Mike's Blog

Blood Bikes Cash Shortage

Mon, 14/01/2013 - 14:46 — Mike Clarke

Bad Weather Hits Motorbike Medical Charity

The seemingly endless wet weather up to the end of 2012 did more than damage houses, roads and businesses. It had a serious impact on a specialist medical charity which provides urgent and emergency deliveries of blood, organs and other medical supplies to NHS hospitals via highly-trained advanced motorcyclists.

Check your nuts

Mon, 12/11/2012 - 22:03 — Mike Clarke

One of the earliest blogs here mentions the satisfaction derived from home mechanics and being able to take your bike apart, peer knowingly at its entrails, and put it back together again- preferably with the confidence that it will still work and carry you faithfully to the pub and back.

Navigation Skills

Fri, 31/08/2012 - 17:28 — Mike Clarke

Ok, another whinge today, this being really just the culmination of many years of fulminating on a particular hobbyhorse of mine.  Signs.  I mean, proper road signs, giving comprehensible directions to major routes and with major points along those routes.

Too Many Motorbike Accidents in Plymouth

Tue, 03/04/2012 - 15:45 — Mike Clarke

According to MAG, Plymouth needs special help for bikers. There have been 8 fatal bike accidents in the city in the last 8 months, way above the national statistical average- it is being suggested that Plymouth is the most dangerous city in the UK for bikers.

13 Memorable Moments

Wed, 28/03/2012 - 14:00 — Mike Clarke

Memorable bike moments, in no particular order and for no particular reason today, other than that I just feel like it…….

GIVING SOMETHING BACK

Fri, 02/03/2012 - 12:24 — Mike Clarke

As will be obvious to anyone reading this site, I am not in my 20’s any more. I started motorcycling at 17 and didn’t even get a car licence until I was 26. I then gave up bikes in the belief that I ought to start looking a bit more “respectable”, given my job- looking back on it, a baseless worry. I would have been far better off keeping the bikes and sod the image. Coming back to bikes in my late 40’s, it struck me forcibly how the overall public perception of bikes and bikers has changed in the meantime, mostly for the better.

FAME BECKONS (SORT OF)

Fri, 24/02/2012 - 10:45 — Mike Clarke

Our very own specialist injury solicitor and motorcyclist Mike Clarke has featured in a newspaper article about his work. Mike gave an exclusive interview to the North Devon Journal, reminiscing about some of the humour as well as the horror that he has dealt with in his 26 years as an injury lawyer. You can read the article here:-

http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/Lawyer-Mike-biker-despite-injury-claim...

Spotting

Fri, 17/02/2012 - 10:39 — Mike Clarke

I am an enthusiastic browser of charity shops, especially for old books. A happy few hours harmlessly trolling among boxes of dusty hardbacks donated by the next of kin from grandad’s box room can unearth gems of long-out-of-print wisdom.

….as witness this little offering from 1976 or thereabouts…..

Bike Spotter
Mr C J Dibworth, our county correspondent writes:-

LIFE SAVING

Fri, 16/12/2011 - 12:13 — Mike Clarke

By the time I had my first motorbike, I had spent at least 9 years of my life on two wheels, pedal-powered.  I was fortunate enough to grow up in Norfolk, with plenty of space to cycle around in, nowhere near so much traffic on the roads as there is now, and a society that thought nothing of letting 11 year old kids cycle all day all over the place without supervision.

Petrol Economy

Fri, 18/11/2011 - 11:09 — Mike Clarke

My riding style has always been fairly sedate. I was never in the least bit taken with racing or scratching, except perhaps for the first few months of my very first bike. Decking it on a wet corner on lousy Jap tyres after 6 weeks cured me of grounding the footpegs and from then on, I was very much a touring-orientated rider. I like my motorcycling comfortable and civilized. High speed is fine and I like that too, but it just emphasises the need for long-distance comfort.

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