Hoggs

I can't say I'm surprised Neil! Luckily it had stopped raining by the time we left and roads weren't too bad to out hotel (which has the world's slowest boiling kettle in!!!) Fingers crossed it's dry for the ride in tomorrow

Neil spotted! Hellos said ! great meeting you and the family (mainly as they made ooooh and ahhhh noises at my bike )

Aww bad luck mate, seen the nerves get the better of a lot of people. Head up you'll nail it next time

oooh one more sleep for me until I get to go watch bikes

Yeah with the trees you just need to expect the road conditions to be totally different, it doesn't take much cover to keep the roads wetter and icey-er

Last couple winters have been really mild The one before was COLD The cold will make you more miserable than anything you have experienced before. I guess living in London I don't really get proper winter but just keep extra careful and aware and don't go out if you're not confident. No shame in saying not today!

ooh what you get?

OOOH I'd forgotten about that!!

Hit it with a hammer

Oh was there a race at the weekend!? sorry I haven't seen the update email that normally reminds me

Man, I'd forgotten how angry Spies made me when he was with the factory team! I know some of the back luck wasn't his fault but sheesh. Also nice photoshopping there Xtreme three days to go before we can trundle down to Silverstone YAAAYAYAYAYAY!

Epic gif combo. I am going to honour his memory by just shouting GOOD DAY SIR at people today.

Ooh drag racing sounds fun! I'm much faster without all those pesky corners getting in the way

keep going for those little increases and remember always lifesave this is also great for when you do your DAS as checking on Lane mergers is one of the key things they look for so if you're doing that on autopilot you're a step ahead of the game!

It is a mystery! We need to get Poirot on the case

Last year I was sat next to a slobbering rossi fan who literally jumped up and shouted everytime he went past. How I didn't punch him I don't know.

Also I'd recommend going top of shin boots rather than the smaller ankle or trainer style And definitely go try helmets on. Anything you buy in a shop will meet all the neseccary safety standards. There's a lot of talk if a 300 quid lid is better than a 30 quid one and the jury is leaning towards probably not but I'd definitely recommend going for one with a pinlock (two little pins either side of the visor which an insert fits in to make it double glazed and prevents fogging up. Seriously I cannot recommend this enough) and a drop down sun visor is a nice and useful addition!

I prefer Friday to Sunday. It's quite quiet so you can walk around and buy food without an hour wait but the atmosphere on Sunday during the races is pretty cool

Haha were hiding from the truck drivers in the marquez stand too (because they are under cover in case it rains)

Fine we're pretend fancy

We will be there from Friday but staying in a hotel because we're fancy

Ooh just noticed the exhaust. Like it

Top stuff. Try and hold your line (centre of the lane) because if you move to the left people will see this as an invitation to overtake. On the lane merge off take a big lifesaver to check what's about and on a 125 you've going to have to give way more often than not to stay safe. The movement of you checking should also trigger the "oh it's a person" part of peoples brain and they may then give you a bit more room (always assume they won't!) In a few months you're going to look back on this and laugh! When I first started riding I hated filtering. Then I could filter most of the way but refused to filter through a tunnel as it just terrified me. Now I don't really even think twice about it

......weirdly I agree with six The thing is a lot of people are dicks. They see the L plates and will bully you out the way because they don't want to be stuck behind a learner. Your nerves are going to be visible to these dicks and they're going to bully you more. You need to have confidence (not arrogance) on the road but there's not a short cut to getting it Practise with some "easier" roundabouts. Work on looking at the road surface for hazards and also start working on traffic gaps and lifesavers coming off the island. You will get there, three weeks is nothing! Take it nice and easy and stay safe. Being nervous about stuff automatically makes things harder and when you tense up the bike is harder to control If I was closer I'd come ride behind you to kick cars that get too close

Ooh excellent choice of bike you have there sir