Timing chains, fatty treats, pillions and grease.

An early start with a few coffees and some COD4 PS3 action to wake myself up was followed by some necessary dull stuff which involved Tesco's, the bottle banks, the sink and the car wash (for Dean). All this was preparation for the 3 hours of cleaning that followed. Chain was attacked and the, now, standard rear wheel off clean began. Nothing too fancy but a bit of a mechanical once over. Dean did his bike at the same time (annoyingly leaving his in a shinier state than mine) and after a load of nasty chemicals had been inhaled, lots of degreaser, WD40, FS365 and furniture polish had been used, the bikes were packed away.

I was planning a ride after this but I remembered I hadn't eaten all day (it was now about 2:30pm) and I needed to munch. Laura very kindly cooked the supplies we had bought in the morning after patiently waiting for 4 hours for her breakfast. A full English was demolished and washed down with a few coffees. Ming swung by on his way back to Oxford, he was not happy after discovering that weeks before his plan to sell his car was actioned, an expensive engine out repair job was needed. We had discovered that he needed new rear discs/pads and he had asked Jack to look at the nasty sounding knocking coming from the head which we now know was the timing chain. Ming's plans have been well and truly crapped on as this latest repair may set him back a very large bundle of notes but hopefully he can try to settle into his new job whilst not getting too stressed with all his other woes.

On a cheerier note, me and Dean booked our ferry tickets for the NW200 in May. A plan has developed which I'm really looking forward to, lots of riding in Ireland and catching, what many say, is the best road racing in the world.

Laura's now kitted out in full bike gear so her and Dean have had a few local rides with Laura as pillion. The summer that lays ahead may well be full of road trips, bike racing, European discovery, track days and new skills but the most exciting thing is that is looks like it will be shared with friends. Awesome.