The dog’s bollocks

That’s what happens when you ask a room full of blokes for a title for a blog. Good grief. All I asked was, “If you could sum up today in a few words, what would they be?”

We had a slightly later start today. A wee hop up the dual carriageway and BAM! Twisties. Once again, how boring, the most magnificent roads and outstanding scenery.

Lute warned us before we left to pay attention to cyclists, he wasn’t joking. There were one or two oot and aboot!

Today, Martin had the privilege of riding behind Lute. Richard was my wingman for the day.

The wind was blowing a hoolie today, all good though, just relax and go with the flow. Interesting going over some bridges when we were buffeted all over the place.

It wasn’t cold though. It was a warm enough day. There was a bit of rain on the horizon, however, René and Lute managed to avoid it by changing the planned route.

I would like to say that today’s route was a bit more gentle, however, there were a lot of corners when the limit point was tough to read. Before we knew it, the road would switch back on itself, giving us a couple of heebeejeebee moments. Nevertheless, with the theory and practice on track, we all agree that we were coping better with all the challenges we faced. Pushing and pulling on the bars and at last, my hips have stopped aching!

It’s such a hard thing to explain. The roads are just gorgeous. Amazing quality smooth, but very technical. There were some parts today that were off camber, which was interesting!

The Saturday boys were out. At one stage, we pulled across our side of the road to let the weekend warriors past. Lute however, was having none of it. He saw them coming and just, well, disappeared from view. I can only imagine, bloke riding a Bandit showing them how it should be done. Martin commented that he hoped that Lute was handing them a business card when he eventually let them get on with their day. In the meantime, I was laughing my ass off!

To give you an idea what his ability is like, he had dropped back and videoed each of us. When he was done, he very casually whiffled past us and before we knew it, a few bends later, there he was at the side of the road.

He had stopped the bike, got off, unpacked his camera from the top box and was taking photos of us all as we ride by. Honest to goodness, all that was in a few corners. Gobsmacked.

After lunch, I was worried that I was struggling to get back in ‘the groove’. Again, the flow came back. Martin and I agreed that we were starting to more positive with our throttle control through the bends and getting the balance of the bike better.

We had a stop for a breather, water, and chocolate. I had to reduce myself to a ‘wild pee’, not the easiest thing to find a tree big enough to hide from 8 men! I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate going the last stretch of the route. That or pee my breeks. Not an attractive thought.

Tonight is paella night. Tom has organised for dinner to be delivered, so our trusty guides and their significant others are joining us in the villa.

Our dinner was just ace. Lovely starters and amazing paella. Sangria to wash it down, which went down a treat. Lute’s wife provided THE most stunning chocolate pudding. We were all stuffed to the gunnels!

Tomorrow is our last day riding. I’m sad that I can’t stay for another week.