As with many things, it started with a beer...

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, promising I'd do the LDU on it. Thankfully for me there were three other people who had asked for the bike to do the ride before me. Fortunately, or possibly unfortunately depending upon how the events of the 21st of June will pan out, all three were unable to do the ride this year so by default I became the owner of the bike.

I just needed to get it from Darlington down to Gods Own County™, fix it and then ride over a thousand miles in a day. Simples...