At last! After nearly four months, it’s time to ride. The sun’s nearly vertical, the skies blue: this is riding in the Lubéron in Provence in summer.
CBR1000RR Fireblade 2020 at my usual Honda concessionaire
Col du Pointu, 499 m.
Started first bip after four months
Place Notre-Dame du Mont, Marseille
Marseille, view from Marseille Saint-Charles railway station
The ride I’ve been anticipating for nearly four months, and training for in my gym at home in London during the lockdown. I was very happy when my RR started first bip, amazingly the battery held up over such a long stay in the underground box garage. The tyres hadn’t lost pressure either.
Today’s ride was planned as just a training ride, to work on my reactions and road sense and to check out all-new gear. Some straight bits and some wiggly bits. I also called in at my favourite Honda bike shop, to chat and see the temptation on offer, this including a 2020 Fireblade.
Heathrow Terminal 5 and the flight were grim but France is now welcoming foreigners once more. The Marseille sunshine and blue sky are as beguiling as ever, the street-scene bustling and vibrant; all seems wonderfully, reassuringly normal.
The French endured a stricter lockdown than the UK, and it seems to have been respected; seemingly they are now able to get on with things as a result, with only a few restrictions. You have to respect how their way seems to have turned out; I just hope they are not in cloud-cuckoo-land.