Webmastering Biker

One of the main benefits of being on a bike is that we don’t get stuck in traffic having the ability to filter through stationary and irate cars crawling at really slow speeds, so when I filtered the other day through a particularly long bout of congestion it was a surprise to end up at a full stop at the beginning of the queue. Apparently, not even bikers get past waiting when the motorway is closed, as it was in this case due to an accident. The accident didn’t look at all serious and there were no ambulances so while waiting I took the opportunity to do what is a rarety, having a look around the motorway while at a stop…it was really boring.

It was then no surprise that after a few minutes another bike ended up along side me having experienced several miles of stationary cars. Now, bikers are usually a social bunch of people who share in some way an affinity with one another in experiencing the same lifestyle. If you watch bikers pass one another on the motorway, some will wave or nod and it is customary to nod to another biker if you a travelling in the other direction on a road. So, when this biker pulled up along side me, I guess we both felt the need to converse or acknowledge this situation we were in and in a comradely way bond in a bikerly way. There is one difficulty in this and that in keeping the elements at bay we usually wear such things as neck protectors and helmets which tiresomely prevent the optimal expression of speech. Here then is a transcript of the conversation that we had:

Biker: Hrmph, mumble (nod) mumble (gesticulate wildly) mumble, mumble some more for a bit (guffaw) mumble?

Me: Sorry, didn’t quite catch that.

Biker: mumble mumble mumble etc. (only a little louder)

(Haven’t the faintest idea what he just said, but would be pretty rude to ask again)

Me: Yeah, (laugh) isn’t that the darndest thing. (I have never used the word darndest and am not entirely sure where I picked up the Americanism but it sure seemed appropriate at the time and it didn’t matter anyway because he couldn’t hear me anyway)

Thankfully, the road was cleared and traffic started again which was lucky as it was becoming quite embarrassing.

Apologies for the long absence but it appears that our home computer decided that it didn't like us any more and stopped working. This has happened to me before and I lost quite a lot of work a week before a college deadline when a lightening strike blew my Mac up, so I know what a pain in the arm it can be, but the Missus was none too pleased at losing all her work and photographs. Another reminder that though technology is here to make our lives easier, over reliance can mean a whole heap of inconveniance when things go arm over tip.... and yes, I am still a little shy with using certain language on such an open medium, so you will have to get used to the annoying connotations.

Anyway, I haven't posted up anything bike related in a while, mainly due to me being reliant on public transport while it has been fixed up to pass it's MOT. What a bloody nuisance that was. I'll have nothing to say bad about my Yamaha (pictured above), it is after all over 18 years old and can out accelerate many cars today. It was also very cheap to buy and insure, being a classic motorcycle, as well as being economical to run (or at least compared to your average family saloon). Unfortunately, MOT time is when the odds are then stacked against my poor machine as the bits that keep falling off need mending and things like indicators and the such need to pass pesky safety standards. All in all, the bike has cost me as much as it cost to buy to keep it on the road. Do I regret it? Of course not. Will it pass next years MOT? We'll see...

In my last bike related rant I said that I was restricted to riding at 70mph. This was due to some severe maintenance issues which included:

1. A dodgy chain which were it to snap would have posed some interesting problems on a motorway (hence why I resisted unnecessary speed and staying in the left lanes) and
   
2. a broken rear suspension which feels like a hefty kick in the brussel sprouts every time I ride over a pot hole.

For the past week and a half, I have had the dubious pleasure, due to garaging the bike for a much needed makeover, of taking public transport to work from Winchester to Camberley, a journey that normaly takes me 45 minutes. I won't hold back in my appraisal of the state of this country's public transport system by saying it is certainly the worst I have ever encountered.

To get to work, I have had to get a bus into town, the timing and regularity of which I think must be ordained by the national lottery. A train journey from Winchester to Farnborough isn't that much more reassuring in reliability, but at least I can pay up the nose for the privilege, and then at Farnborough I wait 20 minutes for a bus to take me to Camberley. The journey takes me just under two hours and over a week I have spent £75 in travel....

Have I missed something here? In a world where carbon emissions is being spouted by every politician on every idealogical divide, doesn't it figure that if you want to cut polution and encourage people to drive less then there has to be an alternative. I certainly don't have any compulsion to volutarily take public transport, though I might want to do my bit for the environment, the facts are quite simple. I spend less and get places much quicker and with far less hassle if I just rode my bike.

It is an absolute disgrace that in an economy that we live in that basic services are so poor and so expensive. When I visited India a few years ago, I traveled a transport system that technologically would not have been out of place in the 30's and yet the punctuality of service embarrasses the shambling unhappy experience we put up with in this country.

I just hope it doesn't take too much longer to fix my bike, I really need a lie in...