Paranoid? Who me?

Ok, so like many we had a bad winter. Lots of snow. Cold. Miserable.

Not to worry, my wife and I agreed to go the south of Spain where the weather will be much better.... blue skies.... walks on the beach..... heaven.

That was the aim. We arrived last Wednesday. 6 days ago. Guess what. It has rained every day. I don't mean just a little light rain, but it has chucked it down. Cats and dogs type rain, plus a few cows thrown in as well.. Torrential. Today the wind came up as well. Forget the walks on the beach! Standing upright was challenging enough.


Not only has the bad weather followed us here, but it is not content with just staying outside the house. It has forced its way in. It is in the house! I swear it is after me....... the picture is a bucket in one of the bedrooms to catch the rain that is trying to get to me. The rain was so heavy it has created a leak in the roof. I swear it is coming after me......

I just looked at the medium range forecast for the next 7 days. It is going to rain every day!!!! I give up. I will try to take some pictures of the weather tomorrow. Until then, you just get a bucket.

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10,000 Bikes!!

There is a small town in the west of the UK called Wootton Bassett that has become an un-official centre of respecting the UK war dead from the current conflict in Afghanistan. The town is near a military airbase where soldiers killed in the conflict are repatriated and the town is on the route for the hearses carrying the bodies of the dead from RAF Lyneham.

The mother of a soldier who died in an explosion in Afghanistan had the idea to set up a charity to provide support for those directly involved in the conflict. “Afghan Heroes” has been launched by a group of mothers with the aim of helping our service personnel directly on the front line. People have been holding fund-raising events and sending the proceeds to the Afghan Heroes organisation and one such event has caught the imagination of the biking community in the UK.

On Sunday 14th March, which is Mothers Day in the UK, there is a planned motorcycle ride through the town of Wootton Bassett to RAF Lyneham to show support for our troops fighting in Afghanistan. A special website was set up for bikers wishing to attend to register for the event and in just a few days, registrations reached 14,000 people on 10,000 bikes. I was one of those people that registered.

Due to the overwhelming support for this and in the knowledge that the town is very small, the organisers have had to suspend the registrations, but have said the event will go-ahead. I am trying to imagine what 10,000 bikes might look like – if the event goes ahead, I will take photos and let you know!

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New Paint for my Road King

A little while ago I was trying to decide whether to repaint my Road King. Well, the decision has been made and yes, I am going to do it. The bike has been stripped down and the tank, two fenders and two side panels have been delivered this morning to Tony Evans in Wolverhampton who is going to do the paintwork. I met with Tony a couple of weeks ago and we discussed some ideas about what we might do. This morning we met again and finalised those plans and Tony starts on the paint job this week!

No. I am not going to say what he is going to do, but you can look forward to seeing the completed paint work in a few weeks time.

You can see Tony’s work on his website.

The picture above is an example of Tony’s airbrushing skills. I hope he doesn’t mind that I lifted it from his website......

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US Visa

Happy days!

My passport was delivered back today after being at the US Embassy in London for a week. It now contains a shiny new 10 year visa for the USA. That is the last big item on my "must do" list. The countdown is well and truly on now!

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London Motorcycle Show

I went to the London Motorcycle Show on Friday and I must admit I was a tad disappointed. Considering London is a major global City, the show was quite small and whilst most of the major bike manufacturers were there, there were some missing. KTM for example. However, after not being at the other major bike show in the UK at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham at the end of last year, it was good to see both Harley-Davidson and Ducati at the London show. Overall though, it was just a bit small and I wondered if this was just a sign of the financial crisis but then I remembered I had been to the same exhibition centre about three weeks ago for the London Boat Show and compared to that the bike show was less than half the size of the boat show. There were just less stands and vendors at the bike show than I had expected.

I did see some interesting bikes, some neat bike accessories for sale, and some friends. I even bought a new helmet for my tour of the USA – something subtle and understated.

Here are some pictures from the show........



The new crash helmet I bought especially for my US tour!!....













A Moto Guzzi concept bike....














A really nice restored Triton....














A low custom bike that I liked the look of....














The engine of a beautiful trike by Destiny Cycles....














Another stunning bike by Destiny Cycles....



















The new Norton Commando....














A wicked looking drag bike....
















Not my thing, but these Ducati's looked fantastic....
















A Victory that had been given the Cory Ness treatment....














Sunglasses feeling unloved, waiting patiently for somebody to buy them....

















Friends Ron and Caroline Brett who run Brett Tours – a European wide motorcycle touring company....



















I did take a few pictures of the new Harley-Davidson 48 Sportster – probably my favourite new stock bike at the show, but the pictures were all out of focus (so I lifted this one from a H-D site).....

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Busy, Busy, Busy ! ! !

Oh my, it has been a busy few days. Here is my week so far.....

Monday - attended my Visa interview at the US Embassy in London. (Application approved).

Tuesday - found a more experienced shipper for transporting my bike from London to New York.

Wednesday - my sons (Jeremy’s) 21st Birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEM).

Wednesday - decided I would go ahead with the new paint scheme for the bike.

Wednesday - went over the 1000 hits mark on my blog. Thank you, dear readers :-)

Thursday - rode the bike. Yeah. First time this year!

Thursday - took the bike to Warrs (H-D dealer) to strip it down ready for painting .

Thursday - started looking for 40’s and 50’s movies actresses portraits for the bike

Friday (tomorrow) - going to the London Motorcycle Show.

Phew!

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Like a Virgin.....

Sometimes, we do something that gives us a great deal of satisfaction. It can be something momentous, or it can be something small, but all the same it is significant enough to make us feel good. Over the weekend, I did something that was just like that – I booked my flights with Virgin Atlantic to the USA for my bike tour!!! 22nd June I fly to New York...... Yeah!!!!

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