T55
CAFÉ CRUISING
[55: mirror-read as ZZ, forming part of my bike's name]
Che Guevara had his Mighty One...I have TatsuZZR.
Tatsu...ancient Japanese for Dragon - I was born in the year of the Fire Dragon (Chinese Astrology), and my bike is of a Japanese manufacture. It is a Kawaski ZZR1100 D1...hence, Tatsu (as it is affectionately known) becomes TatsuZZR - I know...rather pathetic isn't it, but if boats can have names, then why not bikes? Worked for Che.
I'm not looking to start any revolutions...yet...but Mr Guevara's adventures on his motorbike most certainly have influenced my own decision to make a life on tarmac...for a while at least.
BACKGROUND IN BIKING:
My father was a very keen biker...back in the day. He, with the help of a mentor, actually made his first bike - impressive...reckon I could take one apart easy enough, but putting it back together, not a chance.
[No...my dad is not James Dean - his brother is the happy chappy]
Anyway. He bought my brother and I children's motorbikes on a summer vacation to the family home in England - crazy exciting. I got a Technimoto (nicknamed TeHeMoto) and my bro got an 80cc Yamaha (nicknamed YamaHaha). I think our family is rather fond of nicknames.
[Perhaps this is where my first favourite colour of yellow came from...can I go back in time and put a 1 before the 3? There is room for Photoshopping that!]
I have only just noticed that the wheels were red! Could explain the inspiration for my Uncle (also a once keen biker) spraying the tank red when it got handed on to my cousins (who ride too). My very first of experience of riding was, umn, crashing!! Dad was mid way through explaining what the throttle did and before I got any further with his instructions I opened it up. Note to parents teaching kids to ride motorbikes: explain the breaks first!!!
My dad used to ride me to school on the back of his 80s Honda CBR. I'd happily sit there with a massive backpack on, hockey stick in one hand and fall asleep. It was a very cool image turning up to school with a leather jacket on and carrying a helmet - it never really translated to winning over the ladies though...should've greased the hair when I had some.
I desperately wanted my own motorbike in Hong Kong, but my folks, rather sensibly and wisely, determined that it was too dangerous for a teenager to ride out there. That didn't stop me taking a week long intensive training course and test in the summer of '94 - I failed...bugger...all sense of coolness lost.
It took me until 2008 to take my bike test again (long time I know...not really sure why it took so long). Much relieved to have passed because I'd already purchased my dream bike.
So...on the back of a 4 days of riding lessons, test day and 300 miles of riding Tatsu in December in England, I decided, whilst recovering from shoulder surgery on my dominant right side, that the BEST THING I COULD DO, was hire a Harley from EagleRider (cool name) in the States.
[We did 1200miles in 3 days, taking in 3 States between Los Angeles, The Grand Canyon and Las Vegas...arriving back at LAX just in time for my flight back to Blighty]
Frankly speaking I was lucky to have survived. I'd gone to California to promote and seek further help with Transmission 6-10 (see how the Subjects of this site are beginning to be pieced together). As a treat-to-the-self a Harley Davidson Sportster 883 became mine for three days. A mad-capped adventure I am working on the blog for...watch this space......
To date (1/6/2016) I've ridden almost 30,000miles. There was a time when I'd ridden more miles petrified than kilometres feeling confident. A lot of that had to do with psychology rather than just a lack in technique. The turning point was when I took a course with i2i, at a time when I thought I might never get back to how I once was because of a few minor spills. I'll blog about all of that too.....