Longest Day Up

 So, bit of garage time today to give the bike a proper clean and look over. After a lot of scrubbing it comes up pretty clean. Other than the broken and rusty bits but to look at it in a positive light, that's just patina and a slow, natural way of adding lightness. I've got the bugs and road filth off from when the last time this valiant iron horse triumphed at the LDU, popped the screen off to clean the remains of an old tax disc off and swept up the not insignificant puddle of rust unnecessary iron that was left behind. Also found the missing battery terminal nut that had escaped the previous owner There are lots of positives, especially compared to what some of the other contestants participants are currently battling with. One person has a bike that has been partially underwater for a number of years. So, the good bits: New plugs, light bulbs, tyres, battery, air filter and it had an oil change about 1500 miles ago. Carbs were rebuilt a year ago wi...

This is the Longest Day Up. If you're reading this blog for the first time, welcome and thank you for visiting. The blog hopefully details how and why I agreed to take part in the 2023 LDU, getting the bike from it's somewhat neglected state to a fully fledged distance trampin' machine and with a bit of luck, the successful journey on June the 21st. If you're interested in reading the whole sordid affair then you need to scroll to the bottom of the main page and read each entry from the bottom up because Google/Blogger has decided to be awkward. The first post is aptly titled As with many decisions it started with a beer... I hope you find them interesting. A decade ago it was the Longest Day Down but, the times they are a-changin' as Bob told us so a while ago it turned into Lands End to John 'O Groats. What's not changed is the fundamentals of starting at one end of Britain at first light on June the 21st and trying to get to the other end before the nex...

*for a given level of mighty. Obvs... Covid had a massive and quite frankly bellenderous part to play in the delivery of the bike. Mainly in that C-19 just got in the way of very good people trying to help. So screw you, bat flu! Eventually, some rather nice people managed to recover the bike from Senor El Stephen and bring it 432 miles south to my front door. Weirdly they'd not accept, tea, biscuits or the use of the loo. Either way angels sang, the skies parted and all myriad of creatures* rose up to praise the GPZ when it was unveiled from the Luton van. I must admire the way that the delivery driver managed to reverse around the gate and corner to our house with the utmost of ease. And there it was before me in all it's magnificence. With not one but two keys in the lock and a significant bag of spares nonchalantly swinging from  a handle bar as though the bike itself had a devil may care attitude towards the supplied Haynes manual. And a full tank...

As with many decisions it started with a beer, and then another one and so on until I was sat on the internet and one thing just led to another. I'm not entirely certain that I remembered what I'd agreed to participate in when I first woke up on the 4th of October last year. Later that morning with a cup of tea I opened the thread again to find out that I was, metaphorically, In like Flynn... The previous evening I'd been partaking in the aforementioned ale and reading my motorbike forum. In the for sale section there was a bike that was being offered for sale for the princely sum of £0 on the condition that the new owner would participate in the 2023 running of the Longest Day Up. I, who have little love for riding motorbikes any sizeable distance, nor much interest in any bike that doesn't have at least a couple of "R's" in it's name nor any space whatsoever for another bike for some inexplicable reason had put my hand up and asked for the bike, prom...