The twilight disco in the middle of the Forth

Hello y’all,

W O W. I have just finished a week to remember. We had a deadline for this morning and have been in the office since Sunday morning. That’s a 21 hour day folks…on a Sunday. That rounds out an 80 Hour overtime week, on top of my 37.5 hour normal week. Mega.

I am pretty tired, but I have seen some cool ass things this week. A few to name was the cool thick assed fog that made everything glow. Another was the near busted ass from the cops…and another is the wheelies.

On thursday morning, 2am ish I was heading home and the fog was really really thick, pea souper stuff. And when I got to the bridge, the roadworkies were still at it and they had this mega bright light, which made a massive blue glow. Then the new hotel, which as UV lights all down the flanks, that was cool. But the thing that made it all worthwhile was the strobes on top of the bridge. It basically made the whole world around me and my bike a disco. The strobes lit up all the har and it was amazing.

Then on Sunday night, on my way back in to work at about 11pm, I was going along queensferry road and I was doing slightly over the speed limit….of course my bike is loud…so when I realised that the cops were sitting at the other side of the road busting another guy, my engine would have went from a high pitch, to a really low pitch in a short space of time..thus showing that I was breaking the speed limit….great…you think I would learn? No. I get back up to speed only to find another set of cops 100 meters down the road…same again..I wasn’t doing stupid speeds but it made me look like I was going really fast cause of the way my engine sounded….bad one.

After the 21 hour push I am pretty tired…but tonight I went out and tried some wheelies. I think I have got the technique cracked, but because my rev range is 6.5 redline, I can’t get a long wheelie going. By the time I have got the wheel up in the air, I am hitting the limiter and my wheel comes down again. I tried changing gears but as soon as I pulled the clutch in, my wheel came down again!Maybe I have to try and get the bike angle higher, then the bike would balance itself in order for me to change gear?

I don’t really know. There’s only one way to find out!!

Anyway, I am off to get some much needed sleep!!!

Night,

P.s. Lazarus, the photo section wasn’t allowing me to display the pics at best, so when I get more time I will set up a link to another website that will have all the higher res photos on it.

Ed, thanks for your message mate, it means a lot! keep checking back!!!

New Helmet ahoy

Hello again, today is my day of updating so sorry about all the new posts.

I said before I was going to get a new helmet as my Shark was causing major headaches and sever pain at motorway speeds. It’s amazing how much discomfort a helmet can give you, it just goes to show, get a helmet that fits, feels like its there, but isnt at the same time….

Anyway, I said I was going to get a Shoei Raid II, I had tried it on and the boys at Scott Murray kept it aside for me. Well I went back in and was still thinking about what Billy had said to me before, “Get the best you can afford.”

So I had a look further up the Shoei stand…infact right to the top, where there was the XR1000’s. I tried on one and immediately thought, yes, I need to get this.

So I had a wee talk with Billy and Ian and they decided to drop the price to £250, from £350 down to £290.

Yet again the boys from SM share the love. But they know that I go nowhere but there for all my biking needs.

SO I got the Shoei XR1000 Alloy helmet.

It fits like a glove and feels amazing. The chin is a lot lower than the Shark, letting alot more air in, but strangely enough, not getting in my eyes as well. The vents you can actually feel venting and the graphics are cool as.

So lesson learned, always always get a helmet that feels good out the box. The Shark felt tight, but I thought it would bed in. It did, and bedded in to a sharp edge at my forehead.

Shoei rocks.

The Witches Shrine

When out and about riding around Dunning/Auchterarder, I found this witches shrine….it was totally wierd and it made me act like a scared school girl.

It wasn’t the fact that the shrine had “Maggie Wall burnt here 1657 as a witch” on it, in kids writing, or the fact that there was little kids toys, all dirty and ragged, placed on it, as well as money….or was it the hollow sounding ground. It was the fact that there was kids playing somewhere and their laughter reminded me of that scene in the Blair Witch Project, when they are in the tent and suddenly there was the sound of rocks dropping and kids laughing…deary me.

I think I am going to set up a dedicated photo site for all of my photos cause putting them on here is a pain the arse.
Thanks for looking!

Summer is here, pillion perfection is not.

So last week was a good week for weather! OOOO. 22 degrees C at one point, and it just happened to be my day off on Wednesday!

So what did I do? I went for a ride, heading east from Glenfarg. I ended up going through Abernethy, Newburgh, Pleasance then up the East Lomond road to the viewing point/carpark just beneath the East Lomond Hill. What a stunning day it was, the weather was hot, but not boiling. There was a nice coolish breeze and everything seemed right in the world…that was until Mr. BMW showed up.

Some chump in his old 5 series came thumping up the hill, as I was standing beside my bike taking pictures, and he just carried on towards me at full bang, slowing only just as he got to the front of my bike. He then parked up and got out. His wife got out also, with her 2 yappy dogs and started to walk them. Fair enough. I carried on photographing my bike and then the guy started shouting.

So I turned round to see an alsation sitting looking at him, and the guy shouting “THIS DOG SHOULD BE ON A LEASH, LOOK AT THE SIZE OF IT! GET THIS BLOODY DOG ON A LEASH!” Glancing over to where he was pointing and shouting at, I could see an older man, coming down the hill with 2 walking sticks. He was obvioulsy out for a nice walk up East Lomond, with his dog, who was still sitting quitely, and couldn’t possibly hold a leash as well.

But the guy continued, “WHY ISN’T THIS DOG ON A LEASH!?” and the walking stick guy replied, “Are you talking to me mate, or are you chewing a brick?” Then this idiot boy started threatening him! Saying stuff like, “I’m going to have a go”…

I was about 20 meters away, but could hear quite clearly. But then, upon hearing the raised voices, the alsation got excited. Then notices the two wee yappy dogs…. It bounds across to them and the wee dogs start yapping, and then the idiot boy starts again “GET THAT DOG ON A LEASH!!!!!!!”

Deary me. Of course everyone, who was enjoying a nice peaceful gaze out in to the blue yonder, had now been demolished in the wake of this god damn lunatic. He was swearing and shouting and pointing and squaring up to this other man, who had now managed to quietly get to his car and get in it, quickly prompting his dog to as well. So he then got in to his car which was parked right next to walking man’s car, with his bluetooth headset still on, and drove to the other side of the carpark. Then picked up his wife and sped out of this place.

By this point my fists are clenched and I want to flatten this idiot. But as he drives away, I get my helmet on and get going.

What a waste of space. This guy coming up for 5 minutes to ruin everybodies quiet afternoon has left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. I want to smash his head in to the dusty ground. But I can’t be bothered. There’s riding to be done.

So I leave and head back home, going round the bottom of the hills and back home, where I relay this story to my girlfriend, who says a quick oh dear and continues to worship the sun.

Wednesday night comes and I take my Dad out on the bike. It was really wierd at first, feeling the bike sink with the extra weight, the extreme power defecit and the length of braking distance change. The gear changes were a high point, offering up much amusement as my Dad headbutted my helmet everytime. I tried to be as smooth as possible but until I got past 1st and 2nd, the headbutting continued. A quick blast and we’re back home. He really enjoyed it, saying it was faster than he expected and that he nearly lost it at one quick accelleration point. I tried to explain how much faster it is with only me on it, and both my Dad and brother were excitied. I then took my brother out for a longer ride. He is 6ft 3. Two big blokes on a MT-03 isn’t a good place to be, especially for the rider. Whenever I pulled the brake lever a wee bit, my brother was powerless to slide forward, transferring all his weight on to my arms! It was tough work! I took him round a wee route that has a few long straights and lots of windy, near knee down corners, and showed him what its like. By this point I had manged to work out a way to pull and release the clutch and brakes that allowed the bike to see-saw less and thus, less headbutting.

By the time we got back, my brother was smiling ear to ear. He as well loved the accelleration and even more so, what it must be like on the bike solo. He’s desperate to get a bike.

SO that was my first forray in to pillion passengers and it was a bit rough around the edges! But it was good! A LOT more physical than just solo riding but thats good for the chest and arm muscles!

Thursday was another hot day but back to work. I got home and my sister fancied a go on the bike. So I said ok, even though she is 5ft 0 and like a rake. She had to wear a large helmet and my leather jacket, both of which were humongous on her tiny frame. Anyway, on she got and we set off on the same route as before. The bike was obviously lighter and I could get up to speed quicker. At one point she tapped me and I stopped and she said she thought the helmet was going to come off cause the chin bar was up at her nose! But the chin strap held it in place. Not the best, but then again, I wasn’t going for it.

So that’s 3 pillion attempts and already I was getting better. Whilst out on the road with my sister, some idiot woman in her car overtook a cyclist on a blind bend, just as we came round it. I was luckily quite close to the kerb and was safe as houses, but gave her a blast of the horn anyway. My sister also said how I always wave and nod to other bikers…

I explained it’s all part of being a biker, and that’s whats so good about being one!

Check out the photos in the Out and About page and leave some comments!
A big shout out to the lads and lassies over at the MTOC, see the link —->

I’ve added a new catagory, called Idiots….self explanitory