Snorban’s Beer Festival

St Albans is home to CAMRA – the Campaing for Real Ale. The Annual Beer Festival is held over five days at the Civic Hall, and this year Neil suggested we take the Wednesday afternoon off to get a full afternoon and evening’s beer sampling done.

Sounds like my kind of gig, so we duly set about the beers around 1pm, starting in the Oakham Ales bar. Marius joined us later in the afternoon, and Dave Farlam came a long with some mates during the evening session. Neil somewhat carelessly opted for a strong cider at some point, which went straight to his head, whilst I (wisely) went for the weakest one I could find – I know what cider does to me!! We made it through the whole day though, sampling some 20 or so beers each. And fuelled by a hog roast bap. I can’t remember much else but there was generally a surfeit of beards and anoraks. But it was (still) fun.

Poker Returns

Adrian hosted another Poker evening – the first since the sad loss of the lovely Jac – and we gathered on Saturday evening with food and camaraderie in full flow. It was a good evening and nice to see all the guys again, there to celebrate Jac as well as to look to the future without her.

On Sunday I went via Swindon to catch up with some Benelli guys at the Italian Auto Day at the Steam Museum. Unfortunately I was a bit late to meet Fred, Shane and co, but I did see some stunning cars and Richard’s (from LuigiMoto) BEAUTIFUL Ducati 749R

More pics on Flickr…

Snetterton Business Bikers Day

Tuesday after work I rode the Ducati up to Dave’s place in Barley, so that we could head off to Snetterton on Wednesday morning for this year’s Business Bikers Day. The weather was ok, although it had been wet recently but a fresh breeze and some sunshine meant there was no obvious dampness on the circuit.

Had a great time, gradually getting faster until late in the afternoon when I was just totally exhausted…! The bike went really well, felt completely stable in the corners – very confidence inspiring. There were plenty of faster guys there (and girls) – notably a guy in his sixties who was storming round on his BMW K1300, and a young lad who’s competing in the current British Superstock Championship. I also got passed by a one-armed man: he went up the inside of me at one of the tight right-handers and just threw it around the bend totally smoothly and under control. Slightly unnerving!! More pictures on Flickr…