpm unit that runs direct drive form the end of the camshaft its a rotory pump, shaft and veins type. A small vid of her running last year at Dragstalgia while still trying to get the tune up right.... Turn the volume up LOL Commentators never get my name right can't believe that my surname is really Heaven LOL

I take it you mean the race car, the motor is a race version of a small block Chevy with 4 bolt mains tunnel ram injection ally heads with massive valves revs to 9000 rpm runs on methanol two speed power glide race gear box. So far we have run 8.3 seconds for the quarter mile at a shade under 160 mph 159.7 mph if I remember correct the 8.3 was run by my son after we sorted out the fuelling with the new camshaft the speed is mine LOL yes we do have a competitive spirit, Our hope for this year with different gearing in the rear axle and some better valve springs was to get her in the 7 second bracket once done I was going to retire completely but due to this lock-down looks like I might have to put off my retirement plans for a bit ? Nearly forgot it churns out around 1000bhp

Swine it's been down three times

Just after I bought my bike last February I had made my mind up to ride it back to the UK, another Adventure for the old man! I was going to use the trip to coincide with a race meeting at Santa Pod one of the biggest of the year "Dragstalgia" where I was going to race my slingshot dragster. by March I had booked the crossing tot he UK via the Chunnel on one of those open ended expensive bookings just in case, and I was coming back on the ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe I left home nice and early all packed up, well over packed actually as usual, I had remembered to re-set the suspension settings and checked my tyre pressures again something I am very slack about as a rule. I set off along the coast up to Valencia then across to Zaragoza and up to Huesca which ended the really boring part of the trip, the next part was the bit I was really looking forward to, over the Pyrenees via the N330 the only problem was that particular area had just got over the wettest period on record and I caught the tail end of it where I found out that my "shower proof" riding gear wasn't!! but the roads were great and in between showers the views were still incredible. My destination for the night was a budget Ibis Hotel in Pau just over into the French side of the Pyrenees a distance of around 400 miles. the budget hotels are great for stop overs cheap with car parking as a rule, I wouldn't want to spend any time in one though,they had a small bar which I made use of later in the evening but they don't do food only breakfast so after unpacking and a quick shower I hung my stuff up to dry and went for a walk into town for something to eat, I didn't have to go far as the first roundabout from my hotel had the usual food outlets burger joints, pizza etc. After the usual continental breakfast it was pack the bike up time and leave via the nearest petrol station, I am now heading for a small Hamlet north of Limoges near the town of Bethines called Les Brouillons to a bikers B&B called Belonga Mick it's on Google just type it in. I was riding up to Bordeaux via the national park The Landes De Gascogne which is very pretty where you will see familiar names of villages on sign posts such as Cadillac and Bergerac. Then round Bordeaux up to Limoges and then Belonga Mick along the lovely D179 The small hamlet of Les Brouillons was just about deserted when mick an old friend bought his first house there he has renovated the inside and made it a very comfortable B&B he now has a Gites and is working on another house he has bought, a very relaxing place with great food, the are is often over looked by tourists but its a motorcycling dream. This part of the trip was the shortest only 300 miles After a lovely evening of drinking too much beer and catching up as we hadn't seen each other for three years I went to bed, Up early for a full English breakfast pack the bike up and....wouldn't start, battery was flat. I had fitted a set of auxiliary lights which didn't run through the ignition so I think I must have accidentally switched them on while walking the bike into the barn when I arrived, A two hour wait for the battery to charge up enough to start . I was now leaving a lot later than I had wanted to, good job I had an open ended crossing, So now it was a dash up to Tours and then Le Mans and Rouen along the coast to Calais well the Tunnel. The only problem I had was if I would make it in time to be let into he race facility. The race meeting was from the Friday to the Sunday but the gates were open from 2pm to 8 pm on Thursday to let racers in to set up. I was pusing it a bit but got on the train around 8pm European time 7pm UK time had a great chat with a fellow traveller on a BMW adventure bike. Got off the train then another dash up the motorways to Wellingborough I got to the gates at gone 9pm but luckily the security guards knew me and let me in, it had been a long day and boy did I sleep well that night 420 miles to Calais and and a further 160 once I got of the train. Friday downed and it was time to sort the car out after it had been fitted with a new cam shaft, My race team "Slimline Racing" consists of myself owner and driver and my eldest son who is my crew chief and my Brother Dave and my BUG (Back Up Girl) Dianna who works a photographer and reporter for eurodragster.com. How it works is my son keeps my Dodge ram at his home and on race day he drives it from Swindon to Luton to pick my brother up then to the storage depot where the trailer is kept with the race car inside the hook up the trailer and drag the whole thing to the track. The car is called "Tight Fit" and is rather rapid with its race desiigned V8 injected running on Methanol. We had a great weekend racing and drinking far too much alcohol while listening to live music on the premises. I had an 11pm ferry booked for Sunday evening so had to leave the Pod at around 7pm after I had helped the team pack everything away, I managed to get a couple hours sleep on the ferry then it was time to unload at Dieppe in the dark and make my way back to Belonga Mick where i was going to spend a couple of days so Mick could show me around this beautiful part of France. A short vid of the ride around Belong Mick Two days went far too fast and it was time to leave again my route back home was the same as my route to the UK stopping at Pau on the way back I was glad to get home. In total I was away for 10 days I had ridden around 2600 miles and the bike had returned just short of 55 mpg I love this bike.