Hard to pick one , and my best Norton rides where not on my Commando , by on my N15 .
But 1st day of the year , nothing much to do , so here is goes :
During the 70-ties and 80-ties , each 3rd WE of september , I went to the Bol d’Or 24H race , first at Le Mans , and from 1976 on to Paul Ricard race track , at Le Castelet ..
The trip down was usually 4 –5 days : Alsace , Jura ,Alps .. and the beginning of a life long love affair with the mountains .
The ride back home on monday was a 1100 km , 10h long ride . Pretty tiring but not too bad , because 80 % Autoroute .
But on this specific trip ( ‘80 or ‘81 ? .. ) ) on the first day ,I was cought speeding by the French gendarmerie , and had to pay up 300 Franc cash .
That was a serious chunk out of my budget .
At that time , no Euro’s , no creditcard or cellphone ..only the cash I carried .
Well .. if I was carefull with spending on food and beer , I could probably make it .
Comes monday .
To save money , I decided not to take the freeway , which in France are not ‘free‘ , but toll roads , and quite expensive .
That was not very smart , because after the Bol d’Or , the toll roads where usually free for motorcycles .
( They didn’t like the idea of a few 10 000 motorcycles racing towards Paris on backroads ..)
But because this was often a last minute decision , I wasn’t sure , and opted for the ‘ Routes Nationales ’ .
Of course that meant many hours extra riding , plus traffic , cities , road works etc ..
Then ,just before Dijon , about halfway , the Gendarmerie stopped me again :
90 in a 60 zone : that will be 300 FF please ..!
I couldn’t pay , even if I wanted , so I took off my helmet and gloves , said something like : “Je n’ai pas de l’argent , faites ce que vous voulez avec moi ..” ( = Do your worst ..)
and sat down on the side walk to rest . I needed a break anyway .
They left me sitting there for 15 – 20 minutes , while collecting more money from grumpy car drivers .
Then they finally turned back to me and said : ”f..ck off ! “ ( in French) , and after a polite “ merçi messieurs “ , I was back on my way .
Once across the Belgian border , I spent my last money on a pack of frites and a beer , like I allways do .
Frieten , or frites are generally called french fries , but there is nothing ‘French’ about it . They are our Belgian national pride ! .
I left Le Castelet at first light , and got home around midnight , happy but dead tired .
Google maps says 15 h riding , avoiding toll .
I doubt if I could do it again .
On my way down , maybe not the same year :
Traffic around the circuit .
Guy with the blue cap is my brother .
Wonder what he is looking at :
Camping at Paul Ricard , 80-ties .
Spot the Norton :
If 'best ride ' means ' fun ride' , then no , it wasn't much fun , but certainly memorable .
This is fun :
