Just thought I should add – after the winter-ish previous post – that the days are getting longer. We’re well past the winter solstice and summer will be here in no time. So even if you’re doing the sensible thing and hiding your pride and joy away for the winter (my S1000XR is safely under  [Read full post…]

I’m not normally too bothered by winter, but this weekend’s ride wasn’t much fun. I don’t know if you were out as well. There didn’t seem to be too many bikes about. I guess it’s only fools like me who persist in pretending that riding bikes is always brilliant, no matter what the weather. There  [Read full post…]

Non-bike-post alert: what’s all the fuss about with gin? I’ve been kind of aware of it for a while. My friend the Hack is a fan, I’ve seen these “festivals” cropping up. Number One Son and his partner, Little Miss Sunshine, are both keen on it. Now The Fair Lady Scully has been bitten by  [Read full post…]

Just thinking about it: what would you do to get the money to make your biking dream a reality? Change jobs? Give up smoking? Give up drinking? Take the cash out of the family budget, so you’re all eating basics meals and the kids don’t get new phones? Sell a kidney, or a relative? I’ve  [Read full post…]

Had an hour to kill between meetings yesterday and I started wondering what I’d do if I won the lottery. It’s never productive, that kind of thinking. Not only because it’ll never happen (I never buy a ticket) but also because it’s endless. Which bike would you have? All of them. Where would you ride  [Read full post…]

I was thinking about Thursday night’s slog back from Manchester. It was a miserable journey (and I say that as a southerner riding away from Manchester – which is normally the definition of a great journey!) In some ways it was one of the toughest trips I can remember riding. Certainly one of the toughest  [Read full post…]

Don’t know why I was worried about the weather. No problems. Damn cold, though… especially the run over the moors on Woodhead Pass. I think I prefer that to Snake Pass, from a riding point of view. More open, easier overtakes (though I was lucky and there wasn’t too much traffic). Last night’s return run  [Read full post…]

I’m watching the weather forecast with some trepidation. All this talk of snow is making me nervous. I know some people like snow. Skiers, for instance. School-kids who get an unexpected day off. But I’m a motorcyclist – and a self-employed one who doesn’t have a car, just a bike, to get to work. And  [Read full post…]

We had our first decent breakfast run of the year on Saturday. A good turn-out – as well as myself, there was Dale Caesar, Punchy Pete, Tidy Tim, Noddy and Hogsback Harry (who I should call Hogsgone Harry, as he currently doesn’t have a Harley). Almost the full touring crew. Admittedly, we didn’t have much  [Read full post…]