Went for a short spin today, just 60 miles but as it's the Isle of Man and tiny roads, was a nice 90 minutes or so out

Left home and went up the middle of the island, past West Baldwin reservoir

and up Injebreck Hill - I htought it was a bit windy, but obviously not compared to some gusts

Took the back road (Ballaugh Glen road) into Ballaugh from Sartfell plantation - you can just see the road ahead following the hillside

Now this is a narrow road - don't think you could get a bike and a car to pass each other without one being on the grass, and you can see how good the dips are by all the sump scrapes. There's even one dip where the tarmac has been pretty much pulverised by the passage of various car sumps

Crossed the TT course at Ballaugh Bridge, and rode along the coast road around the north of the island, and as I was coming to Ramsey looked up to see the weather over The Mountain

Hmm, looks a bit closed in

Decided to chance it, so joined the TT course at Parliament Square in Ramsey, and rode up - all was clear through Ramsey Hairpin, Waterworks and the Gooseneck, but started to close in by Guthrie's. Carried on at a much reduced pace as I could not only see about 100 yards ahead - car headlights were just suddenly appearing out of the gloom

Decided to turn off at Brandywell (highest point on the circuit at 1400ft) and stopped to look back at the course

Was a bit misty then

Rode on along the B10 towards Bayr Garroo (Barregarrow bend on the course on the other side of the island), and within a mile or so the weather was cleared

Rode for another few miles and the west coast appeared, looking a lot brighter than the Mountain

Re-joined the course at Barregarrow, and rode back to Douglas against the direction. Called it a day there as my helmet appears to be the wrong shape for my head, so was getting a heck of a headache from the pressure - stopped at Road & Track (Yamaha & KTM dealers) and tried an Arai on - felt soooo much better, so obviously have an Arai head

Route taken

Did another 105 miles today in 2¾ hours over this route

Oh, and I found out on that straightish bit down the middle that my bike, with my 220# and a slight headwind, is pegged at an indicated 96mph! Perfectly legal speed here, mind you

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