Huge hurrah for Cal Crutchlow, clear winner of the Czech MotoGP 2016. Fingers crossed for Silverstone in ten days time. Britain hasn’t had a winner of a premier class motorbike Grand Prix since London’s Barry Sheene won five 500cc Grands Prix in 1976, bringing him the 1976 World Championship, he retained the Championship again in the 1977 season with six victories. Barry Sheene’s last win was the 1981 Swedish Grand Prix, that was on a privateer Yamaha bike. My photo from the January 1980 Motorcycle Show at Alexandra Palace shows me astride Barry Sheene’s Heron-Suzuki RG500 that had been his ride when I saw his battle at Silverstone for the hard-fought 1979 British Motorcycle Grand Prix.

Taking a break in the relative cool of the oak forest at about 600m. altitude on Mont Ste. Baume; circadas chattering at an almost deafening racket  This afternoon's heat is too hot to ride a motorbike - I've seen thermometers showing 35°C and more today since riding out from Marseille after a coffee and croissant petit déjeuner. Back on the road, refreshed by a diet cola and an orange, I enjoyed riding down that favourite road, the route down from the Col de l'Espigoulier (723 m.)

I'm riding light for a week on the mountain roads of the Alps. No laptop, although I do have my SLR camera but photos will have to wait till I'm back in Marseille..

I left Marseille for a long ride north via the Col de la Croix Haute (1179 m.) to Saint-Gervais under Mont Blanc. A bit of rain towards the end of the day which cleaned the Provence dust off my white leathers and boots but didn't soak me through.

Read more here Alps Biker blog 2016

A lap of the historic road race route around and over Mt. Ventoux (1912 m.), it’s a challenging route of 55 km. As well as a number of hairpin bends and a lot of altitude loss/gain there are a number of truly scary straight runs which end in either a blind curve (or multiple curves) with either hard rock, a sheer drop or just forest to greet you if you get it wrong. Not really time to appreciate the views of all of Provence from the Alps to the Mediterranean. A few opportunities to feel the breeze down the inside of the back of the suit from the intake on the speed bump but generally, sharing the road with so many Lycra fetishists (ie cyclists, and there are thousands of them) makes it difficult to imagine how the route would feel as a bike road race, like the TT. Anyhow, the villages were bustling and atmospheric, especially Bédoin on the south side.

Read more: A lap of Ventoux