Featured What you been doing with your TRIUMPH today??

This weekend, Helmut took his Tuono and me the Street Triple to Devon - the main aim was to see his parents so the Saturday was the most functional route there - lovely until Chepstow and then boring, packed motorway. We managed to get through the traffic (once I had got the hang of filtering still moving - albeit very slowly) traffic in several lanes. I have got decent at filtering through town and have been on the motorway enough to be confident, but the M5 on such a busy bank holiday took me a while to get the hang of and build confidence doing it. Tested @Helmut Visor 's patience I am sure at first (what’s new!!) .

Had a nice day seeing Helmut’s parents (his Mum took some photos of the Tuono, the Striple wasn’t “glam” enough like the Fireblade apparently is (ie bright red) so didn’t make the cut .

We then rode across to a lovely little camping / clamping site I found https://www.gatcombeparkfarm.com and stayed for the night in a Tipi. The site had said it was motorcycle - friendly on the website I found it on, but we did ring beforehand to check as it’s a “quiet” site and it indeed is very welcoming. The owners are lovely and allowed us to ride over the grass to park right by our pitch.

It's a gorgeous setting and the human and animal residents are very friendly (although the goose by the shower was a bit officious ). There was even a noisy intruder alarm...

After a lovely night’s stay, we came back via Jollys Bike Shop / The Jolly Roger Lifesize Models in Bovey Tracy as I had heard about it and wanted to visit. What a truly bonkers place, in the very best possible way!! Another very warm welcome and a look around the showrooms. Upstairs houses the business - life-size film set models of any sort you can think, it’s incredible. Downstairs houses an absolutely incredible selection of motorcycles, all belonging to the owner. There is also a cafe and ice cream parlour (Josie’s) where I had a tasty panini and Helmut a Knickerbocker Glory (reason - holidays ).

After leaving Bovey we wound our way back on some really lovely roads, great scenery and fairly challenging in places but just the sort of roads a Street Triple excels at.

 

One of my frequent stop offs - usually some interesting classic bikes to look at.

 

Recently went into administration but has now been bought by some company from London apparently.

 

What a lovely campsite - the teepees look amazing. And are those silly looking things lamas? Such beautiful faces

 

Alpaca; they had just been shorn as well. You could pay to walk them if you wanted to!

 

I always filter very slowly, especially on motorways. I wince when I see the speeds at which some riders filter, cars are always switching lanes suddenly without really looking. A few years ago I was filtering between two stationary lines of cars on a motorway when a car driver swung his door wide open and jumped out too see what the hold up was. I just managed to stop before I pinned him against the car door. An opportunity missed that I deeply regret.

 

@andypandy
There was a recent announcement, according to the wife, that they were in financial trouble.
Presumably some investor has now stepped forward and bailed them out.

 

Me, too, @Koko55. If I were to trade my Street Triple it would likely be to get a Thruxton again. Enjoy that new bike!

 

What an absolutely terrific weekend, @Mrs Visor! Looks like you and Helmut had a grand time both riding and non-riding. Great photos, too. Thanks for sharing them with us.

 

They are certainly cute! Hmmm, paying to walk the alpaca. What a brilliant idea to get your animals exercised and make a bit of money at the same time. But I have to say, I'd probably be one of those who would do it.

 

The temperatures here in the Arizona desert are starting to climb and that means that motorcycle riders' thoughts turn to climbing up Mt. Lemmon on our bikes to escape to cooler temperatures and greener scenery. I'm off work for the next two months as of this past Thursday since I'm a school psychologist and, as Alice Cooper sings, "School's out for summer!"

So this fine Tuesday morning, the day after Memorial Day in the U.S., Mr. Sandi, Ron (Mr. BMW), and I rode up Mt. Lemmon for the first time since last fall. It was a glorious morning made all the better being a weekday following a Monday holiday. So traffic was nearly nonexistent save for a fairly high number of bicyclists. The base of Lemmon is 2,500 feet and our turnaround point near the summit was about 8,500 feet.



The two restaurants at the top of Mt. Lemmon are both closed on Mondays and Tuesdays (probably another reason for low traffic volume) so we rode to the top, stopped briefly, then rode back down in search of breakfast.

It was quite chilly from about Milepost 12 on up to the summit, another 14 miles or so. Fortunately we stopped midway up so I could add a light jacket under my mesh riding jacket. I was barely warm enough. Actually, that's not true. I was nowhere near warm enough! I guess I'm already acclimated to much warmer temps. This was the reading on my Speed Triple in the parking lot where we turned around....



The parking lot faces the ski runs of Ski Valley, the southernmost ski destination in the U.S.---and probably the smallest, too. The highest point is just over 9,000 feet. You can just see one of the chair lifts in the center top of the photo.



We were a small but diverse group today: me on my Speed Triple RS, Mr. Sandi on his Harley Street Glide, and Ron on his BMW R1250RT.



Well, it seems that a lot of restaurants are closed on Tuesdays in Tucson, especially in the summer. We stopped at Poco & Mom's, a wonderful New Mexican restaurant but...closed. So we decided on a place called The Quesadillas, a little "hole in the wall" that has added on another room since last we were there. We're glad business is good because so is the food!



I was hoping for a breakfast burrito which The Quesadillas doesn't make. But they do make a breakfast quesadilla which I decided to try. It was delicious and I'd probably choose that again over the burrito!



Eggs. cheese, green chili, and beans in a perfectly grilled tortilla with sides of avocado salsa and pico de gallo





As we were leaving, the owner of this Honda was going in. None of us knew the model name of this HUGE bike. Do any of you recognize it?



Back home again in the garage with 84 miles on the clock and a temperature of 86ºF. It felt hotter than that but probably only because I got so cold towards the top of Lemmon that my fingers were numb for quite some time! I was trying to enjoy that feeling because it'll be awhile here in southern Arizona before we're cold again.

 

@Sandi T looks like a Honda Valkyrie Rune 1800cc

 

Obviously we all need to drink more Black Sheep. I'll drink to that.

 

I wish you could send a couple of those Mexican restaurants over here to my local area, we just don't have any save the odd chain establishment which is absolutely gash.

 

Nice little run today

 

I would love to be able to share a Mexican restaurant or two with you, @andypandy. We have so many Mexican restaurants here in Tucson that it boggles the mind. And most of those are GREAT Mexican restaurants! We are blessed with so many good places that we can actually choose where to go based on what we specifically want to eat...breakfast burritos here, fish tacos there, etc. I went to a place with some work mates a week or so ago and the menu was completely all Mexican seafood! We are quite spoiled by all this for ever eating at a Mexican food chain again. And when we travel someplace without great Mexican food, it's pretty much the first thing that Mr. Sandi and I both want to eat when we get back home.

 

Beautiful bike, beautiful coastline, @Stephen Martin!

 

Looks like a customised Honda Rune.

 

As you are blessed with Mexican food, we are blessed with Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi food. The quality is very good and due to the competition the prices are good although they have gone up considerably lately due to the war in Ukraine etc. My favourites are the Indian restaurants which are much fewer in my area but generally of a higher quality.

 

@Sandi T - great write up and photos as ever and I am obviously still envious of your weather (that won't change!!).

@Stephen Martin that looks like a lovely ride out!