This is not to say that certain things about academia are not wrong, there are.  I have just done an on-line application for the job I’m doing.  In academia they cannot just give someone the job, even if they have someone doing that job and doing it well.  The team has to advertise the job externally and go through the full interview process.  I know there are no 100% guarantees, but I would be surprised if I didn’t get it.  I certainly think the consultant who’s idea the trial was would have some things to say if that did happen.

It just feels like certain things in my life are still on hold and I have to wait until I get this permanent position and paid before I can get on with things I want to do.

Problem was, which to choose, a 1 year rolling contract, or a more exciting job with more money for only 3 months but possibility of either a further 3 months or to apply for a permanent position.

Thinking back to when I was in Buenos Aires getting ready to return to London, I was thinking that the adventure was now over.  How wrong was I, it was only just beginning.  Since being back I’ve passed my bike test, watched my money in my account plummet, had to stay with friends until I got somewhere to live and even done an rescue of a ex-royal marine from a crag in Derbyshire.

After thinking about that the decision on which job to take was easy.  The 3 month contract was a more risky option but I’m not going to let that risk put me off a more exciting job.

Here’s to live and adventure.

I’ve been doing my training with Metropolis and I’ve always had a different instructor.  I’m not sure if this is an intentional thing on the part of Metropolis but I do think it is a good idea.  All teachers, instructors have different teaching styles and some work for some people and don’t for others.  Mark who was training us on Sunday for the test on the Monday was good, he’d been doing the job for 12 years.  The general hint I got was that there wasn’t a great deal wrong with my riding just small improvements.  Getting back on a more powerful bike was great and I was loving it.  We rode over to Erith where we would be testing to get to know the area and do all the tricky corners that were catching people out.

After lunch at a not so greasy spoon we did some more riding and what was a very windy day turned into a very wet and windy day.  My waterproof jacket and trousers were far from waterproof and a ride back along the A2 to central London, at 50mph made sure I was completely drenched.  It was good to get back to the house and have a warm up in the shower and have a nap.

After a chilled out night Monday arrived and it was test day.  I had a 13:14hrs test so we had another morning of riding the roads around Erith.  We got to the test centre and Mark asked me what I wanted to do we had another half hour to either go for another ride or have a chillax.  Chillax it was I wasn’t going to learn anything new in half hour.  After my nerves on the module 1 test, the module 2 test was completely different.  I told myself I was just going for a ride and I like riding so no problem.  The tester gave me the radio set to strap on and asked me which ear did I want to hurt.  I’d had the Metropolis ear piece on my right ear, which was now numb, so right it was.  If I passed I wouldn’t need to wear one  for the return journey.

I don’t remember that much about the ride now, just a few things.  I did ask me to turn right and I missed the turning.  It was a wooded area and easy to miss.  The hill start was with normal riding and I had some slow riding in town.  Creeping out from a junction with parked cars was maybe a bit messy but safe, and that is what you are being tested on.

I recognised the bridge near the test centre and knew where we were going had we really been out on the road for 40 minutes seem to have passed quite quickly.  We parked up and the tested told me to go through to the waiting area and he’d be there in a few minutes.  Talked to mark in the waiting area and he wanted to come in with me to see what comments the tester had.  We were called into the office and the tester straight away said “Good ride you passed.”.  I felt so pleased and relieved.

I did accumulate 4 minors but you are allowed 9 and can still pass.  Not that I was thinking about that, just happy to have it behind me and be thinking about getting a new bike.  The other guy on the course Ben also passed, so we could all ride back with no comms and ride normally.

The best advice I can give to someone taking a Module 2 bike test is to treat the test as a ride, which it is!

1st module 1 fail:

In the training I was riding fine and all was looking good for a pass.  The other guy on the course said I looked fine and the instructor too.  In the test that was a different story.  In the figure of 8 I did a dab – a foot down but not supportive, so not a fail, but it was the fact that I did it and I let it get to me that lead to the fail.  After that things just kept going wrong.

2nd Module 1 pass:

This time I had a different instructor for the training, which I think made the difference.  He had us doing exercises around cones, first with them in a straight line and then staggering them and we had to ride around them on the outside.  After that cones in a straight line was easy.

For the figure of 8 he had us riding for a position about a foot away from the last cone.  If you ride a foot away from the last cone, rather that through the centre point of the two blue cones that gives you more room for the second blue cone and less chance you will need to go around the yellow cone.

The U turn I was doing ok and then it went wrong.  I kept looking at the line or curb and as soon as I did that I would put my foot down.  The instructor said in all these cases I was around and just needed to ride out.  His advice was keep looking where I wanted to go and don’t look down, if I ride over the line I would fail but looking down would give that result any way.

The swerve was one of my other fails on the first test, I just clipped the cone.  On the way to the test centre we found a quite road to practice swerving around the white centre lines and also some practice counter steering.  We found a quite roundabout and got up to speed.  Feels really strange pushing the right side of the bar while banked over but it does work.  Well it works really well, just takes some getting used to.  The other big tip for the swerve it to ride to miss the cone on the outside of the swerve not the inside one this will make you wider and have less chance of clipping the cone on the inside.

The test started bad, my instructor tried to be helpful and moved my bike so that I just needed to ride it out rather than back it up.  I didn’t see him do this and went to the bike in the place where I’d left it and could get the the key to turn.  The tester said “Have you got the right bike?”  Whoops, good start.

My foot started shaking with nerves on the figure of 8 but riding a foot a way from the last cone worked a treat and gave me much more space for the other cone.  In practice for the U turn I was getting worse the more I did it.  I wasn’t going to fail by putting a foot down, I was almost around and gave it a few more revs and rode out I didn’t see the line so didn’t know if I was in or out ride on.

The first of the speed tests was the controlled stop and I did ask the tester to give me my speed after so I would have an idea of the speed.   I was just shy 48km, but for this test you not being tested on the speed.  On the others 50km is the target.

E-stop (emergency stop) was something I was getting right all the time in practice, but on a few occasions the back wheel was just getting ready to slide, so I would have to be careful.  Speed I needed to give it a bit more and did so.  56km through the speed trap and no sliding and a good stop.

The hazard avoidance (swerve test) is tested on speed as well and I did have a glance at the speedo in the corner 17mph I gave it some more to get it to 19mph, hit the straight and got on line for the cones and speed trap and went to 30mph.  I did the swerve and didn’t feel any clips or hear anything.

I rode back to the gates making sure to look over my shoulder both ways before setting off, I wasn’t going to fail now.  Got to his office and took my seat, he said you got one minor on the hazard avoidance, you didn’t quite make the speed.  Speedos under read sometimes obviously the case with the one on the XJ6 I was at 48km in the speed trap.  I was just out of my seat eyes wide “but that’s still a pass?”.  Yes was the answer.

The paper work seemed to take ages, I walked out everyone asked then I kissed the Module 1 certificate.

I’ve just got back from Brixton, to have a look at the aftermath of the riot.  I was there on the Saturday doing some shopping, but today was strange, quiet and uncomfortable.

I’m originally from the north west of England, but I’ve been living in South London for about 10 years now and it is home.  I love the diversity of culture and the vibrancy of the place, so today I felt quite sad that this has happened.  One of my drinking places is the Prince Albert on Coldharbour lane.  I remember one night they showed old footage of the riots in the early 80s and I was difficult to imagine Brixton that way and now we have it again.

I have been on protest myself; the London naked bike ride and the critical mass.  Critical Mass does tend to get other groups hijacking the protest ie “Legalise cannabis” which is annoying.  So it is a sad state of affairs to see a protest regarding someone’s death to be hijacked and taken into the direction of looting.

OK Brixton does have a reputation for being a bit edgy, but there is a big sense of community there, and I just want to say that these recent actions are not representative of the majority of the community.

On arriving H.M.S. Barbecue did look splendid with her battle ship grey (obviously) main body work and black timings.  The captain obviously had his privates on cleaning duty.   But I would have to wait to see her in action until the day after.

Saturday came with not too much of an hangover and I helped the captain with a few odd jobs, shopping etc.  The first guest arrived about 14:30hrs and the other guest not long after.  Time for some afternoon drinking.  My first drink was some home made cider, despite being a bit dark cloudy and not looking like cider, it was nice to drink.  On to the John Smith’s and the captain had H.M.S. Barbecue fired up and smoking away.  We would all soon have some protein to soak up the alcohol.   None were disappointed with, chicken kebabs, teriyaki beef, cousocus etc.  The BBQ and drinking continued until late and was time to crash.

god bless H.M.S. Barbecue.

I’d been staying in San Marcos during the carnival and they were keeping the gates to the hostel open for people to come back late after partying.   After the carnival the curfew was back in place and the gates were being locked early.

Most of the guys in the hostel who I had got to know had left but there was a German guy Stefan who was still there.  We went out for a few drinks and he told me about the trick of how to get back into the hostel after curfew.  The security gates are made of mild steel (you’ve got to love Bolivia) and you can bend them apart and slip through.  Sounds easy!

Now Stefan learnt about this from a guy David who was Dutch 6’4” and skinny, Stefan was slim as well.  For my age I am slim but even with the bars displaced by quite a bit it was a tight squeeze.

One other problem was that I had been a bit sick and was going everywhere with a toilet roll in my jacket pocket.  This proved to be this sticking point.  I was pissed and jammed in the bars and was struggling to get the toilet roll out of my pocket so I could slither through the bars.  Not to worry at least I had help.  Not so, Stefan was more interested in taking pictures and pissing himself laughing.  I managed to get the toilet roll out of my pocket and I was free and on the inside of the gates.  I bent the bars back and crashed out.

Thanks for the fotos Stefan, I’ll let you know if I’m coming to Germany at some point in the future.

Eats me like grit stone

Grit stone is not my chosen rock, true it does offer loads of friction but the round nature of the rock is difficult to get used to.  I’d not done any lead climbing for some time and my climbing partner no climbing for even longer.

Stanage popular seemed a good place to start with a good selection of climbs.  I did a good lead of Black Hawk Traverse Left and Hollybush crack without too much difficulty and by that time it was time for a lunch break.

Also by this time we had seen one climber carried down to the car park and airlifted, and another climber fall and carried down by the mountain rescue team.

After the break I lost my head and was not climbing well.   I didn’t have a good plan of what climbs I wanted to do and was not getting up anything.  Such a good start and it was all going wrong.  We called it a day and went back to the camp site.   At the camp site the sun was out and the midges weren’t.  All good.  Things started to cool off and the midges star came out for a bite.  I managed to pick up some bites from Friday night and just like mosquito bites these were reacting.

Time to go to the pub.  After managing to talk my climbing partner into walking to the pub (only a 20 min walk) we headed down to Hathersage for a pub dinner and some real ales.

Sunday, I was no better.  We still didn’t have a plan and my head was still not in it.  We called it a day and headed back early.  At lease we would beat the rush.

Will be better planned for the next trip.

A mate said to me once you get onto a bigger bike something clicks and you start to get it.  Oh I get it all right, and going back to a 125 is just not the same.  I need to get my test passed!

The next step was to do the theory test.  There is a specific theory test for bikers so make sure you choose the right one.  The cost of £45 is not that bad but it is enough for you to want to get it right first time.  I knew there were two sections a multiple choice section and a hazard perception part.

For practice at the multiple choice section I was doing an online test, that proved to be very useful.  I was doing the online test referring back to the highway code and was scoring about 47-48 out of the 50 questions.  In the test the pass mark is 43 out of the 50, so I felt ready for that.   That part of the test went smoothly and I finished in half an hour (you are permitted 1 hour).

I didn’t practice for the hazard perception test other than doing riding.  The explanation on when to click could have been clearer I felt.  It all feels very different doing this on screen than working through it in your head and I found myself double clicking on the mouse, shit what was I doing!  I wasn’t that confident about this test but the pass range is 44 out of 75 points.

I left the room and the lady at the reception gave me a sheet of paper.  I was there staring at her, “What did I get?”.  ”You passed!”

Multiple choice I got 47, so the online test was a very good indicator.

Hazard perception I got 59, go good pass there.  Could possibly be improved by playing more computer games than riding motorbikes.

I arrived back home and booked myself onto the module 1 and module 2 of my bike test at the earliest dates.  Roll on the 9th of August.

Dixie had been put in storage at a mates house while I was away and I arranged to pick her up on Wednesday.  The question in my head was would she start!

Before leaving I had researched on-line what you should do for storing a bike and although some lists were different there were some common and therefore more important points.

Storage routine:

I ran down the petrol in the tank to almost the bottom.  It was about a 20 mile run to my mates house, but I made it ok.  The 125 seems to run off fumes.  I then went to his local petrol station and filled the tank up and I mean “full”.  You don’t want air in the tank to corrode the metal or to react with the petrol.

The next step was to add fuel preserver into the tank.  Over time petrol degrades and the fuel preserver stabilizes the fuel so it lasts longer.

There was obviously fuel in the carburettor, this needed to be emptied.  How do you empty a carburettor?  Cut off to fuel and start the bike and leave it running until it stops.

I then added more air in the tyres.  The tyres would loose air over the 5 months and you don’t want them getting flat spots.

Batteries over time if connected will loose their charge, so I disconnected this and put it in a plastic bag and stored it.

One problem can be the engine seizing and it is recommended to spray oil like WD40 into the cylinder.  I didn’t have a spark plug took so I sprayed oil up the exhaust pipe, with the hope of driving out any moisture.

An obvious recommendation would be to store the bike in a garage.   To try and keep rain from causing any problems I put a plastic bag over the exhaust pipe and put a bike cover over the bike.

Would she start:

Well after putting the battery back in,  switching on the fuel and ignition, there was power.   I wheeled the bike clutch down and bike in gear let the clutch out there was a slight skid with the back wheel and then it freed.   I pressed the start button and there was a errr errr but nothing else.

Not sure why the battery lost its charge!  Where did the electrons go to!

I got my mate to give me a push and with the bike in second I bump started the bike first time.  The first thing I noticed was the steering was heavy.  Turned out that the front tyre had gone down to 8psi.  I got back to my mates and the bike cut out. Not much charge in the battery.

After a good run down a duel carriageway the battery had charge but it was still cutting out, when I stopped.  A bit more of a blast and it was cutting out less.  Finally it would actually idle.

Good old Dixie, it’s good to have you back.