Mr_Willes: is a WhiteGhost believer

[Mr_Willes]

On 6/20/2020 at 2:31 PM, WhiteGhost said:

Looking forward to the Travelogue.  Someday I want to join your tour group!

 

The first part is checked off, the second part though, i was just talking to @Charlie_Quinn the other day and she also said she wanted to ride.

 

Riding with a group of NF would be fantastic! Bucket list material even!

[Mr_Willes]

Oow yeah i did attempt to run in Austria, it was hard as balls...  Damn...

 

 

 

This is what you get when you always train on flat lands, and all of sudden you think it's a good idea to go up a "joch" running.

 

At the end i just made it across the bend. I wanted to see if i could see any flat part, otherwise i would have ran to there, caught my breath again and kept going a little further. Unfortunately right after the bend it was just as steep up as before, and i could not see the end. So i just ran till 3K and turned around for a total run of 6K.

 

150m higher on a 1.4k stretch
 

[WhiteGhost]

14 hours ago, Mr_Willes said:

Riding with a group of NF would be fantastic!

 

Those pics were great, such beautiful country.

[Mr_Willes]

Yes it is, though those parts, it doesn't really matter in what country you are, Spain, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, they all have beautiful and many views like this.

 

That's why i have them all checked off of my list to ride  

 

This year first time to England, to ride there i'm curious, i have been to London twice and once to Peterborough for the Rat Race and that's all i have seen from UK. The nice thing about going there is that i can easily communicate with the people there. That's a big relief as i have to arrange stuff for the customers. I asked to get info on where i am exactly going all days, so in a few days i will know exactly which parts of UK i will be visiting.

 

I know we are taking the boat to Hull, and we are visiting Triumph in Hinckley (east of Birmingham) but that's it for the moment.

[Charlie_Quinn]

On 6/29/2020 at 1:15 PM, Mr_Willes said:

i was just talking to @Charlie_Quinn the other day and she also said she wanted to ride.

 

 

I hope! I've also been looking at E bikes as if I do get a bike it'll mostly be used for short trips around the local area so electric makes sense.

 

7 hours ago, Mr_Willes said:

This year first time to England, to ride there i'm curious, i have been to London twice and once to Peterborough for the Rat Race and that's all i have seen from UK. The nice thing about going there is that i can easily communicate with the people there. That's a big relief as i have to arrange stuff for the customers. I asked to get info on where i am exactly going all days, so in a few days i will know exactly which parts of UK i will be visiting.

 

I know we are taking the boat to Hull, and we are visiting Triumph in Hinckley (east of Birmingham) but that's it for the moment.

 

If you're looking to ride through beautiful places, then The Peak District and The Lake District are your best bet. The coastal roads in Cornwall are also quite beautiful, but to get there you have to take the M5 and A30, which is quite possibly the most long and boring ass journey known to man.

[Salinger]

MANCHESTERRRRRR xx

[WhiteGhost]

12 hours ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

which is quite possibly the most long and boring ass journey known to man.

It can't be worse than the Cowboy Corridor (driving the I-80 across the Navada desert between Wendover and Reno). 

Nothing but this for more then 600km...

 

 

I recall driving across Kansas to be almost as bad. 

[deftona]

17 hours ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

The coastal roads in Cornwall are also quite beautiful, but to get there you have to take the M5 and A30, which is quite possibly the most long and boring ass journey known to man.

 

Aw, I love the M5 and A30, they are my favourite road combos! You can really chill out and take in the zen scenery. It's a really easy road to drive. 

[Charlie_Quinn]

21 minutes ago, deftona said:

 

Aw, I love the M5 and A30, they are my favourite road combos! You can really chill out and take in the zen scenery. It's a really easy road to drive. 

 

It's just the fact that it's practically one long straight road. It get's so boring after a while.  Even worse when they decide to dig up the A30 and bring it down to one lane and you get stuck behind a caravan.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

15 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

It can't be worse than the Cowboy Corridor (driving the I-80 across the Navada desert between Wendover and Reno). 

Nothing but this for more then 600km...

 

 

I recall driving across Kansas to be almost as bad. 

Hwy 50 across Nevada (a little South of I-80) is worse than the picture. There aren't even those little bushes on the side of the road. 

[Sloth the Enduring]

The desert is beautiful. I love driving across Nevada. I think the worst is getting across Ohio.

 

ETA: Which is what I would be doing right now if we weren’t waiting out the plague.

[Mr_Willes]

On 6/30/2020 at 5:24 PM, Charlie_Quinn said:

 

 

I hope! I've also been looking at E bikes as if I do get a bike it'll mostly be used for short trips around the local area so electric makes sense.

 

 

If you're looking to ride through beautiful places, then The Peak District and The Lake District are your best bet. The coastal roads in Cornwall are also quite beautiful, but to get there you have to take the M5 and A30, which is quite possibly the most long and boring ass journey known to man.

 

Well the route i will be taking is set in stone already, but they try to make the route as enjoyable as possible. When i know exactly where i am going will let you know.

 

On 6/30/2020 at 5:28 PM, Salinger said:

MANCHESTERRRRRR xx

 

If i come near i will let you know!

 

On 7/1/2020 at 5:41 AM, WhiteGhost said:

It can't be worse than the Cowboy Corridor (driving the I-80 across the Navada desert between Wendover and Reno). 

Nothing but this for more then 600km...

 

 

I recall driving across Kansas to be almost as bad. 

 

Well i guess it would be fun to do this once, i guess it would be pretty boring for a commute...

 

On 7/1/2020 at 10:25 AM, deftona said:

 

Aw, I love the M5 and A30, they are my favourite road combos! You can really chill out and take in the zen scenery. It's a really easy road to drive. 

 

I have that often, like driving on an autopilot, and then i realize i have been zoned out for a while, and have to look where i actually am. All driving goes on autopilot, and i don't recall making dangerous decisions, but it's just an automated state of mind, maybe because of the very very much driving i did when i just started working.

 

On 7/1/2020 at 10:51 AM, Charlie_Quinn said:

 

It's just the fact that it's practically one long straight road. It get's so boring after a while.  Even worse when they decide to dig up the A30 and bring it down to one lane and you get stuck behind a caravan.

 

Yeah that seems to go so slowly but if you actually calculate how much slower/later you are it actually isn't that bad. I have become much more easy-going in traffic lately.

 

14 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Hwy 50 across Nevada (a little South of I-80) is worse than the picture. There aren't even those little bushes on the side of the road. 

 

But i bet that would be great to experience once. I mean Belgium and the Netherlands together wouldn't even be big enough to have a 600KM straight road in it!

 

14 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

The desert is beautiful. I love driving across Nevada. I think the worst is getting across Ohio.

 

ETA: Which is what I would be doing right now if we weren’t waiting out the plague.

 

Damn plague, i'm so sick of it. We are winding down, but i just want stuff to be back to normal. This weekend our youngest has her birthday, and we can just have some people come over. Not everyone we wanted. And just being able to go to the centre of our town and sit down and have a beer in the sun.

 

 

 

In other news i did run when i got back and i'm going to do my fast run tonight.

 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

8 hours ago, Mr_Willes said:

 

But i bet that would be great to experience once. I mean Belgium and the Netherlands together wouldn't even be big enough to have a 600KM straight road in it!

 

I experienced it once, and no, it wasn't great. My mom had to go to the bathroom at one point, and just for the experience, peed right in the middle of the road just because she could, since no one was around. And indeed, we hadn't seen anyone for several hours before and didn't see anyone for a couple of hours later.

[WhiteGhost]

11 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I experienced it once, and no, it wasn't great.

The first few hours on the first trip wasn't bad.  After that it all depends on how skillful the folks in the car are at generating interesting conversation

[Mr_Willes]

 

I'm really liking the new pace, now to stretch that out over some longer time, but first a quick sprint, planned for tomorrow!

[Mr_Willes]

 

Crap! the internet ate my post about bragging all the stuff that it's got. It's not mine (yet) but i can test it out for the next couple of weeks. Hopefully i will be able to buy this demo-bike at the end of the season. Cause new is way out of my price range! It's got all the sweet stuff...

 

Specs in the spoiler...

Spoiler

Engine:    Ducati Testastretta DVT with Desmodromic Variable Timing, L-Twin cylinder, 4 valves per cylinder, Dual Spark, liquid cooled

 

Displacement:    1,262 cc

 

Power:    158 hp (116 kW) @ 9.500 rpm

 

Torque:    95 lb-ft (129 Nm) @ 7,500 rpm

 

Instrumentation:    5” color TFT display

 

Safety Equipment:    Vehicle Hold Control (VHC), Riding Modes, Power Modes, Cornering ABS, Ducati Traction Control (DTC), Ducati Wheelie Control (DWC), Ducati Cornering Lights (DCL), Additional LED lights, Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)

 

Standard equipment:    Ducati Skyhook Suspension Evo (DSS), Ducati Quick Shift up/down (DQS), Cruise control, Hands-Free, Hands Free fual tank cap, Backlit handlebar controls, Ducati Multimedia System (DMS), 5” color TFT display, Full LED headlight, Auto-off turn signals, Heated handgrips, Center stand, Premium Seat

 

Provided Equipment:    Side panniers

 

 

 

[Mr_Willes]

 

I wanted to do a short fast run. I actually wanted it to last a little bit longer, but i got very stabby sensation in my right side right at the 3.5K mark, so i just decided to keep it at this, and try again next week. Pace was hard but felt kinda doable. If i can keep this up for a 5K i will be back at the fastest i have ever been on that distance. The next goals will be a proper sub hour 12K.

 

Monday we had our Global DnD game. Which was a lot of fun. Due to, mainly me being on holiday and stuff, it has been a month since we could do that. And i loved it, we had a big fight at the end, and my character was really useful! There was a little tedious fight before we got to the end of it, but i just love doing combat in DnD so i didn't mind. For the people that er interested in what happened in our session, @WhiteGhost made a great write up (as he usually does after our session) on his thread...

 

 

 

[Mr_Willes]

Oow yeah, on a sad note, i had to return the bike. One of the bikes at the firm was broken, so they needed the one i had. Well at least i had a few solid rides with it, and i now know how it rides.

 

So now i don't have a bike at home. This is the first time in over 16 years!

 

Good thing is i can stop paying taxes and insurance for it, so that will even help with creating extra funds to buy one back at the end of the year.

[Mr_Willes]

So this morning i got a semi official notation of what i need to bring to the table to buy the bike i have been riding past 2 weeks. And it looked VERY reasonable, till i read their little remark that i should really check what i have to pay for tax (BIV) on a bike with this much horsepower, as it is normal to strip down big bikes to lower power regions on paper cause of the super high taxes on them.

 

So i did, and i ...

 

 

pardon my french, but...

 

 

i compared the two bikes next to each other, both could be exactly the same except for the engine:

 

Ducati Multistrada 950s: 937cc displacement / 113 HP (83 KW) € 123,- BIV-tax

Ducati Multistrada 1260s: 1262cc displacement / 158 HP (116.2 KW) € 1239,- BIV-tax

 

Yes, that is not a typo! And on top of that, cause the tax is that high, a lot of high powered bikes are being brought back to 100 HP. So that's what they say on paper. So even if i just wanted to pay this tax (and i really don't feel like) i would have a problem selling my bike within Belgium cause every new owner has to pay this tax! Which means if people want to buy this kinda bike and there will be multiple available on a given day, mine would be chosen last because they have to pay over 1100,- of tax MORE for mine!

 

Wow, this good news (about the bike having a nice price) really got me a bit annoyed this early in the day...

 

[Charlie_Quinn]

Yikes! That's quite a jump in tax. I take it they do that because of emissions? 

[Mr_Willes]

7 minutes ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

Yikes! That's quite a jump in tax. I take it they do that because of emissions? 

 

No not really, more of a rich people tax, usually the higher powered bikes are more expensive...

[Mr_Willes]

The new paint job on the little brother though...

 

 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

8 hours ago, Mr_Willes said:

i compared the two bikes next to each other, both could be exactly the same except for the engine:

 

Ducati Multistrada 950s: 937cc displacement / 113 HP (83 KW) € 123,- BIV-tax

Ducati Multistrada 1260s: 1262cc displacement / 158 HP (116.2 KW) € 1239,- BIV-tax

I believe the solution is to throw a bunch of bikes into a harbor before the taxes can be collected.*

 

 

 

 

*Please note, side effects include fighting a war afterward.

[WhiteGhost]

Wowsers, that is a huge jump in the taxes.

[Mr_Willes]

Okay, this weekend was a pretty okay weekend. We did a lot of work in the garden, hedges trimmed, lawn mowed, swimming pool water back to excellent quality, compost heap cleared out. I burned all the excess wood i had laying around. The garden looks all neat and tidy again. Celebrated with a BBQ on saturday-evening, which turned into a family BBQ, with the inlaws over and my mom. Good times.

 

Sunday started off great with a D&D session!

Spoiler

Our merrie band of adventurers, known as the High Hats (i may have had something to do with that  ) took upon us the task of clearing out a cave filled with Orcs. We ended last session in taking out the guard without any of the orcs inside noticing. So now we had time to come up with a battle plan. The plan was going to be, peek in, cast a sleep spell, take out orcs.

 

Sounded like a solid plan. Me (Goblin Monk named Dragtald) and Vutha (Lizard Ranger played by @DarK_RaideR) rolled bizarre high on our stealth check, and Rowan our human paladin (played by @Rhovaniel) was still invisible by drinking a invisibility potion for taking out the guard last session. So we took a peek in, seeing 6 orcs. Our bard Xan (played by @Charlie_Quinn) put 2 of them to sleep with a sleep spell. So far so good!

 

As there was a choke point at the cave entrance Vutha decided to stick there, and i followed up, so we could use attacks of opportunity on creatures coming through. Only problem was, there wasn't really a trigger for the orcs to come out. Rowan being invisible and me and Vutha being stealthed they could only see the bard way outside the cave, and orcs dropping to sleep inside. So by the time the orcs could do something, the 2 orcs asleep were awoken, one by an orc, and one by an Ogre which was hiding in the back of the cave and gave us all a big uh-oh moment.

 

 

Vutha decided the Ogre needed to go down first and fast, and heroically ran in taking the brunt of the spears that were readied by the Orcs, thankfully only one landed, though, the Ogre after being hit got an attack of opportunity, hitting Vutha with something that resembled more like a small tree than a club. He got hit hard but managed to stay on his feet and retreat to the choke-point at the cave entrance. Next up was Rowan who went up and have whack at the Ogre, because for lack of movement she lingered a little in the cave, not retreating all the way back to the choke-point. I was up next, my crazy ass Monk went at it. Agile as he is, he jumped and hit the Ogre with his quarterstaff fairly hard in the abdomen, and in the same motion jumping all the way towards the ogres head, grabbing his eyelids and pulling them back over his scalp. That was the last beating the Ogre could take and he went down. Ogre dead, and paladin puking a little from the sight.

 

 

Not done yet, my monk jumped off the ogre onto the Orc besides him, give him another whacking with his fists, who are racking up more and more kills, and knocked the orc out. Big Money No Whammy! After that he decided to go back to back with the paladin so that the orcs couldn't gang up on her, and deny flanking positions!

 

With the Ogre and an Orc dead it was time for the Orcs to retaliate. And they did! Knocking out both the monk and the paladin, thankfully our lizard tank was doing a fantastic job of holding the line at the choke-point, time after time, the Orcs tried to break through, but all they got was a good whacking from his shield! Our distant hitters in the mean time were taking care of the left-over orcs, Pheelie (played by @Jarric's girl) with magic missiles rays of frost, Tilean ( @jonfirestar) laying barrage on them with ice knives, and a very well placed ring of fire that over the course of the fight started dishing out some good damage. In the end Dragtald, after he got knocked out, wasn't very effective anymore. Rowan, managed to be revived, dished out some more damage. But it was mainly due to our spellcasters who kept on pounding the orcs from a distance and Vutha that kept all but one from the orcs seeping through the chokepoint AND eventually our bard (Xan played by @Charlie_Quinn) who switched over to his crossbow instead of trying to mock the orcs, that became very effective in killing of a bunch. At the end, it was Rowan, turning the last orc into a shish kebab, by stabbing him while he stood over her that ended the fight. 

 

A solid group effort with everyone having their shiny moments, a great session AGAIN. Thanks @Jarric!!!

 

After the session we had the birthday party of my BIL to attend, the weather was good, so we got there by bike. Which meant both me and the wife could have a drink, i had way too much, just like my wife.

 

It's gonna be a long monday... (but we'll get there)