Well that was a baptism of fire. I thought we?d have enough time for a couple of laps on both bikes, but I ended up getting four laps on the FlyaSpitfire.com Kawasaki and two on the Surf Bar Triumph. Today was a good day. We?ve well and truly blown the cobwebs off.

The 2022 Isle of Man TT has officially begun with a night of practice on the Mountain Course. We spent most of the morning investigating an issue we?re having with the Triumph (which I?m hoping we?ve fixed now). Then, at about lunch time, we took both bikes up to scrutineering (where the officials check your bike over to make sure it?s safe, legal, etc) and then parked them in the pit?s ready for practice (which is actually qualifying, too).

The first riders to go out were the newcomers. Then it was our turn. I took the big bike out first partly because of the fact that I?m probably more comfortable on it, but also because of the fact that we were still unsure whether or not we?d fixed the issues with the Triumph, and I didn?t fancy getting stranded half way up the mountain on the first lap of practice. If that was going to happen, it would have been nice to get a couple of laps on the big bike under my belt first.
There were absolutely no heroics tonight from me. It?s been a long old time since any of us have raced around this place, so my plan was to have a reasonably steady ride round just to reacquaint myself with exactly how bonkers this place is. And it was less than 30 seconds after setting of...