Towards the last couple of days I managed to pass by Infinity Motorcycle on Great Portland Road which is about a 10 minute drive or 20 minute walk away from home. I really do love going there, there is so much gear to take a look at and so many people to talk to about motorcycles.
I walked in and things were moved around a bit as usual, they tend to do it from year to year. I usually deal with a guy named James over the years and it turns out he has left Infinity Motorcycles for another company, he was one hell of a funny guy. There was a new guy and we were chatting for a while about a lot of things. Turns out he loves Yamaha Motorcycles and so do, so then we were showing pictures of each other’s bikes. He was surprised I was riding a Ducati, he said he didn’t peg me for a Ducati rider.
Then he started showing me all the new gear they have, and they had a lot of new gear. I tried a few Dainese jackets on, and they were a really good fit. There was the new Hein Gericke gear which is also great and has good air circulation, protection, and good for long rides. Then there were a lot helmets from Carberg, KBC, HJC, Shoei, to Arai. The small place is like a treasure chest of items, its small but a huge selection. I picked a few things, but I wanted to spend more time there. I didn’t have a chance to take a look at everything they had but I picked up a few essential things I was looking at.
It was an interesting week with a hell of a lot of things to do, then this strange break came along. I completely forgot about this Thursday off since I had a lot of work to do before traveling and I was closing several projects over the week and dealing with a few problems. When I knew Thursday was going to be off it felt like I would get an early break from all the work.
The first thing that came to mind was an early ride, we wanted to meet up early in the morning to avoid the heat that has come early this year. We woke up around 8:30 am and met up at 9:30 am but we were supposed to meet up at 8:15 am. Both Monichum and I were too exhausted to get up that early, we met up at Miseela gas station ready to head out.
We went to Hilton Manguf since it was a fun ride and we wanted something cool to drink. We parked in our usual spot and the security guy came then went away. I think they are getting used to us parking there on the side walk. We had a couple of nice cold drinks before heading out again down the Fahaheel to the beginning of the Gulf Road starting at Miseela/Salwa.
On the way to KPC I think we saw at least 15 to 20 police cars, I had no clue why their were so many even though the road was relatively empty. I was riding like I didn’t care about the police, we pushed it but not too hard because we knew they couldn’t follow us. It was getting a bit hot and the Italian machines get a little hot under the collar if you aren’t moving. On the way back it was relatively empty so we were flying enjoying the empty roads on the way back home for some good gaming before meeting up with the guys for the BBQ.
We weren’t sure how the weather was going to be when we got up in the morning. It was only two of us in the morning, we tried getting up around 8:15 am but we didn’t meet up until 9:30 am and headed out to Misseela gas station to fill up before deciding our route. The weather was cool, a little windy but not too bad, there was no dust so that was good.
We decided to head towards Hilton Manguf for a change and get something cold to drink Starbucks, we were flying there. I think our average speed was 180 kph, the road was relatively empty and so we turned Fahaheel Highway into a damn race track between the two of us. The thrill of speed and getting the turn just right gets your blood pumping, getting my helmet down as I’m trying to follow the lines of the curve making over the bridge and into the next curve. I could see Monichum behind me about to take off from my right, the best part was the empty roads. It seems that everyone decided to stay home thinking there would be a dust storm. Ofcourse at the Hilton Manguf they gave us a little lip about parking our bikes, and they wanted us to park it in the other parking, I told them I’m not moving it and I ignored them.
After our little break in Manguf we headed towards Marina to get breakfast with some of the guys. The ride was interesting since this time were riding into the wind. Whenever we are leaning it would be against the wind or with the wind, it feels like something is pushing you as you ride. It was a fun day of riding, even though it was short but always better then not riding.
Slept in a bit this time, so we headed out around 10:05 am the weather was perfect and it was only me and one friend riding. One guy got pulled into work around 6:30 am at the bank and the other guy was indisposed. That won’t stop us from riding, even if I wasn’t there the ride has to happen. We took off after meeting at Miseela gas station, its a location where a lot of bikers meet up.
We wanted to keep the ride in the city so we went down the Gulf Road to KPC which took about 35 minutes with all the traffic lights. We were enjoying ourselves at every point. That feeling of the cool breeze hitting you while you are riding is just amazing, we were really on top of the world. The only problem was when we stopped at a light because it got a little warm.
Then we headed to Costa in Bida’a so we went all the way back to get something to drink and eat. It was such an amazing ride, the road was mostly empty except when we got close to Salmiya. Those white caps in between lanes is the most dangerous piece of equipment they have put on the road yet, they should remove them all, every car slips on them and imagine what they do to bikes. By the time we got there it was really hot so we needed something cold to drink to cool off.
I thought that the cold would last a little longer but I think I should be happy it has lasted this long. I have changed my gear back to my summer gear just to enjoy the nice cool breeze as I ride the last few weeks of cool left. It isn’t going to get scorching hot over the next couple of weeks but wearing the heavy gear won’t be too comfortable.
It was the first time to go riding on Robo in a long time, it was fun how different the ride was. I was riding a machine with immense power and you could feel it at every twist of the throttle I was loving it. It sent a thrill down my spine every time I took off, I was loving it and I could feel the difference in power and the weight of the machine, Pyro is more agile but Robo is also lite on his feet for his size.
We continued our ride before heading home to finish up the tasks we had in mind.
Its been a little while since Robo has been out, it has taken about two months since Monichum’s Slide. The engine guard and levers took some time to get, that delayed everything over a month but now everything is done and finished. I only changed the mirrors to bar end mirrors because they are cleaner, look sleeker and do provide me with a good amount of view with almost no vibration at any speed or acceleration.
The moment they took Robo out of the Tristar van I was ecstatic about it. The aggressive look of the machine that I missed, I wanted to ride right away and that is pretty much what I did. I dropped everything I was doing, geared up and headed out the door to catch what little was left of day light. There were a few riff raffs on the road but I was enjoying myself too much to care, and I missed the pure brute strength that this machine has, so much torque on this heavy machine.
After our long day of riding two of the bikes were pretty dirty. So we headed over to Al Fallah Car Wash, they wash bikes as well as cars which is different then most washing places.
They took the bikes to the right and started washing them right away. There was a huge line of cars behing us when we pulled up. The que backed up to the road but two bikes were getting washed, I was parked to the side since my bike was relatively clean.
The mist from the water felt very nice in that breeze and hot weather. They gave my bike a wipe down since it was parked next to theirs, they all looked nice and clean.
We were supposed to meet up around 8:30 am at the Miseela gas station to go riding but I overslept and my phone died. Even with all the phone calls I didn’t get up until 9:30 am and by that time the guys were close by. I got up, showered very quicly and was out the door in 10 minutes.
The weather was amazing outside, I knew it was going to be a fun ride. We decided to stay in town so our route was simple, down the sea side to the end of the Gulf Road at Shuweikh, then to Marina for Breakfast. It was fun in and out of traffic, the weather was perfect. This was the first time in 4 month I have worn the summer jacket, I had to wear a t-shirt this time since it was hotter then usual. I hope the weather stays this way, I don’t want it getting to hot too quickly.
It isn’t as bad as it sounds but it was as bad as it looked. We were riding last Friday as posted earlier, and after breakfast we wanted to continue down the Gulfroad to KPC then to our friend. There were a few nut cases on the road, but this woman topped it off. After Al Seef Palace we saw this black Honda Civic driving a little fast, after the round about monichum went ahead and I was right after him when she swerved in my way, I back off a bit and K was behind me in his car.
When there was an opening, the road was empty except for the black Honda Civic, I took off to catch up with Monichum and K right behind us as usual, but she was driving like a maniac or rally car driver we couldn’t figure it out. We were going at a fast pace but we slow down for the red light, we were taking it easy after the last curve before the light. I saw K behind me and Monichum already at the light in the left lane, I stopped in the right and K in the middle.
After stopping at that light for at least 8 seconds I heard this loud braking screech. Only to see the black Honda Accord stuff herself between K and Monichum, K moved his car into my lane to avoid getting hit and I saw that Monichum managed to move and was still standing. All four of her tires were still in smoke, when the light turned green we moved and wanted to stop up ahead but Monichum didn’t move, I could see him in my side view mirror something was wrong. We both stopped to go back, and we wanted to check on him.
Turns out she didn’t miss Monichum, her side view mirror was hanging off her car, she broke her side view mirror on Monichum’s elbow. He was pissed but very calm, the women was about to cry but he told her to leave. He kept calm even though he wanted to blow up, she was driving like an idiot and to my “surprise” (I’m being sarcastic) she turned out to be muhajabah. Why is it always that case, do muhajabaat really hate bikers to the point they want to take them out. Lucky for Monichum the jacket took a majority of the impact at the elbow protection point, but still. We were stopped at a light and she almost took him out.
Since our flight got rescheduled without notice we decided to leave the airport and take full advantage of our early morning. We headed back home to get in gear and get ready, two of us in bikes and two people in one car. It felt like a scene from a movie, we were all hungry and ready to eat, the weather was amazing so we headed to Marina Mall. We were flying down the roads, the bikes felt like an escort for the car or an early recon because we were flying down the road or riding next to each other.
It was fun since the roads were relatively empty. As soon as we got to Marina, we decided to eat at Zaatar and Zeit. That was a very good decision, and we all got to eat what we wanted from cheese with bread to kufta, it really hit the spot. I had some of their hot chocolate and it wasn’t that good at all. It was cold but the food really hit the spot. It was funny how empty the whole of Marina was, it seems most of everyone was out of town.
We headed out after a little while to go enjoy our day. We got off to a fun start flying down the roads since they were empty. Our next stop was the KPC parking and then we headed over to our friend’s work who was working on Saturday where we planned even more for our ridiculous trip. There was an incident but I will post about that later.
