Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Biking


I've just been watching the first two episodes on the Long Way Down set I got for Christmas. This is the one where Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman go from John O'Groats in Scotland, to Cape Town in South Africa, and something just struck a chord.

I really enjoyed their first trip, Long Way Round, which I watched on BBC2 and read the book to, and it got me itching to learn to ride a bike. However, this time, they talked more about "just going for a ride with my mates" kind of stuff and it really just made me want to learn to ride all the more, not just because its something I've always wanted to do, but also because my Dad's 60 now and still riding regularly (he owns a Suzuki GS500 2006 registration, I think, and a Norton Dominator 650NS or something that was reconstructed and originally dates back to the '60's).

He frequently goes on trips with his mates, taking the Dommi (as he calls it) if the weathers nice, or the Suzi when its wet, but hes never had a family member to go with as my Auntie has decided my Uncle is far too old to consider riding a bike (I think he's at least 5 years older than my Dad, not sure though). My brother's never really been too bothered about motor vehicles, he drives, but he see's them as more of a means of transport, where as I genuinely love them. I grew up on the circuit really, with many memories of my Dad taking myself and my younger sister to watch Motorcycle races, and I've sat in a fair few "nice" cars (a handful of Ferrari's and a Lamborghini Countach are the highest points) and sat on many racing bikes (including one of the bikes Kevin Schwantz rode during his World Championship winning season in, I think, 1994).

So, I've now got one thing in my list I want to do with my life for definate, and thats to go on a trip with my Dad. Even if its just to Matlock Bath just outside of Nottingham, which I've been to many times as a kid in a car, once on a drunken trip with some mates in a coach and once on the bike of my Dads previous Suzi which I really really enjoyed.

I know I can ride, to a degree, as I rode a 50cc Monkey Bike around a small dirt course when I was about 8, but that was a long long time ago no (I'm now 24) and it wasn't on the roads, plus it was only a Fifty. I'm not looking at anything big, but it'll still be expensive to do, and its weighing that dream against the practicality of learning to drive a car (something both Missus and I want to do), which in reality, should come first. My Dad's always tried to make me believe that he doesn't want any of us to learn to ride because of the dangers, but I still remember the pride on his face when he saw me on that fifty and really enjoying myself and can imagine how much he'd love to just go for a ride with his son, with my family and my Step Mum in a car behind so it can be a family thing too, and I'm just scared that, considering his age, that I won't get to do that with him even though, as far as I'm aware anyhow, he's in good health and not looking 60 years old at all.

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