I can't believe it, it is January again. Weather is appalling. I am lying in bed, 4 on the morning and the rain is lashing at my bedroom window trying to get in! The wind is making the house come alive and keeping me awake. Definitely not weather for riding bikes. Shame, it such a long time ago I had a go. Yesterday I saw a lone biker on the M40 as I was coming back from Oxford Uni after dropping off my daughter. My eyes followed him with envy. I know, I know, he was probable envying me in my car, but his bike was a Triumph tourer, and his back was big, and it just looked so appealing to just hop on and go for a ride.
I loved being a pillion, and I miss it with all my heart. It is such a shame those days are over. I miss them. But from now on I know I have to ride myself.

Well, that's not all that bad! Plenty of bikes have been offered to me to ride.
The day after coming back from Germany having looked at Kevin's crashed bike, I felt so low, but also defiant. I was determined not to let all the miserableness of it all stop me from riding and enjoying bikes!

I had been given tickets for the November mototrcycle show at the NEC, so the following morning after returning rom Munich, I drove (shock, horror) to the show. Going to a bike show in a car was not even an option in the past: bike show meant Bikes from morning till evening. But times have changed and I went with my daughter and friend.

The traffic was as horrendous as the day before.  It had taken me 6 hours to get home to Stratford upon Avon from Gatwick, up the M25 and M40. It seemed we just picked up the jam where I had left it the previous evening. I think my friend and daughter were relieved when we got there, being fed up with my sighing and commenting! Sooo frustrating though, I felt I was wasting valuable time.

The first stand after the barrier was CCM. A huge Teepee housed various CCM's, wooden benches and barrels dotted round the outside. I could see the CCM Adventure; the bike I should have ridden last year. This is one of the bikes which I am going to test when the weather improves. I love the bike, it's look, the image.  Also the bike is not as tall as the Yamaha TTR250, which caused me some grieve. Riding the Yamaha was fine, but the minute you needed to stop or pull away, I found I felt not in full control of the bike. The CCM I believe would give me the same as the Yamaha, but more. It will allow me to be confident at stopping and starting and keeping the bike under control of road. Well, that is what I hope I will find out when I finally have a go. Would be a very cool bike to own, I think.

After CCM, i had to take my daughter to Ducati to get a good supply of chocolade for her! She loves Ducati too, just like her mum. Good choice. The day was good to me. At the end of the day I had blagged a few bikes for the next season. I left feeling pleased I knew I could have a go at riding bikes in 2015, but so sad too. I miss Kevin so much. I wish so much he could see that the industry are willing to support me in this way, but even more I had been more confident to have tried it when he was alive.

It is morning now, and the rain and wind are still not letting up. Time to wake up the sleepy daughter and ready to take her to school. And then I can do some dreaming up of good features to write about the next seasons bikes. Not bad.