Add this to the inability to close the visor as it
steams up in a micro-second if I close off the
airflow, and the needles that pierce my eyes
and sting my nose if I glance ahead for more
than a second, and I thought that I was back in
the North west of England in August.
It was late in 2010 that I filled in an on-line
competition form to ‘Win your biker dream’
from the insurance company I chose to insure
my new BMW R1200GS Adventure. Bought on
a whim on one of those ‘I am a biker’ days
when I wished I still had a bike.
It had been a few years since I had sold my
last one to finance a business project, and with
the travel bug really biting I had read all the
books, bought all the videos and done the
shows for too long. As with many a
competition, once entered, it was forgotten. A
bit like doing the lottery each week, you do it
because the time you stop is the week before
you will win.
Three months later after scanning a little used
e-mail address I came across a number of
requests to contact Mike regarding my Biker
Dream application. Thinking this was a ruse to
sell me something, I eventually spoke to Mike
and after a brief conversation about the
concept, he dropped the bombshell that I had
been chosen as one of the ‘Dreamers’.
56 years ago I was born in Salford, Manchester,
and spent my life in and around the City, never
living more than 8 miles from the centre.
Always a car fan, and a rally enthusiast, I had
some experience of field bikes but left it until I
was in my forties before taking up the biking
hobby. I am also blessed with being tall, heavy
and big footed, so chose, as my first bike a
1500 Honda Goldwing.