day 20, thursday 19^th august 99

We wake up late and have a breakfast that, to our amazement, includes a boiled egg.

I decide that its time for a new left hand mirror, so I head off to Koblenz with marvin, who needs a new jacket. When we get there, after some pleasantly twisty back-roads, we wander around for a bit but can't see any dealers. We're just about to leave town when I see a scooter pull over on the side of the road. I ask him for direction. He turns out to be a top fellow who gets us a local map and gives comprehensive and very clear directions to two shops.

Down to five, temporarily.

At the first shop, marvin gets a pair of waterproof trousers, a waterproof jacket and a Shoei flip-up lid so he can smoke when going through towns, like I do. He spends a total of 1200DM, c/o Mr. Credit Card. Off to a top Yamaha dealer where I get Trixie a mirror, oil and filter. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the oil that's currently in her…

We come back to discover there's a Yamaha dealer a the local town to the 'Ring. Arse.

5:15 p.m. Jeremy and I nip off for a quick warm up and then go to the Nürburgring. I am, frankly, bricking myself, but get my ticket just the same, and off I go. Just the one lap, as a taster.

What can I say? I go round very slowly, fuck up all the corners and bends completely, but enjoy it enormously. It's incredibly challenging but very rewarding. I get myself a six-lap ticket and go out again. A bit faster this time but still slower than most. I leave before marvin and Andy and am back well after them – in other words they both passed me. Must do better.

Adam and Amanda turn up. Adam buggers off dead quick and is dead quick. I wait to head off with Amanda for a circuit, but she's chatting. I really give Trixie some serious stick out of the gate and am astonished by how fast she racks up the speed. This means I'm OK for the first bend, but way too fast for the next complex. Rapid slowing down to a pace I can deal with lets me go. I go round the Karusel again (totally groovy) and later past the oil marker where there doesn't seem to be any oil. I get onto the back straight and give her some stick, seeing 130 indicated before I slow down for the exit. Hurrah!

After another lap or two, getting a total of four laps in this evening, I call it a day. The track's about to close and it's threatening rain. I find out that Jeremy has binned the Tiger on the Kellenhard, going too fast into the entrance. I've pushed things far enough for today and have a serious back-of-the-neck feeling that doing one more lap, though tempting, would be a mistake.

I am pleased that I've got round alive and undamaged without doing the hanging-off thing, which I decide is poofy and effete. We head off to the hotel and talk bollocks about the track and Jeremy's "little incident", which has left him with a rather sore leg and a still running bike. After that, we head off to eat, talk more and drink.

Mileage: oh yes, we did some