What a brilliant weekend we’ve just had.  The Old Dragon and I headed off to the Ace Café for their Cruiser Day.  The plan was to meet up with my brother and friends from the Brackley Festival of Motorcycling (www.bfom.co.uk) on their Victory cruisers and also friends from the Suzuki 800 forum (www.suzuki800.com) all on various Suzuki Intruder cruisers.

The weather on the way out was sublime.  The temperature was in the mid 20 degrees C and, because that it was relatively early on a Sunday morning, the roads empty.  The sun shone and God was in his heaven as they say.  We all eventually met up at Ace Café and how impressed was I that a member of the Suzuki 800 forum, Dave, whom I had never met before walked up to me and started chatting before I could even remove my helmet.  Dave actually runs the forum and we have had many a chat online over the last year but even so I love the way this happens in the biking community, we’ve never met before but there we were chatting away as if we had known each other all our lives.  It is unique in my experience and something to be treasured. It was so nice to catch up with others that I have exchanged messages with and benefitted from their knowledge over the time I’ve been on the forum.  Not to mention, of course, catching up with little Bro, Andy and Linda, which is always a pleasure.

All in all it was a brilliant day.  However, a word of caution is in order here I think.  On our way home with the temperatures reaching uncomfortable levels we saw more than a few sights than send a cold shiver down my spine.  There were numerous young lads out on the roads on powerful sports bikes dressed in shorts and T-shirts.  On it’s own this is bad enough and bordering on suicidal but combine that with the way these fools were riding and it left me cold.  To make things worse and drive the point home when I arrived home there was an article on the local newspaper website stating that 6 motorcyclists in their 20′s had been involved in fatal accidents over the weekend in Hampshire alone.

Can I use this blog to make a heart felt plea to everybody who rides a motorcycle please.

Motorcycling in something that gives me and thousands of others a great deal of pleasure and a sense of community that is unique and very special.  It is also a relatively dangerous pastime.  We don’t have airbags and crumple zones.  Our safety aids lie between our ears.  If we don’t anticipate and out-think the other idiots on our roads then we stand a better than evens chance of getting hurt.  Please, please, please think about what you are doing and don’t take unnecessary risks.  It is better to be hot and sweaty than dead.  Life is short enough as it is, go easy, take care and enjoy riding a bike for many years to come.

Once again, it’s been a while since I wrote a post here.  It has, unfortunately, been an interesting time in my life.  That would be an interesting times as in the old Chinese curse ‘May you live in interesting times’.  There have been some major career changes which, although they weren’t unexpected and haven’t been easy and have led to a major re-evaluation of priorities.  Whilst this has been going on there have been some major expenses, as always happens when your not in the best position to deal with them.  And, just to top it all off, it seems that the time off has allowed me to relax and recover from what has been a remarkably stressful existence over the last decade or so.  The result of which has been all the classic symptoms of stress with continuous sniffles and general feeling of not being quite right.  My particular favourite symptom being a few attacks of gout, an absolute joy as anybody who has ever suffered will surely tell you.

So, I hear you ask, what has this to do with a motorcycling blog.  Well, it’s like this.  Through all this my bike has been there as a constant, reliable pillar to lean on.  When I’ve had to take time out to think and evaluate my options I’ve gone for a ride; when I’ve needed to escape and relax, I’ve gone for a ride and when I’ve needed to bolster my spirits and cheer myself up, I’ve gone for a ride.  My passion for motorcycling has been there as something that has helped me through every step of the changes that had to be made.  It has provided peace, an escape and motivation when it was most needed and there’s always somebody to have a chat with and pass the time of day.

This isn’t something I’ve encountered in any other activity.  Our passion is a truly unique one.  No matter what we ride we share a sense of community, we have friends wherever we go who will always offer help if it’s needed.  What we have is special and I am grateful.  To each and every one of you who shares the passion and rides a bike of whatever description, Thank you.