Igor Tour

A few weekends ago, brother Igor went out to the mountains with his mates for a bit of trail riding Africa style...

Sometimes I miss the old country.

For Ant

Something for Ant in his new job with MZ Moto2...

Good luck dood!

Power Me Up!

Been putting in the hours on the bikes to get them ready for the season. 

It's really for the SV - with her total loss system I have to make sure she'll do a 90 minute Manx Grand Prix. So I've been sorting tasty Durbahn batteries with Anderson plugs (thanks Gary at SDC for the tip) and building in jumper hookups for cranking and charging those beeatches without having to get at the battery.

But while I was about it... thought I should give the flattracker the same treatment.

First Stripes

Got a pinstriping brush and some paint the other day and pulled my first stripes...

It's a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. Alan Johnson says the way the learn pinstriping is to buy a gallon of paint and start practising. When the paint tin is empty, you'll know how to pinstripe. I've got a way to go yet!

Junction Crossin

Yesterday morning I went down to my local practice track. Rain the night before so it was mushy... but the weather was kind and we saw a bit of sunshine.

I went round and round... 'building' a flattrack. Trying not to use the rear brake to start the slide. I only achieved this a handful of times... got to get the knack of slinging the bike sideways.

After a while, I started getting inconsistent and big slides...

Checking out the track... I had worn through the top inch or two of dirt and bits of concrete and rouble underneath were exposed. Not great.

I still had a good workout... and was pretty stiff and sore this morning -my left butt cheek took a pounding over those bumps!

 I went back for a short session this morning to loosen up (the fourfiddy was still full of mud and on the trailer, all my kit was still in the van - so it would have been rude not to!)... but it was raining and pretty slick. It was still a good hack. My body needs to get fit!

Trials Down the Junction

On Sunday I found the practice track my neighbor had told me about. Well... it's not a track... just a piece of unused ground right on a junction of the M1 motorway.  It's fairly big... and flat. Apparently it's been used for years and there's been no trouble with the plod. Best part... it's only 6 miles from home!

Took the Beta down for my first ride in months. Just a light, introduction back onto the dirt. Skids and wheelies! There were a couple of other lads down there with dirtbikes learning to wheelie, a pitbike and a dad teaching his son to ride. Cool.

It's not great for trials... besides a few tyres around, this whoop-like section was as gnarly as it got. But... I see potential for a wee bit o flattrackin on them plains! A bit bumpy, but should be okay. Got to get my sooper-dooper-chinese-minibike prepped and down there! Wanna get the four-fiddy down there too. No excuses now... time to start training!

AMA Flattrack 2010 - Arizona Mile

Season finale at the Arizona mile - fantastic footage again from TheFastandDirty:

Arizona Mile II from TheFastandDirty.com on Vimeo.

I hope the Ducati boys come back next year and win more!

Ice Racing Camaros

A couple of cool vids of some ice racing Chevy Camaros... awesome v8 soundtrack!

AMA Flattrack 2010 - Kawasaki Wins

A couple of short vids by TheFastandDirty on Kawasaki's brilliant 2010 season:


The Technology Behind Kawasaki's Flat Trackers from TheFastandDirty.com on Vimeo.

... and a bit about the bikes:


Monster Energy Kawasaki Flat Tracker Bryan Smith from TheFastandDirty.com on Vimeo.

... they're not giving much away!