Respect!

Yesterday afternoon meandering my way home from work in the sunshine on the first really warm day of the year my day was brightened further by a visit to a petrol station. This may sound an odd way to gain pleasure of any description and as the norm I would have to admit that filling up is not my favorite task, but fuel was becoming dangerously close to the desperate situation and tyres required checking so in I went.

Whilst stood there gazing at the pump dials endeavoring to hit a round figure (don't you just hate it when you go one penny over, you just have to go on to the next round ten pounds, if it fits!) I was jarred from my reverie by a thunderous sound, a sound I know well from my past, as onto the forecourt rolled with aplomb an Aprila RSV


Now for those of you uninspired by vehicles with only two wheels let me tell you this is a piece of engineering to die for, and probably on but I won't go there, there is little like it, it is an absolute shining star among many stars, perhaps the 'must have if can ever afford it' for many petrol heads.

So onto the forecourt rolled this stunning machine and from it dismounted it's rider and pillion. Well actually the rider didn't, in true 'man rider' style he stayed seated whilst poking nozzle into tank (yes there is good reason for this aside from laziness) and she trundled off in the heat and her leathers to pay.

Now as ever in these situations I felt obliged to strike up conversation with this couple (it's a biker thing) and revel for just a minute or two in their experiences with aforementioned beautiful machine....which unusually for a Mille was 'sporting' throw over panniers....a sight almost unbearable on such a piece of machinery but necessary on occasion.

What earned my utter respect was this. The couple in question were on a holiday touring Scotland, that in itself may seem like no big deal but believe me, having ridden pillion on one of this beauties I can promise you it is! This is most definitely not a thing of comfort, it is a thing of beauty, of outrageous speed, of cornering on rails, of scratching and racing, it is not a thing designed for comfort in any respect whatsoever. Riding pillion on this requires one to be almost acrobatic in the ability to curl ones body into odd shapes, it requires that not only the rider but the passenger deal with the full force of wind and high speed turbulence, it requires one's knees to be almost under one's chin and legs and back bent into uncanny positions for hours on end. Oh....and then there's the suspension to deal with! I promise you, as someone who has spent an enormous amount of time in such a position and who can on most pillion seats fall fast asleep, this is not one of those 'comfortable touring' experiences!

Add to that the lady in question was no spring chicken and was on the 'larger lady' side the fact that she could even consider touring for a week on this marvel earned my utter respect....and envy, an envy that was only heightened almost intolerably as they screamed past me at a break-neck rate of acceleration a few minutes later!