continued – Part 2

Over the next few days we got to grips with the rhythm of life during the TT fortnight.  Practice, we discovered, was much the same format as a race with riders leaving the start line at 10 second intervals and competing on time.  The forty competitors in the major categories can be spread out over six or seven minutes at the start.  As the faster riders pull ahead and the slower riders fall back, the field spreads out over 15 or so minutes.  As each lap takes about 20 minutes, and any vantage point can observe only a small section of the track, the enthusiasts followed the progress of their favourites through a detailed commentary provided on a local radio station.  We realised quickly that a good knowledge of the course was needed to visualise what was happening.

When the riders do come into view the experience is electric.  For those who have watched car or bike racing in Australia, where the spectators are protected by steel and concrete barriers and are kept away from the corners by wide run-off areas, the Island is a revelation.  If there are barricades at all, then they are the fences and walls that form the villages and farms along the way.  Where these are close to the track, large foam pads had been strapped in place to try to protect the riders in the case of a fall.  The result is that in many places the spectators are frighteningly close to the bikes; so close you could simply reach out and touch them as they hurtle past.

Many of the vantage points are in churchyards or village squares and in many of these places the local charity groups take up the catering challenge.  Home-made cakes, sandwiches and pasties are common and at least one church ladies' group served their tea and scones on bone china!  We also sought out these venues because there was no alcohol available and those that gathered there were interested in the bikes and not the party.  Not that we saw much alcohol being drunk anywhere.  Most of the crowd were mature folk and the few young thrusters bar-racing in the pubs were easily kept under control by the local constabulary.

Between each practice or race day a lay-day was scheduled.  This allowed the teams to rebuild the bikes but, more importantly, allowed the schedule to be reorganised to account for inclement weather.  Small islands in the middle of the Irish Sea need plenty of flexibility to account for weather.   We used the first lay-day after our arrival to visit the pits and have a close look at the bikes.  Unlike most race meetings, the TT pits are accessible to everyone and the riders are often there, happy to talk to the fans.  We spent several hours checking on every team, photographing their bikes and noting the team colour scheme and number for reference when the racing started.  The only Australian competitor was Cameron Donald who is one of the top TT riders.  When he heard that there were a great number of Australians at the TT, he sent out word that he would meet the group at the start line.  Along with more than 100 other itinerant Aussies we found our way to the appointed place and met the antipodean star.

Cameron is 32 and an experienced TT competitor.  He was articulate and friendly and happy to spend some time with his home-grown supporters.  Jo pushed her way to the front (just kidding) and had her photo taken and Kerry added Cam's photo to her already impressive album of riders.  They declared Cameron “a nice young man” and, since they are both school teachers in their other lives, this is no doubt a good judgment and a much greater compliment than it sounds to the rest of us.

When the first race day arrived on the Saturday, we felt that we were still not prepared for it.  Our days on the Island had been long and exhausting.  There was so much to see and do that we were flat out from early morning till late at night and hard pressed to get ourselves properly fed and watered along the way.  We decided to watch the racing from the Braddan Bridge old church site.  We got there early enough to get great seats at the front next to the track with a view of two corners over the bridge and the straight away to the west.  Armed with our knowledge of the circuit and the riders, and our newly acquired am/fm radio, we had a pleasant day soaking up the sun, reading, watching and following the races, and talking to our fellow spectators.  By the time we got back to town it was too late for a pub or restaurant meal so we bought a bottle of new-world shiraz five minutes before the close of a corner store and ate fish and chips sitting on a wall overlooking Douglas Bay.  It was a good end to a memorable day.

In between all of the bike stuff we managed to get a little sightseeing done on this interesting island.  We spent a day with our friends, and intrepid bike travelers, Greg and Kerry Lane and rode around the south and west of the island spending some time in Port Erin and Peel.  Exploration of the north we decided, would have to wait until another trip.  We also managed a visit to the Isle of Man Home of Rest for Old Horses.  This place is just what its name implies and they have some pretty good-looking equine geriatrics hanging around waiting for the visitors to spend a pound on a bag of horse treats.  We also managed two reasonable restaurant meals and found a drinkable wine most nights.  But, the main business of our stay was bikes and we worked hard to ensure we got the best out of the experience.

Over the next five days we watched the racing and practice from several different locations, each with its own advantages, and tried to fit in non-racing stuff as we could.  The days flew and before we had fully settled to the job of enjoying TT week, we packed and ate a last Douglas breakfast, did a little more sightseeing and joined a rumbling mass of bikes crammed into the cargo deck of the fast ferry.  Before we had time to think about our reaction to the place we were back in the familiar surrounds of Liverpool and we knew it would take some time for us to fully appreciate the experience just ended.

to be continued