Bike-fit and skipping ropes !

bag with sandwiches and a flask of tea,   how very VMCC

   . . . this is the only bike I ever bought new, and it cost me £8,000 which needed a Credit Union loan and some hard-earned savings, but since 1998 my trusty triumph thunderbird sport has provided thousands of miles of fresh air, sunny days and quite a few soakings when the rain fell, which it does a lot in Scotland.   It's on this bike that I discovered my own Country via it's minor roads, remote locations and a few malt whisky distilleries.

     In preparing for my Bonneville land speed challenge in 2016 the practical experience of small-road (and occasionally rough track riding) has provided a level of experience which has helped in what is called "bike-fitness" and this has been recently complemented with some off-road dirt bike practise around the Isle Of Man to boost competence for the temperamental surface that is a salt flat.    Pushing some heavy weights in the gym is all very good, and skipping for fifteen minutes twice a week is great,  but off-road and track-day riding makes a big difference in terms of preparation for the intensity of the moment on the salt where I either set a speed record,    or I don't.