web.meYamaha Off Road Experience in Wales was a must for this year, and what an Experience is was…!
2 days of Tenere Bliss over the Welsh mountains. Great bikes, great food, and great bunch of lads…
Really enjoyed this trip, will definitely be planning a trip back in the future for the next level up in riding ability.
OMG……!
Went for a spin on one of these last week and was blown-away. Ducati Dublin organized an extended test ride for anyone interested. They only had one 1199 available and I managed to get myself booked in for that for the first session of the morning . What a machine, but at 23K it would want to be…
I was glad to find out that the spin was going to be one I am quite familiar with 🙂 Out through Roundwood, over to Laragh, then up over the Wicklow Gap and back through Hollywood and Blessington. Total was over an hour and a half out on the bike. Best test-ride I have ever took… 😉
There was a total of eight of us on the run, a couple of 1200 Multistradas, a Monster 900 & 1200, as well as a Hypermotrad 821 and a couple of 899 Panigales. It was some sight to see all of us going down the road together.
Now for the 1199 details! 1200cc, 195bhp, 165kg dry (193 with a full tank), Quick-shifter Gearbox, ABS Brakes, and a whole lot more…
What a bike, but to top it off the one I was ridding was only out of the crate, which the Ducati test pilot kindly informed me when he warned me not to break it! I looked on the clock and there was only 12 miles done on it. 12 miles on the clock, 12 miles on the engine, 12 miles on the tyres, 12 miles on the brake-pads, just what I needed to hear right before heading off for a spin over the Wicklow Gap at half 10 on a Saturday morning! All I can say is “Thank God it wasn’t raining… 🙂 ”
All went well anyway and I have to say, I had never ridden a Ducati before and had been told they were an awful ride, stiff and hard to control, unreliable and generally not a nice bike. I can report however that this bike was none of these. The ride was smooth as anything, the quick-shifter gearbox was so seamless, engine braking was a joy, and the handling was spot-on.
I would love to some day own a Ducati, but at over 23k for the 1199 Panigale this may be a while off…
This should tee me up nice now for my planned trip to the Ron Haslm Race School in Donnington Race Track next month. Will post an update about that then.
What else can I say except for “Excellent”…
First GP I’ve been to and what a race. This actually turned out to be the best and closest race of the season so far! With the Pole going between Lorenzo and Marquez a number of times on the Saturday, eventually going to Marquez. What a Sunday it then turned out to be.
Marquez goes out in practice and crashes, dislocating his shoulder before the race. That didn’t stop him in the race though, it was close at the front for the whole race between Lorenzo, Marquez and Dani. With only a lap to go Marq takes the lead and the battle between him and Lor begins. Lor retakes and so does Marq. Then, on the final corner, Lor gives one final move to make it stick and takes the win by hundreds of a second to Marq, and Dani only 1 sec behind also…!
A little further back Rossi was having his own little battle with Bautista, swapping places a number of times on the last few laps, but with Vale finishing the victor of that battle for 4th. This has been the case for the last few races with Vale fighting it out for 4th with Alvaro, each time winning the battle. If he can just get a bit further up the field now earlier in the race, maybe these can be battles for the podium.
Anyway, all in all it was a great weekend’s racing, can’t wait to go again. Alice also really enjoyed the weekend of racing just as much as I did. I never seen her so interested in a race 🙂
As well as racing we also managed to get an hour on the slopes at Xscape in Milton Keynes. Or at least I did anyway, Alice just watched! It felt good to get back on the board and with some fresh snow underneath. Can’t wait to get away to the slopes again soon…
Thanks for a great weekend Alice, looking forward to the next one… 😉
Some pics posted here under “Summer 2013 – Silverstone MotoGP 2013”
Well I have always wanted to go to a GP and thanks to Alice, this year we are 🙂
Alice surprised me on valentines with a trip to Silverstone for the MotoGP! The tickets only arrived this week. So in two weeks time the dream will come true when Alice and I will be track-side for the race.
Can’t wait, thanks Alice…
Well not really, but there was some bikes there on show 🙂
This was a fun day out organized by the Vespa Club of Ireland. It was all in aid of St Joseph’s School for the Visually Impaired Children, and what a good cause. They put on a really good show for all.
Some pictures on dropbox here – and some more pics here under May 2013, “MotorBike Shows 2013”.
We’ve been to two great Bike Shows so far this year, the RDS Motorcycle Show in March and the VJMC Classic Bike show in May. The RDS show was the same as previous years with lots of entertainment for all the family, as well as all the latest and greatest from each manufacturers for this year.
The VJMC show was more-so just about classic Jap bikes, which was not surprising give that the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club ran it…!
This was a good show also however for talking general bikes. There was quite a few beuatiful bikes on show. My favorite bikes are actually 90s Jap Sports Bikes, so I really was in my element there 🙂
Tori also had a great time at each show and we got some good pictures. I have posted the link here, see link to “Motorbike Shows 2013” under May 2013.
It’s been all go with MotoCrossing for the last few weeks, with new clubs (Leinster Offraod Club), new tracks (Kilcullen and Broadford MX tracks), Tori getting a new bike (see pics below), and the girls really getting into the spirit of it! Now Casey and Tori have the same bikes, KX65s…
Tori got her new KX65 a few weeks ago, see video of her surprised –
The lads haven’t been getting to do much though, it won’t be long before the girls are faster than they are…
Billy and Jordan (Wade) competed in the MX race at Broadford in the Leinster Offraod Club race series last Sunday and didn’t do too bad. Jordan on his new YZF250 and Billy on his YZ125, both in the same class. They finished about mid-field or better in both races, well done lads…! There is some video footage of the races below.
The girls need to get as much practice as they can over the next couple of months if they want to be ready for the grass-track races that Leinster Offroad Club have planned for later in the summer.
Come on girls…
Here are the kids races:
And Jordan & Billy’s races:
The rest of Billy and Jordan’s races are here:
Masters Of What??? – MOD – that was the response…
Great show, would recommend anyone to go and see it. Loads of action all the way through. MotoX Bikes Flipping, Whipping and Tricking, BMX bikes doing the same, Quad Bike Jumping and Flipping, and even a Skidoo Backflipping 
(I know!).
Alice got us great seats, well done ALice. Great views of all the tricks (and the fuel girls blowing fire…
)
Will definitely be going next year when it comes back, great way to spend a Saturday night.
Some vids below…
Obviously we all had birthdays this year but in our house we had some good ones. Recently Alice, Tori and I celebrated ours.
Alice = 27 (getting old…)
Tori = 8 (where does the time go)
Glenn = 30 (still feel the same as I did when I was 21 though!)
Alice celebrated her birthday in style and had a few drinks with her friends and that, Tori got to go roller-skating in the roller-disco with a couple of her friends, and seen as though it was a special one for me (big 30) I got something really nice 🙂
See pictures below. Can’t wait for next year’s birthday to see what that brings…!
Well it was a long time coming, but we are so happy now that she is here. We are now looking forward to bringing her out for a stroll…
Here she is pictured below –
It seems to be all we are doing lately, but the kids are really enjoying it. With the girls getting to go out the last two times, it was the boys turn this time, but the girls came along too and enjoyed getting a lift. The boys are getting better and better, with the odd mishap that is. See below pictures to see what I mean…
Our nice little “Private” track is coming along great. It got a little tore up yesterday with the help of a certain KX250…
We will have to be getting the boys to the proper tracks though if we ever want them to place anywhere in the races, but for the girls this track is perfect. And during the winter while all tracks are closed, I’m sure we will use this a lot. Just as long as we keep it hush hush..
Well until now its always been the boys that got to do the biking, but not any longer! The girls have been getting time on the bikes and are now into it, full swing…!
With Tori getting here new 50cc and Casey using the 65, they are really enjoying it. We will have to see if any other girls in the family are brave enough to give it a try… 
We’ll I warned that we were going to make a come-back, and last weekend we did! We got the kids warmed up two weekends ago at an “un-disclosed” location, just to give them the feel for the bikes again after been off them for a while. Then over the weekend we got them to the brand new Dublin City Motocross Track…