This weekend, for the second Saturday in succession I took the Ninja out for a little trundle.
Saturday’s effort was a trip to a former RAF airfield over in Langar.
The journey is a mix of roads, some are twisty, and it’s possible to keep the speed above 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 on some stretches.
Last Saturday’s outing was a quick trip in to Hockley, an area of central Nottingham.
For context: the traffic situation in Nottingham is poor.
It’s not as bad as that London (which still hasn’t bettered the speed of traffic from the 1800s) but it is very slow.
On the bike, I made it in to Hockley, parked, shopped, and back to the house in 40 minutes, and the cost would have been about a couple of thimbles of petrol.
Had I gone in the car the round-trip (plus parking) would have taken just over an hour, and would have cost a couple of quid for parking plus about a pint of fuel.
On public transport the round-trip (door to door) would have taken between three to four hours, would have cost £5.60.
That’s a compelling argument for motorcycling.
And yet motorcycles in Nottingham are not allowed to use bus lanes, and they are not considered as a form of transport distinct to cars.
In fact, they are lumped in with cars, and aren’t considered separately at all.
There’s something very wrong with this kind of logic.