Day 3. Dangerous games (Jony)

I have written elsewhere of the adrenaline high of powering down a black ski run, turn after turn, concentrating like mad as you focus on staying alive,, always pushing yourself as near the edge as you dare. It's madly exhilarating and, to be honest, it's the main reason why one goes back year after year, even though it's increasingly hard to find the right slope with the right snow on it and the right amount of  people, ie none!

After a couple of days in the saddle, to be honest, it seems to me that the attraction of motorbiking is very similar. Straights are for straights. Towns are tedious. But bends...the right bends...that's where it gets interesting. Yesterday, we found a cracking series of downhill bends - about 20 minutes of tightly turning, consistent, tree-lined bends that had us all working like crazy to try and get some dirt on our 'chicken strips' - those are the un-used bits of rubber along the very outside edge of most bikers' tyres, where they never get to lean over! 

I won't comment on my and Patrick's skills. But Charlie is by far the best of us, whether due to better reactions, youthful courage, whatever. He leans over far more than either of us old fogeys and generally seems to know what he's doing. 

Which made it all the more surprising when he had a spill today. It was a nothing fall: just slid over on some gravel as he was coming to a halt in a lay by, waiting for his old man to catch up. Could have happened to any of us. But we were all rather shaken as we picked him up, taped up a couple of tears in his jacket and eyed the superficial damage to his bike with silent anguish. 

   

To add insult to injury, ten minutes later, as we were picking our cautious way towards Baden Baden on damp roads, both Patrick and Charlie encountered a very slippery bit of white paint that caused them both to lose control for a couple of seconds and further dented Charlie's confidence. 

Tonight, after a couple of beers and a substantial pizza, we're beginning to talk about what lies ahead again. But it's been a salutary reminder that our gravity-defying games can sometimes have serious consequences.