Itchy Time!!

No I don’t mean that itchy time where you need go see the doctor for some antibiotics because of the weekend before, I mean the time where all you can think about is riding and prep, where you are driving to work looking at the road saying its perfect day to wrap up and get out on the bike.

The plans I have for this year is to do as many weekends away as I can on the bike but this time it will be with someone else on tow. Drum roll please. (insert drum roll)  Declan (9 years old) will be coming with me on the back to do wild camping trips and adventures, we are planning to go out ourselves and maybe hit a few bike shows or rallies plus go along with the group that I ride with, We have a group chat on WhatsApp what I started with my Dad and an old family friend Kevin, we started doing a chippy run on Friday nights and then started going away for weekend runs, this year will be a little different. Everyone will have to make a run each and take charge of that weekend like camping spots etc which I am really looking forward to. I am researching runs down in Dumfries direction as some of the roads down there are amazing. We also have the GoPros which me and Declan will hopefully master, I am currently editing our Scottish bike show video which I have discovered is a long process on a slow computer.

As I mentioned the Scottish bike show happened in march! I took my old Suzuki A100 up in my works van, have you ever had to put a bike in a van that is just a tiny bit taller than the bike, which was a tight fit, I had to fold the front passenger seat down but luckily had the middle seat up. I unloaded the bike and seen some of the guys and girls from the central vintage and classic motorcycle club and parked my bike. We were going for a camping theme. On the Saturday I brought the family along, I was going to try and do more in front of the camera to make a vlog but being the shy guy that I am, well lets just say, I chickened out but my daughter very happily took the camera and had a good go at it as well as my son Declan, they had a great time and even went up and down the climbing wall, we looked at helmets for Declan as well as jackets, Unforturantly there is not a lot of kids clothing for bikes at the show so will most likely end up at J&S for more for him. When were back at the club stand I was very happy to see how well my little bike was received, I had a few offers to buy the bike and a lot of people reminiscing about the old times when they had one of those themselves. Turns out a lot of people had the same type of bike when they were younger. Its nice to see all the old classics but know if I see an old bike like what my dad had or something that brings back memories then I more likely to stop and admire it. I even met a guy from LARBERT who had one and nearly bought another after seeing one on the road about a year or 2 ago, I happily informed him that it was a high chance it was me on the little bike.

On the Sunday me and Declan went up ourselves and tried more vlogging. It was a good day and we ended up buying Declan a helmet and jacket. I also bought a helmet but it was mainly just to sit on my bike as it had a classic helmet look and matched the colours, this got quite a few comments and looked good hanging on my handlebars. It came to packing up time and that’s when it all turned a bit sore for myself. We could not get the van in to the car park that is close so had to carry out 4 big heavy barriers which had a nice lump of cement on the bottom to keep them from toppling over, I had to carry them one by one back and forth up on my shoulder, I was in pain afterwards then I knew I still had to fit my bike in, Declan ended up taking his helmet from the van and back to the bike so we could just ride it down to the van instead of pushing it but when I tried to start it I just couldn’t get it fired up, then I looked and noticed I had turned the key to full beam which is to much drain on the electoral system to fire up. When I discovered what I had done I had flooded it, it did fire up but was not running right, hey it was still running so thought was riding it! When I got out Jock from the club asked if I could pop down and grab keys for his Goldwing. I done that and the bike was clearing itself… Just. We ran it round to the van and I will be honest, it felt great to be out on A bike, just being on two wheels was enough to bring a smile to my face and Declan’s. it felt even better being on that little hundred cc where that bike has most likely in a long way shaped my life, it got my dad in to motorcycle which got me in to motorcycles and got my kids in to motorcycles and hopefully that will continue. I dare say Emily and Declan will both be fighting over who gets the bike when they get older. Declan gave me a hand to put the bike in to the van and strap it up, this meant he was in the middle seat of the van which was nice and cosy for him! After I got home the bike sat in the van for a while before I dropped it back at my uncles where it is getting stored due to the garage getting done up. Over all a great weekend with a great bunch of folk and hopefully will do the Ayr bike show with the club as well, just getting all the dates together for the year as so far this year is booking up fast with different events.

On other news I ended up booking an audience with Carl Fogarty, I booked the VIP for 2 people. When I told my wife she asked who I was taking, ummm I thought it would have been a good night for us but I don’t think that will be happening so I am now looking for a someone to come with me! Carl was a big hero growing up as I loved the WSB as that was my go to, even over the MotoGP, it was real bikes that you seen on the road (well sort of) and looked like normal blokes racing, albeit their fitness was much greater than average. Carl had a great mentality to race and was the first autobiography that I ever read.

The White pan is still in progress, I haven’t really touched it as I have been busy with my work, being a gymnastics coach and our print and embroidery business GLED Print. My dad has done so far an amazing job on it and cant wait to see it when its finished, until then it will be the Deauville. I still say the Deauville is an amazing bike, its not underrated, just misunderstood, one of the others in the group went and bought one for him and his wife to go away on.

We also had a trip up the transport museum in Glasgow, which I saw Ewan McGregor’s long way round bike and long way down bike. It was the 2 shows that he done that made me want to go on adventures on bikes and ruff it. If you have not seen these shows watch them in order, round, down and now up, Lymara and myself are watching the long way up the now which is on electric Harleys. It’s a good challenge to watch but I did prefer the big old BMW’s they had in the first two.

Any ways, loads planned for this year, hopefully I will keep up to date on the blog and start doing motoVlogs with Declan as well, 2022 was not the best with health wise but its on the mend and hopefully out as much as I can. Bellow is a short video before editing the video.