Hi John,

 

Its your newest member - 'trouble'.

 

Despite everything I have had quite a good day.  A warm welcome straight off at the Elephant & Castle was followed by the caffeine fix and bacon sarnie.  Not knowing what to expect I was impressed with the turn out and the real friendly feel to it.

 

The ride out was good right up to my little technical hitch (power loss followed by arm wrenching power surges).  Even then Dave and another chap (sorry ... I didn't get the name) were right there to try and help out.

 

After a first false re-start it looked unlikely to sort itself out, but both didn't want to leave me stranded until I insisted (good warm feeling ...thanks guys!).   Well I limped on literally in 500 yard stretches. 

 

Out of the blue in the Woodland Trust a blue van pulls over.  To my surprise the driver apologizes that he's full of racing carts otherwise he'd offer to load her up and take me in, but while he couldn't do that, offers to call one of the recovery services. 

 

Anyway it turns out Stoke Row is just around the corner and I limp in there.  So aid not needed, but my faith in human kind got a real boost.  Just as I come to the Cherry Tree (inn) in Stoke Row the engine cuts out again, so I haul the bike in.  I got the warmest welcome you could hope for and a commiseratory cup of coffee (or two), while they got ready to open up.

 

A call to the RAC saw a van pull in an hour later.  A very pleasant chap listens to my tale of woe, looks at and listens to the bike and says I have an ECU problem, but without the kit to link into it he would be tinkering blind, which could prove to be a real mistake.

 

He gave clear explanations of the different things that could be happening and arranged for a flat bed to be called out.

 

And now for the silver lining.  It turns out that I had managed to end up on the doorstep of an amazingly good restaurant.  With a couple of hours to wait for the flat bed, I tucked into to a meal that has rarely been equalled. (It also turns out that they host a classic bike group).

 

Finally got home around 4pm to think about a few things.  While it wasn't quite the day I had hoped for, it wasn't all bad:

Oh well, now I get to wait until Monday to get the bike booked in and then look forward to getting back on the road to meet up with the crew again...hopefully a bit more successfully next time!!!

 

   

 

I hope the rest of you enjoyed the ride.

Cheers,