(06-03-2015, 10:49 AM)larryd Wrote: It's a sadistic thought, but I always enjoyed hammering through Kirkmichael just before 6 am on my Aermacchi, listening to the noise echoing back off the buildings and thinking of the unfortunate residents being blasted from their beds!!

Sounds like quite a hangover cure

Loving the memories of the early morning practises,

My very first one,
Was a strange affair,,
As at the time i was working in Crellins the Bakers,
So the Bike was already to go on the Sunday, Complete with Numbers etc, Proddy LC,,
But still had to to the midnight shift at work, getting time off for a couple of hours to go and practise,
Turned up to work at 12, on the bike, leathers etc, changed into my Bakers gear,
Then disappeared off at around 4am, to go to the Grandstand, Not sure if anybody was there to help out, but with a proddy bike it didn't really matter,
But from the noise and clutter and smells of a Bakery, to the peace and quiet of the Grandstand, until the proper race bikes were allowed to fire up, was so different, to say the least,
Castrol R in the Air instead of the sweet smell of cakes/pies etc being baked,
It was like a different world !

Tap on the Shoulder to go,
Then my first lap started, after Years of living on the Island it was a dream come true,
So many times watching from the side lines, and to finally get to go out on the course on roads closed,
Can remember, Peter stood on Bray hill waving me on,,
Making sure that i got Braddan right, as i had marshaled there for a few years before,

Out onto Ballacraine, This is surreal, No cars coming at you !
And you can use both sides of the road !! Wonderful,

Out through Glen Helen, Whoops i got a bit close to the wall at Glen Duff,, That hurt my hand when the brake lever hit the wall, But better than the Ramsey Bakery van that i went under the inside off a couple of weeks earlier !

The run into Ballaugh, past Bishops Court and the smell of the Wild Garlic ! You dont smell it when theres other traffic about !
Out onto Ramsey, Sugar butties, its rougher than you think using the whole road,, Wheres the best line to take ?
More so as the Sun is hiding behind the trees,,

And then onto the Mountain, After the last bit its like a very new road,
That early morning sun feels like somebody has just turned the heating on, but just on your back,
The roads just seem to feel so much nicer, and you feel that bit more confident with that glint of early morning sun,
Up to the Black hut, bit of a shadow here, as the sun hasn't hit the road yet,
Then around the Veranda for the very first time on roads closed,,,
Its one corner but 3 bends,, Which is the best way to do ?
Across the tramlines, ( Bet they still hurt ? )
Up to the highest point on the circuit, Its all downhill from here,
Just got to get around Windy Corner, its blowing well up from the valley, as always,
Wave to the German Guy on the way out, He was a Trade mark for where he stood in all weathers,
On to the 33rd, This was Scary,,,,
As it was a mixed Proddy practise,
The Guys on the bigger bikes had caught up by then, no names no packed drill is the best way of puttin it,, lol
Early GSXR,s were like camels through there, bucking and weaving ! Credit to them though,

Who even in those days,
Practiced going around Governors Dip ?
Nobody,, lol
So wobbly around there, and finish my very first practise lap, in a Early Morning Practise,
Good lap time done, over the 2 laps that i did,
Then went out on a Sidecar for a couple of laps,

And as they say in life !!
Normal service was resumed,,,
Back to work at Crellins, to make the hours up,
Bet they coudnt shut me up though !! lol

Morning Practise,
It was the Dogs Danglie Bits !
Sorry Malcolm,,, But had to say that

What an absolute wonderfull description of your first taste,i could imagine being on the bike with you,bet you felt all wobbly when you got back to work,with the excitement of it all. And i wouldn,t think Malcolm would be too bothered about your summing up,very politely put and to the point,i bet he had a little chuckle. Lovely story.

Love that story BenjiesDad that is top shop , the stuff Forums were made for , and so well done , painting a picture with words , love it go to the top of the class that man


.

Ian and Eddy,
Glad you liked that,
Like most things in life, it just needed to be able to sit down in peace and quiet and relate a silly tale, All be it a true one,
Got a load more to tell, but don't want to bore everybody,
But the Early Morning Practice thread, just hit the note at the right time,
So Couldn't resist putting pen to paper,
Was lovely to see Tom Loughridge thoughts as well,

And to whoever posted this !
"Morning practice is like Early Mass to Catholics. Only the very devout and insane attend."
It coudnt be summed up better ! Lol

Benjies Dad

Hi BenjiesDad please tell us more about early morning practice brilliant

Monday Mornings for the first practice session,
Were always a Joy,
But at the same time, a little jittery,
Bearing in mind, that back then you had the Jurby road meeting on the Saturday before hand to get dialled in and sort the bike out,
Even if everything went well at Jurby,
You still had to spend all day Sunday, checking the bike over,
Plus going up to get signed on, Riders briefing etc, Nip into the TTSC to get your goody bag !! lol
It was a packed day of things to do,

Sleep Sunday Night,,
What Sleep !! as my Ex used to say to me, you have changed gears so many times, in your sleep,,,, You might have been out there on the Bike,,

And as somebody else has said, to pay that extra bit of money to be able to ride your bike to the Grandstand was worth every penny !
Whether the neighbors thought so is another matter ,,,
Arrive at the Grandstand, knowing full well that the Girls will have got the TTSC tent already on the go,
Coffee or a soup,, Decision time,,, If it was tomato soup, that was my choice !
Those girls deserve a medal for what they did to support us all in those days, Sadly missed by all accounts,

Up into the then very new Scrut Area,
Who never seemed to have enough plugs to plug there kettles in ! lol ( Bearing in mind this is very pre pc days,, )
And wind them up, not too much, over the fact that there is a nice hot drink just a stones throw away,,

But whilst all this is going on,
You get annoyed that somebody has had the cheek to fire a bike up, and spoil the total quiet,
It was a really surreal place to be !

5am i think,
And the Tannoy went live,
With the road conditions for the morning, and a possible start time,
At least with early morning practices, we didn't get the delays due to somebody parking on the sliproads,, Nobody else was up !

Then the start time for the practice was announced,
What was peace and quiet,,
Was shattered by over 100 bikes firing up to get ready to go, for all classes ,
Thats a sound, that i wish you could bottle and sell on,
2 Strokes of all sizes, 4 strokes of all sizes, it was Mayhem,
But great fun to be part off,

You weren't just Joe Bloggs to some of the top Guys, and looked down upon,
You were treated as an equal, because you earned that right to go out and race on the TT Course,
And being as Daft as they were, you Got up Early to do so,
Without any Factory Mechanics working hard on your bikes overnight,
You did it all yourself !!

Iam pretty sure that a lot of Riders who read this, and who were about it that Era will echo this ?

Dont worry, got Tales to tell as well,,,,,, Lol

Benjies Dad

Tell the tales please... Great nostalgia in the build up to this years event

Really enjoyed reading your memories BenjiesDad. Thanks for sharing.

The tramlines you mention at the Bungalow Benjiesdad, me and my 350 crossed them one morning, not together though - me on my 4rse/head/back following the bike in a shower of sparks. Excellent hospitality and early morning p.ss taking up there with the marshals and ambulance crew - highly commended but not really recommended hahaha.

(08-03-2015, 12:55 PM)DaveOldham Wrote: What an absolutely fantastic piece of footage, thanks for sharing.

Agreed - wonderful film. I was lucky enough to do the final week of EMP at TT2003 (I think they also had them at the Manx that year). It really was magical. Arriving at the Black Dub at 5AM was something in itself. I also remember being a little late one morning and, waiting at the lights at the bottom of Bray, a florescent clad chap rode up. One of the TM's. He asked where I was heading to - when I told him Black Dub, he simply told me to tag on to him and we'd get there in no time. Suffice to say that he was out of sight before I had got to the second jump at Ago's! Happy days! I would love to see them back again.

Loved the post and feel rather envious that I never saw an early morning practice.
Perhaps we should start a partition to bring back early practice for us golden oldies to give us the chance to see it.