And it was bloody brilliant 
I havent been since 2000, and right from getting off the ferry we were basking in sunshine the whole week (apart from senior race day which was overcast - a blessing considering my sunburn lol). Entertainment was better than ever - we took in the Parade of champions on the prom, where they ran loads of old bikes up and down the promenade from 1907 to the modern R1's. Awesome to hear some of them - bit of a shame when the 80 year old guy dropped one of the vintage NSU's at one of the hairpins, but all i can say is I hope I'm still capable of of even sitting on a bike at that age.
Did a few laps of the mountain course on thursday - what a wonderful, common sense idea to make the mountain one way for the entire week. It basically turned it into a dual carriage way, where you could go at your own pace. I took it reasonably steady but did see the needle going past 130 a few times - pure adreneline rush, and a bit wierd to be going past Police cars at that speed! The sheer number of bikes made the rest of the course a bit of an ordeal - you need to check your mirrors every few seconds and even then you get caught out sometimes as bikes fly past. In general the standard of riding was pretty good, but there are always plenty of idiots who seem to ride by pure faith that theres nothing coming around the blind bend they are overtaking on.
Raceday itself was superb. There was a real sense of anticipation that the 130 record would be beaten and the atmosphere was electric on the second lap. We watched it from the Creg Ny Ba grandstand then moved further down the road for the second half of the race. After the main race we hadnt heard about the tragic accident on the last lap (we didnt know about it until later that night when a minutes silence was held on the prom). About an hour or so after the race finished they did the Champions lap - now this was truly awesome. It was kicked off by Fogarty on an MV Agusta and he went past us doing a wheelie for about 200 yards down to Brandish. Then followed a who's who of bike racing legends - Kevin Schwantz, John Surtees, Agostini, Geoff Duke, Ron Haslam, Phillip Macallen, Phil Read and loads more - it was awe inspiring to see many riders who were childhood heroes hammerring down from the creg on their period bikes. I actually had a lump in my throat at times.
Saturday and sunday were spent touring the Island, from the calf of man to ayres point. There are some great little roads off the beaten track, especially the section from Port Erin to Peel over the moorland type scenery. Also fitted in a few more laps of the mountain and stopped of at Joeys memorial to watch the bikes go by. The roads quietened down a lot on saturday and more so on sunday, making the riding a bit more relaxed. Monday was shopping time - Kippers for the old man and T shirts for the kids lol, before committing the cardinal sin and going for a very slow rideout to laxey in jeans and T-shirt and spending the afternoon in the Shore drinking shandy in the baking sun.
So thats it for another year - I'm rebooking for 2008 and going try to convince my dad to come along on his Virago (I might have to tow him lol). If you've ever wanted to go then just do it - experience it before the Health and Safety nanny state finds its way to the Island!
Heres (more than) a few photos. They're mostly bike related so 4 wheeled lovers might want to give them a miss
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davewrightson/sets/72157600348666660/
I havent been since 2000, and right from getting off the ferry we were basking in sunshine the whole week (apart from senior race day which was overcast - a blessing considering my sunburn lol). Entertainment was better than ever - we took in the Parade of champions on the prom, where they ran loads of old bikes up and down the promenade from 1907 to the modern R1's. Awesome to hear some of them - bit of a shame when the 80 year old guy dropped one of the vintage NSU's at one of the hairpins, but all i can say is I hope I'm still capable of of even sitting on a bike at that age.
Did a few laps of the mountain course on thursday - what a wonderful, common sense idea to make the mountain one way for the entire week. It basically turned it into a dual carriage way, where you could go at your own pace. I took it reasonably steady but did see the needle going past 130 a few times - pure adreneline rush, and a bit wierd to be going past Police cars at that speed! The sheer number of bikes made the rest of the course a bit of an ordeal - you need to check your mirrors every few seconds and even then you get caught out sometimes as bikes fly past. In general the standard of riding was pretty good, but there are always plenty of idiots who seem to ride by pure faith that theres nothing coming around the blind bend they are overtaking on.
Raceday itself was superb. There was a real sense of anticipation that the 130 record would be beaten and the atmosphere was electric on the second lap. We watched it from the Creg Ny Ba grandstand then moved further down the road for the second half of the race. After the main race we hadnt heard about the tragic accident on the last lap (we didnt know about it until later that night when a minutes silence was held on the prom). About an hour or so after the race finished they did the Champions lap - now this was truly awesome. It was kicked off by Fogarty on an MV Agusta and he went past us doing a wheelie for about 200 yards down to Brandish. Then followed a who's who of bike racing legends - Kevin Schwantz, John Surtees, Agostini, Geoff Duke, Ron Haslam, Phillip Macallen, Phil Read and loads more - it was awe inspiring to see many riders who were childhood heroes hammerring down from the creg on their period bikes. I actually had a lump in my throat at times.
Saturday and sunday were spent touring the Island, from the calf of man to ayres point. There are some great little roads off the beaten track, especially the section from Port Erin to Peel over the moorland type scenery. Also fitted in a few more laps of the mountain and stopped of at Joeys memorial to watch the bikes go by. The roads quietened down a lot on saturday and more so on sunday, making the riding a bit more relaxed. Monday was shopping time - Kippers for the old man and T shirts for the kids lol, before committing the cardinal sin and going for a very slow rideout to laxey in jeans and T-shirt and spending the afternoon in the Shore drinking shandy in the baking sun.
So thats it for another year - I'm rebooking for 2008 and going try to convince my dad to come along on his Virago (I might have to tow him lol). If you've ever wanted to go then just do it - experience it before the Health and Safety nanny state finds its way to the Island!
Heres (more than) a few photos. They're mostly bike related so 4 wheeled lovers might want to give them a miss
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davewrightson/sets/72157600348666660/
