shibbyonline

The Day I Met James Toseland

James Toseland is the current World Super Bike Champion, and now the best British bet at winning the MotoGP. Think of him as the motorbike version of Lewis Hamilton.

Now I will level and say I have not always been up to date with my knowledge of motorcycling, so put me up against a die hard fan of Mr. Toseland and honestly could not answer questions about his beginning’s in trial bike riding. Or how he got signed into the 125cc class and worked his way up to his current Tech3 Yamaha MotoGP deal.
But I do follow the sport and I know a good rider when I see one, you can also tell that James has a stand up personality. So when I heard that he was going to be visiting Bowers Motorcycles in Bury St. Edmunds I decided to go along and have a nose.
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welcome to 2008

This is the traditional ‘first’ post of the year, you know the ones where we all discuss our plans for the coming year.

Looking back at 2007

On a personal level 2007 has been a bit of a mixed up year, full of ups and downs with the odd twist.
The highlight of the year without doubt had to be tv birth of by neice Francessa but that did not happen until July so lets back track a bit.
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The Test Ride

Earlier this week I passed my DAS test, which means I am now able to ride any size bike (insurance costs permitting) I wish.
So as a means to get my foot on the bike ladder I went out and purchased my first motorbike; a Yamaha FZ6 S2.

Ok technically this is not my very first motorbike, when I turned 16 I did not go down the usual route and wait for a car, I opted to get on the road early and my parent bought me a Kawasaki AR80. This lasted for a couple of years until I was old enough to learn to drive and I turned my back on the bike scene, however there is proof that I did own a bike.

Anyway back to the story of my first ‘big boy’ bike.
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DAS Passed

Yesterday I had my last lesson on the CB500 with Ian over at Excel Rider Training.
It started at 9:30 in the morning with my test booked for 13:30 that afternoon. To be honest it was a long day and as it went on my nerves were getting worse, have not felt like this for a quite a while; well since my driving test.

I knew my Achilles heal would be the U-Turn having slam dunked the bike twice on the last session. Sure enough on the practice rounds I was all over the place and riding like I suffered from DT’s. Even the weather looked against me as it had been raining for the last day and the back roads had rivers of gravel and debris running down the middle of the lanes.

Half one soon arrived and there was no more hiding, it was time to ride like never before. I was introduced to Terry the examiner and we set about getting the test underway.
Luckily the rain had cleared and the sun was out drying the roads. Looking back the test was a bit of a blur but something must have been right as after 35 minutes I was back at the test centre with my pass certificate!

Problem is now I have to decide on which bike to invest in…