Failte Gu Alba – Quick Trip to Aviemore!

Last Friday saw me head off on my first big ride in quite a while, with a quick trip up to Aviemore for my good mate 'Crooky's' stag do. About 600 miles each way, it was going to be good training for the forthcoming BSB Enduro and RBLR1000 rides in the next few months.

I'd planned on the journey up to Aviemore taking me around 9hrs, and as it was also my brother's 40th birthday, I thought I could fit in a wee stop over at his place in Comrie, Perthshire, for a quick brew and slice of cake. Best laid plans and all that!….

4am saw me strapping the Oxford luggage to the bike and pushing her to the end of the road before hitting the ignition. The Pipewerx can is gloriously loud without the baffles, after all loud cans save lives, just also upset neighbours!

The beauty of heading off early doors in the South East of England is that the M25 is generally fairly trouble free, and so it was today. I effortlessly glided around the orbital before hitting the M40 to head north. It was all going swimmingly…….. then I got cramp.

Anyone who rides a Suzuki GSX-R will probably have experienced the 'FI' red light saga. The exhaust return valve sits in your can downpipe and works with your ECU to ensure the mechanics of fluid delivery are all kept hunky dory within the engine and all is good with the world. In their infinite wisdom, Suzuki decided to locate this valve right at the bottom of the bike, where it can receive all the crud from the road. Sure enough, after a while this valve becomes encrusted in muck and dirt and eventually sticks open. This in turn causes your ECU to read an error and hey-presto the infamous red 'FI' light shines brightly on your dashboard.

Now this shouldn't be a problem. The engine still works, the bike still runs almost perfectly (that you would notice), you just get slightly worse fuel economy and a rather lumpy ride at slow speeds. The problem is that your trip computer display now only shows 'FI' and the clock. So why is this a problem?

Like many riders out there, my bike doesn't have a fuel guage so I use the trip computer to keep track of how many miles I've done on a tank. I reset it to zero every time I fill up and when it hits about 100-110 miles, I know I've got about 30 miles to go before I'm pushing her home. With the 'FI' light shining brightly, I couldn't see my trip mileage anymore.

This isn't a problem in most parts of the UK as we have fairly regular and reliable petrol stations. The problem comes when you head into the North of Scotland and beyond where there aren't always petrol stations on the main roads. You have to come off and find the local services in little villages, sometimes right in the back of beyond. If you have a sat nav then this may not be a problem, but I don't as yet so have to go by previous knowledge, intuition, and more often than not, luck!

So, I knew there was a good Suzuki dealership up in Glasgow, I knew that it was a quick 15 min job to remove the valve and wiring, I would pop by, get the job done, then be on my merry way to my bro's, then up to Aviemore for beer and frivolities. Lovely job.

Back on the motorways of England it was chucking it down like a good'un and the temp seemed to be falling as the sun rose? But I'd thought ahead and brought the new one-piece waterproof oversuit 407 SPADA had provided. A quick stop to don the suit, switch on the R&G heated grips, and all was right once again. The journey North seemed to be taking forever and, with precious few long distance runs of late, I was really feeling the lack of bike miles over the winter months. But having to stop every 90 mins or so for fuel meant I could stretch off the bike, refuel myself, then get back on and get to it.

Eventually I arrived at 'Mickey Oates Motorcycles' in Glasgow and was quickly looked after by their great staff. Arriving without any pre-booking, they could see I was on a journey so got me straight into the workshop, on a lift, and set to work on the 'F1' issue. A quick diagnosis proved me right and it was confirmed it was the exhaust return valve. Unfortunately they didn't have the wiring diagrams that would allow them to completely remove the valve from the ECU, so got to work cleaning it up and freeing it from it's dirt and mud tomb. (My offroad ventures on the gixxer may have been partly to blame here!) 2 hours later she was as good as new, but the delay meant I would have to forgo the trip to wish my brother happy birthday!

With a clear sky up on the Northern horizon I decided to take a gamble and strip off the waterproofs. The roads North of Stirling are incredible and after the monotony of the motorways, I fancied a wee play. With time to make up, glorious traffic free roads and a rare moisture free day, the recipe for smiles was all there. I ventured out of Glasgow heading for the A9 at Stirling which would whisk me Northwards to Aviemore, just South of Inverness. This road has a reputation as a killer due to the long sweeping, fast bends, mixed with summits, dips, and forest lined avenues opening to sparse, barren snow capped moutnain panoramas. You also need to be extra vigilant for the local wildlife up here, where the odd flock of sheep has been known to venture across the tarmac! This would be the perfect first test for my new Bridgestone BATTLAX BT-023's.

Every time I come up here on the bike I ask myself why I ever moved down to London. To be honest, there's a multitude of arguments for both sides, but even a short weekend break up here recharges the soul in a way I've yet to experience elsewhere. I'm sure my travels to come over the next couple of years will test this, but it'll take some beating.

I got to Aviemore just after 4pm to be met by a squad who'd been on the merry juice since 8am that morning! I had some catching up to do and wasn't going to fight it. The weekend was terrific, with activites including clay pigeon shooting and quad biking on the famous Rothiemurcus Estate. Obviously for me the quad biking was superb and real value for money. We got a good hour or so out in the wilds, rampaging through bogs, across woods and mud, and generally having a whale of a time!

The weekend was superb but I can't go into too much details, what goes on tour stays on tour and all that 😉

Needless to say the ride home on Sunday was of mixed emotions. I knew it would be a late start due to the celebrations the night before, but at least the first stage was down through Scotland with smiles abound. I also popped by my bro's to wish him a belated 40th birthday and got a chance to see my niece and nephew, blimey they've grown so much since Christmas!

Unfortunately for me, the rest of the journey home was hard going. The heaven's opened up, the temperature dropped as the sun went down, and the further South I got the more congested the motorways became. Yet again, the beauty of bike travel means you don't get stuck, merely slowed down as you filter your way to freedom. Love it.

Arriving home just before midnight I was cream crackered but full of smiles. God I love being on my bike, the feeling of just being free of everything is something I can't live without now. I just can't wait to set off on the 1st October 2012, knowing that I've an incredible 100,000 mile journey ahead of me. This trip has become such a major part of my life, in fact who am I kidding, it IS my life now. I'm ticking down the days and there's not long to go!!

Love it.

So what happened to the stag?