I learnt to ride late in life. This was because of parental pressure not to do so in my teenage years. However, as a peace-maker they did help me to buy an old Ford Cortina. I gradually forgot about the idea of riding a bike over the years until having a drink with some ladies I worked with on my 40^th birthday. The running joke amongst the women all that day (expressed politely here) had been that I was at the age when men start doing stupid things and start playing with toys again.

It was the suggestion, amongst much female rib tickling, that I buy a big motorbike and a hairy chest wig that brought all the old ambitions back. Within a couple of weeks I had booked my lessons but could not get the chest wig to stay in place. I remember struggling on the bike course because although I knew what I wanted my hands and feet to do, they kept insisting on doing something else, usually the opposite to the instruction I thought that I had passed to them. I eventually took and passed my Direct Access test in June 1999.

It was immediately apparent to me as I rode my new Bandit 600 for the first time that although I had passed my DSA test I hadn’t really got a clue about riding a motorbike, eventually writing the bike off 6 months later thanks to a BMW doing a ‘U’ turn and my inability to maximise the use of the front brake. I purchased a 1200 Bandit as soon as I was almost sufficiently recovered enough to hold it up. After failing to get any sensible riding advice from self proclaimed ‘experienced’ riders I joined CWAM in Oct 2003 and passed my Advanced Test in April 2004 on a GSX1400.

I am also a committee member and the group's training officer. Being navigationally challenged, I also hold the record for leading a social ride with the most 'U' turns.