RantMachine

Really need to remember my PayPal details

I encounter horse riders on the way home all the time - got no problem with them, always a very smiley lot. And after the mud patches, fuel spills, countless manhole covers, and chunks of missing road that litter the fens... at least horse crap has the decency to be an instantly recognisable shade of yellow!

You said the "A" word! How long before Zod reappears again?

Can we add "The other guy on a bike who is trying to push his limits" to the survey Because I've NEVER had a near miss taking roundabouts like a pillock

I did that this morning, couldn't tell in all the rain... The shame

Countersteering, without a doubt.

Scratch that, found the place that makes them - might just get one the next time I have a spare $750 kicking about

That is AWESOME. Where can I get one?

Ok then, my Mod 2 experience... I trained with Eurorider, just to the north of Cambridge. They are utterly awesome, can't recommend them highly enough. They're based about 5 minutes from the test centre (Hardwick), which is pretty handy. Had one and a half days of training with them, then got overexcited and booked a Mod1 cancellation for the following wednesday... then passed and booked a Mod2 cancellation for the following tuesday... and that went rather well too My Mod2 was at 8:30am, which as it turns out is a pretty good time to do it at Hardwick, if like me you prefer country roads to City roads. Apparently they stay out of Cambridge at rush hour wherever possible. So, quick ride around the school 20 zone of hardwick, all over the surrounding countryside following instructions from the examiner with lots of asking to pull in where safe, etc. And I didn't get overexcited and miss any ovservations Then a short bit of free riding ("Drive towards Cambridge along the quickest route and I'll observe") up past Bourne airfield, along the A428, then back down to hardwick. All over in 30 minutes - he'd said it would be about 45, so naturally I thought "shit, I must've done something really wrong"! While we waited for the examiner to come indoors, my trainer asked me how I thought it went - my response was "I don't think I did my best..." So you can imagine my surprise when the first thing he said was that he hadn't seen a clean sheet for a while! Riding a 125 all over the darn place for the last year was well worth it considering how easily I breezed through Mod1 and Mod2 as a result. It just felt like riding to work and back, most natural thing ever. I knew all the roads like the back of my hand, the wet & windy conditions didn't bother me in the slightest, and I've had long enough to get all the bad habits out of my system

My £60 Spada helmet was only supposed to be a stopgap until I decided if biking was for me or not, but I still haven't gotten round to replacing it One year and many many miles later, the little plasic seal around the lower part of the visor has fallen out and one of the pinlock pins went missing one day, so it's a bit drafty now... Time for another Spada special

The prat in the black Mondeo on the A10 who kept moving to overtake me despite the oncoming traffic, insane wind, horizontal rain, and the fact that we were both already going a little faster than we perhaps should have been

And you can never have too many, really.

I'm sure someone will accept the challenge

Forgot one small detail - my work have a holiday ban in August and pulling a sickie will look a bit shifty with my birthday being that weekend... Will have to do the early shift and arrive late in the day. Crud. Time to start bringing LOTS of cake to work...

If I don't get my full licence by then (need to wait till the middle of July for mod1) then I'm gonna ride 350 miles on my 125 And I did three 200+ mile runs on my 125 for the Challenge 100 last year! Don't know what Gregg is making such a fuss about

And me! No accidental gin drinking and screaming fits this year

Woo! Double birthday Rally Do we have someone on the forum who was born on the 16th so we have a hat trick? This'll be the first time in years I've actually had friends around while I celebrate Everyone vote 15th!

You didn't feel safe? Imagine how the bike felt!

Cheers guys! Anyone else want to try selling me a bike? I'm looking at you, MidLifeBiker

Cheers guys! All the good wishes saw me through it, now I can finally spend my redundancy pay from Jessops

...L Plates! Mod 1 and 2 done, and with a clean sheet Time to get shopping...

Yes indeed! Just need to try not to spend all my savings on moving house... Somewhere out there is a ZZR with my name on it

DAS, no more waiting around for me!

Aced it Was a tiny bit worried that I didn't hit the speed trap fast enough for the emergency stop, but all was fine. Not a mark against me! Roll on Mod 2 next Tuesday...