Gas up - Let's Go!

I think I might have been haveing a very stern word with the Parents - if they are scared of the bully, you should be able to have them sh1tting in the underware mearly by pulling up on the bike!! Carefull, it might just make it worse - but at the end of the day I think it's OK to treat your kids to stuff like this. Pitty you couldn't get 10 of them and take all the kids (bar the bully) on trikes. By excluding the bully it might have made her think, but more likely resulted in the bullies parents complaining about being excluded. My missus is a HLTA in a Primary School, and the problem is the bullies are all sweetnes and light at home, and too many bleading heart liberals have passed laws preventing you from dealing with it. I was bullied at Primary & Junior School, after a year at Senior School I got fed up and gave the bullies (one by one) a bloody good pasting - They never bothered me again, but your kid would be excluded these days, and was a boy and I was a pretty good prop forward at the time too....

Save yourslef the £40 and just say, here's a free car dear, but you might hav to give it a wash! You can use the £40 you saved to by a tank or two of fuel for your trip......

Mine does dive a little, but not overly, probably about an inch or so. The back never moves. I've only covered about 500 miles on mine, it's an 08 bike that I've had since the begining of February. The front and rear suspension are adjustable - maybe someone's been'a fiddling with it for you ??

Of course you will, we'll speak to anyone - it's lonely out there on the trails you know....... Oh, BMUU's close second to Harley's I'm afraid.

Try Amazon....

The only way to experience it and learn about it is to just do it! Not sure what they are plannin gto do with you, but I magine it'll be fairly concise. Liten to what you are told, try to remember it but don't worry when you fall off (and you will). If you can master cornering whilst on your feet then you've made it (it takes some guts the first time!!) Ruts - I've never met a single trail rider that has never hated ruts ! When you're in them you're in them don't fight them but just keep going - they will take you to where the rut runs out, of that you can be sure (could be all kinds of a mess at the end mind but ..) keep your toes pointing inwards, so that it's your heals that catch first, this way you will keep your knees in the right shape. Falling off - it happens so fast (even at 20mph) that you'll not have time to react, if you stay loose you'll recover quickly and it wont hurt until the next day! The guys will talk to you about your gearing, clutch, and balance - listen, learn (if you can) but abouve all just go out there and enjoy it. One thing I would say, remember your friend needs all the training she can get, try to make sure they aren't spening too much time with you, when she is in more need. Just treat it as a very good opportunity to learn about your riding, you will be a much better road rider after a few days on the dirt. Good Luck, and when you've bought your WR450 you'll be able to do it every spare day you have!

Thankfully, he resigned too. Politics, people who want power are the very people that shouldn't have it. Lets get back to some good old'e world moaning.....

Nope. Mr Brown, as you'll remember was the Chancillor of the Exchequer. Two Jags Prescot was the Deputy PM. In point of fact you are right as we actually only vote for a single MP, the party leader is voted for by the MP's (or in Labours case the Unions!), but would as many people have voted Labour if Brown was in charge rather than Tony ? I'm still correct though, Brown has no mandate from the people - he has power by default, very dangerous...... Merv - yes, it's good to see isn't it. Like Armistice Day when all the Old Soldiers struggle out of thier death beds to show rememberance for those friends they lost. They are the people who make this country, full of moral fibre as they would have said years ago.

Why thank you. I'll be cutting and chopping the bloody thing up for months now! Nice day again today, I'm gonna bunk off early I think and warm the plannet up a bit more...

Why thank you. I'll be cutting and chopping the bloody thing up for months now! Nice day again today, I'm gonna bunk off early I think and warm the plannet up a bit more...

I see the same thing on the TTR (600 Single, off road setup), around the narrow lanes the sports bikes just can't cut it, it's another story on the B roads, and A roads aren't even considered! Maybe, I'm faster around these roads because I have an option, the gutter! bikes with road rubber have the black stuff, I would have a much wider road (unlit the hedge jumps out that is), maybe it's because I have a full set of body armour, MX boots etc and I feel safer? Lots of possibilities I guess

Erm, I think there is a possibility that JC may not have been British (given that we were a buch of disperate hords at the time - you caould say nothings changed, but hey hoy!), assuming of course you believe the text of a book written 300 years after his death, presided over by an emperor who was clinging to the last threads of power, and generally accepted as being 'incomplete' at best........ My 14 yr old daughter said something to me over the weekend that made me wonder, "Why is it that all these terrorists are Muslim?", to which I replied - "yes but not all muslims are terrorists", "how do we tell the difference?" So how do you, the cold hard truth is that you don't, human nature would dictate that you take a safe option and tar everyone with the same brush - so in the end the normal average populus will treat all easyily identifiable groups (black, white, Catholic, Muslim, Buddist, French, English, German, American etc) as a single collection. and we descend into god knows what. The only people who can stop the radicals extremists, are the middle of the road guys. We will never stop it with the bomb or the bullet, it just galvanises people - The Nazis tried it in WW2 and to this day people still reffer to the 'Spirit of the Blitz'. In Afganistan the British tried to subdue the country in the 1800's and failed, the Russians had a go, now we're back having another go. The change has to come from within. I read a book a while back called 'Al-Qaeda' by Jason Burke which investigates the whole radical Islam thing. It's heavy going but had George Bush actually learned to read, and read it then he might have considered his actions before the 2001 attacks (which, contrary to popular belief a reprisal to US Policy). That said, if Blair managed to extract his head from Mr Bush's darker regions we (the Brits) may have actually realised we could never win agianst this with the lives of those who chose to defend this country aginst it foes. When you have countries defined by geographical borders fighting a foe who's borders are defined by ideology it is impossible to win. Does anyone remember the 'peace march' prior to the invasion of Iraq ? I witnesed this, it was a sight to see (I have to point out I wasn't involved in it, although it did make me laugh to find them fighting each other around Leicester Sq later the same day!), our Governemt chose to ignor the views of the people, then managed to avoid impeachment, or any kind of investigation as a result of misleading the very same public - Change has to come from boths sides of the line, we have an unelected Prime Minister, what does that say about a once proud nation? Our servicemen and women choose to protect our rights and liberties against our foes, the governemt dictates who those foes are, and we have a say in who that government is. So ultimatly we the voting public controll where these people will lay down thier lives, in our name. If that raises some emotion in you remember that emotion next time you are at the ballot box and you are deciding what is important to you. Hate filled 'right of expression' has no place in a any democracy. We need to change the system that protects the rights of the majority, not a vile subsection of a minority. If this situation had been mirrored in any one of the Islamic countries the outcome would have been very different indeed. What upsets me the most is the fact the the Police chose to allow these putrid individuals to spout thier hate filled bile. The leader was interviewd on TVAM the next day (and I like Kate Garroway, I think she's a bit of a fox IMHO) and to be honest he had another easy ride. He proffesed to be British, being born in this country but in every sentence he reffered to 'the British', this is the problem, idiological beliefs but with a geographical nationality. without religion, what else would we fight wars over..........

If Steve can manage that I think he'll be doing back flips!! (he's on a 50cc)

We ride because we want to, they drive because they have to. I took the XJR out for a whiz yesterday, left the filling station at 08:00, out and up over the North Pennines, stopped at Hartside (to an empty carpark), then off down through the Lakes. Lovely morning, no traffic but quite a few bikes as I was heading home around 11:00ish. The chopped a tree down in the afternoon....... great day !!!

Just look at my face - it shows everything God, what next - we'll be calling Halloween Trick or Treat night, or having Grandparents Day...... Steve - how's about turning up in a Dicky-Bow, just a Dicky-Bow......... They come in all sizes You'd certainly get talked about!

58l is a fair sized lump of luggage. My panniers are 29l each, 30l top box - and I managed to look after myslef for 3 weeks, on the road fully self sufficient. So 58 l should be fine. Here's a tip, put everything you plan to take on the floor in front of you. Lokk at the things you could combine together - such as T-Shirts, wear one for good (when your off the bike) then relagate it to a riding top. Tools, take only what you can actually use (no point in taking the 30mm Thermoactuator removal tool if you've no idea how to get the casing off). Go through each day and take the stuff from the pile - I'll bet your left with something - ditch it! Now consider wearing a top for more than a day, two days, whatever - add an extra day. Go through the stuff again and ditch some more... You don't need much at all - and you may well find that you on the bike all day, get off, setup camp, eat, sleep break camp and ride all day again. Living rough isn't bad, and boy that shower at the end is well worth it all! Iknow a girl who is currently traveling the US with little more than a large tail pack and a tent! You'll be able to read all about it in TBM later this year.

Have you moved to the USA Steve ??

It happens still with Motorhomes. We took my dads out a couple of time last year, and all these old people kept waving. and it's not a subtle wave, it's full on stand up into the window, full semicircle type wave..... To make matters worse, we have two Westies, and they insisted on sitting 'up front'. I felt my life was draining away before my eyes. I've bought a trailer, and we'll take the tent from now on.

Most bikers are happy to pass the time of day with anyone who has the slightest bit of interest. You do get some arses though, 'all the gear - no idea' types, but you'll (normally) only see them come out when the weather is warm and sunny, and usually riding like complete knobs, with little or no regard for anyone else.

Just about to head off into the rush hour myself......... Childline and The Great North Air Ambulance - give them some every month, but ChildLine got an extra £100 this month, I'll stick some extra in the Ambulance pot when I se one around (it's kinda my extra insurance fund..)

Welcome fella, I'm tother side of the fells. Straight in at the deep end eh? Take it easy and you'll be fine. Watch your observations, and try to anticipate what the rest of the world is doing. If you stay smooth (rather than on/off the throttle) you'll find your corners will be less hassle and you'll be a faster rider without doing stupid speeds. You might want to consider this: http://www.cumbria.police.uk/makingcumbriasafer_10145.htm It's free and they run it from Kendal, the second series would give you time to get some experience under your belt (not till August) You'll get a bag of goodies all about staying alive on the road, as well as top notch advice on how to make safe progress etc etc. Well worth the investment of a couple of nights of your time. Nothing stopping you doing it again next year too. Good to get friendly with the local plod bikers, wont stop you getting a ticket for being a prat, but as long as you don't p1ss them off they won't hassle you when your out. I've a mate down there who went on regular ride-outs, and there's quite a following from what I can remember, alas he traded his bike for a wife & child, sometimes life takes prisoners! I'll aks him if he's got any details though.

Isn't it at this point someone has to own up to Dire Straights - Money for Nothing........

Of course, real men don't get lost, we actually listen to the GPS when it tells us to turn...... Ah, Can't answer this one - never seen it done Already am, I stay at home with all the other Ideal Shopping Companions Is this open to wives too ?

Here here. I would think most of us have family who can recall some sort of action against oppression, if that's a good way to put it. 2 Grandfathers (RIP) both saw action in Europe, Proud men and the sort of people we all owe our right to free expression to. But why the hell should you ? It's appauling. I've had the same comments for a few ex-soldiers today (my team is mostly ex-forces, better workers and you can trust them to get on with the job in hand). It's a bitter pill to swallow though, surely ? You are most welcome. Like most conflict, it has it's roots in Religion. You can't argue against something that is not based in fact. Faith of course is the belief without proof, proof denies faith.

I am off course reffering to the "peacfull demonstration", aired on yesterdays news, where a group of fanatics hurled insults, abuse and slanderous accusations at the soldiers returning from a tour of duty. Then the organiser was interviewed on TVAM this morning - why do they give these vile people air time ? He even had the audacity to compare the soldiers (who have been training the Iraqis to look after themselves) to the Nazis under Hitler. It turns my stomach to think out taxes are helping to support this kind of scum. Thier actions were clearly likely to lead to a breach of the peace, so the police had the power to arrest them, why didn't they?? I can see why the parties of the far right are gaining support. If this kind of crap isn't stamped out we'll be heading for trouble. It happened in the 30's in Germany and then ended up with them putting a maniac in charge (some say we already have that!) Totally disgusted, I really can't put it in strong enough words.