Summer Holidays

"The English winter - ending in July, to recommence in August” according to Byron, and I know what he means. It also means July gets rammed with biking events, and you need to bagsie family diary dates for the choicest events early. 2011 starts here...


The Spa Bikers Classic is pencilled in for the weekend of 1/2/3 July, and I'm really hoping Team Guzzi Nerd will be there, and let me stand round their pit dropping spanners and making coffee. The next week is the Milano Taranto - a tougher, less fluffy-pillow event than the Motogiro, but some of us are thinking it's time for a change and maybe giving it a go. 2011's the 25th anniversary of the recreation, and the organisers are putting a lot of effort into recreating the original route. - most Giro bikes are eligible (it's only the Ducati 175s that aren't)but you can also enter stuff like Gilera Saturnos, hand change Harleys and Nortons - Giuliano Maoggi raced a 350 single in 1950.

It's 400 miles from home to Spa, and 480 more to Milan. Hmmm, stand on the podium at midnight after we win the 4 hour, clear up, celebrate, and to bed by daybreak. Sleep Sunday, drive overnight to Milan ready for the Milano Taranto's traditional midnight start. It's a plan...

(And if you need to know more, both the original and recreation of the Milano Taranto were covered in Benzina #1 )