My other two wheeled life.

Although I’m a fanatical mountain biker I’ve had an equally long association with motorcycles. I was desperate to get on the road at the tender age of 16 and have had a powered 2 wheeler ever since. In 1999 I bought my first scooter for the automatic transmission, practicality and more accommodating riding position. I’ve owned quite a number of scooters since then, some automatic and some with gears. I prefer automatics and in 2020 bought one of the ultimate scooters of all time, a 20 year old Italjet Dragster 180. It had a fearsome 2 stroke motor but, as with any old vehicle, was a little fragile for everyday use. Salvation came in the form of a new Italjet Dragster 200 with a 4 stroke motor. I waited 13 months from ordering it because the introduction was delayed by the Covid crisis but it arrived in June. Yesterday I rode with some friends on what will probably be our last big run of this year. We toured the passes of the southern English Lake District. The whole of the Lake District is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We had a good time, covering nearly 200 miles in the day. Since 1978 I have covered 318,000 miles on motorcycles and scooters. 189,000 of these were scooter miles.