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Things have been a bit quiet with Beginner Biker Adventures recently, as you may have seen on my occasional Insta, I’ve had to pause things to deal with family. Last summer out of the blue, my Dad was diagnosed with stage-4 oesophageal cancer and a pretty crap prognosis.

Cue 12 months of the family rallying around to provide care and support my Dad, through palliative chemo with its ups and downs. It was a tough battle with only one endpoint. But that didn’t stop my Dad from fighting, out of sheer stubbornness, tenacity and refusal to give up – an attitude he lived by. I count our blessing that at the very end, he was comfortable, in no pain and with his family by his side. These moments stay with you.

We all miss my Dad terribly and are still adjusting to life with the gap left behind. To repeat a quote from his funeral from a song that meant a lot to him:

Breathe, breathe in the air.
Don’t be afraid to care.
Leave but don’t leave me.
Look around and choose your own ground.

Long you live and high you fly
And smiles you’ll give and tears you’ll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be.

– Breathe, Pink Floyd (Waters, Gilmour, Wright)

Take it easy folks, take care of those close to you, and make the most of every day. Life is short and who knows what tomorrow may bring. I’ll be back soon, after a good measure of riding and motorcycle therapy. Ride safe!

Donate to Cancer Research UK here.

As you may know, if you’ve been following this blog closely, we have been planning to relocate out of London, but last week things just got real. Our house went on the market and we accepted an offer a few days later! After months of planning and preparation, the madness is in full swing.

A frantic dash up to Scotland followed to view as many houses as we could, whereupon we found a decent place in Stirling that ticked most of our boxes. There’s always some compromises to be made, but our top priority requirements were met; location, good nearby school, size, home office, big garage etc. Our offer was accepted (phew!) and now we have the nail-biting wait to get all the finances and solicitors gubbins lined up for the next couple of months. Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly with no hiccups, these things can (and do) go tits up, so I’m not counting my chickens just yet. But it’s a good start to a huge and exciting change of lifestyle.

So, apologies for the slight lack of content recently, preparing our house for sale has taken up a lot of time and things will likely be in a state of turmoil for a little while yet. But watch this space, for news on our big Scottish adventure!

Think you’re a proper biker? Think you know your motorcycles inside and out? Reckon you’ve ridden everywhere there is to ride? Are you really a proper biker who has done all there is to do on a bike? Well, let’s see if you’ve done all of these!

You’re not a proper biker until you have:

“You got a helmet?”
“Oh, I’ve got a helmet! I got a beauty!”

 

Well, 2016 was quite a year; so many great musicians and celebs dying; the whole Brexit fiasco, Big Mother Theresa May in power and not to mention despicable Trump being elected. It’s difficult to look back and take stock of the good stuff that happened. But, my wife finally finished her PhD, my best mate from college got married,  I popped my track day cherry and even managed a whole year without falling off!

As for new year’s resolutions and forthcoming plans, here’s just a few:

• More track days. It was great last year at Brands Hatch, definitely want to do more.
• Off road riding. Something I’ve never done, but definitely want to do.
• Do more videos. Haven’t had chance to do many lately, but I have some ideas I want to realise.
• Help my wife get through her IAM. She starts this month, so look out for some reports on her progress.

Many thanks for all the support and following us in the past, I wish you all a great new year of biking!