Colin and Pat Irvine's Pages

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Now that we're both more or less retired (except for Pat's business), we have time to spend on what we like doing best. First, and possibly foremost, is biking. This is our current bike, a Kawasaki ZZR1400. It has proved to be absolutely ideal for our purposes.

We love touring, and the ZZR is able to take plenty of luggage - yet, with a claimed 193 bhp, it will still overtake with ease up the steepest of alps. It is also great for scratching round the local countryside (Northumberland, the Dales, the North Yorkshire Moors and the Lake District). A true all-rounder.
Our new bike

Pat and I on the bike This is us on the first of our two Yamaha Thunderaces, which took us to Ireland, Scotland and many times to the Continent. We've written diaries of most of our trips, both on this bike and the later one - see the links under Holidays.

The furthest we've been to date was in 2006 - to Slovenia and Lake Bled (absolutely beautiful). The journey out took in the Swiss Alps (Bernese Oberland) and the Italian Dolomites, and the trip back took us through the Austrian Tirol and the Eiffel Mountains in Germany. Mountains and motorbikes seem to be just made for each other.

Some years ago we found our way through the ether to usenet, and in particular to uk.rec.motorcycles. This is a popular and busy newsgroup, seldom on topic but great fun. Over the years we have met lots of the regulars and made many friends.

Most Spring Bank Holidays around 30 bikes head over to France for the weekend. Here are a few friends on such a trip. The scene is Duclair, and none of us are planning to do any more biking that day. There are a few more photos at the UKRM link on the left.
ukrm

La Plagne Our other favourite way of spending time is on the piste! In fact, in a sense it was skiing that lead me to biking. I was looking for something that would give me the same sort of thrill during the summer as skiing did during the winter. Having met Pat she has come to love it as I do. This is us in cheesy pose above La Plagne. We like France for the food, Italy for the people and Switzerland for the toilets!


Please send any queries or comments to myself.

Copyright © 2007