alister667

Wake up, it's 1st Practice day of the NW200, the greatest Motorcycle Road Race! There's UK coverage on the BBC iPlayer, worldwide coverage on the BBCNI Sport Website. Practice starts at 9:30am BST. There's practice on Thursday, with 3 races on Thursday evening and Racing on Saturday from 10am-5pm BST.

Is this the first piece of Motorcycle writing? Anyhow, it's a description of a ride on his Brough Superior from about 100 years ago by TE Lawrence - better known as Lawrence of Arabia. Riders today will recognise the emotions. Although his writing is a bit flowery, I found it a good read.

Nice picture I took, spotted it in my downloads directory.

Since I fitted a GPS tracker on my bike, I've realised that it can keep track of my laptime going round the Tandragee 100 road racing circuit! For comparison, Michael Dunlop did it in 2m55s. I was very, very close with 6m46s. An average speed of 47.5mph. That's my average speed, not Michael's. FWIW It's a cracking bit of road, they call it the Mini TT for good reason. If you find yourself anywhere near it, it's well worth a lap or two. Next up, Dundrod Ulster GP circuit...

Spent the weekend with a few mates riding & camping around the west of Ireland. It was magic.

https://postimg.cc/gallery/d1pbLnN

Day 1 we met up and rode via Enniskillen and the Magho Viewpoint to Ballyshannon's Rory Gallagher Statue, then around Mullaghmore, the Gleniff Horseshoe, round the back of Benbulbin, Glencar Lough, then through Sligo to spend the night camping at Lough Arrow.

Day 2 we set out across Co. Mayo, through Ballina, to Downpatrick Head. The countryside grew wilder and more remote as we pushed on onto the peninsula of Belmullet, then on down to Black Sod Bay. By the time we stopped for food there was no way we could make it to Achill and make it to Clifden, so we had to go directly to Clifden. The run down, past Westport and through Ireland's only fjord (at Leenaun), was some of the best riding I've ever experienced. Jaw dropping scenery and just a great biking road. We camped just outside Clifden. Bring a midge net.

Day 3 we set off to Galway, again stunning scenery and wonderful roads into the big town. Then we headed south into The Burren's unique landscape and Fr. Ted's house. The view round the corner from there, across Lough Gaelan to Mullagh More was so photogenic it looked like a painting. From there we headed through Gort, Athlone, Cavan, Armagh and home. We managed to do this while the All Ireland Football final was on, so we had some lovely fast sweeping A-roads, pretty much to ourselves - although the scenery wasn't quite as stunning as it was out west. A little under 700 miles in total in 3 days.

Free, worldwide, livestreaming of the Armoy Road Race meeting, this Saturday 26th July. Starts 9:30am BST.

You'd think I was away to Punta Arenas in the morning! I'm just trial fitting luggage for a 3 day camping trip to Galway/Mayo in a few weeks time! The sidebags aren't fitted correctly yet, but I'm most of the way there!

First untimed practice runs this morning starting shortly. I'm watching it on the TT live streaming service. Weather is a little unsettled, but hopefully they can get a decent couple of weeks. Can't wait.

Had a wonderful weekend on the bike in Donegal. Thought I'd recommend a route for you in case you're ever out this direction. Only a little of this route is on the Wild Atlantic Way, but if you are doing the WAW, I'd strongly recommend you make time for this slight detour.

I travelled from east to west. This route starts to get wild and beautiful near Termon, outside of which, on the left-hand side of the road, is a sword in a stone - so you can have a quick check to see if you're the True King Of Ireland or not...

From there it gets more remote, as you go past Glenveagh National Park, the trees fall away revealing a rocky landscape, then the looming mountains, first of Muckish, then Errigal appearing on your right. The road is wide with fast sweeping bends, great visibility and a good surface, but as you get to the car park for folks climbing Errigal, you'd be wise to slow down as there's usually lots of cars parked on the roadside and people on foot. As the road ducks around Errigal it sweeps down into the Poisoned Glen, with amazing views of Dunlewey on your left and Errigal a constant presence on your right. The road here isn't as well surfaced, but the views more than make up for it.

As the road rolls down from the mountain towards the Atlantic, it joins with the N56, and you'll follow a great road with a lovely surface thought the villages of Gweedore, Crolly and Loughanure, alongside a meandering stream through rocky hills and boggy lakes. It's twisty heaven, with plenty of elevation changes, lovely scenery and flowing lines. From Loughanure it becomes less twisty, but faster flowing lines on a great surface make it ideal for sports bikes. We stayed close to Dungloe (also known as Dunglow, or An Clochán Liath in Irish), so I can't really comment on how the rest of the WAW is, but this 60 odd miles is a spectacularly good ride.

I took some pictures at York Corner during Thursday's (8th May 2025) practise session of the NW200. The bikes with blue numbers are part of the Supersport class. The ones with red backgrounds are Superstock and the black lettering with white background are Superbikes. Very much looking forward to watching the racing today (all live & free on the BBC iPlayer in the UK, and from the BBC NI Motorsports webpage for worldwide access). Racing starts around 10am - the weather looks like it should be beautiful.