Everywhere Virtually

This time last year we were at the beginning of one of the wettest summers on record here in the UK. At the time I didn’t know what was coming. I’d been bowled over by the amazing April sunshine and thus projected it forward and applied it to the entire summer. Being Britain I should have known that was folly. That said with a climate like that of the UK you have to be an optimist.

Around this time I’d rented a place in the country. It was a long drive to work but enjoyable. With fuel prices rising I started thinking about alternative methods of transport. At first my interest was in a maxi scooter. I saw one pass the house everyday. After some investigation I saw the Piaggio MP3 and quite liked it. ( I would see sense eventually).

I had a holiday in France and on the way home passed the MotoGP. There were literally thousands of bikes. Something at this point clicked in me. As I drove north in my air conditioned car I started thinking back to my time on a bike when I was in Greece in my early twenties. This was to be a turning point.

A month later I was in Italy and this time I was reacquainted with scooters. Once again I looked at the 3 wheel concept. The Gilera Fuoco was a meaner version of the Piaggio MP3. Trouble was I needed a full license to ride it. With this in mind I set about looking into getting the necessary credentials that would set me on the path of two wheel freedom. In November 2007 I bought a helmet and in December I booked my CBT training for January. Countless times I would put the helmet on and ‘try it out’. That was all the gear I had at that time but it was enough to keep me fired up.

Around this time someone mentioned a documentary called “Long Way Round”. I had a vague recollection of a footnote in the news back in 2005 about Ewen McGreggor and his pal going round the world on their bikes and then never gave it a second thought. At the time I was in a long term relationship, destined to be shackled to a life of mortgages, marriage and domestic oblivion.

To cut a long story short I watched Long Way Round and was instantly hooked. This show combined my love of travel, with geography, meeting new people, photography and my old desire of getting about on two wheels. My thoughts of scooters vaporised as I realised I wanted an ‘adventure bike’. My focus shifted seismically from scooters to Yamaha Tenere’s, Triumph Tigers, KTM’s, Honda’s and BMW’s.

First things first though. I didn’t even have a license. A few days into the new year I took a visit to Honda just to be around some bikes and get a feel for what I might like. 20 minutes later I had bought a Honda 125. A Varadero. The excitement was at fever pitch now. I had my own bike and in a few days I’d be on the road. On the day of the test the other students had Honda CG125′s and they looked at me quizzically and said wheres your bike? Almost on cue the Honda van turned up. Minutes later my blue and grey Honda Varadero was being rolled out of the van and boy was it big compared to the other bikes.

It didn’t phase me at all as I had a clear plan of what I wanted to learn and where I wanted to be in a few months time. In terms of size the Varadero is as tall as a bike with lets say a 600cc engine. It really looks the part and has good switchgear to finish things off.

By the end of the day I had passed the CBT and was able to ride home. It was a fantastic feeling but only step one on the ladder to a full bike license.

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