RE: Why I love the TT: PH Blog
Sunday 11th June 2017
I used to love motorcycling. I passed my test on a week-long course at Harley-Davidson's Welsh school, Rider's Edge, with loony instructors who called indicators "winkies" and kept telling me I was "being beaten by pizza delivery boys". To be fair, I was.
So it was a slightly different TT experience...Then two things happened within a fortnight of each other: Kevin died in a crash on the BMW R1200 GS launch in South Africa, and I gave birth to my second son. I held him in my arms, aged 11 weeks, at Kevin's funeral, shoving him and a dummy into the hands of Telegraph Motoring correspondent Andrew English when I went up to do the eulogy.
John Thorpe stiill knows what he's doingMy boyfriend and I are here with Honda, and we have already spent a day on bikes - my boyfriend off-roading on an Africa Twin and me, well, it was pouring with rain and I bottled it again and chose instead to go pillion with Dave Thorpe, three-time Motocross World Champion, on his Africa Twin. It was brilliant, the bikes whirring across the gravel, through large puddles and over huge rocks. It was fun, exhilarating, a test, an adventure over rough land inaccessible by car - all the things biking is meant to be about.
And he gets lunch too!But, as usual, the counter-argument won't be silenced. As I write, three people have already died in this year's TT. I've driven around the course, looking at the dips, the corners, the damp parts of Tarmac, the stone walls and lamp posts and metal gates and trees, the houses and pubs and crowds standing right on the roadside that is the 37.7-mile course. It's insane. It would be insane to do that once, let alone six laps with an average lap speed in excess of 133mph. It takes a TT rider about 17 minutes to do 37.7 miles. To put that in context, it would take you one hour and seven minutes to ride round it if you were obeying the various speed limits.
One way to get back onto two wheels!My personal biking crusade is more tentative. I'm still torn, although am starting to think it's all too much. But I might have found a compromise: a Honda C90. Not any Honda C90; specifically the modified one displayed on the Bennetts stand at the TT. Enough pep and fun for short rides, or to commute, but light enough to hold up should I do what I normally do and start to drop it. The boyfriend still wants a Triumph (or an Africa Twin), so the answer might be for him to take me pillion on that and stick to the C90 on my own.
Why I love the TT: PH Blog
Well if there's one place to get you back into bikes, it's the Isle of Man...
I had a Sportster 883R (crashed), then a Buell (dropped), followed by a Kawasaki ER-6f (lime green, survived intact) and finally a BMW F800 ST (ditto; I was improving). I rode pillion to Le Mans on a Harley and at considerable speed on a Suzuki GSX-R1000 with Kevin Ash, my friend and Telegraph motorcycling correspondent.
So it was a slightly different TT experience...
"What's the point in risking it?" I thought, and put away my lovely Dainese leathers and Alpinestars boots and gloves.
Since then, I've been back on a bike twice, once for Kevin's memorial ride-out at Silverstone and once on a Honda CBR500R, also at Silverstone. Both times I loved it, but not enough to risk a form of transport where the best rider I knew couldn't avoid a fatal accident.
Still, it gnaws away at me on a sunny day. My partner is a Triumph Speed Triple man, also bereft since he sold his bike five years ago. We keep wondering...
And so I write this from the Isle of Man TT, with the Senior TT having been won by Michael Dunlop. John McGuinness was of course out, as was Guy Martin after a false neutral his Fireblade two days before caused him to crash.
John Thorpe stiill knows what he's doing
By the time we went out to dinner last night, I was picking a new bike in my head. The pubs in Douglas were rammed, drinkers and bands swaying to live music, a palpable, warm, familiar culture.
We were surprised at the amount of goodwill and general bonhomie about - no riders were out-muscling anyone on the roads, no one was sneering at lesser bikes. Everyone was clearly part of the two-wheeled community, a cheery, beery band of brothers.
I stopped to admire a Suzuki Hayabusa and the Dutch bloke let me sit on it. At breakfast this morning, BSB rider and TT women's lap record holder, Jenny Tinmouth, stopped to say hi. In the hotel bar, John McGuinness, perched on crutches with pins holding his leg in place, chatted with any passing fan. Imagine any of that in F1.
And he gets lunch too!
Of course, this is as extreme as road riding gets. But the elements are the same: unprotected rider, variable grip, high speeds, countless developing hazards that you have no control of but pose huge risks such as oil spills, drivers not seeing you, or not looking. Look closer at the TT crowds and you'll see more than a handful of spectators in wheelchairs.
I've watched the Senior Race, inches from my face, with an old crumbling wall between me and riders going at 180mph. The bikes are frightening as they pass: the speed that close to your face is brutal, so jarringly violent and ear-bleedingly loud. It's too much. There's no way out of danger; you're riding straight into it, on the verge of disaster and tragedy, for six laps. You can't see or react to the course; you have to know it in your mind already: every manhole cover, kerb and undulation of the 37.7 miles. The mental concentration is extreme, although Guy Martin has said that the reason he hasn't won a Senior TT race is because he'll start thinking about beans on toast for supper half way round. A friend of Dave Thorpe who races at the TT told him last year that he spotted him watching in the crowd, and correctly recalled where Thorpe had been standing at the time. It's mind boggling.
One way to get back onto two wheels!
Except, it's going to bug me...
Discussion
Nice piece.
What baffles me about the TT is that it is pretty much ignored by the mainstream media, despite being such an amazing event, having such a long history, being British and with events generally dominated by Brits. I had to check the TT website to see who has won and the only article I saw in the newspaper was (typically) to report the death of a rider.
What baffles me about the TT is that it is pretty much ignored by the mainstream media, despite being such an amazing event, having such a long history, being British and with events generally dominated by Brits. I had to check the TT website to see who has won and the only article I saw in the newspaper was (typically) to report the death of a rider.
I understand the dichotomy here.
In 2002, the year before I met SWMBO, my wife lent her R6 to her best friend who proceeded to the IOM to take part.
On race day he didn't manage 10mins before being taken off by another rider, killing them both. Nearly every bone in his body was broken.
SWMBO helped repatriate his body, and her bike.
When she got home, she smashed her helmet, cut up her leathers and gave her bike away, mentally vowing to never get on a bike again.
I can't imagine how she felt, how much she has suffered ever since, but every so often, when we drive down into Matlock, or pass or local motorbike dealership, I see that wistful look in her eyes, and I know how much she would love to ride again, but also know that she won't, having lost not just her best friend, but also several othe friends over the years.
She has always told me that yes, I can have a motorbike, but if I do so, I should be safe in the knowledge that she will leave me, as she can't contemplate what might happen.
Perhaps the above sounds miserable, but I really do understand the feelings of he OP.
On summer evenings we can lie in bed and hear bikes accelerate hard up past our house, hear the revs flare as the bike grabs air on the brow of the hill outside, and then the hard-edged engine noise as they accelerate down the hill into the succession of bends into the countryside.
Sometimes, just sometimes, I see the faintest smile appear on her lips at the sound. Even when she's asleep.......
In 2002, the year before I met SWMBO, my wife lent her R6 to her best friend who proceeded to the IOM to take part.
On race day he didn't manage 10mins before being taken off by another rider, killing them both. Nearly every bone in his body was broken.
SWMBO helped repatriate his body, and her bike.
When she got home, she smashed her helmet, cut up her leathers and gave her bike away, mentally vowing to never get on a bike again.
I can't imagine how she felt, how much she has suffered ever since, but every so often, when we drive down into Matlock, or pass or local motorbike dealership, I see that wistful look in her eyes, and I know how much she would love to ride again, but also know that she won't, having lost not just her best friend, but also several othe friends over the years.
She has always told me that yes, I can have a motorbike, but if I do so, I should be safe in the knowledge that she will leave me, as she can't contemplate what might happen.
Perhaps the above sounds miserable, but I really do understand the feelings of he OP.
On summer evenings we can lie in bed and hear bikes accelerate hard up past our house, hear the revs flare as the bike grabs air on the brow of the hill outside, and then the hard-edged engine noise as they accelerate down the hill into the succession of bends into the countryside.
Sometimes, just sometimes, I see the faintest smile appear on her lips at the sound. Even when she's asleep.......
I understand the dichotomy here.
In 2002, the year before I met SWMBO, my wife lent her R6 to her best friend who proceeded to the IOM to take part.
On race day he didn't manage 10mins before being taken off by another rider, killing them both. Nearly every bone in his body was broken.
SWMBO helped repatriate his body, and her bike.
When she got home, she smashed her helmet, cut up her leathers and gave her bike away, mentally vowing to never get on a bike again.
I can't imagine how she felt, how much she has suffered ever since, but every so often, when we drive down into Matlock, or pass or local motorbike dealership, I see that wistful look in her eyes, and I know how much she would love to ride again, but also know that she won't, having lost not just her best friend, but also several othe friends over the years.
She has always told me that yes, I can have a motorbike, but if I do so, I should be safe in the knowledge that she will leave me, as she can't contemplate what might happen.
Perhaps the above sounds miserable, but I really do understand the feelings of he OP.
On summer evenings we can lie in bed and hear bikes accelerate hard up past our house, hear the revs flare as the bike grabs air on the brow of the hill outside, and then the hard-edged engine noise as they accelerate down the hill into the succession of bends into the countryside.
Sometimes, just sometimes, I see the faintest smile appear on her lips at the sound. Even when she's asleep.......
In 2002, the year before I met SWMBO, my wife lent her R6 to her best friend who proceeded to the IOM to take part.
On race day he didn't manage 10mins before being taken off by another rider, killing them both. Nearly every bone in his body was broken.
SWMBO helped repatriate his body, and her bike.
When she got home, she smashed her helmet, cut up her leathers and gave her bike away, mentally vowing to never get on a bike again.
I can't imagine how she felt, how much she has suffered ever since, but every so often, when we drive down into Matlock, or pass or local motorbike dealership, I see that wistful look in her eyes, and I know how much she would love to ride again, but also know that she won't, having lost not just her best friend, but also several othe friends over the years.
She has always told me that yes, I can have a motorbike, but if I do so, I should be safe in the knowledge that she will leave me, as she can't contemplate what might happen.
Perhaps the above sounds miserable, but I really do understand the feelings of he OP.
On summer evenings we can lie in bed and hear bikes accelerate hard up past our house, hear the revs flare as the bike grabs air on the brow of the hill outside, and then the hard-edged engine noise as they accelerate down the hill into the succession of bends into the countryside.
Sometimes, just sometimes, I see the faintest smile appear on her lips at the sound. Even when she's asleep.......
Good piece, yes it would be nice if it were signed!
IOM is the most wonderful place, period, but at TT time it is extea special. Even if you are not a biker, you should go at least once, it is an extraordinary spectacle. It is fine to write about bikes doing 180mph through villages, and you can watch it on the TV, the ITV coverage is great. BUt to be there, to see, hear and feel the bikes rocketing by at ludicrous speeds, it really is astonishing. It is difficult to comprehend, and yet, there it is, right in front of you!
As a biker, you should go. IOM is the friendliest bile place in the world. And at TT time it is even better. I disagree on some points in the blog, there are some nobs about on bikes and in cars, but most bikers and car drivers are incredibly patient with the huge influx of people that arrive.
As for the danger. Well yes. I race bikes and I take the odd risk in doing so, but it's club stuff and off road and generally soft when you land. Yes, I broke my arm last year, but it is a different type of risk that these riders take. It is quite eery in practice week, walking about the open paddock, seeing superstas as well as gusy with their own vans, kit, tents, and you don't even know which one the rider is,and who is the tea boy. They don't do it to become heros, they do it because they are extraordinary. And they love it. However, each time I go, I cant help thinking that as I wander about I may have just brushed by some unassuming guy who I don't know, never heard of, and who may well not be here next week.
Long may it all continue, there is no where on the planet that provides what the IOM does at TT time. Until you've been, you just wont understand.
I have been going off and on for 41 years. Some of my earliest memories are at the TT in 1976 camping at Bugarrow with a load of mental german bikers, in a field with no loos! It is different now, but it is still amazing.
As I say nice piece, who wrote it?
IOM is the most wonderful place, period, but at TT time it is extea special. Even if you are not a biker, you should go at least once, it is an extraordinary spectacle. It is fine to write about bikes doing 180mph through villages, and you can watch it on the TV, the ITV coverage is great. BUt to be there, to see, hear and feel the bikes rocketing by at ludicrous speeds, it really is astonishing. It is difficult to comprehend, and yet, there it is, right in front of you!
As a biker, you should go. IOM is the friendliest bile place in the world. And at TT time it is even better. I disagree on some points in the blog, there are some nobs about on bikes and in cars, but most bikers and car drivers are incredibly patient with the huge influx of people that arrive.
As for the danger. Well yes. I race bikes and I take the odd risk in doing so, but it's club stuff and off road and generally soft when you land. Yes, I broke my arm last year, but it is a different type of risk that these riders take. It is quite eery in practice week, walking about the open paddock, seeing superstas as well as gusy with their own vans, kit, tents, and you don't even know which one the rider is,and who is the tea boy. They don't do it to become heros, they do it because they are extraordinary. And they love it. However, each time I go, I cant help thinking that as I wander about I may have just brushed by some unassuming guy who I don't know, never heard of, and who may well not be here next week.
Long may it all continue, there is no where on the planet that provides what the IOM does at TT time. Until you've been, you just wont understand.
I have been going off and on for 41 years. Some of my earliest memories are at the TT in 1976 camping at Bugarrow with a load of mental german bikers, in a field with no loos! It is different now, but it is still amazing.
As I say nice piece, who wrote it?
rtz62 said:
I understand the dichotomy here.
In 2002, the year before I met SWMBO, my wife lent her R6 to her best friend who proceeded to the IOM to take part.
On race day he didn't manage 10mins before being taken off by another rider, killing them both. Nearly every bone in his body was broken.
SWMBO helped repatriate his body, and her bike.
When she got home, she smashed her helmet, cut up her leathers and gave her bike away, mentally vowing to never get on a bike again.
I can't imagine how she felt, how much she has suffered ever since, but every so often, when we drive down into Matlock, or pass or local motorbike dealership, I see that wistful look in her eyes, and I know how much she would love to ride again, but also know that she won't, having lost not just her best friend, but also several othe friends over the years.
She has always told me that yes, I can have a motorbike, but if I do so, I should be safe in the knowledge that she will leave me, as she can't contemplate what might happen.
Perhaps the above sounds miserable, but I really do understand the feelings of he OP.
On summer evenings we can lie in bed and hear bikes accelerate hard up past our house, hear the revs flare as the bike grabs air on the brow of the hill outside, and then the hard-edged engine noise as they accelerate down the hill into the succession of bends into the countryside.
Sometimes, just sometimes, I see the faintest smile appear on her lips at the sound. Even when she's asleep.......
Trackdays no good for her?In 2002, the year before I met SWMBO, my wife lent her R6 to her best friend who proceeded to the IOM to take part.
On race day he didn't manage 10mins before being taken off by another rider, killing them both. Nearly every bone in his body was broken.
SWMBO helped repatriate his body, and her bike.
When she got home, she smashed her helmet, cut up her leathers and gave her bike away, mentally vowing to never get on a bike again.
I can't imagine how she felt, how much she has suffered ever since, but every so often, when we drive down into Matlock, or pass or local motorbike dealership, I see that wistful look in her eyes, and I know how much she would love to ride again, but also know that she won't, having lost not just her best friend, but also several othe friends over the years.
She has always told me that yes, I can have a motorbike, but if I do so, I should be safe in the knowledge that she will leave me, as she can't contemplate what might happen.
Perhaps the above sounds miserable, but I really do understand the feelings of he OP.
On summer evenings we can lie in bed and hear bikes accelerate hard up past our house, hear the revs flare as the bike grabs air on the brow of the hill outside, and then the hard-edged engine noise as they accelerate down the hill into the succession of bends into the countryside.
Sometimes, just sometimes, I see the faintest smile appear on her lips at the sound. Even when she's asleep.......
Always remember someone saying on a forum (think it was VisorDown) that he loved doing trackdays. When he (inevitably) fell off, first thing he saw when he opened his eyes whilst laying in a gravel trap was a Marshall asking if he was ok. That sort of "safety net" of instant medical care and "generally" safer riding by those around you has some serious merit IMO
Esceptico said:
Nice piece.
What baffles me about the TT is that it is pretty much ignored by the mainstream media, despite being such an amazing event, having such a long history, being British and with events generally dominated by Brits. I had to check the TT website to see who has won and the only article I saw in the newspaper was (typically) to report the death of a rider.
Yes, the TT is just about the most exciting sporting spectacle on Earth. Like Clarkson, I hate motorbikes, but watching some dude on what is basically a fancy bicycle doing ~200mph down a narrow country lane is incredible fun. It makes F1 and alike look sh*t. In an age of helf and sayftee mania, it is the last unsafe sporting event in the UK, perhaps Europe, perhaps the world. Someone always dies.What baffles me about the TT is that it is pretty much ignored by the mainstream media, despite being such an amazing event, having such a long history, being British and with events generally dominated by Brits. I had to check the TT website to see who has won and the only article I saw in the newspaper was (typically) to report the death of a rider.
Think the mainstream media largely ignore the IoM TT because a) it is "remote" and not on mainland Britain, b) <5% of people are interested in bikes, and c) it lacks the glitz and glamour of F1, Wimbledon, etc. TV execs and YT vloggers prefer a flash day-out.
Yipper said:
Esceptico said:
Nice piece.
What baffles me about the TT is that it is pretty much ignored by the mainstream media, despite being such an amazing event, having such a long history, being British and with events generally dominated by Brits. I had to check the TT website to see who has won and the only article I saw in the newspaper was (typically) to report the death of a rider.
Yes, the TT is just about the most exciting sporting spectacle on Earth. Like Clarkson, I hate motorbikes, but watching some dude on what is basically a fancy bicycle doing ~200mph down a narrow country lane is incredible fun. It makes F1 and alike look sh*t. In an age of helf and sayftee mania, it is the last unsafe sporting event in the UK, perhaps Europe, perhaps the world. Someone always dies.What baffles me about the TT is that it is pretty much ignored by the mainstream media, despite being such an amazing event, having such a long history, being British and with events generally dominated by Brits. I had to check the TT website to see who has won and the only article I saw in the newspaper was (typically) to report the death of a rider.
Think the mainstream media largely ignore the IoM TT because a) it is "remote" and not on mainland Britain, b) <5% of people are interested in bikes, and c) it lacks the glitz and glamour of F1, Wimbledon, etc. TV execs and YT vloggers prefer a flash day-out.
FYI it's on ITV every year. Here's the Senior TT highlights:
https://www.itv.com/hub/isle-of-man-tt/1a7918a0125
Hi Erin,
I fly paragliders, I ride a Multistrada 1200s Touring, I ride mountain bikes, I ski and kite surf - a lot of things that "sane people" consider to be made. For each activity, I try to understand my limits and the risks inherent in my attitude to each sport. I'm not particularly good at any of them, but I do enjoy them all.
I can understand the TT spurring you to getting back into motorbikes, but you don't need to look at the risks of that race for your own risk assessment.
John
I fly paragliders, I ride a Multistrada 1200s Touring, I ride mountain bikes, I ski and kite surf - a lot of things that "sane people" consider to be made. For each activity, I try to understand my limits and the risks inherent in my attitude to each sport. I'm not particularly good at any of them, but I do enjoy them all.
I can understand the TT spurring you to getting back into motorbikes, but you don't need to look at the risks of that race for your own risk assessment.
John
Great write-up!
I've had some bikes since I first got onto the roads in 1975 on my KTM Comet Cross (my only way of trying to keep up with Fizzies was to brake later).
I don't have a bike at present, but as soon as I have a garage I will have one (or two)!
I watched all the TT coverage and really need to go to the IOM by bike one day, but on something retro - I'm not a fan of plastic fantastics (and I'd get cramp after a couple of miles)!
Off to look for bookings for the Classic TT......!
I just hope Hutchy isn't too smashed up - that was a huge crash!
I've had some bikes since I first got onto the roads in 1975 on my KTM Comet Cross (my only way of trying to keep up with Fizzies was to brake later).
I don't have a bike at present, but as soon as I have a garage I will have one (or two)!
I watched all the TT coverage and really need to go to the IOM by bike one day, but on something retro - I'm not a fan of plastic fantastics (and I'd get cramp after a couple of miles)!
Off to look for bookings for the Classic TT......!
I just hope Hutchy isn't too smashed up - that was a huge crash!
Esceptico said:
Nice piece.
What baffles me about the TT is that it is pretty much ignored by the mainstream media, despite being such an amazing event, having such a long history, being British and with events generally dominated by Brits. I had to check the TT website to see who has won and the only article I saw in the newspaper was (typically) to report the death of a rider.
I'm more than happy that it does go under the radar to be honest. It's the last true form of racing where over zealous health and safety and metal fences to protect spectators have not diluted it into a damp squib. The less it's broadcast that these incredibly brave, slightly loose in the head riders risk their lives the better. What baffles me about the TT is that it is pretty much ignored by the mainstream media, despite being such an amazing event, having such a long history, being British and with events generally dominated by Brits. I had to check the TT website to see who has won and the only article I saw in the newspaper was (typically) to report the death of a rider.
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