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Thruxton BSB TripFor Dee’s Birthday, we went to the Thruxton circuit, in Hampshire, to watch British Superbikes and the support races, in which we had a vested interest, a young, very talented rider, known as Alex Gault, who rides in the Focused Events KTM Superduke Battle, on the Fowlers of Bristol KTM Superduke 990. He also rides in the British Junior Superstock 600, on the Astro Kawasaki ZX6-R.

The journey down to Hampshire from Lancashire, went quite well, and we arrived on the Friday evening, around a 4 hour journey with a couple of stops.

Friday night, we had a few drinks in the bar on site, and then went back to the campsite, (again on site) - Saturday was cold, and wet, we watched practise and Qualifying, and then arranged to meet up with the Gaults.

Alex was out in the first race though, and I think he was stunning, ignoring the guy who wasnt in the championship, who was just having a race, Alex Gault could have got 3rd, but, Dave Niel leant on him in the club chicane, right in front of us, and Alex was having none of it, and leant right back, unfortunatly, Dave took to the grass, and Alex stayed on the kerbs, officially Alex got 5th, but could have been 4th, which would have been third, had the guy who was just having a race, not been there. If you have seen the TV coverage of the race, it really was the “Alex Gault Show”

In the last race, Alex out of a field of 50+, and starting from 13th, Alex Gault got up to 9th, when the race was stopped, which is an excellent result for Alex, on the Astro Vans Kawaski ZX6R.

Danni Pedrosa put together a superb race, being constantly a 10th of a second faster than Valentino Rossi, and Lorenzo.

Rossi took 2nd place, as though he had won the race!- Surely that’s not a good sign, when your Rossi, that your happy with 2nd and being beaten by a Honda?

(Granted he do well to get 2nd, but thats all the praise your gonna get from me )

Stoner had a nightmare of a race, but it could have been worse, his ill handling Ducati, has always suffered at jerez and is there one and only bogey track.
I was again amazed by James Toseland who looked, and sounded really Ill, he must have put his heart and soul into the race, in order to finish a fantastic 6th.

So, lets see, last year - with Casey stoner winning - lets have a list of every Rossi Fans blurb on why he didn;t win :-

It was the Ducati
It was the Tyres

Well, Rossi is now running the same Bridgestone tyres.

The Ducati is no faster in a straight line than the Fiat Yamaha. So blah blah blah
Casey 1st, Rossi, came 5th. So Rossi fans can continue with excuses. Sorry, reasons.
Congratulations to James Toseland, 2nd on the grid in qualifying, superb start to his first season in MotoGP, - a British Rider, 1st season, and top 6 , is truly a brilliant result. Never been near a motogp bike, or any GP bike, 125 or 250!!!!!!
Am i chuffed, yes, after the lack of press from World Superbike championship win, I am chuffed for James, and extremely pleased for MotoGP champion Casey Stoner, who started racing in The UK, with Preston and District motorcycle club. http://www.prestondmc.co.uk

Surely it was the Dog, scratching and hitting the wardrobe door, which made the racket? - the cats had been fighting under our bed, the dog was snoring, I couldn’t get to sleep, my earplugs had gone missing, and I was up in 5 hours time for work, it’s no suprise then that the noise, was ignored, and I turned over and went back to sleep!

I turned on the news this morning, to hear that there had been an earthquake, and on checking the forum at northukbikers, reada that members in preston had felt it… I thought it was another experience that had passed me by, but, later in the day, I realised that the noise of the wardrobe door  banging, was in fact the house shaking, - I’d half slept through an earthquake in England, probably the only one I’ll ever experience (If I’m lucky!)

Oh well…………………….

Well, having used the little SGX50 for work on a few occasions, I can say that it is certainly relaible!

It starts with no problems, and whilst I have yet to do a distance test, it has taken me the 2 miles to work and back with no problems. The only problem i have is that the centre stand grounds out on corners due to it’s location, so i may well remove it and fit a mountain bike side stand.

I fettled a little bit with it, replacing some wiring, and a few screws and fastners, due to them being rusty or missing!

I have found a supplier of a technigas exhaust system, which may be purchased, allowing a bit more a free flow of gases, - it might reach 40mph if I fit one, IF being the word, at £80.00 it’s not cheap, and I am concerned that it will go bang if derestricted. There are also various big bore kits available, I am guessing the fitment of one of these and the exhaust, may see 45-50mph!

For now, it may just be some cosmetic changes (Paint it a crazy colour - and give the wheels a good clean) - I will be adding a second battery system, to power Sat Nav and a set of spot lights, as the headlight is, err…. crap.

More Entrants

There are now more entrants to the challenge, I wont mention names, apart form Vincent and John Winn who will be joining me on my mammoth ride to John O’Groats - Yes, I am going to ride the 1033 miles from Preston to the far reaches of Scotland on the moped!

Entrants bikes include a Honda Melody, a Honda CM125, a Yamaha Townmate 80cc, and a Yamaha Zippo scooter (whilst newish, it only cost Vincent £50.00 so will be let in! - and it is ruff!)

All of this of course is in aid of the air ambulance charities across the north of England, and, i am glad to say that I have already raised £175!

More later, if you would like to sponsor me, then please get in touch via www.northukbikers.co.uk

Well, after driving some 150 miles to Saltburn-by-the-sea, to pick up the Scudmotoped” - at 50mph, and then driving back at - yes 50mph, (Trailer on the frontera) the NUKB Summer Challenge is set for June 2008

Scudmotoped meets the Supermoto
NUKB’s “LONG WAY HOME”

It Will see a bunch of the North UK’s bikers, riding for the air ambulances of Yorkshire, Lancashire and the North East, aboard bikes that have cost less than £200

There are some cracking bikes from the past, that will be used, such as a Yamaha townmate 80 step-thru, A Honda 125 pre-CB bike, and my ebay purchased, Honda SGX50 - Possibly the slowest bike that will run, with a top speed approaching 36mph, downhill, I may have to get it derestricted! - It does however, have 8 months MOT, and 8 Months Tax, and is totally road legal, at a cost of £148.00

The Scudmotoped, smoking the rear tyre.

A date has yet to be set, but the challenge will happen in June. there will be a charge of £5.00 per bike, and the route, will possibly, Hawes, Tanhill amd maybe, if time allows, Scotland, and return home.

Should be a right laugh, and fun too!

Okay, I got bored!

Christmas is over, well, for another 12 months at least, and 2008 is here, so,

HAPPY NEW YEAR 

Have a safe and Happy New Year!

James

Can you possibly imagine the inane, monotonousness of continuous Christmas songs for 3 weeks?

Play this tune, around, over and over and over and over again………………..

how was that? - CRAP EH! - well, that’s what it’s like!

Well I suppose a second wave of protests were inevitable, with the price of unleaded fuel as much as £1.25 a litre, and diesel even more expensive, just what did the government expect?

Did you know that 66% of what fuel costs, goes to the government  in duty and VAT. Clearly the argument against rising fuel taxes, are two fold, environmental (Price the motorist off the roads, therefore “Saving carbon output” and of course, where would the government make up the money they are taking in fuel duty.

All tax on fuel does, is punish the poor, and not bother the rich!, the only people you will see being driven off the roads for these somewhat questionable environmental issues, are those that are struggling every month to make ends meet. It won;t bother those that can afford brand new cars every year, and they will continue to use their own vehicles.

We are already seeing the effects of the tax on fuel on prices of goods and services, they are rising, everything that needs to be transported, will have a price rise, - have you noticed how few websites are now offering free delivery, on goods, when they were last year?

I know there is the argument over it only being hauliers and farmers complaining, but it isn’t, it is just they make the louder noise, - if the British public had the gumption to stand up and say what they thought to the price of fuel, it would be clear that it isn;t just farmers and hauliers that are feeling the pinch.

So what are the answers, - well, put 1p on income tax, the rich will pay more, the poor, will pay very little more, and reduce the price of fuel to a manageable level for all. the answers to the environmental issues are not to be based around the easy target, the motorist, but to trade and industry. It is easy to bang on about carbon output for vehicles, but vehicles make up only 0.04% of the worlds carbon output.

If you took all the worlds vehicles of the roads today, it would make no difference in the next 1000 years! - It’s not an environmental issue, it’s a tax issue. Stand up, and be counted if you struggle to put fuel in your vehicle every month, complain, and protest about it, or just sit back, and continue to be conned, and continue to struggle.

Well it’s begun in earnest at the supermarket I work at, the customers are looking and acting more stressed, rushing around like bulls in a china shop, not really paying any attention to what is going on around them, I have already been knocked flying by a group of elderly women, intent on stopping like a new sportsbike with ABS, for no reason whatsoever, I stopped and then got shoved from behind by another customer not looking where he was going.

We also had the classic mum and umpteen 6 year olds, screaming and shouting at them, for running and sliding along the floor, (Quite funny, especially when they crashed into a customers trolly!), nearly knocking it over on its side!

I also had the displeasure of a man “DESPERATE” to get some mincemeat. Now knowing it was a fair distance away from the customer, I asked the customer to wait there, and I will go and get it for you. “Lucky you” I thought as i picked up the final jar and started my trek back to the customer. On arriving at the point where I had asked the customer to wait, he had gone. THANKS MATE! - So, I decided to take the final jar of mincemeat and shove it up his ar…….. well i would have if i could have found him, which i didn’t, I took the jar to the customer service desk and got them to put a call out for the customer. he didn’t show - couldn’t have been that DEPERATE after all eh!

The same thing happened with a woman who wanted Bread Sauce!

Don’t ask us when you first enter the store, where something is, because it’s obvious that, you haven’t even looked, before asking, that’s just lazy!

If you are asked to wait somewhere, whilst a member of staff goes and gets something for you, WAIT! - don’t carry on with the shopping, we cannot remember your face, what you were wearing etc, we see 5000+ customers on an average day, never mind at Christmas.

Ahh Christmas, don’t you just love it?

As you are probably aware, the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards takes place at the NEC Birmingham next Sunday, 9th December 2007 and will be shown live on BBC One.

Therefore, could I encourage you all to pick up your phones next Sunday and pledge your vote for James.  Let us give him all the support we can.

I of course refer to the NUKB 2007 party that celebrated 4 years of existance and Christmas all rolled into one!

God I was drunk. I know this because I had a hangover for 1.5 days, and slept half of Sunday!

great night out, the food was excellent, and it was great to meet so many members. The disco was brilliant, many people dance, had fun, and enjoyed themselves, and all in in all, it was a top night with the NUKB community.

My thanks go to everyone who attended and to Ali, who orgainse3d it (I did get her a card and present to say thank you! )

It was a great evening, which showed just how far NUKB has come in the last year, it’s been brilliant as far as the membership, the community and the 122+ ride-outs have been.

My thanks to Julie (Roy’s partner for many years) for sending her best wishes to the members and all of us, it was a touching and respectful thing to do, and I really appreciated it.  Thanks Julie.

So who was left at the end of the night? - Me, Davo, Corgikev, and Dinny - the true 3am party animals!

Well Christmas is on it’s way, and the advertising has begun, thankfully, it’s not over the top - yet….

I could delve into the rights and wrongs of what people spend at Christmas, but someone else always writes about that.

What I will write about is those that work in retail at the busiest period of the year.

Everybody gets stressed out, and tired doing the “Christmas Shop” no matter if it’s for presents or for food, we all rush around like idiots, trying to get everything done at the last minute, and get wound up with other shoppers, getting in the way, being rude, being too slow, getting annoyed at a lack of availability of the products you want to buy.

Spare a thought for the people who work in retail, who put up with this for the last 3 weeks in the year, and do it with a smile on their faces. If you think you are wound up and stressed out, imagine having to deal with people, who are stressed out, and wound up, for the entire Christmas shopping season. It’s not easy, and we get stressed out, and wound up as well.

So, when you go Christmas shopping, don’t take out the frustration you feel on the staff, if something is out of stock, it’s out of stock, it’s not the staff who put the stock on the shop floor’s fault, we can’t put it out, if we haven’t got it!

There are general comments we hear constantly, here are some of them, followed by what we think….. Please don’t use them, as we have heard them all before, and to be honest, they get boring, and really, we don’t give a shit!
Shopper :-”i’m doing my shopping at a.n. other supermarket”

Staff “Good, I won’t have to put up with you again then”

Shopper :- “Call yourself a 24hr Supermarket, Why haven’t you got any carrots left, it’s 9pm on Christmas Eve”

Staff - “No, I call myself my name, and what did you really expect, at 9pm on Christmas Eve, get ur arse in here earlier.”

Shopper :- “Oh, if you haven’t got it, I’ll have to go to Sainsbury’s”

Staff - “Good luck, they get the same stock as us, from the same suppliers.”

(Member of Staff is pulling a pallet of potatoes, that weighs around 2 tons)
Shopper (Jumping out in front of the staff member) :- “Where’s the bottled water”

Staff - “For crying out loud, get out of the way, can you not see I’m the brake, and the engine here, for f*cks sake - It’s over there - pointing.”

Hopefully this guide will assist you in not pissing us off as much this year, you never know it might help!

Well the 2007 NUKB Party is up and coming, details are on the forum, but we do have a fair few of us, having a night out at a hotel in Chorley, which is brilliant, it’s the first NUKB Party that’s too big to hold at someone’s house!, therefore, we have a room, a buffet, and a disco all included. If you are an NUKB member, details are on the forum.

I have just been watching some old races from the 98/99 seasons of BSB, now that was racing, John Reynolds / Chris Walker, James Haydon, Neil Hodgson, Marty Craghill, Steve Hislop, Nial McKenzie, Sean Emmett etc, wow, what a great couple of seasons, passing that was too close sometimes and brilliant riding, proper close racing!

I have come to the conclusion that It’s all about attitude. Having an open mind, and a no shit taken attitude helps, along with an “involve as many groups of different bikers, as you possibly can philosophy is defiantly a requirement as well!

I have seen other ride-out sites go down the pan, due to an arrogant way of thinking, and end up being about 15 mates, who posted where they rode-out, rather than an invitational way of thinking, where no matter what you ride, you are welcomed.

There are the times when you want to ride on by yourself, or with one or maybe 2 close mates, but for an entire section of a site to be dedicated to “where did you go today” rings alarm bells in the involvement stakes!!! - Surely that shouldn’t be a section on any community ride-out site!

NUKB is doing really well this year, over 120 ride-outs, and on average, new members are reaching over 100 a month, it’s surprising, and to be honest very pleasing, its down to the reputation the site has with current members, and that’s where your new members come from, current members and word of mouth, that’s more gratifying than someone stumbling upon the site through google

Nuff said!