Ringfad wrote:k1 all ready for the trip to K fest.

ABS now refitted as PO had removed it. As well as the brake pipes , discs and sensors, modules and controller it also involved replacing the wiring loom as he had also cut out most of the ABS cables !!.

komandoalicante wrote:From here my apologies for not participating before in this post,

And my thanks to Frank for the great organization of this event and the rest of my colleagues, it was very satisfying to name the forum's nickname.

I hope to receive conversation classes in English because the language barrier left me very far from transmitting everything I wanted to send you.

Thanks, I felt at home

https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/18/69/75/66/cimg7210.jpg

Born Again Eccentric wrote:Friday 11 May 2018: Home to Castle Donnington (164 miles)
 I might win the weirdest luggage award though as I had a K1100 tow bar secured to the rack on top of my top box. Olaf had ordered this a few weeks back and had it delivered to my home...all I had to do was get it up to him at Castle Donnington.

Ringfad wrote: 
Arrangements were all last minute so did not want to annoy you but maybe another time as I still have not made it to the IOW...

Born Again Eccentric wrote:Just love that colour/black & white pic of your K1(how do you do that?)...now there's a serious contender for the Forum 2019 calendar if I ever saw one!

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:There's another one heading for France for a meet up with Crazy Frog!! Like yours it is travelling on a K!

Born Again Eccentric wrote:Friday 11 May 2018: Home to Castle Donnington (164 miles)

Not the longest road trip by any stretch of the imagination and with riders coming to KFest from southern Spain, Belgium, Germany and, of course Ireland, I wasn't going to be a contender for the "most travelled" award. I might win the weirdest luggage award though as I had a K1100 tow bar secured to the rack on top of my top box. Olaf had ordered this a few weeks back and had it delivered to my home...all I had to do was get it up to him at Castle Donnington.



Luckily I was travelling light - having opted for a comfortable hotel stay over a cold tent.

I left home about 07:45, a little earlier than I had originally planned as, despite taking the day off work, a meeting had been rescheduled for the Friday morning and I had to attend. Not the greatest way to start a wild weekend but, as Bristol was on my route, it wasn't a big deal. I normally ride into work much earlier and the roads are usually fairly quiet - going into Bristol at "rush hour" is less fun but no great drama. Whilst my load didn't extend beyond the panniers, I still had to be a little careful that it didn't come in contact with any wing mirrors etc.

Work meeting done and I was on my way again by 11:00. I had planned a cross country but fairly direct route up to Donnington. I was not in a rush and certainly didn't need to slog up the M4/M5/M42/M1 motorways. I had considered a longer, more scenic route looping up through Wales, but the days forecast had threatened heavy rain coming in from the west and I figured headed out that way would be just asking for it. Instead, I had planned a very pleasant ride up through the Cotswolds on mix of A and B roads. Most of my ride was along a route called the "Fosse Way" - this was the Roman's idea of a motorway back in the 1st century AD and is a pretty straight route from Exeter all the way up to Leicester. A few road planners and landowners over the last 2000 or so years had introduced some minor wiggles and junctions into this otherwise straight road, but there certainly were some lovely long straight sections, which made overtaking the few cars and trucks that blocked my path an absolute breeze. Keeping to a fairly moderate speed, with the exception of in one nondescript town, the traffic was extremely light and, on warm dry roads, I made excellent time up to Donnington.

Having parked up, I checked into the Jury's Inn and enjoyed a long overdue cup of tea. I knew that Ringfad, CorkBoy and a couple of others over from Ireland were staying in the same hotel, but I didn't know what time they would be arriving. Still, the hotel had a swimming pool, sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and bar...I could pass the time quite comfortably. Not for the last time this weekend, I felt glad that I wasn't camping! Thoroughly cleansed and relaxed, I realised that it had been a long time since breakfast and I was starting to get hungry...but even one tasty curry and a pint on Guinness later there was still no sign of the Irish Eccentrics. Resorting to the dreaded antisocial media, I sent messages to both Olaf and Ringfad saying where I was and then settled back to watch some TV (I don't mind drinking a pint or two over dinner by myself, but there is something sad about drinking alone at a hotel bar). 

Finally, there was knock at my door - the Irish Eccentrics had arrived and it was back to the bar for some catching up and a few more of those velvety black sociable Guinness's. Just the 4 of them were staying at Jurys - Ringfad, Corkboy, Tom and Richard. It sounded like they had had a good ride over...but had lost Olaf and 88 somewhere along the way in deepest darkest Wales - Will having been last seen tearing off into the distance with a face full of fork oil (presumably to reduce the wind resistance on his bumblebee of a K1)! Outside, the night time temperature was heading down towards 5 or 6 deg C and the threatened rain had finally caught up with us. Yep, as Guinness number 4 slipped smoothly down in the warmth of the hotel bar amidst some amusing banter (something to do with donkeys), I was glad that I had gone for comfort over camping.

Saturday 12 May: KFest Day 1 - the dawning of the age of Legends
I was woken up at 06:12 by a text message - blurry eyed, I first thought it was Olaf replying to the text I had sent him the previous day (you tend to wake up un-naturally early when camping!) but was delighted to see that it was a message from Gaz and the Krew wishing us all a good day out. Nice touch guys and much appreciated.
 
Now wide awake, I had a bit of a dilemma to start the day. The gates opened at 07:30 at Donnington - so what time to get there? The obvious answer was "some time after breakfast" however, we had agreed to meet in the restaurant at 09:00 to fuel up properly for the day ahead, so we were clearly not going to be the first through the gates that morning. While waiting, I took a stroll out to check that Heidi had been unmolested out in the carpark. The bike was still wet from the overnight rain, but the day had dawned bright and cloudy and the roads were already dry. The scrap iron cargo Olaf's tow bar was still securely attached. Fortunately, nobody had taken a shine to it overnight. I also spotted a soggy card tucked under the choke lever - it was KomandoAlicante's calling card. He had placed cards on each of the bikes to announce his arrival. I sent a text to his contact number to say hello but heard nothing back (until getting a text reply nearly a week after KFest - probably sent when he got back home to Spain!).
The breakfast was worth the wait though and I ate myself  to a virtual standstill, all washed down with a few cups of coffee - well you just got to get value for money! Oh to be huddled over a little gas stove, sitting on the cold wet ground!! What's that saying? - Any damn fool can be uncomfortable!!

Breakfast done, it was kit up and ride the 2.5 miles to the Donnington race track and the much anticipated KFest meet up. The roads were surprisingly quiet - I had expected hoards of people converging on the place. Following Ringfad on his sleek black messanger of death K1, I wasn't entirely sure what the crack was with actually riding onto the site. Getting to the main gate, my ticket was checked...only to be asked where my bike pass was. Bike pass - what bike pass? Just as the gate staff were in the process of telling me where to go an park up (and walk in), Frank appeared with a handful of KFest ride-in stickers. Sticker suitably applied and I was in! We rode slowly around the trade tents and bike displays, making our way to the KFest stand. That felt pretty cool! 

The display bikes were carefully manoeuvred into the tent, the rest of us also-rans parked up in an allocated area immediately outside. A colour coordinated white K100RS with Martello sidecar was parked in the first row - no prizes for guessing that Sidecar Paul had made an appearance at KFest and, as ever, his bike was attracting a lot of attention from the passers by.





...and my favourite a gleaming K1100RS!

Inside the display tent, I met with the elusive 88 and Olaf (none the worse for their camp experience) and Sidecar Paul. Finally I was able to off load Olaf's precious cargo - delivery complete, now it was his problem to get it back to Ireland!

A great range of K's stood proudly in the tent - not every model, but certainly all the important ones! Most importantly, these were well ridden K bikes and not trailered show bikes.





...and an awesome race bike


A little socialising done and it was time to take a wander about...discovering Motorbike Mike (and his better half) hidden around the corner doing some pre-race preparations. 

With Sidecar Pauls help, I also tracked down Slow Phil who was running very popular sidecar "taxi" rides on the Melbourne loop. Ed (of downunder renown) had generously sent me two "Evolution of the K Series" T-shirts to pass onto Slow Phil to auction off. I handed the shirts over to Phil - my second and final delivery job of the weekend was complete and the rest of the day was mine.

Now this was my first attendance at any event like this and I wasn't really sure what to expect. I'm not a great one for drooling over other peoples bikes nor am I able to hold my own in an in-depth discussion about the pros and cons of a particular feature or modification etc. Mostly I like just riding K bikes and not talking about them (or other brands), but there was definitely a buzz of excitement about the place and the scream of highly tuned two stroke engines and the deafening roar of throaty four stokes did create the right vibrant ambient atmosphere and, thanks to Franks huge efforts, there we were, right in the middle of it all, with race bikes all around us. Fantastic!!

Of course, we had to get ourselves track side too and actually get to see some of the qualifying sessions.


But of course, the real highlight of the first day was not just to watch other people having fun but to seize the opportunity to become immortalised as a legend and get to ride on the Melbourne section of track. To be able to do this we had to register ourselves as clinically insane, sign our lives away and most importantly leave details of our next of kin so that our twisted and battered remains could be collected later. Registration complete we were briefed on race track etiquette (and safety) - strictly no over taking! 

I asked Sidecar Paul to take what could possibly be the last ever picture of me - something for my daughters to remember me by, perhaps raising a wee dram of whisky and proudly thinking "My dad was a legend"

An hour later, and we were marshalled into the waiting area and ready to go...ready to become legends!

There was about a dozen K bikes in the line up and smaller group of some other riders. We waited, apprehensively, for the sidecars to clear the circuit and then to triumphant music (OK - so that was thanks to my GPS MP3 player and bluetooth headset rather than just blaring out of nowhere as it does in the movies) and under ominous black clouds we rolled out onto the track...and into the history books. A few of the other riders probably wondered why I had my GPS on to ride a small (but legendary) oval circuit - well you never can be too careful, can you!

Sorry about the camera wobble - probably the awesome speed I was travelling at...

After several heroic laps, we pulled over for a group photo. Someone, somewhere has the pics of us all sitting on our bikes in the K line up...but don't know who though (Frank - any ideas?) - it would be good to have a copy. Dismounting we then were free to take our own pics of the line up of legends.




















Photos done, we solemnly, god like and in all our legendary awesomeness, we rode slowly back to the KFest tent.
With adrenaline still coursing through our veins, some of us returned to watch some more qualifying laps - from the real legends.

Having enjoyed a great day out, Ringfad (legend), Corkboy (not a legend), Tom (not a legend this time), Richard (another non legend) and I (legend) rode the short ride back to Jurys In to prepare for the KFest group dinner that evening. As we got near the hotel, the rain started, but not enough to dampen our enthusiasm and we got back dry enough. Back at the hotel, I found just enough time to have a quick swim, bubble in the jacuzzi, steam, shower and a pint of Guinness before our taxis arrived to take us to the Nags Head for the KFest dinner. The first taxi was booked in the name of Legend - only legends were allowed to ride in that one! Just as well we were going by taxi as the rain had now set in for the rest of the evening.

We were the last to arrive at the Nags Head and the chef was starting to fret! I'm sure Frank said 19:30. Anyway, the KFest crowd had taken over the place and completely filled the restaurant/function room. There was just enough time to pay our dues to Frank, get in  a round of drinks and sit down before the starters were brought out. What a great atmosphere - what a great event - a real fitting end to a top day. The food was good and plentiful and the beers/Guinness's flowed freely and I finally got to say hello to Komandoalicante. Having eaten our fill, Olaf paid tribute to all of Franks efforts and handed over a small donation to him. 

The meal done, people started to slowly to drift away. However, the staff were great and very friendly and in no hurry to throw us out into the dark, rainy night. As a result, the bar profits steadily went up and up and some excellent banter was enjoyed. For some unknown reason this particular table seemed to remain the longest and it was gone 01:00am before we finally left the place.

(Pic stolen from Facebook KFest pages): Clockwise from Left: Happy Jesus, Simon (Jesus's mate), Richard (Eccentric), Corkboy (Eccentric), Waitress, Me (Born Again Eccentric), Ringfad (Eccentric), Tom (Eccentric), Franktherat (KFest Organiser par excellence).

On getting back to Jury's Inn, we accidentally turned left and ended up in the bar and somehow managed to persuade the barman that his profits needed boosting too. Sensibly, I stayed on the Guinness and was not tempted by the Laphroig whisky that was making a determined effort to join the fun. It was gone 02:00am when we finally decided to call it a night!

Sunday 13 May 2018: KFest Day 2 - Race day (and a few sore heads)
Breakfast was definitely the most important priority - a big greasy breakfast has to the worlds best hangover cure. I was first down and tucking into a sumptuous feast and swilling strong black coffee long before the rest of the Eccentrics made it down. Richard and Corkboy were planning to skip the second day of KFest and were plotting a scenic ride back though Wales to the Holyhead ferry port. It was clear that there was no great rush for anyone to go anywhere. However, I was keen to see the start of the 4 hour endurance race which started at 11:30, so bid my farewells and returned to my room to get my stuff (I had already packed earlier). When I went to check out, I was told that I had already checked out and that they had just left a message on my phone to say I had left some stuff in my room! What the ?? I assured them that I hadn't checked out and that I had all my stuff and was checking out now. No idea who thinks that they had checked out earlier - but it sure wasn't me. They also dropped the surprise £37/night parking charge reduced to £5/night for a bike bombshell on me. They seemed genuinely surprised when I said that bikes don't normally pay to park and just rode around the barrier - but I (begrudgingly paid up anyway). No sense of humour!

I rode alone up to Donnington park in some very pleasant sunshine and, with my KFest ride in sticker proudly displayed, had no difficulty in getting on site again. I parked up in the KFest parking lot and was presented immediately with a bowl of Olaf's Christmas pudding. Just enough time to eat it before heading off to the race track. Yum!!


I made my way to to one of the grandstands on the inside of the track with 88 and the Gent from Ghent (one of our Belgium K riders) in time to watch the warm up lap. Then it was time for the 4 hour endurance legends race to begin...just a short clip of the start (my memory card was nearly full - doh!)

It was hot in the stands, and obviously on the start finish line straight (Wheatcroft Straight), so after watching a few laps we made our way down to the trackside to go see some of the action on the corners. 88 and the G from G went one way and I went the other. I wandered across the grassy expanse in the centre of the track towards the far side of the track.

Short clip from Old Hairpin to Starkeys Bridge
 
It was a beautiful, sunny day and the fresh air, grassy smells, solitude and roar of the bikes was exactly what I needed to complete my recovery from the excesses of the previous (most excellent) evening. I continued to stroll around the track, following the line of the safety fence, stopping every now and then to watch the action on the corners. As I was standing at Copice, one rider failed to make the bend and skidded off on the gravel on the far side of the track - it didn't look good as he had his leg under the bike and was struggling to pull himself free. Fortunately, though he didn't seem to have too much damage to himself or the bike and, with the aid of the marshalls, was able to get his bike upright again and wheel it away from the track. Sadly, his race was over.

Starkey Bridge to Schwantz Curve



McLeans to Copice


Fogarty Esses / Roberts



Eventually, after about an hour of milling about, I made it back to the grandstand again - ready for a good long drink...of water!

I made my way back to the KFest tent area and watched/helped/hindered (delete as appropriate) Olaf fix his tow bar bracket to his K1100. Bit of a fiddly job, but successfully achieved (Olaf is clearly blessed with abundant patience and not a single expletive slipped his lips). Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention when Charlie99 called Franks phone - good onya Charlie - must have been the very early hours with you down Brisbane way. Good that you got to talk to 88 though.

By early afternoon, I was getting footsore from all the standing about (it's exhausting doing nothing - I'm just not used to it) and decided to call it a day. I was aware that Ringfad and Tom were going to be travelling down my way (staying overnight in Bristol on Sunday night and then passing within a stones throw of my house on the Monday) and had thought about travelling down together. However, they were both intent on watching some more racing, and seeing Motorbike Mike in action again. That meant they wouldn't be setting out until very late afternoon. With a 3 - 4 you ride home, and an early start for work the next day, regrettably I decided to head off alone. If I had known their plans before hand - I could have taken the Monday off work and they could have stayed at my place, but you know what they say...two's company, three's a crowd and I respect that.

Bidding them farewell, I rolled slowly away from the KFest gathering and pointed Heidi south-west. My return route was a simple reversal of my journey north. It avoided a motorway slog again and, despite being a glorious Sunday, the route was still surprisingly traffic free. Good choice. Riding into the blazing sun, Heidi effortlessly munched up the miles and it was a thoroughly enjoyable ride home. Yes, it was good to see the race bikes, great to see the hustle and bustle of the paddock and the static displays and enjoy some excellent craic...but it is best to be on a K bike and blasting down a dry, quiet road!

I got home about 4 hours later at 18:00 having enjoyed a great ride, a fantastic weekend and some incredible company. 

A heartfelt thanks to Frank for doing all the hardworking and kat-herding and for organising a cracking KFest dinner. Thanks to the staff of the Nags Head for looking afters us so well. Thanks also to Robin and Mike for putting their extra-special K bikes out on the track and showing the likes of me what the K bikes really can do...and thanks to all forum members who made the effort to be there and cement the kameraderie, especially the Irish Eccentric contingent and for the sympathetic ride by the Aussie Krew. A top weekend, laden with more great memories.

Apparently, there may be a repeat gathering in 2019. Maybe some of the Krew or even CF could make it over - I see Charlie99 has responded "maybe" on FB! I just hope that I'm invited back!

Crazy Frog wrote:Nice write up Paul.
If Charlie's coming in 2019, I will be there too.
Just putting a little bit of pressure on Charlie.

Born Again Eccentric wrote: ...funny thing, I had a feeling in my bones that you might have been making a surprise guest appearance at KFest this year