(ed note: MotoPod listener Guy Anderson submitted this in reply to one of the many conversations I’ve had with roads racer Mark Miller for the show. I thought it was pretty cool … -jim)

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Opinion/Commentary
by Guy Anderson

I get where Mark is coming from with regard to riding on the road. I get the absolute free spirit of it all, and I love it.

Here in the UK its hard to ride like mark does in the canyons - its practically impossible. 60 million people in an area smaller than California. And even some of that area is so remote up in Scotland as to be nigh-on impossible to get to.

My knowledge of American geography could be written on the back of a postage stamp, so I can’t compare areas in the UK to those in the USA, but back in the late 70s I was getting into my stride as far as being a fan of bike racing. I lived in Lincolnshire, just 30 miles from Cadwell Park and went there as a kid so many time to see cars and bikes racing. Anyway by the time I was 16 I was riding road bikes having progressed from off-road bikes, and I got to know a guy who had moved into the village. He raced. A TZ750 and a TZ350 (which I later raced). So I convinced him to let me go to the races with him to fetch and carry. Eventually I was spannering for him, and then he let me try the 350 on a Thursday afternoon at Cadwell.

The village he and I lived in was in an area called New Holland - it was flat. It was empty. Maybe a bit like the mid-West? We would work on the bikes in the mid-week summer evenings, put some kit on and test. On the back lanes. Now you and Mark’s idea of England’s back lanes might be a bit different to the reality of New Holland. Miles and miles long. Flat fields on either side and no hedges or ditches. We could link enough together to make varying sizes of circuits and spend hours without seeing anyone checking out jetting or working in new clutch drums - anything without a care in the world.

Fast forward 30 years and I have a Tuono. Frankly its too fast for where I live now. It’s the most involving road I’ve ever ridden, and needs to be ridden fast and hard. To my extreme luck and pure good fortune I met Andy. Not as fast as me on the road but so much faster on a track. And we’ve become speed tourists. I hate the term, but it’s the one term I can think of to describe Andy and me. Each year for the past 5 or 6 years we’ve gone to France for a week. 60 million population (same as the UK) but 60% bigger. That means a lot more space. More room to stretch your legs. Warm weather. Beautiful roads. Stunning food. Nice girls (bon jour Veronique). These days Andy and I ride the 1000kms (in one day sometimes) to get down to Provence. In the region of Provence is Grenoble. Its pretty much the start of the Route Napolean that runs to Grasse - its about 250km of the most gorgeous, the hardest, most challenging; most frightening road I’ve ever ridden.

And you know what? I ride it harder than any track day; harder than any race I was doing 30 years ago (I think - maybe time plays tricks). Its wide; its open; its everything I think Mark has in the canyons. I go into some corners seeing the exit and knowing that the road will not throw any surprises and every time I open the throttle earlier, harder. I brake later, lean further. The world needs Aprilia v-twins with Akropovics fitted. But its my own personal challenge. No-one else worries me least of all Andy. No cars. No quarry lorries. Just Armco, blue skies and the smell. The smell of lavender; of peaches growing in massive orchards. You know the first time you do an illegal drug? That fright and excitement of doing something wrong and something you hope will give you immense enjoyment? The ride is the same. It all goes slow. It doesn’t stop though; it just slows. Everything is more vivid, and I get that feeling I’m floating. I admit any long straight will bore me, so I slow down to check and readjust my brain for what has just gone and what is to come.

Tuono and KTM Super Duke might not be everyone’s idea of the perfect bikes. They are. Don’t let anyone kid you otherwise.

So for the record, I get Mark’s gist. I get his raison d’etre. It is all about the joie de vivre. And he’s right……!

Guy

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