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Strangely, nothing springs to mind for my blog tonight! I've had a good day at work today, spent a little bit on a beach packing up some fence from a site that's all completed now, was pretty cool. My boss lives out those ways, so I got to ride my bike to his place (about an hour and a half) to meet him. It was pissing down rain most of the way there, but I still enjoyed the ride!

The ride home afterwards was nice and sunny, gave me a bit of opportunity to practice my 'leaning' around corners. I think I'm finally getting the hang of it! Some of the twisties on the way back were nice and long sweepers, so it felt good to get the bike 'locked in' around the corner, hanging half off the seat with my knee out (but not down just yet!) I felt really comfortable, the bike held it's line easily, I found that continuing to 'roll on' the throttle kept the balance in check really well. I'm not a professional just yet, but I've been wondering about the whole 'lean' thing for a while now, so it feels good to be putting everyone's advice into practice!

One thing I did notice, as per what I've been told in the past by a few friends, is that rolling off the throttle mid bend definitely made the bike stand up and want to go straight! I had one moment of 'target fixation' where I had to actually tell myself to 'look where I wanted to go', and as soon as I did, the bike seemed to naturally respond. The only real issue I found was when I was going downhill into bends, I have a tendency to enter the corners a little too hot, which is what triggered my panic reflex briefly. But, I know, with more practice, I'll get a lot better! I feel like I'm on the right track now, it's making me want to get onto a proper racetrack soon!

I found out last weekend that one of the clubs hosts a bevy of 'rider training' days, and I'm keen to get along to them! I know I would hugely benefit from attending such courses, but I've discovered I need to get a couple more items of gear before I can get on the track. I've never had a back protector, but I've seen them out there, a lot of my biker friends have them and wear them everywhere. I've been doing a bit of research on their purpose, and have decided that I definitely need to get one, not only for the track but also for my road riding! Spinal injuries seem to be a pretty common thing when bikers go down. Luckily, I've recently had a little bit of a financial gain, so I'm now in the market for a good back protector. Does anyone out there in biker world know of any good brands / retailers? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I'm also in the market for a set of proper racing gloves, where the wrist cuff is armoured, and is meant to be worn outside the sleeve of the jacket. Currently, my leather gloves are short cuff, they're really good for wearing on short trips and around town, but if I'm to hit the track, I want the best gear I can get! Again, if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to post up a comment! (P.S. I'm a medium / size 10!)

The National series of motorcycle racing continues this weekend, and I'm really tempted to go, but I haven't had a nice relaxing weekend at home for over a month now, so I'm undecided as of yet whether or not I'll attend. It'd be cool to see old friends again, but it's a long hike down for me (and home again) and I think I kinda need a break from rushing around everywhere all the time! Plus, on the other side of the coin, if I stay at home, I can spend some time on Skype and catch up with friends in different time zones around the world. And that'd definitely be worth it...! As well as getting my 'body clock' back to normal again... :-)

So, the weekend remains unplanned as of yet, but stay tuned to find out where my travels may take me!


Until then...

:-)