MonkeyDispenser

Last weekend I discovered a slow puncture in the rear tyre of my beloved SV650S, probably down to the piece of metal sticking in it. Financially it couldn’t really have picked a worse time to happen, but that’s the way these things often go. After finally working out where to get a new tyre (this is the first time I’ve had to do anything like this with a bike) and deciding that the front could do with replacing too I decided it would just be easier to remove the wheels and take them in to avoid the extra fitting cost and having to wait for longer while the tyres were fitted.

Somehow that simple job has turned in to a refurbishment of the front forks. I don’t know what happened last night, but I just couldn’t seem to stop undoing things and taking them off. I just hope my Haynes manual is as good at telling me how to put it back together. Maybe I should have read that bit first.

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Hurrah! I managed to pass my bike test. Admittedly it took two attempts and I thought I’d blown it the second time too but luck, and a nice driving examiner, appeared to be on my side.

So all I need now is a bike. Assuming the weather holds out for a few more weeks I’ll be heading up to Edinburgh to pick it up soon. After that the world is my oyster. Well, perhaps not since it wouldn’t go down too well if I spent all my time out on the bike. It’s tough being a modern husband…

That was a joke, by the way. I wouldn’t swap any of them for the bike, tempting as it may be some days

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I had my first attempt at cutting with a live blade tonight. It certainly makes a change from swinging a big lump of metal around and having to stop it yourself without hitting anything. What was a surprise was just how easily a sharp blade will cut through something. Newbies like myself tend to use the blade like an axe, expecting resistance at the point the blade strikes the target. What actually happens is the blade slices clean through the mats with very little resistance at all, leaving you to try and stop it before it hits the floor or your foot! As you can see from the second shot, my end point is a little low…

My form doesn’t look too bad, which was another thing I found surprising, but it does need some work to come up to the standard of someone who has been practising for so long. Sensei Keith Rose, 5th Dan, demonstrates the right way to do it.

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On Tuesday this week I passed my driving theory test. Not that I don’t already have a driving licence, I just don’t have a motorbike licence and that’s what I’ll be aiming for next month by taking a direct access course. In theory, by the end of the course I’ll have my full bike licence. It’s a good job I passed the theory test though; failing that after nearly 20 years of driving would just be embarrassing. The official test DVD (the one that costs 10 quid, not the freebie they send you when you book your test) is pretty much a collection of the actual questions you get on the test. The test certainly isn’t hard if you’ve been driving for a long time, but if you can’t afford to fail (like me!) then I recommend the DVD.

Things are moving along quite quickly. I already have my protective gear ready and I’m in the process of getting hold of a bike similar to the one pictured. It’s a funny position to be in; on one side are a group (the bikers) telling you it’s by far the most enjoyable way to travel and on the other side is another group (the non-bikers) telling you you’re more-or-less going to kill yourself. Hmmm…nervous now.

Also it’s an entirely selfish thing to do if you have a young family like myself, which probably doesn’t make me quite as excited as I would otherwise be. None-the-less I’ve been wanting to do this for years and I’m determined to see it through successfully.

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Somehow I was talked into entering a competition after less than a year of training. Oh well, I suppose the easiest way to know how you’ll do in a fight is to actually be in a fight. We were quite lucky since Sensei Liam is big on competition and was prepared to do some proper kumite training for those of who are still at the ippon kumite stage of our Karate journey!
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