Charlie riding back from Portugal

Earlier this year, I rode to Portugal with Ian Solley and my son Charlie.  We went to the HOG Euro Festival and each of us was on a custom motorcycle.  Bearing in mind Charlie had only passed his motorcycle test two months earlier, he did brilliantly well!

Each of us had an incident on the way down, with mechanical problems and one of our group dropped his bike on a very slippery roundabout.  Unperturbed by this, all three of us entered our motorcycles in the custom bike competition and each of us won our class.  From trouble to success in one step!

This is the HOG video about the custom bike show.  Charlie is at 1:15 and I am at 3:29......



Ian sadly had to leave before the prize giving, but you can see his bike at 0:36  Charlie went up to collect Ian's prize.

It was certainly a trip to remember and on the way back, I made a short video of my son Charlie on his 22 year old Sportster....



We are now looking forward to our next road trip!

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London 2012 Olympic Games

I have been ridiculously busy recently and have not posted anything here on my blog for weeks.  I can see light at the end of the tunnel and so will try to catch up with some posts and what I have been doing.

The first of these is the London 2012 Olympic Games.  We were very lucky and managed to get some tickets which were much in demand.

Here is Jackie, with a few soldiers.  She can make friends with most people....

Entering the London Olympic Park....

The Olympic Stadium, just ahead of the Opening Ceremony....

A few pictures from the Opening Ceremony.  This was an amazing show about Great Britain’s past and looking ahead to what would follow in the next two weeks....

With my sons Jeremy, Charles and Richard, on our way to the men’s Basketball.  We watched France beat Argentina and the USA beat Tunisia....

The Olympic Stadium, from within the Park....

Inside the stadium, for an incredible night of Athletics.....

My cousins partner, Helen, enjoying the spirit of National pride....

Bottom right is my cousin Dean.  He doesn’t normally look that unhappy!....

Sanya Richards-Ross of the USA, who won the women’s 400metres....

Christine Ohuruogu, who was second in the women’s 400m....

Then we saw the main event, the Men’s 100m Final.  The excitement level was astounding as Usain Bolt retained his 100m Olympic title.  He is an amazing guy and most of the world wanted him to win again....

Overall, the London 2012 Olympic Games has been amazing.  I am looking forward to what remains this week.

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Cool Picture from St Tropez

I was looking on the Harley-Davidson HOG website and found a cool picture of yours truly riding my Amelia bike in St Tropez.....

Also, in an e-mail HOG sent out to it's members, there is a video form the recent rally in St Tropez and somewhere near the beginning, is Amelia parked up in the marina....

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Introducing Amelia, my new Harley-Davidson chopper

Many of you know a new custom bike has been built for me recently. I have posted a few pictures of the progress of the bike as it developed and of some of the details of the bike, but it is now time to reveal the completed motorcycle.

Called Amelia, the bike is based upon what old school choppers used to look like, with long forks and high bars. The bike looks amazing with its stunning engraving and paintwork. Here is the bike as it was rolled for the first time, ready for its first ride....

I didn’t post any pictures at the time as I didn’t want to give away the overall shape, but here is the bike a few weeks ago in its full mock-up form. Pictured by the bike is Charlie Stockwell, of Warrs Harley-Davidson, who built the bike. He did an amazing job and full marks must go to him for creating a wonderful motorcycle.  Some of the parts were made by Charlie....

Due to its unusual form, Charlie and I wanted to ride the bike as a mock up before it was painted in order to check out the handling. We needn’t have worried as Dave Batchelar of P&D Custom Bikes did a terrific job of modifying the frame. The bike rode like a dream and took the bends with ease. Yes, I know the bike looks odd and yes, that is tape holding on the temporary instrument panel, as yes, the seat isn’t covered yet....

Here is the bike being assembled after painting and engraving. The engine had stage 4 modifications to give it much more power....

The engraving and paint is simply incredible. Here are a few of the details of the front end....

A view looking up at the front brake pedal, reservoir and engine....

The paint was done by Keith of Classic Cycle Works and I have to say he did a fantastic job. The paint scheme just leaps out at you, with big metal flake, pinstriping and glorious colours....

The engraving just makes the whole bike gleam in a riot of chiselled metal. It is difficult to remember that this engraving was all cut by hand with a hammer and chisel. Remarkable!....

Here are a few shots from last weeks custom bike show at the HOG Rally in Grimaud in the south of France. Amelia was awarded second place in the Custom Bike category....

A few more shots from last weekend in St Tropez....

Wherever I parked the bike in St Tropez, it seemed to get quite a lot of people looking at it....

Finally, a couple of pictures of the guy that owns the bike. Most of the time, he has a big grin on his face....

Along with a few friends, Ian, Paul, Preben and Andy, I went riding to Cannes and then back to St Tropez. From the back of a bike, Ian used his phone to capture a short video of me riding Amelia.... its not a great quality video, but you will get the idea.... oh, and the sound of the bike is wonderful......




It is fair to say, I am deligyhted and very happy with the new bike. In just a few weeks time, I am going to ride it to Portugal on a 2,000 mile round trip. I can’t wait!

Thanks to everyone that helped to create such a fantastic motorcycle!

Expect more pictures soon......

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An epic, soaking wet journey in the Cobra!

We finally arrived home in the UK last night in our Cobra, soaking wet and bloody cold! We did 1,661 miles, more than half of which was in really bad weather.

The first part of the drive, through Spain, was very good, in hot temperatures under blue skies. Then it all went wrong. Due to a faulty connection on the alternator, the battery wasn’t being charged properly and as the power dropped, the fuel pump cut out, leaving us stranded in the pouring rain, with no roof on the car, on a motorway, just 15 minutes away from getting our ferry back to Portsmouth from Northern Spain. Bugger!

After that, all subsequent ferries were cancelled due to the bad weather, or full, and we ended up having to drive through France in miserable weather to get a ferry from St Malo. Not normally a problem, this was a huge issue in a car with no roof – I don’t mean a convertible, I mean no roof whatsoever, which is no fun in the rain. The bad connection on the alternator turned out to be the alternator had a quickly failing terminal disease and another stop at another garage confirmed it was a specialist alternator and yes, they could get one in 4 or 5 days. We decided to drive on anyway, charging the battery whenever we could, so we could keep driving.

We got into Portsmouth last night in heavy rain and started driving on sidelights only in terrible spray, only turning on the wipers every few minutes in an attempt to preserve what little power was left in the battery. I really didn’t want to break down at the roadside in pouring rain, so headlights were out of the question. At least keeping moving causes most of the rain to get blown over the top of the car (okay it then blows backwards into the cockpit so our backs were pretty wet) and somehow, we made it back in 2.5 hours of hell. People were waving and honking their horns at us in support, but most were probably thinking we were crazy, which of course we were. I was wearing my Harley-Davidson motorcycle waterproofs and Jackie had the car cover over her to keep some of the water off.

Our son Jeremy had put up the gazebo so we could park the car on the drive under cover, but the wind was blowing it away, resulting in us having to tie it down. Anyway, we got home safely and a warming cuppa soon sorted us out, with clothes and gear dripping everywhere in the house. What a journey it had been, driving as we did from near Gibraltar in southern Spain, all the way to near London in the UK, in some of the worse weather I have seen. Madness!

Many thanks to Jackie for once again being a real trooper. She hates the cold and went the whole journey without a single complaint – I am so lucky to have her as a wife! Next time, let’s hope for better weather!

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Driving our Cobra across Spain

Filmed a couple of days ago, this is Jackie and I driving our AC Cobra replica across Spain. The sun was shining and the roads (almost) clear so we made good time and had a lot of fun.....

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Amelia Bike – Latest Pictures

Work on my custom bike, called Amelia, continues. Now only a week until final assembly is complete, here are a few pictures taken over the past few weeks....

Engraving of all of the parts is now complete....

The build is complete. Here are a few partial pictures....

The bike was then dismantled and all parts are now being painted or chromed...

Parts in the paint booth....

In just six days, I should be able to ride the bike. I can’t wait!

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