... and needless to say, with cleaning (ah, the venerable institution of quarterly visits from the agents - at least Lane Fox are interested in how we're doing rather than the house :) and CBT (which I passed - I can now ride a 125 with L plates, which is really useful for me with a 981cc monster classic virago!) I didn't pick up a bass all weekend - apart from showing Chloe from Lane Fox the Ashbory. Which doesn't count.
Cap it all off, I've got problems with time available all this week, with it being the end of the month. I'll have to find some somewhere... just not sure where.
CBT was fun - a morning in a very cold carpark near Thatcham Station, but getting great thrills having a bike under control for the first time, then changing gears and stopping.
In the afternoon, went out on the road in Thatcham and Newbury - talk about your baptism of fire. Fire would have been a welcome addition, as it was 1)cold, 2)wet 3)windy and 4)dark! - but I managed to persuade Steve the instructor I wouldn't kill myself just yet if I was out on the road.
Tell you what, if that's what a 17 year old has to go through to get out on the road, no wonder they seem to want to kill themselves out there - although it's a good few hours of riding, I had never even got on a bike before I got there, and by the end I'm told I can fly about at 60 to 70 MPH (which you can manage on good 125s) with L plates on for 2 years. More than enough time to have a final argument with an oak, I'd say...
So now it's 3-hour sessions on 125s and moving up to 500s until I can take my test, at which point I'll be qualified to actually ride the virago.
Got all the leathers too. Spent nearly as much as I did on the bike, but they look the part, and I invested in a 150 quid Caberg helmet with a fold-up chin piece, so it's a full-face helmet where you can pull up the chin piece if you wish (it's good for petrol stations and the like).
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