Thursday, April 29, 2021

Controlling the Machine.

 The following post is adapted from an article published in the PEMC magazine.

Controlling the Machine: Two days of i2i training.



We meet Tom the instructor at the airfield cafeteria for early morning craic.


I completed my Advanced Motorcycling test with a local IAM group some years ago and became confident that in the cases of shoulder checks, road positioning and frequent debriefing stops for coffee I had mastered this motorcycling thing. However lingering doubts remained that I was actually in full control of the machine, these doubts being fuelled by almost obsessional interest in internet self help with such topics as push steering, U turning a Harley on a dime, counter weighting, trail braking and necessary knee down techniques. It was therefore with much relief that I stumbled across the i2i Motorcycle Academy with promises such as the transformation of my riding and the mastering of U turns even two up.

Rufforth airfield is an active microlight and gyrocopter centre.


I booked on two consecutive events held over a weekend at Rufforth Airfield near York last August, Machine Control 1 and 2 (MC1 and MC2). Other venues were available.

Admission to the airfield is through the crash gate....


On a sunny Saturday in August a diverse group of riders on machines ranging from Sports bikes through to Pan Europeans bikes gatherered at the Gyrocopter Experience control tower cafe at Rufforth Airfield. Tom, our instructor greeted us, invited us for a free coffee, told us to preorder lunch and took us through the crash gate (aviation jargon, sorry) on a ride across the airfield to the training area where his van was set up.

Tom explains gyroscopes and stability and how the average rider messes it all up.


The day was broken up with a series of progressive sections comprising a briefing by Tom, followed by a demonstration given on his Street Triple and then our exercises. Tom, an Irishman whose craic is characteristicly and variously stimulating and witty, explains the neccessary physics simply, and majors on debunking common misconceptions and has us all in stitches. He then hops on his Street Triple and shows us that the bike is steered neither by looking where you want to go, nor by weighting a peg or pushing down on the bars.

Tom travels past at 30mph and demos that you cannot steer by looking.


Many of the exercises were carried out one handed, a key point being to engage the „core“, Pilates fashion. Tom points out that the bike has at least two gyroscopes built in and without rider intervention performs brilliantly straight and in banked turns and does not fall over.


The Man on two gyroscopes not precessing at all at all.


It´s not all about Tom...We are given exercises to perform, and here we are waiting our turn.

The day of MC1 is completed when we U turn at full lock without touching the brakes, throttle or clutch. We do however look where we want to go.

Pee break.


I elected to do MC 2 directly after MC1, but on Sunday quite a few new riders appeared having completed MC1 some time previously.

Demonstration of how useless the rear brake can be.


The emphasis in MC2 was on braking without drama including in bends, including back braking with power on....good for pillions apparently because the rear jacks up. Bad for the brakes which could catch fire.

Another cosy chat and a view of the practice area.


The Sunday contained more drama: One of the sports bikes ended up in the adjacent corn field and Tom rides the (rather elderly) Pan European at extreme angles because the rider complained about the handling. Shot front wheel bearings and uneven tyre wear were diagnosed. The Pan had never been ridden like that before...

The mobile office and the end of the weekend. I´m on my way the ferry port.


All in all a worthwhile and confidence giving weekend for all levels of experience. The next step is MC3 Knee Down , but as I have difficuty in getting my leg over I´ll pass on that one. The i2i academy is owned managed and run by the husband and wife team of Tom and Emma Killeen. Tom is developing some YouTube material this year and this should give you some idea of his style. Check it out!


Action scene! 

Braking and cornering:







Wednesday, April 28, 2021

poke menu 01052021

 

CAFE 11 & POKÉ to go MENU
Å 0611 360 83 221
Bahnhofstr. 11, 65185 Wiesbaden
Poke Bowls
Salmon/Lachs (§)
11,90 €
Marinierter Lachs in Soja Soße, Sushi Reis, schwarz/weiss
Sesam, Wakame, Edamame, Avocado, Granatapfel, Chilli Mayo
Soße, Erdnuss Wasabi Crunch
Chicken Terriyaki/Teriyaki-Hühnchenfleisch (§§)
9,20 €
Hühnchen, Sushi Reis / Soja Soße, schwarz/weiss Sesam,
Wakame, Edamame, Avocado, Granatapfel, Chilli Mayo Soße,
Ingwer, Teriyaki Soße
Beetroot/Rote Beete(§§§)
7,90 €
Marinierte Rote Beete in Sesam Öl, Sushi Reis / Soja Soße,
schwarz/weiss Sesam, Wakame, Avocado, Edamame,
Granatapfel, Ingwer, Mango, Chilli Mayo Soße
Tofu (§§§)
8,90 €
Gegrillt und anstelle von Rote Beete wie oben
Glutenfrei Kuchen
2,90 €
Verschiedene zur Verfügung, bitte fragen Sie.
Getränke
Cappuccino/Latte Macciato/Milch Kaffee
3,10 €
Espresso
1,90 €
Americano/Schwarze Kaffee
2,50 €
Heisse Tee
2,00 €
Heisse Schokolade
2,90 €
Coke/Fanta usw
2,90 €
Wasser
2,00 €
Allergie Information!
(§) Nuss (Sesam, Erdnuss) Gluten, Soja
(§§) Nuss (Sesam) Gluten, Soja
(§§§) Nuss (Sesam) Gluten, Soja
LAKTOSEFREIE MILCH ERHÄLTLICH
v 01.05




Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Balkan Bumblings 2018

May 2018 - a road trip through Serbia to Greece and back through Albania and Italy.

Serbia, Danube River Novi Sad taken from Petrovaradin where we stayed in the majestic Hotel Leopold along with a badminton team from Istanbul

Danube by day 

Novi Sad 

Statue of Jaša Tomic, politician, publicist, journalist,with notorious itchy nose on Dunavska street

Someone else is doing the driving....south to Thessaloniki
 Now in Greece.
Greek Merperson, our friend painted this.

Nice in May, the dandelions are about to spawn

Down at Astros harbour

A revisit to Spetses Island some decades on...I wish we hadn't

Old mansion in Spetses town - only nice bit.

Mountains near Astros - Grom and BMW overland adventures - we ride through a monastery
 Due to a strike by Greek border officials we had to leave 2 days earlier than planned and so our stop in Albania was prolonged.
Homeward bound in Albania - I didn't milk our friends cow.

Durres port - ferry to Bari, Italy - looks like a giant tank landing craft: Adria Line A/F Marina.

Near Bari we visit a castello.

Hexagonal structure built during the 1240s by Frederick ll

Further to an overnight stop at Belinzona we get stuck at Gt. St Bernard Tunnel ...

...so we went over the pass instead.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Game of Fours

A fellow but competent blogger tagged me in a Game of 4's: a challenge in which 4 questions are provided, to be answered by 4 answers, and then to nominate 4 other bloggers (or vloggers). Thank you, Sonja for providing a most welcome distraction from growing old and moving house and cleaning filthy gas cookers.

The Questions are:
1. What is your favourite food?
2. What are your favourite drinks?
3. Places you've been?
4. Names that you're known by?



Answers 1:


Meatballs Asia Minor style

Gigandes - giant beans

Meatballs and spaghetti

Wild boar balls...
Answers 2:


Planter's Punch 



Red wine....
Answers 3:




Constantinople in case you were wondering


Answers 4:
Oi you
The bottomless pit
Your Royal Highness
Mr Botchit


As virtually no one reads my blog I can safely nominate:

Retired Blogger Richard from Yorkshire

The very lovely gluten free cook on 2 wheels

A cultured musical  Franconian

Ms Wonky Words

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Post Brexit North Sea OCD

July 2016: Given the depressing news of 23rd June 2016, I can't keep away from escape routes to the continent.

A short tour of Suffolk took me to Harwich and a ferry trip to Hook of Holland enroute to Brake on the Wese.


I travelled initially with the pensioners motorcycle club. We stayed at the unimpressive Brome Grange Hotel IP23 8AP.
Somewhere east of Ipswich - a liitle excursion to the River Deben...

and the Ramsholt Arms for lunch

A day later after drying off my clothes following the torrential downpour on the journey back from the Ramsholt Arms to the hotel, I headed to the continent to try out Stena Lines super cruise booze ferry service Harwich to Hook of Holland

A short evening flit to Harwich and some Garmin mis direction later I arrive in time for the evening departure of the Stena Hollandica


Motorcycles accomodated on the main car deck.
Decent size inside cabin

Useful TV with charting of route on channel 23, and

meanwhile on channel K9p, a view of the kennels!
Looking back at blighty.  I check later what SCR means - Selective Catalytic Reduction - a technology ignored by Volkswagen

Looking forward to Hook of Holland 
 Egress from the Hollandica was straightforward and onward travel to Brake am Wese hindered only by a Garmin gps lock up and manual navigation around Amsterdam.  The Garmin whilst displaying a map and route started counting distance backwards showing my destination receding...
I went fresh and drank my capuciino al fresco in the drizzle

No sooner had I arrived in Wese upthe Brake or whatever, Mrs N. decided that we should spend some time on an island in the German Bight.  I had just read Erskine Childers classic The riddle of the sands and seen the corresponding movie Bei Nacht und Nebel with the lovely Jenny von Agutter so was keen too.   Due to the short notice and lack of pre planning we could not go to a nice island so went to Helgoland instead.

The route to Helgoland with a duck under the Wese

At Cuxhaven we just missed the slow boat so Mrs N secures the last 2 places on the jet service

We have waiting time to explore the Cuxhaven dockside accoutrements.

Invaluable wind information for vessels headed for Bremerhaven.
The jet arrives, and I wonder about Limassol

I am comforted that the Limassol registered vessel has a Greek (Cypriot) style boarding routine

The weather at Helgoland is sunny and we ascend the bomb crater to take in the views

This is the bomb crater resulting from the British trying to remove this former German Naval base and munitions dump from the map WW1


Interesting topography

This path forms a circular route around the island - about 1.5 hours walk

Guano generators prevail





We were quite glad to leave Helgoland especially as all the restaurants were closed for lunch.



I was told off for saying moin moin.
On arrival at Cuxhaven we decided to explore the dockland area where we had eaten some years ago.
Cuxhaven - Sea food restaurant revisited  - sadly in its last year as the owners are retiring



German ocean liners used to depart from here
Further to sea food (rather a lot) we explored the beach side area where Mrs N had stayed some years ago.
Iced coffee glee

clutching at clouds

Magic ocean going ships pass yards away from canoodling couples

sun set over the beach baskets

This is Mrs N's home from home at Brake.  Bicycles are complimentary.


I have lost the pictures of the return leg from Ijmuiden to Newcastle. To be concluded....

jhgjgjfv


Site Meter