All Year Riding

This abysmal weather here has me really re-thinking some things. I want to ride all year. All year. Period. 

I've been looking at perhaps getting a road-legal ATV quad bike which I would use during times of heavy rain, snow, or ice. It would double up with my Burgman to give an all year round ride experience. There are so many wet days here in the UK and further, quite a bit of cobbled and non-Tarmac roads in the city centres. I think it's the same for most of Europe. 

Recently I came upon an article about the Piaggio MP3.  I've been looking into it much. It's a three-wheeled scooter, and it has really rave reviews out there. It also has generous storage, comfortable seating, and apparently compares to the Burgman... although not as fast with acceleration. So I'm thinking if I get one, I won't need to have two units to get my year round riding going on. This machine promises to deliver whatever the weather or terrain. 

Well, with that, it's now a serious contender to bump my Burgman dreams off the rails. I am going to have a look at one very soon. Hey, they even come in white. 

Stay tuned. 

What To Wear?

Weather is changing everywhere now, but I'm determined to get my bike groove on to the very last day. I often wonder how bikers doing round-the-world tours stay warm travelling through snow. For me, snow or icy roads are the only two conditions that'd keep me off my bike. Luckily, we don't get snow really here where I live, and if we do, unless it's some freak weather, it melts within hours.

But for those who ride in snow, my research suggests that they layer and layer, plus thermals and ultra-warm outerwear. That is exactly what I do too for colder times. I also find wearing a hoodie works really well as part of layering, especially when I put the hood top on and my helmet on top... really toasty. I recently mail ordered a hi-vis armoured version from GoGo Gear in Los Angeles. Looking forward. 

What I'm having challenges with is keeping my hands warm. Friends suggest I get heated grips installed but they have such varied reviews all over. Thing is, I ride with my left hand's index and middle fingers propped on the brake all the time. I'm thinking that heated grips would be useless if my fingers aren't continuously totally wrapped around it.

So I recently tried out some cheapie heated gloves. These ones use a massive D battery which is installed on the other side of the wrists. Quite heavy, I think, and perhaps because they were a cheap trial, they only nominally changed the temperature. I'd say though, to be fair, that the although the heat was low, it did take the edge off from the nipping cold.  I will most likely now upgrade to a pair of heated gloves with a little higher spec. Nothing too pricey, as the Burgman 650 comes with heated grips. I'm thinking with the Burgman's heated grips and decent heated gloves, that should cure my hands in the cold. So yeah, I've got something specific to hunt for at the Motorcycle Live Show in Birmingham this weekend. 

We Did It!

We have set a new Guinness World Record for the longest non-stop relay on a 125cc bike. The previous record was circa 400 miles and we have recorded well over 1400 miles non-stop all around the UK mainland, taking a teddy bear as a baton & making changeovers at various war memorials as we rode along.

I met up with the crew for the last leg in Essex at the Grays war memorial, before heading over with them to the Cenotaph in London. What I did was ride over for 90 minutes the day before and spent the night in a nearby hotel. 

I kept up to date with the run via text messages and the Facebook group which was created for the riders. As I waited for the team to arrive near the war memorial, I was entertained by a couple of Indians in full regalia. Very colourful and rhythmic. 

It was a nice ride into the city. Most of it was at around 50 mph. When we finally arrived, we parked right up in front of the Cenotaph and joined in on the public commemorations of the War Heroes. 

So now, we are simply waiting on Guinness to confirm that the record has been set. We will also each be getting certificates for participating, whether the record is set or not.  Either way, it was really great fun and a privilege to have participated!

DVSA Motorcycle Theory Test

On my way in to get ready for the last leg of the Guinness Book of World Records attempt for the longest relay ride on a 125cc bike, I made a small detour stop in to my local testing centre to try out the DVSA Motorcycle Theory Test. 

It is the prerequisite if you want to commence learning on any bike larger than 125cc here in the UK. I hate tests and so I thought I'd pop in to give it a test run ... You know, just by the way ... no pressure... since I HAVE to do it to get to that Suzuki Burgman I'm after. Ugh!

Anyway, I'll cut this long story short because I've arrived at my destination now after a few hours riding, and I'm hungry and tired. So yeah, I PASSED!!!!!  Yay!  Celebration time, babee!

Guinness World Record

Not very often you get an opportunity to be part of a Guinness World Record attempt. This weekend starts an attempt for the longest non-stop relay ride around the UK on a 125cc bike... and I'm taking part! How cool is that?

It'll be a charity ride in aid of Help For Heroes and we will be carrying around a cuddly teddy bear passing on from one rider to the next, from war memorial to war memorial, ending at the Cenotaph in London. 

I'm doing the last leg with a bunch of other riders, and have already booked up my hotel near my start point which is a few hours away from my home, just to be sure I can make it there on time. And, I've already filled up my sponsorship sheet. So yeah, I'm pretty excited. It'll be much fun even if we don't make the record!