Last weekend was magic.  Silverstone World Super Bikes and messing with great company on the Brackley Festival of Motorcycling (www.bfom.co.uk) stand.

It struck me that my re-awakening to the joys of motorcycling took place one year ago at the very same event.  This year was marked by fantastic conversations with bike fanatics from all over the UK.  Awsome !  It does constantly amaze me that just about every biker out there is such a friendly, warm human being.  It re-affirms my faith in the human race to know that wherever I go, so long as there are bikers there, I have friends.  What a wonderful world it is.

Oh and by the way, it’s the Brackley Festival of Motorcycling on Sunday 21st August.  It’s a brilliant family event all in aid of charity with thousands of lovely people and loads of bikes.  Check it out and I hope to see you there.

After a few weeks where life managed to get thoroughly in the way of my play activities I finally managed to get out on Jessica again today.  Some might say it was not the best thing I could have done, it was our 22nd wedding anniversary after all, but what the hell, herself was working anyway.

Todays trip was down to the coast again, this time to Lulworth Cove in Dorset.  I sure I went there as a kid but can’t say I really sure.  What a gorgeous place it is though.  Riding down some great roads from Salisbury to Blandford Forum with characteristically little traffic was a joy.  It went a bit pear shaped at that point when I managed to get lost but that only added to the fun trying to find myself again.  The cove itself is stunning.  The facilities great and the rum and raisin ice cream a rare treat.  Jessica performed flawlessly as usual but I can’t believe how much I ache now..and it was only a 160 mile round trip !

ME !

OK I admit it.  It was me who filled the bike up with diesel.  The result being nearly two hours at the side of the road draining the tank and a beautiful blue cloud of smoke when I did eventually got it started again.  Fortunately draining the fuel filter and having good old fashioned carburetors without a fuel pump meant it was not too difficult a job to fix.  So before anybody else officially nominates me I thought I had better do it myself !

And the plan starts to come together.  One of the reasons for wanting to get back into biking was to give the Old Dragon and I something we could do together.  We were both very much into bike before we met so it seemed like a logical thing to do.  Today, for the first time, we ventured out on the GSX for a little run to Loomie’s.  This was the first time for 25years as a pillion for the poor old dear and I’m so happy it proved to be a great success. Now the rest of the summer is going to be huge fun.

The MOT was due this month, I hate it when that happens !

This is the first since I got the GSX so was a bit of an unknown quantity…and it failed.  I was not best pleased.  The bike is an import, which I knew, and it turns out it still has the Euro spec headlight.  Now it was a dealer that imported it and I thought they were obliged to change things like headlights if that was the case.  Not to mention the fact that I have a whole bunch of previous MOT pass certificates !  Is there no consistency in these tests any more ?  The other thing was ‘excessive travel of the front brake lever’.  Of course had the tester just changed the span adjuster he would have found out there was no such thing.  Is it me or is there a lack of common sense amongst officialdom.

Anyway, enough ranting.  All sorted now and a day off on Friday.  Just got to decide where to go.  Maybe a visit to little brother up around Silverstone, or shall I go see the sea ?  Decisions decisions, why is life never easy.

Good Friday bank holiday and the Old Dragon says ‘Why don’t you get out on the bike’….gob smacked or what.  I wasn’t going to let an opportunity like that pass though so off I went.  Trouble was I didn’t have anywhere to go planned so we started with a basic premise that I wanted to see the sea.  Now, living in Hampshire you’re fairly spoilt for choice there so I started with a fun road to ride down towards Romsey and Totton.  And there I was at Calshot with a huge grin on my face having had great fun putting into practice riding tips gleaned from my little Brother.

 One of the reasons I wanted to return to biking was as a way of escaping and dealing with my stress.  For my sins I have a job that has more than its fair share of that.  So far I have been out on three relatively minor trips all of which have been massively enjoyable and have very effectively taken me away from the daily grind.  I have met some wonderful people, seen some lovely places and always come back with a silly grin.  I am now firmly of the opinion that motorcycling is in fact the greatest leisure activity ever invented and should probably be made available on the NHS….now there’s an idea, I quite fancy the job of Minister for Motorcycling !

Yesterday was a brilliant day.  Having been thoroughly converted to cruisers, little brother and I visited the Thunder Road demo day at the Arrow Mill Hotel not far from Stratford-on-Avon.  A very enjoyable day ensued riding around on various flavours of Victory bikes.  The Vegas 8-Ball was interesting !  I’m not sure that really suits me, and the Cross Country was a revelation.  This is easily the largest bike I’ve ridden, equipped with panniers, top box and an armchair for the pillion passenger.  Much to my surprise it handled beautifully and was a joy to ride.  Running boards took a bit of getting used too, but that’s a minor point.  It was remarkably comfortable, the huge V-twin is just so sexy and I had visions of loading up the old Dragon and heading out across Europe.  Now, how am I going to get that many pennies in the same place at the same time ?

I have always had a thing about supporting forces personnel who have served their country so when the opportunity to pay my respects and raise some money for the Afghan Heroes charity came along I jumped at it.  It was only made better by the fact that I could combine this with a run on the bike and a get together with my brother.  As expected the biker fraternity turned out in force with approximately 10,000 bikes and a further 3,000 pillion passengers in attendance.  The atmosphere was terrific, the patriotism refreshing and the emotion very genuine.  I admit it bought a tear to my eye and a lump throat riding through the villages surrounding Wootton Bassett, sorry that would be Royal Wootton Bassett.  There were many onlookers clapping and waving flags in support of the ride.  And as for the run through the town centre, well, that nearly finished me off.  Never have I been so grateful for a full face helmet.  Congratulations to all the bikers who took part in this and similar rides around the country.  You are, as I remembered from my younger days, the most genuine and likeable bunch of people I have ever had the privilege to associate with.  Respect to our troops and bikers, true Brits every one.

Watch the video

Many years ago, as a rebellious teenager I rode many a mile on a motorbike.  It was a great joy that I have never truely got over or been able to forget.  However, due to lack of funds I never did get around to taking my full licence.  Subsequent years brought career, family, responsibilitiies etc etc and so motorcycling interests were forced into the background where it remained dormant…..until the Summer of 2010 that is.

A visit to Silverstone to help my brother promote the Brackley Festival of Motorcycling put an end to that.  During the quiet period I was handed the keys to a gorgeous Honda VFR800 and told to play around the perimeter track.  My interest has now been well & truely reawakened.  Where will it all end up ?  Who knows but watch this space to find out !