Before I start, just a quick question. Why do some drivers insist on flashing the lights at you, when you're either filtering or overtaking? Yes, I can see you already thank you very much. No, I don't think I own the road and what does it matter, you don't own it either. Do you think that trying to blind me is going to help? Improve my safety perhaps?or maybe, you think that I need to be taught a lesson. I have a teacher and it ain't you I'm afraid.
Anyway, today was the first day in a little over two weeks that I took one of my bikes for a ride. Sadly it was only to work, but them's the breaks and today had a little bit of everything.
Knowing that I wasn't going to be...and I hate this phase...in the zone, I made a conscious decision to pretty much just poodle along today, which is ironic because despite this very leisurely way of riding, I was still pulled over by the Police in Islington. Now, I have said it before and it seems only right to say it again, but I have no problem with the police stopping me at all. They're doing their jobs and that's fine with me. When I ride to work its very early, like 04:30 early and I'm riding a very fast Sportsbike, so there is every possibility that its been nicked. After a quick little 'did you know why we stopped you' chat I was on my way, but now ten mins late. Again, them's the breaks.
My ride home wasn't much fun either as it was raining, which resulted in a lovely greasy slippery ride home, with the aforementioned flashing car driver for good measure. Ultimately it was good to get back on two wheels and in biking terms, thats all that really matters.

Tonight the Ace Cafe in North London are hosting an Italian car and bike day and I would have loved to have gone on the 1098s were it not for two things. Firstly the weather. It chucking it down and secondly, I still havent changed over my front discs. You may remember that on the return trip from Italy I noticed that one of my rotors was loose, well since getting back three weeks ago, I haven't ridden the Ducati a single metre. I have however picked up some replacement discs. So not all bad

Its not like I haven't been riding you understand because that simply isn't the case. I've been using the Blade a lot and yesterday I think its fair to say that I gave it a damn good thrashing. This I think is only fair because as of this weekend I'm out of the country again, this time without a bike beneath me. So if the site goes a little quite, fret ye not, I shall return but just with a better sun tan. Stay safe

I was watching the weather forecast last night, not especially out of choice, but mainly as it was on in the kitchen and the BBC forecaster, the one with the funny name, was saying that it was going to chuck it down this morning, so when I woke from my slumber, I opened the curtains to see a wet road, but no rain. Could I get away with it? Has the rain already been and gone? but there was something about that forecast that made me pop on all my rain gear. Getting the bike out of the garage there were just a few spits of rain starting to fall, but nothing like the weather my suit warranted. About 5mins into the ride, I was already about 2 miles from my house and I started to think to myself that I kinda wanted it to bucket it down in order to justify wearing all this surplus gear. 
About 60secs later, I wished I'd kept my thoughts to myself. It was like somebody had turned on the taps and very quickly, the water flooded the tarmac and I counldn't see the road. Bloody scary. Thankfully after about 3 miles the rain stopped and the rest of the journey was fairly uneventful.
So in order to celebrate the first time I've ridden the FireBlade in the wet (on some already wore out rubber - not advisable) I fitted my first mod to the bike. Well I say mod, what I mean to say is that I fitted some Stomp Grips to the bike.

I already have a set fitted to the 1098s and not only do they work a charm but they really suit the bike. For the 'Blade I've gone for black grips again, which although semi ruin the graphics, would still, in my opinion, look a darn sight better than the clear ones with all my grubby fingerprints on the underside.  I'll keep you updated on how I get on.

These things always take longer than planned, but thankfully, despite the early start, basically all I had to do was yesterday was to collect two bikes and bring them home. My original plan was to be near or at Silverstone to collect the Ducati by 10:00, but that turned out to be the actual time I left the house with the van packed and ready to go. I'd picked up the van at about 08:15-08:20 and picked up the straps I needed, but I had to hang around until 09:30ish to collect the planks I was going to use as a ramp. A quick dash home to collect my stand and some cushions and the two hour 'delay' was complete. So in the pissing rain I headed up the M1 (via Scratchwood services to get a half decent cup of coffee for the journey) and made my way to the Northamptonshire circuit for the 2nd time in five days.
The journey went well and by the time I'd reached the A43, the coffee had run out and the rain had stopped. The Ford transit I had borrowed was, once I'd got used to it, incredible easy and comfy to use. Quite fancy one to be honest. Would be very useful. Anyway, I pulled up to the circuit, explained why I was there and was directed to the Experience Centre that had been my bikes home since Monday afternoon.
I wandered into the garage and there, just where I had left it, was my bike but it was now joined by the track instructor bikes and a few race cars including a striking Aston Martin. As the circuit was live, I had to wait for around for 30mins until a few of the mechanics were free to help load my bike, so I killed the time by reading a magazine, texting my mate and eating an expensive, but disappointing burrito thing. It was 12:30.
Soon enough the bike was in the van and strapped down. It was the first time I'd had to do that and to be honest you could tell. The main thing was the bike was secure enough for the trip across to the M40 to where the FireBlade was waiting.

The sun was shining now and Graham Norton on BBC Radio 2, who had kept me company on the Northbound leg, had handed over to Tony Blackburn and I trundled across and down the M40 listening to poppy sixties music and for the first time since the previous Sunday, feeling very positive.
A reasonably quick collection of the Honda followed and Rob, the man who sold it to me, helped by loading and securing the bike in the van and I was back on my way home on the M25 when Mr Blackburn handed over to Dermot O'Leary at 15:00.
I eventually got back to Metropolis where Mike helped me unload both bikes and we propped the Ducati on the Abba stand and wheeled the FireBlade to one side. I took the planks and van back, walked back to my car, drove home, sponged a lift back to the shop and rode the Blade back home. It was 17:30. It had been a long day.

So the damage to the 1098 will be assessed at some point in the next few days and despite the weather being superb down South today, all I did was gently ride the Honda to the petrol station and filled her up. To be honest I wasn't really in the mood and my arm still hurts from the crash.
Over the next few days, I'll re-jiggle the website a little bit and get my FireBlade page up. In fairness to the bike, I'm looking forward to getting to know her.

Despite working both of the bank holidays this Easter, I was determined to get some riding under my belt, so yesterday, I headed out mid to late afternoon just to ride. Having nowhere to actually go or nowhere to actually be is a very freeing experience and it just allowed me to enjoy the moment and the bike. When out, I got myself some food, but in all honesty, I probably went a bit far and stayed out a bit long. About an hour from home, I got caught in the mother of rain storms and I got totally soaked through, the rain even ran down my arms and filled up my gloves. To be honest I'm amazed my phone worked when I got home. But get home I did, which is the main thing. It could have all too easily gone pear shaped in those conditions.
So this morning. My kit was still damp, especially my gloves, which I will upgrade and officially call wet. As a result I went to work in my one piece Arlen Ness race suit and had to use a pair of summer gloves. Thankfully it wasn't too chilly, so I didn't suffer too much with the cold. So all in all, not too bad, although I did look a bit stupid walking from the car park.
I still had the Ducati Performance tail pack attached from Mondays ride and took the opportunity to test its compatibility with my Kreiga rucksack to and from work. I was planning on using this combo, along with a tank bag for the trip to Italy in July (God that's getting close!) and when in the riding position, the clearance is fine and its only when sat upright on the bike, do the two bags clash.
Successful test I think. 
Finally I checked my MOT today.....errrrr, better get that looked into asap I think.

With the exception of one morning this week, the weather has turned mild. It looks like the winter that never was (minus the awful flooding problems of course) has come and gone and we are looking straight down the barrel of Spring. So it comes as no surprise the find out that my 1098s is still stuck in the garage minus its rear wheel. I'm really not exactly happy about it. If I'd known it could/would be at least three weeks then there is no way I would have taken it to Sutton Coachworks. I'd have found an alternative. All I want now is my wheel back, in a condition I'm happy with, then after that, I want nothing to do with them again. I'm very very disappointed.
Anyway, onto nicer news. When I got home this afternoon I had a Ducati branded A4 letter waiting for me, which was the confirmation of my two Ducati trackdays at Donington Park and Silverstone, which are this year being run by the team at Calafornia Superbike school. I'd already met two of the riders and Lynn, who arranged the booking when they held the Ducati Strada tour in the summer of last year, so it will be nice to catch up. Hopefully both days will be dry...unlike 2013.
The drawstring on my SMX plus boots snapped inside of of my boots last week, which although annoying, I'm looking into getting them repaired or replaced. I'll keep you updated. 
Big day tomorrow, but don't want to say too much. Hopefully more news to follow.

Well today I've pretty much spend a few hours playing with my video editor again and have uploaded a couple of vids the yee olde Youtube. They're both a bit of an experiment really, just trying a few things out. As a result they're nothing special and are just two typical rides out of London after work. The first was a lovely sunny day on my old Ninja and the second was a rainy ride home on the 1098s. Let me know what you think. 

Well as most of the UK will attest to, the unusual weather continues. When its not chucking it down, its actually still really mild. Yesterday London saw light winds, no rain and more double figure temperatures so I took the opportunity to take the big bike out again. The riding position is so different to the Monster that I questioned how I managed to commute on it for five months. For me, this has really highlighted the 'problem' with having two bikes that are so different. It didn't take long to get used to the riding position thou and I'm very aware that my body isn't necessarily 'bike fit', but that can be easily sorted. Since the New Year, I've intentionally started concentrating my gym work on my upper body and core. Running has been taking care of my legs for ages now, so I'm not too worried about that, but what I really want to do is be strong in the right places in time for the Italy trip I have planned for the summer. That will entail long days riding a sportsbike over some fairly large distances. The last thing I need to be at that point is unfit. That could be seriously uncomfortable, but more importantly, dangerous too.

It was raining this morning, which isn't really a problem, so I donned all my wet weather gear with the plan for keeping dry. I intentionally wore a lighter pro-layer under my leathers to help keep things comfortable, but by the time I had got the bike out of the garage, I was sweltering. An unseasonable 12 degrees meant that no matter what I did, I had too many layers on. Looking at the forecast the temperature looks like it will be returning to the seasonal average in a few days or so, but in the meantime, if I get a dry day, I may have been able to take the big bike out for a spin.

This afternoon I finally got around to fitting my new visor, with pinlock, to my HJC helmet. I managed to pick up the pair from Motorcycle Live for £30. The previous visor was quite badly scratched so this new visor should help, especially in the rain.I realised today whilst riding home that I'm still not 'in to' my Monster. I'm not sure if if was because when I took delivery of my ZX7R, I was house bound following my nasty accident, but I fell in love with that bike the moment I started riding it, but I don't feel that with the Monster. Maybe that's a good thing as the bike's main duty is getting me into and out of Central London. I don't understand it thou. The bike is comfy, has a good engine; which sounds great by the way and it has Ducati on the tank. That is normally enough for me, but there is definitely something missing. I'm thinking that its because I haven't personalised the bike in anyway. Everything is exactly as when I bought it and the only thing I've bought for the Monster is a new keyring. 
I look at my 1098s under its cover in the garage and just yearn to ride the bloody thing, fast down sweeping corners, but I look at the Monster and feel nothing, nothing at all. It's a little unsettling.