Saturday 29th. The day dawns to what we all want a nice sunny morning and for the 500cc classic TT boys it's race day. The morning passes with the usual wandering around the paddock chatting and making lots of new friends along the way, there is a big increase in the number of people in the paddock which just helps to add to the whole buzz about the place. Household names dotted about all over the place, then there's the food and stage areas which are always busy with something going on and the market stalls full of people looking for those bargains and mementos. My technical inspection time is not after the end of the classic race so I will be able to find a local spot to watch the action. My other daughter and her family fly in today but will not be with us till after the roads have closed so I have given her some directions to help her get to us from the airport via the seafront. During her visit she is going to a camp site over near Ballaugh Bridge and as it will be getting dark before they can get to the camp site tonight so the owners allowed us to go over Friday morning ( forgot that in Fridays report ) and put the tent up before getting my other daughter from the airport , its busy life racing motorcycles !
They get to us before the Classic race starts and we wander up to watch the racing from the park at the lights near the top of Bray Hill . This is a good spot and the kids can still muck about in a safe environment if they want but the two older boys are taking all the racing in. We enjoy the race and I think they are all surprised by the spectacle of real road racing in the flesh, the true sounds smell and feel of it cannot be experienced unless you are actually there
We then wander back and its not to long before I get the call to get up to technical inspection, as a rule I try to get up there fairly prompt as getting through earlier should get me a good position further up the holding bay to allow me get away in the practice.the technical inspection goes well and so far it has passed every time with not so much as a negative comment, I feel this because of the effort I put in at home to ensure it was right .
I now have so many helpers they are almost fighting to pull the back up trolley up the hill, once up there the tyre warmers are put on and we hang around to wait for the session to begin. It does not seem to long and we get the call to go. Topped up with energy drink I sit in the queue and wait my turn, its not long before I get to the front and again I am shooting off down Bray Hill. The earlier Classic race has left its mark around the course and there a quite a few yellow flags warning us riders of reduced adhesion from treated oil spills add this to the usual low sun vision problems this is not making for the best of laps. As we came over the mountain the vision  was already reduced so I knew that if we got the second lap in a quick lap with all the yellow flags and the other problems was not on the cards.
I chequered flag was not out so a second lap was on but I knew it was not going to be quick as we would be slow come back over the mountain due to visibility . With this in mind and the low sun in the sky near Grebe Castle while with a group of other riders I was surprised to encounter what I would class as short circuit riding from one of my fellow newcomers, pushing through in an aggressive fashion a style that is dangerous to the rider and to those around him. Leave your short circuit style at home, around the Manx course just have a fast road ride learn the road and build your speed slowly ! 
By the second lap over the mountain the cloud had come down so much we had yellow flags from the Gooseneck till coming down again to Creg . I followed a lightweight rider and let him down the peering into the cloud bit .
When I returned to base camp I mentioned that I thought the laps were poor because of all the different things but Mikey said my time was quicker so I popped up and got the timing sheets and sure enough he was right, it just goes to show the more laps ,you do the more comfortable you can become to get that flow, this place is all about the flow. I am fairly happy with the progress and I have a day off tomorrow so might allow myself a beer to celebrate.