Browsing Tag

Motorbike racing

Thundersport Round 1: Brands Hatch

The weather this weekend was forecast to be pretty dismal, so I wasn’t sure if we would make it down to Brands to see our friend Michael race, but Sunday dawned fair and sunny so we decided to make the effort. Though we did wimp out by going in the car, rather than on the bike – which proved to be a sensible decision given the temperatures!

We got to the track about 45 mins before the first race and met up with everyone. It’s been ages since we’ve seen them and ages since we’ve been to a race meeting. It was bloody freezing but great to see our friends. I miss regular bike racing, but I don’t miss standing in the cold for hours.

Save

6th March 2016

Play

Endurance – racing and riding

Le Mans is the most frustrating racing circuit I’ve ever been to. Perhaps it’s not like this for MotoGp or for the cars, but for the Motorcyle World Endurance it was crazy. None of the main entrances were open and there were no car parks. Like, none.

When we arrived on the Friday we decided to head over to the circuit to see Steve. Easy, right? Our hotel was at the bottom of the Mulsanne Straight – no more than 2 miles from the circuit. So we jumped back on the bike, expecting to be able to go to the main entrance, park up in the car park and buy a ticket. Oh My Days. Firstly, not one of the main entrances was open – the one off the motorway was coned off and the one we found was an entrance to the campsite only. We drove round in big circles, getting increasingly more frustrated and using increasingly ridiculous bad schoolgirl French to get directions!

Finally, we worked out that the bike had to be parked in the car park for camping and that there was an almost hidden entrance we could buy tickets at and walk through. We walked under some tunnels and alongside the track and eventually found the paddock and met Steve, who walked us in. Time for a quick brew and a catch up on the news and we headed back to the bike and the hotel, for some much needed food and a glass (bottle) of wine (or two). Perfect, and we assumed that the main entrance and car park would be open on race day.

We slept in and missed breakfast, so decided to wander over the road where there was a supermarket, and get some bits to have a picninc in the park. We bought a local ‘delicacy’ which we think was called ‘marmit’ – but to be fair, it could have been called anything. It turned out to be some cold vegetables and a chicken and bacon type mayonniase salad. We think. It was ok, but mostly sitting in the park, eating weird food with a plastic fork in the sunshine after riding an epic ride and with a motorcycle race ahead of us was just about perfect.

So, the plan was, get to the circuit ahead of the start, which was at 3pm. We set off, confident we could get in to the circuit car park, so we headed again for the main entrance. Still closed. On race day. Back round in circles, we eventually worked out that most people were parking on the street/pavement a little down the road. So we did that. Not so easy to manouvre that enormous bike in between cars but got there in the end. We were parked. We were in the circuit. Success!

We had tickets to get into the circuit and grandstand seats so we were not really expecting to get into the paddock again. However, Steve managed to sneak out a couple of passes and we were in. ‘Would you like to see the bikes?’ Errr…YEAH! We were in the garage and on the pitlane at Le Mans. Seriously super-impressive.

As the race start got nearer the crowd filled out in the stands and the atmosphere started to change in the garages, as it always does. The starting boys went out to the grid and then suddenly there was an open grid gate in front of us. We stuck our heads down and walked out…onto the starting grid at Le Mans. WOW! It’s almost like an ampitheatre, with the crowd and bike noise being amplified.

Seeing the Le Mans start at Le Mans was special, especially seeing it from pitlane. We slipped out of the paddock after that and had a wander around and then made our way up to the stands to watch Steve, who was out third for the team.

A bit later we went back to the hotel for dinner, decided to sleep and set the alarm for 4.30am to go back to the track. We were back for 5am. Everyone was tired, but Steve and Caroline were still in really good spirits. Once again we were lucky to get into the garage and see a night-time changeover from the perfect viewpoint. Totally fantastic – the highlight of the weekend.

We stuck around for a while then decided to get on the road home. We had a long journey and back to work tomorrow, so unfortunately we couldn’t stay until 3pm, when the race finished. No only that, but rain was forecast and we were a bit knackered.

The journey home was a bit wet and windy, some hairy moments over the long viaducts with the cross-winds and we were glad to see Calais and the train terminal. We even arrived home in time for a glass of wine and an evening. Tiring but fantastic weekend.

: Lunch in the park

: Getting ready to go to the circuit

: Hotel

: Picnic

: Pitlane

: Bikes

: Le Mans pitlane

: Penz 13 BMW

: Twits in the pitlane

: The rider

: Steve, me and Madge

: Night changeover

26th September 2014

Live

Bucket list

“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. What’s their plan? Not much.”- Jim Rohn

I came across this free tool online called Bucket List recently. I haven’t signed up, but by the looks of it you can log your life goals or ‘bucket list’ items and then tick things off the list, share them with friends and get inspired by over 2 million ideas. It’s a lovely idea.

The idea of ‘things you must do before you die’ is nice, but I think it’s almost too big. It also has a sense of racing against time about it, which I’m not sure I like so much. I’m not very good at setting personal goals, in fact, I don’t think I ever really have. I’ve set loads of professional goals, knowing what I wanted out of my business and my career, and at points I’ve been very driven about those things, but in doing so I’ve neglected to think about the ‘me’ stuff. When you put so much of your time into your work it’s difficult to think about life outside of that.

Also, achieving big goals can tend to cost lots of money and take lots of time, and that can make them feel unachievable when you don’t have much of either. Trouble is, if you don’t make plans and goals, you get caught up in the day-to-day and life passes by in a flash. Not so much of a big deal when you’re younger, but heading rapidly into my mid-forties it’s starting to feel like I should have some sort of plan.

So I’ve been thinking about things I’d like to do, at home at work and at play. Not so much a bucket list but at least a set of personal goals. I’ve been inspired by my weight loss this year, although it’s only partly about the weight loss itself and actually as much about my ability to decide to do something for me and stick to it. It’s given me a confidence that I can achieve a personal goal, and importantly, not self-sabotage when I’ve been stressed or tired or fed up.

I think some of my aversion to ‘planning’ things for my personal life comes from the fact I plan things for my professional life. My whole work-life is about lists and plans and goals and stuff that needs to happen in the future. Perhaps doing that for myself feels a bit too much like work? But that said, I do enjoy ticking things off of lists, that sense of satisfaction of completion and achievement. So, I think I will have a go at compiling some goals, ones that aren’t based around work – some near and some far – and resist the urge to make it read like a to-do list!

The first things I’ve come up with are:

1. Learn Spanish (no, not buy a boat!)

There’s nothing really stopping me from doing this one, other than time and determination, but I’d love to learn Spanish! I love Spain and I would love to live there for a while, so being able to speak the language would be essential for that. Baby steps – learn the language first!

2. The Edinburgh Festival

I’d love to visit the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Not just for a weekend or a few days, but actually rent an apartment and stay for the full 3 weeks one August, and really get into it. I think the hardest thing would be deciding which shows to go to.

3. The Isle of Man TT

There is nothing quite like the Isle of Man TT Races. It’s held in May every year and is the premier motorcycle road race in the world. The 37-mile Mountain Course is totally unique and I’d love to spend the full 14 days there, soaking up the atmosphere. Ideally I’d love to go as part of a race team – I did that for the NW200 last year and it was amazing. I’m lucky enough to know someone who raced last year and this year and I’ve met a few of the riders, so even listening to it on Manx Radio makes it feel more special.

4. Get more exercise

Constantly on my list of things to do, though it might be easier now I’ve lost some weight. It’s more about finding space in my life to fit exercise in. I’ve never really enjoyed going to the gym – I used to love martial arts and team games like Netball. Maybe I need to find something I like, rather than just trying to plod on with the gym?

5. Make a money plan

Financial planning is not exactly my strong point. But I would like to buy a house in Summer 2016 so time to make busy with a financial plan! The trouble with a plan that basically involves saving more, is how to fit in the things like 2 + 3 which involve spending money… 🙂

Save

25th August 2014