Vincents and Velocettes at the Ace Cafe

A few of us were meant to go to to the Brightona bike meeting, but our plans were spoiled by the uncooperative weather. Early Sunday morning saw heavy rain and we just didn't feel like starting out on a 100+ mile journey when it was raining cats and dogs.

My friend Alex was keen however to get some miles put on his brand-new BMWK1600GT which was just a week old. We decided therefore to ride down to the Ace Cafe where the was a Vincent and Velocette day being held, and then on to the London Motorcycle Museum.

Waiting until the rain had passed, we set out on wet roads, with Both of us being careful - Alex was riding his new bike for the first time in the wet and I was on my red custom bike, which is not the best bike to ride on wet roads!

I did like the look of Alex's new bike....

We used both fast roads and slow, given the bikes a good workout in different conditions. The BMW was a class act at speed and obviously handled very well. It is a wide bike to ride in traffic though and lane-splitting the stationary vehicles!

Like most bikers, I love looking at old bikes, especially those that are in excellent condition. There were a few examples of great-looking Vincents and Velocettes sitting in front of the Ace....

This Vincent was a dream bike....

Beautiful engineering on the Vincent....

What a lovely pair....

And for the sidecar fans, you can drool over this.... Wouldn't it be wonderful riding this on winding country roads....

A great few hours riding and we stayed dry!

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To Flickr or not to Flickr?

I seem to have been very busy recently doing, well, a wide variety of things, mainly un-related to motorcycling. Sure, I have been travelling a little, but without a motorbike. I have been helping one of my sons move into a flat and helping another with his ideas for starting a bicycle business. I have been writing my book again and my third son has been helping me with creating the maps for that. My brother and his wife have been over to see us from Switzerland, so there have been some family get-togethers. I have recently booked two motorcycle trips for next year, one predictable and the other not (which will be the subject of a separate post).

Jackie and I were meant to go to Germany to meet up with some previous work colleagues, but that had to be cancelled due to a death in my family – an Aunt that I was quite close to.

I had put off looking at and dealing with a substantial amount of paperwork and I just had to tackle it. Boring, essential, but way too time-consuming for me.

All of these things has meant I have been neglecting my own and others’ blogs recently, but I intend to begin to put that right, starting now.

I would like to ask for some advice please. Does anyone out there reading this use an iPad for their blogging?

Due to no longer wanting to carry a laptop with me on my bike trips, I have recently succumbed to the delights (jury is still out on that one) of an iPad and I am testing how to use it for my blog posts when on the road. I can see how to do most of this, but I am struggling with one aspect and it is that I want some advice on. I use Blogger and I am not going to change from that – it works for me and I follow the adage ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The trouble is when adding pictures to a blog post, you have to specify the location of the picture file on your computer and well, as far as I can see, you cannot do that on an iPad. So, I have looked at the other way of adding a photo to your post and that is by linking to a picture already on the web. I have never used this method, but it looks as if I will need to do so. I believe I will need to upload my photos first to something like Flickr and then link to them there.

Okay, here is the advice part....

Have I got it right about uploading to something like Flickr and then linking to the photo on there?

If I have, is Flickr the best system to use, or do my wise readers have a better solution? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

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148 Bikers In A Movie Theatre....

You’ve Gotta Love This.....

It was posted on YouTube just 3 days ago.

It has had nearly a million hits. Thanks to Ian for finding it....


 

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London 2012 Olympics

Some of my readers may know that I spent a good few years working on the London 2012 Olympics.

Back in 2004, I was asked to develop the strategy for how all of the venues, facilities and infrastructure needed for the London Games would be constructed. This was used as part of London’s bid to be the Host City for the Games and even though it played just a small part in convincing the International Olympic Committee to award the Games to London, I was immensely proud that my team and I helped bring the Games to my city.

I continued to work on the London 2012 Olympic Games and developed that previous strategy into the detailed plans that showed how everything would be done, at what time, the logistics needed, how the construction would take place, how and when the venues would be completed, how the test sports events would take place and all the other things needed to deliver the facilities in time.

When all the plans had been developed and the full construction team were clear about what needed to be done and how, it was time for me to leave the project in the hands of the delivery teams and I moved onto helping the Russian Government with their preparations for the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi 2014.

I am a Londoner and very proud of my city. Working on the London 2012 Olympic Games was without a doubt the pinnacle of my career and made me even more proud. After I left the project I kept up-to-date with how the construction was progressing and occasionally went back to see how the construction was progressing.

One of these such visits back to the Olympic Park was very recently, I went to see all of the completed venues. It was very rewarding to see that the construction had followed the plans I had developed years earlier. I enjoyed seeing the venues and of course a few photos were taken....

My friend Paul and I in the new Velodrome.... at 42 degrees, the banking of the track is very steep....

The two of us standing on the 10m diving board in the iconic Aquatics Centre....

The two of us standing in one of the doorways of the basketball venue. The doors have to be this high to accommodate the very tall basketball players....

I loved seeing how well the venues have been constructed. I am looking forward to the evening of Friday 27th July 2012 when Jackie and I will be sitting in the Olympic Stadium waiting for the Opening Ceremony to start. Fantastic!

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Cool Old BMW

BMW lovers may know what this bike is. I saw it this morning here in Spain. It says 1968 on the licence plate.

All I know is, it looks very cool and is in great condition....

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This is soooo funny!

Okay, it has nothing to do with bikes whatsoever, but try to watch this and not laugh.....

 

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Tour Maps

I have said it before, but I love maps. They guide you to places, they take you along roads you wouldn’t otherwise know were there, let alone find.

Studying a map and then making decisions about where to ride on a trip can be very rewarding and for some, this planning gives a foretaste of what is to come – the ride itself.

I enjoy seeing on peoples blogs, the routes that other people take, but I have one plea – please make them bigger so we can see the context. Very often the map is so zoomed in, we can see the detail, but we have no idea where in the particular country the route is. If needed, make two maps, some general and one detailed, and add them both to your blogs.

I have recently added to the bottom of my blog some big scale maps showing the overall routes I have taken on some of my recent rides. Will others do the same?

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