Fair Weather Bikers

I got out on my R1 today - it was sunny but cold. Withiin 5 miles my chin was numb and eyes were streaming, and I was having a blast!! I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

We did a the 'Another Piggin Rally' rally in Crewe this weekend, and amzingly the weather was very nice. We had a very good time, and went home via the Cat & Fiddle (famous biking road).

Well this year has been even more of a wash out than last year. We've had one of the wettest Augusts on record. It's hardly stopped raining since I bought my R1.

But never mind, I'm going on holiday to Kos for a week!! Below are the forcasts for Bradford and Kos - guess which is which!

Well this year has been even more of a wash out than last year. We've had one of the wettest Augusts on record. It's hardly stopped raining since I bought my R1.

But never mind, I'm going on holiday to Kos for a week!! Below are the forcasts for Bradford and Kos - guess which is which!

This year has been a bit of a wash out - both weather wise and touring wise. Nothing happened - though I do intend to do a rally before the year is out.

There are big plans in the making for next year - but I'm not going to say anymore until things are more settled. I did the first part of my preparation today - I fitted my Givi Wingrack to my VFR! Watch this space for further information about next year :)

Today I traded in my ZX7R for a Yamaha R1! It is awesome. I had a 100 mile ride on it tonight and it blew my mind. I need a new word because fast doesn't even come close to describing this bike!

Me and Nig met up with Steve and Alan from Hull today. We had a fab time.

This weekend we did our annual camping in the woods - it was a good night until Steve decided to get us all up at 5am!

Today we went to the GB Bikers Goat Meet. This year the annual charity meeting was for the National Association for Bikers with Disability (NABD). We went in the car because it was raining and the route there is mainly motorways so it would have been no fun on the bike.

I got my ZX7R on the road last weekend - I forgotten how awesome the bike is! I have a small problem with it - it will not start off the starter when warm, bumps no problem and starts when cold off the button so I'm a bit puzzled. At the moment I am thinking there is a blockage somewhere between the fuel tank and the carbs so I need to take the tant off to check that out.

Today was a very good day. It started off well - the sun was out, I made myself a lovely breakfast, the MotoGP was on the telly, perfect!

After the race, as the weather was so nice, I took Jane's Hornet for a spin as non of my bikes are insured and they all need tyres :(

The Hornet was brilliant though, and I had a really really good ride. Over the long dark months of winter you forget just how good it is to get out on two wheels on a nice sunny day.

We went to Hull today the birthday party of for our good friends Steve and Mike. On the way called in at another couple of friends, Cathy and Alan, as Alan had just taken delivery of a new KTM 990 Adventure. It's a fab bike - here are some pictures. Hope you have a blast on it mate!

It snowed last night, so no biking for me this weekend, below is a picture from my living room this morning. Also I've updated the pictures of Yoshi - I can't believe how much he's grown in less than 6 months!

It was Scunthorpe Scorpions first home meeting in the Speedway Premiership League today so I persuaded Jane to go. She'd never been to a speedway race before so I was hoping it'd be a good one.

The racing was excellent and it was very close, Scunthorpe loosing 41-48, but it was very windy and VERY cold so Jane didn't enjoy it as much as she might have as you can see from the picture below!

Today I rode Jane's bike to work for an MOT it didn't need (but that's another story!).

It was a nice day and a very pleasant ride. On the way home I was sat at some traffic lights, I'd been stationary for a few seconds when I felt big bang from behind and got shunted forwards a couple of feet. The car behind had not stopped in time and ran into me!

Luckily I was in the 'safety position' (foot on back brake, in neutral, hands on bars, front brake not on) . If I'd have been holding the front brake I'd have been straight over the bars.

I looked behind and the silly woman in the car simply waved and said sorry. She made no attempt to get out, nor did she stop after the lights. If she'd hit a car she'd have been straight out, but for some reason I guess hitting a bike isn't as big an issue for her.

I really wasn't very happy, but luckily there is no damage to the bike. It really has emphasised the importance of the safety position to me though!

My neighbour, Janis, took delivery of her brand new GSXR750 today and it's lovely.

Fantastic weather this weekend - so me and Nig went for a steady ride. The roads were tricky because parts of the road that the sun hadn't got to were still icy - but it was still fun. As we were parked up at the Sun Inn about 300 bikes turned up - it was some kind of memorial ride from Sherburn aparently. We noticed we were being blocked in so went to move our bikes.

A Harley Davidson rider was in the process of getting off his bike which was blocking mine in, so I asked him if he could just move back a bit while I got mine out as we were off soon. He said 'You've loads of room' and left - the ignorant git. I managed to get my bike out, but I had to struggle because of this moron.

Unfortunately Harley riders don't have the best of reputations amongst my friends and this kind of attitude is precisely why.

Tonight I went to the Kawasaki ZX10R launch hoping to win a bike. Unfortunately I didn't win anything but it was still a nice evening with free food and drink to boot!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Yes, yes I know it's late, but I've been a bit busy recenly and updating my website has not been my highest priority. Hope everybody had a Super Christmas and New Year. I guess I'd better recap some of the more bike related things that have happened since my last update:

I took Nig and my niece Zoe to the NEC Show in November. I would not have gone if Nig had not asked me, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't really see any bike that I liked, but I enjoyed looking round. I met Chris Walker, who is a nice bloke and took time out to speak to us. And finally we went to the show in the Thunderdome, which was fantastic! Here are some pictures.

This autumn and winter have been very wet and windy so far - so not much bike riding. I just hope the weather improves a bit as the year goes on. If we have another washout like last year I might have to buy a jetski instead of a bike!

Having said that - New Years Eve was actually quite a nice day. I've been pining over a new Yamaha R1 for a few weeks now and I found a used one with only 700 miles on for cheep. On New Years Eve I cracked and set-off to the bike shop to buy it - but the shop was closed, which was lucky as I can't really afford another bike! So I had a ride on my VFR instead and rediscovered what a fantastic bike that is - especially in wintery conditions.

Finally, and sadly my Grandma passed away last week. She was born in 1920 and has lived a very full and varied life. In her youth she also enjoyed being on motorcycles - and here is a picture of her as well as a very funny one she took of me and my sister and brother.