Long Way Round - Ewan McGregor & Charlie Boorman

Long Way Round - Ewan McGregor & Charlie Boorman


This is the story of an epic around the world adventure. You may have seen the television show by the same name that video chronicles Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman's trip around the globe. Leaving from the UK, the story follows them through Europe, across Northern Asia to Siberia, then across to Alaska and down to New York. Both have insightful dialogue as they conquer the many challenges they face along the way. Being movie stars, it is also refreshing that these two aren't prima donna's in any way... overall a good read. They will follow this journey up next year with a trip called "The Long Way Down" where they intend to ride from Scotland to South Africa. Stay tuned... (4/5 on the Marcus scale).

Review: Proficient Motorcycling - By David Hough

Proficient Motorcycling - By David Hough

This is a must read for every rider who has an interest in riding safe and enjoying the sport for years to come. David Hough brings lots of real world experience and was even credited with assisting in the development of the MSF training programs and Experienced Rider Courses in the US. If you have taken the Canadian equivalent "Gearing Up" or ERC programs, some of the content in this book will be familiar to you. The book is thick and probably contains more info than any other riding book that I've seen or read. There is alot of content on road hazards, defensive riding, mental tips (like don't go mental on the road), maintenance, long distance, riding two up and even sidecars to name a few of the topics. And absolutely no advice on riding fast or how to take chances, Bill is straight and serious. This is a compilation of 30 or so years of writing a column entitled, you guessed it, "Proficient Motorcycling" in Motorcycle Consumer News magazine (which strangely, I hadn't heard of before). Highly recommended and I'll soon add a copy to my permanent collection for a second read next winter. This copy is available at the Ottawa Public Library for local readers (5/5 on the Marcus scale).

MotoGP Podcast Feed

I've just added the MotoGP podcast RSS feed. This is the official "audio broadcast" from MotoGP.com with the same announcers (and music) from the TV broadcasts. The episodes will update automatically. As they are rather large, you'll probably get best results from right clicking and saving the mp3 files to hard drive or Ipod instead of opening them in your browser. Episode 10 is 20 odd megs and talks about post-season testing and includes a telephone interview with Jeremy McWilliams.

Book Reviews!

Since it's winter and my bike is sleeping safely in the garage, I've ordered a handful of books from Chapters and will post reviews once I've had a chance to read them.

ITEM(S) SHIPPED:1. Smooth Riding: The Pridmore Way - 1 @ $xx.xx Performance Riding Techniques: The Motogp Manual Of Track Riding Skills - 1 @ $xx.xx. Motorcycle Track Day Handbook - 1 @ $xx.xx

Currently, my moto-library contains the following... I'll give each a quick rating, but won't go into detail becasue some of these I read years ago:

Twist of the Wrist - Volumes 1 & 2 by Keith Code - Probably the most popular riding books, but not the best. Most of the content is basic but repeated over and over. If you are new or sort of new to riding (quickly) these will be helpful. If you've been around the block already, you might be bored (3/5 rating on the Marcus scale).

Sport Riding Techniques by Nick Ienatsch - Great book, lots of useful info for all levels of riders mainly covers street, but lots of applicable info for track riding too. This is available at the Ottawa Public Library if you are local (5/5 rating on the Marcus scale).

Techniques of Motorcycle Road Racing by Kenny Roberts - I think this is out of print, it's more of a biography interspersed with riding tips from King Kenny. Not too much useful riding content, but an interesting read none the less (4/5 rating on the Marcus scale).

Wow, my new blog...

Perhaps my favourite bike of all time. A 1989 Rz350... I only kept it for two riding seasons, aspiring for a larger, more powerful bike. This bike defines the old saying "you can have more fun riding a slow bike fast, than a big bike slow"...

The '99 R6 - my current ride.

Well, my Can-Am MX250 wasn't the prettiest bike to grace my stable. It ran well and fast though!

Sigh, my old SV... Another great bike.

I've tried making websites in the past with varying degrees of sucess. I am not a "computer guy" and only learn by doing. So hopefully, this blog will allow my compile all my motorcycle pics and posts at one location.