A Bedford Biker

My Magazine Publication

2012-05-29T00:35:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

This post is about my first magazine publication in a motorcycle magazine called Hertfordshire Biker (exciting stuff)! This issue was published at the start of May, so I have been rather lazy and taken my time to write this blog post about it.

The article is written based on interview with me and is about my motorcycling experiences, right from when I first started riding, to present day and my plans to ride to Italy this year.

When I had the photoshoot for the magazine, it was literally a couple of days before my Superdream was on the road, so the images in the article show me on my old CG125. Looking back at them, it seems like such a long time ago that I was riding that tiny motorcycle and it’s almost a little embarrassing!

Despite this, I’m ever so grateful and really lucky to have been chosen for the article and front cover.

Below are some images of the magazine, but if you’d like to read the article, you can find an online version here -
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/b54fd238#/b54fd238/17

and
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/b54fd238#/b54fd238/19

Catch-up Part 2

2012-04-18T07:55:00.001-07:00

You may remember me talking about a motorcycle event held in the Italian Alps called the ‘Stella Alpina Rally’. After attending this as a pillion for the last 3 years, I have made the decision to ride there on my own motorcycle this year. Previously, I was unable to ride there myself because it would have taken me 10 years to get there on my old CG125!
I still haven’t figured out how I will pack everything onto my motorcycle, but I will no doubt end up using my hideously large top box which will make me look like a pizza delivery girl on tour!

I feel incredibly lucky, having only been riding for a couple of years, being so young and already having the opportunity to ride abroad all the way to Italy! I'm really quite unsure about the off-roading once we’ve arrived at the Alps, although I may as well give it a go – and don’t worry, I'm sure someone will take a photograph of me lying under my motorcycle if/when I fall off, just for your amusement.

In preparation for this, I will soon be taking part in a day’s training at a local off-road training school called TrailWorld. I decided that if I’m really going to take a Superdream off-road, it may be wise to actually learn some off-road skills beforehand. Also, if I really do chicken out when I get to the Alps, it’s not so bad because this training course will also help me on-road as it will teach me skills that I can use when dealing with different road conditions.

I’m considering keeping a journal whilst I’m away as it’ll be my first time riding abroad and it would be nice to have some kind of story to publish on this blog by the end of July!

Blog posts coming up:

Magazine Publication
Helmet camera

Catch-up Part 1

2012-03-17T03:44:00.000-07:00

After approximately one year of not publishing any blog posts, I have finally come back!

Unfortunately, work started to take up too much of my time and I found myself rather dedicated to meeting deadlines and being left with no time for waffling about motorcycles on the Internet.

I’d better start by telling you what’s happened in the last year whilst I was away. First things first – I passed my motorcycle test!

In August I decided I was ready to go for it. After so many weeks of practising the Module One manoeuvres (slalom, figure of eight, hazard avoidance, etc.), I booked both parts of the test together, only days apart.

This was risky considering that if I were to fail Module One, I could not go on to do the Module Two only days later - which would be a lot of money wasted. The only reason why I booked them so closely together was because the choices were either two days apart, or to do Module Two three months later. I didn’t go for the latter because I was desperate to pass my test and I didn’t like the idea of doing my test in (most likely) wet weather.

Thankfully, I managed to pass each Module on the first attempt. On the day of Module Two, I even brought a screwdriver along with me, ready to remove those ‘Learner’ plates as soon as I had passed!

In a recent interview I was asked if there was any advice that I would give to people who are learning to ride. Here’s what I said:

- Don't rush towards your test. Take the time to build up your confidence, learn to ride properly and take your test when you are ready.

- Be prepared - find out what is involved in the test so you know what is expected of you.

- Take the opportunity to ride with more experienced riders – lessons are expensive but you can improve a lot by riding with others, receiving feedback and getting a lot of practice.

You can probably guess what came next after passing my test.

Buying a bigger motorcycle, of course!

Due to my age, I am restricted to 33bhp for the first two years after passing my test. I understand that a lot of people are buying larger motorcycles and simply restricting them to 33bhp for those two years, however, I decided to get a motorcycle that I didn’t need to restrict. My reason for this? After only have experience on a light-weight 125, I think that before jumping on a huge motorcycle, I should get experience on something more middle-weight where I can not only get used to a bit more power, but also a larger physical size and weight.

I decided to go after a Honda CB250N Superdream. After all, I adore old Hondas and I knew I could pick up an average-condition CB250N for around £500. I spent a couple of months scouring eBay for one that was in a good condition, within my budget and close enough to go and look at before the bidding.

As you can imagine, I was getting pretty desperate – having passed my test and STILL having to ride around on my little 125. Anyway, one day in October I came home from work to discover a 1982 CB250N parked outside of my house. It turned out that my dad had found a suitable one without mentioning it to me and the whole thing came as a total surprise! Having bought this motorcycle for only £250, it did need some work doing to it, which I wasn’t too fussed about because I’m always eager to learn more about motorcycle renovation.

Five months and £500 worth of new parts later, my beloved 250 is finally on the road.

Admittedly, it could have been on the road much earlier than this although I’ve only had time to work on it during the weekends when I wasn’t at work.

For those of you who ride large motorcycles, a 250 probably sounds really small to you. However, I couldn’t be happier and I love nothing more than getting all the experience that I can possibly get before I buy my dream Honda 400/4.

I took this photograph of my CB250N before I started doing any work to it so it doesn't look it's best here. Fear not - those worryingly rusty rear shock absorbers have since been replaced with lovely shiny new Hagons!

Stella Alpina Rally

2011-05-26T13:58:00.001-07:00

I thought I’d write about this rally as it is coming up in the next couple of months, and it might be something that some of you are interested in.

The 'Stella Alpina Motociclistica Internazionale', known as the Stella Alpina Rally to most of us, is a motorcycling event held in Bardonecchia, Italy.
The main event is a ride up an off-road track to the Colle del Sommeiller, and this takes place on the Sunday morning. As everyone sets off in their own time, you find other motorcyclists coming past you in the other direction as you go up and down the track.

The idea of riding on an unsurfaced track can seem pretty daunting to some riders. However, the Stella Alpina’s original purpose was to give the average road rider an opportunity to take their road bikes off-road and experience a different kind of riding. I have even seen Goldwings and sidecar outfits heading up there. The track can be negotiated on most motorcycles, and it’s something that everyone should try at least once!

Another great part of the weekend is the social scene, and the chance to meet loads of like-minded people.

So as I mentioned above, the meeting takes place in the small town of Bardonecchia, which is near the Italian/French border at the end of the Frejus tunnel. The tunnel is the faster, more direct route to Bardonechhia, although you have to pay to use it and if you have some time on your hands then it’s definitely worth going up and over the top of the mountains instead of through them - you’ll find some beautiful scenery!

It’s easy to get over to Bardonecchia in one or two days riding from the UK. However, if you’re interested in touring a bit of Europe then it’s always nice to leave a week or so in advance and mooch around the surrounding countries for a bit.

For those of you considering going to the Stella Alpina, the date for your diaries is the second Sunday in July – every year!

Having attended this rally for the past two years, I can honestly say it’s a fantastic holiday if you enjoy riding abroad and taking a challenge.

Check out the YouTube videos below if you’d like to see a video of the Stella Alpina track, and some photographs from my previous trips to Bardonecchia.

If you know any mates that are interested in touring or off-roading, don’t forget to direct them to this page!

The dreaded swerve test - What do you think?

2011-05-06T11:38:00.000-07:00

I don’t know how many of you have heard about the swerve test or ‘hazard avoidance’ as they like to call it, but it’s a manoeuvre that was introduced last year into Module 1 of the motorcycle test over here in the UK.

The manoeuvre involves riding at a speed of 50kph (31mph) and then purposely swerving around some cones approximately 10 metres after the speed check. The idea of this is to simulate dodging around an obstacle/hazard in the road.

However, you have only two attempts to complete this successfully and given that your speed is electronically measured as the rider enters the first set of cones, it is quite possible to fail the test simply by not quite achieving the required speed. Consequently, a significant amount of practice is required beforehand (on both wet and dry roads since the test remains the same regardless of the weather) which presents many opportunities for mishap.

31mph doesn’t really seem that fast when you first consider it – so how bad can this swerve test be?

The manoeuvre was originally brought in to comply with European Union legislation, and it was designed with a view to improving road safety and making motorcyclists more prepared for a similar situation on the road.

When I researched into the swerve test on the Internet, I came across many news articles and accounts of learners’ experiences; there are very little positive comments about it.

It was even reported last year by the BBC that after less than one month of the manoeuvre being introduced, the UK Government was already under pressure to reconsider it after many crashes.

As I am soon to take my motorcycle test, I decided to have a go at this swerve test myself because it seems very daunting. I recently attended a training day with one of my local training organisations with the intention of practicing all of the manoeuvres presented in Module 1 of the test.

However, when we were being briefed on the swerve test, the instructor seemed very hesitant to have to students practice the manoeuvre at the full speed of 31mph and our speed was not monitored.

I decided to first have a go at the swerve manoeuvre at a speed of around 20mph. Even at this speed it took me a couple of attempts before I swerved smoothly without almost knocking over the cone. On each attempt I was trying to build my speed up a little and by 25mph I began feeling very unsafe.

It took me a lot of attempts to build up the confidence to reach 31mph, although I still felt it was very unsteady and unsafe. I felt as if on each attempt I was taking a huge risk of crashing my pride-and-joy motorcycle.

Furthermore, given that most speedometers read slow, I suspect that I will still be required to ride a little faster still to achieve the minimum speed required.

I honestly consider this part of the motorcycle test to be very dangerous. I think that no matter what speed you are travelling at, it is never safe to swerve on two wheels because there is simply not enough stability there. After experiencing this for myself, I really think it’s no wonder that so many learners have been crashing on this part of the test.

After my experience on my training day I am ever so grateful that I have had the opportunity to practice the swerve, because without practice I don’t think I will be able to swerve successfully in my test with only two attempts.

My question is this: If this is deemed an ‘essential’ manoeuvre for motorcycles, then why is it not essential for cars too?

Both cars and motorcycles are equally as likely to experience a situation on the road where they may need to swerve, yet motorcyclists are the only ones expected to do this during the test.

Thankfully, the UK Government came to their senses and recently decided to remove the swerve manoeuvre from the test completely. However, this is only happening at the end of 2011.

I did consider whether to wait until then to take my test, although I would like to have my full motorcycle licence sooner rather than later.

Time will tell as to whether I have made the right decision or not!

Image source: www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motorbikes/7817034/Motorcycle-test-under-review.html

A Bloggers Centerline Day - My Photograph

2011-05-01T10:01:00.000-07:00

Following my last blog post on 'A Bloggers Centerline Day' (ABCD), I came up with an idea for a photograph.

Admittedly, it might have been better to take and publish the photograph this morning, although I ended up going over to The Bedfordshire Classic Motor Show for the majority of the day.

Needless to say, I got right on taking my photograph as soon as I got home.

I chose this quite country road as a location for the photograph because it is where I have been practicing maneuvers for module 1 of my upcoming motorcycle test, and I know that barely any cars go down there. I also chose this location as the scenery is a lot more picturesque than other roads in my area!

So here we have it;

I'd love to see the photographs that other bloggers have taken!

A Bloggers Centerline Day

2011-04-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

Gary France came up with this great idea! Check it out:

"Maybe you would like to join in with this...

A Bloggers Centerline Day, or ABCD, will take place on Sunday 1st May 2011.

The plan is to inspire as many bloggers as possible to go outside and take a photograph of themselves on this day, wherever they are in the world. The photo can be creative, arty, contain more than one person, be in any type of location and can contain anything else you like. It must however contain the centerline of a road and at least part of you, the blogger.

There are 5 rules....

Rule 1 - the picture must be taken on 1st May 2011.

Rule 2 - the picture must be of yourself, and you must be a person that publishes a blog. You can include whatever else you like in the picture, including other people if you wish.

Rule 3 - the picture must include the centerline of a road.

Rule 4 – you should publish the picture on your blog on 1st May 2011, along with a few words about the picture and why you chose that location or pose.

Rule 5 - when you have posted the picture on your own blog, put a comment on http://garysusatour.blogspot.com/2011/04/abcd-will-you-take-part.html and include in that comment the address of your own blog post containing your own picture.

Gary France will then pick his favourite photos and publish these as being the winners. There will be a prize of $100 awarded to the overall single winner, as chosen by Gary.

In order to get this event known as widely as possible, please copy and paste this posting onto your own blog, including the title. Please do that today!

As a reminder to yourself to take the photo and post it, put an entry into your diary for 1st May 2011.

Let’s see if we can get as many people to join in as possible."

Getting my motorcycle back on the road

2011-04-03T00:52:00.000-07:00

Since my motorcycle accident a couple of weeks ago, my new tyres finally arrived so I got back on the road yesterday.

Even for a small bike like mine, 2 tyres, 2 inner tubes and 2 rim bands cost me over £100!

After taking my old tyres off, I finally saw what had punctured them in the first place. Not a small nail, not a tiny piece of metal, nothing I would normally expect. It was a 5 inch metal rod!
Oh the things that manage to get into our tyres at times...

Please note; those hairy arms are not mine! hahaa

It still baffles me as to how the entire thing got into my tyre since both ends are blunt!

My mascot looking very sad about the whole ordeal

Wheels off...

...Tyres on!

Thank God I'm finally back on the road.

I don't think I could handle sitting on the stuffy bus any longer. Especially when the weather is so perfect for motorcycling right now!

My first motorcycle accident!

2011-03-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

Ok so last Friday I was on my way home and I suddenly lost control of my bike. Before I had time to brake I was thrown off the road!

Thank God it turned out to be just a puncture and my bike was not too badly damaged. It's times like this I wish I had tubeless tyres!

Anyway, since I couldn't push the bloody thing home, I just waited and eventually a friend of mine happened to drive past and stopped to help me. Since my bike was too far from home, we managed to get my bike to my friend's house which luckily was quite close.

So now my poor bike is living at someone else's house until my new tyres and inner tubes arrive!

I have to say, I wasn't too impressed with the people of today's society that stood and watched me lying in the road with my bike on top of me and didn't come to help. What is this world coming to?

And the worst of it is; since I'm too much of a hardened biker to own a car, I'm now taking the bus everywhere for at least a couple of weeks!

Just when the weather is suddenly beautiful and warm too :(

I hope you're all taking advantage of the lovely weather and getting out on your bikes as much as possible!

I'm starting to experience the first of my motorcycle withdrawal symptoms already!

I never realised going cold turkey would be this hard! haha

Drive safe! :)

All-season diehard, perhaps?

2010-12-03T06:58:00.000-08:00

Throughout the last week or so I've been out conquering the icy and snowy roads! Considering it was the first time I've been on my bike in such conditions, and it was actually surprisingly easy.

Well, I say 'easy' although I actually fell off for the first time yesterday due to the snow. I was carefully going down my home street at around 4mph and I suddenly found myself on my side for no apparent reason. After brushing myself off, it turns out that my bike slipped on an icy drain cover that was hidden by the snow.

Anyway, I'm not hurt and the experience has made me a lot more careful and increased my awareness in these conditions.

For those of you who don't have snow or ice, I found an great blog post called '10 tips for staying alive when its wet' by My Life on Two Wheels. Most of it is common sense, but it's a good reminder to keep us all aware of hazards we frequently find in winter weather.

I'm toughing out the weather like a true hardened biker ;)

Stafford Classic Motorcycle Show

2010-10-19T11:44:00.000-07:00

So as I said in my last post, I've just spent the weekend in Stafford at the Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show! There's actually a similar show to this at the same venue in Stafford that happens in Spring/Summer time, and I was suprised to see just as many people turn up to this one - mainly because it's usually raining at this time of year haha

I was planning to go and see the Wall of Death because I heard Jaimi Tyrell was performing, and I thought that would be pretty cool to see, but I completely forgot about that as I was walking around all the halls, and it was closing time before I knew it. Oh, and apparently Eddie Lawson was the guest of honour - but I managed to miss that too!

Anyway, when I got home I realised I hadn't actually taken as many photos as I thought I had. It seems I must've spent more time drooling over bikes that I'll only ever own in my dreams. Nevermind, ay. Here's a few of them;

This was the main hall, although there were 3 other halls and a huge outdoor area too.

Mmmm a Laverda Jota - the motorcycle I'll buy for my Dad when I'm rich!

I love FS1Es, but I could never downgrade to a bike so small as 50cc haha

I'm not usually into bikes with fairings, but I actually wouldn't mind a CB 1100 R!

Anyway, all in all it was a great weekend and I'll certainly be looking forward to next year's show!