I am on my way…

In Hong Kong in my early twenties I worked with a couple of blokes from London. Stuart was a real cockney wide boy who paid in hash and Simon, it turned out, was a smack head.

We were working in a house in Stanley and Stuart was getting stressed about progress on the job.

“We ‘ave to demo the fucking ensuite fucking bathroom, Simon”.

“Oh, don’t worry mate, it’s done”.

“Wot are you talkin’ about, man, I was just in there?”.

“It’s done, man, I am tellin’ ya, it’s done, calm down, man, it’s done”.

“It’s not done, Simon”.

“Yeah, it’s done. In my mind it’s done, I got ya man, it’s done. Relax”.

The point here is that with 3 days to go, I have already left.

I have pulled the bikes out, all loaded up, put on my gear, squeezed my head into my padded hat and pushed the button that fires up the triple.

It is Thursday morning, we leave on Sunday. But I am not here. I have let the clutch out.

It is a little foggy but it is going to be a scorcher, the sun is already burning off the coastal fog and I have pulled in to the cafe in Guernville, I have turned around to see Chris ride up, and I can see the grin on his face before he takes off his helmet. We have got off the freeway and had a couple of pretty fun miles of twisty road through the woods and vineyards.

I am not at work today. I mean, I am at work today, it is Thursday, but I am not at work. I am pushing my weight forward on the right handle bar, pointing the front wheel left and leaning in to a long right hand bend (bike geometry is weird), I am squeezing the throttle and moving my weight back to to the left foot peg to straighten up.

I am not talking to Daniel from unit 104 who doesn’t like his concrete patch. I am pulling in to a secret little camp site that I know and setting up our little camp in a ritual that we will do many times over the next three weeks.

And that is where I am. I am on day one of our trip. In my mind it’s done. I play it out over and over and over again.

But only day one. I have no capacity to imagine what 3 weeks on the road is like despite wanting to do it since I was a kid.

So, for those who have read my last blog, the Sprint is up and running. The regulator arrived on time and my boy Lawrence popped it in with a new battery for good measure. I pick her up today.

I have already packed up my gear on Dora. She is ready to go. I gave her a good wash last weekend and she is ready to go and massacre some bugs.

So, I might be hard to reach today, even if I am in the same room as you, because I am already on my way.