The tour of New Zealand for Shiny Side Up 2023 is over and I’m finally back home. We caught our seventh flight from Los Angeles on Wednesday evening and landed at Heathrow about 4:30pm Thursday, finally getting home just before 7pm.
I think my main memory of this trip will be 'planes, trains and automobiles'!
Seven flights - London to SF, SF to Auckland, Auckland to Sydney, Sydney to Melbourne and back, Sydney to LA and finally LA to London. It would have been eight flights if our Queenstown connection had got away before the cyclone hit.
Two hire cars (the Hyundai eight-seater and a Chinese-built MG), plus one loaner (Toyota Prius).
Three train journeys (into and out of Wellington, down to Sydney Harbour and back, and of course the tube from Heathrow back to London).
I need a month's holiday to get over it now!
As I mentioned, I also took a side-trip to Geelong (flight to Melbourne, hire car, flight back to Sydney etc) to visit Dr Chris Hurren’s MotoCAP lab where he’s extending his bench testing of riding kit and working to calibrate the abrasion testing belt he uses to destruction-test clothing against real road surfaces by comparing the failure time on the machine vs the failure time on the road. So far, the results indicate that the machine delivers results which are similar to abrasive - ie, grippy - road surfaces!! He’s planning on making a trip to the UK to test OUR surfaces this year. I’ll update you on that in one of my Elevenses shows soon.
And of course, that means my LIVE Elevenses webcast is BACK. After missing four shows due to a combination of the talk events schedule, timezone and travel, my eclectic mix of motorcycle news from around the world, personal views of what's happening in the biking universe and regular better biking tips resumes THIS MORNING at the regular time of 11am UK time. I know that's late for you out there in New Zealand who follow me but you can always use the links to each show to catch up at an hour that suits you better. Looking forward to seeing you this morning at 11.
Back on Monday in my ‘Myths’ series, I looked at the growing trend for dealers to demand a National Insurance number before allowing a test ride. Ostensibly, the reason is to allow them to check driving licence details online (to ensure you really DO have a licence) but the fact is that our NI numbers should be one of the most private pieces of information about ourselves, and we really shouldn’t be handing it over freely…
…and the fact is, we DON’T NEED TO! It was scary to read the comments to the post, and just how many riders have been asked to give away this sensitive information. Find out how to get a ‘check code’ by reading the article - link below.
And just a reminder - if you miss any of my other posts during the week, you can sign up to my free WEEKLY DIGEST delivered to your inbox by signing up at:
https://survivalskills.substack.com.
Already signed up? Then pay it forward to another biker!
The next ONLINE TALK SERIES event is on getting ‘mentally prepped’ to ride and will be in APRIL whilst the next SOBS talk moves to MAY. I’ve already had a few enquiries for training, and although I optimistically said Sat 18 March for first day for bookings, looking at the weather in the UK suggests that we might be waiting for the bad weather to clear out of the way. At least I get more time to get over jet lag.
I’ll also be looking for more bookings for talk events - either online or in person. I’ve fixed two dates, one for Kent’s RoSPA group back in my old stamping grounds near Maidstone. the other for a very unusual audience in central London. I’ll fill you in on that at a later date.
Make a brew, grab a biscuit and pull up a chair ready to tune in to the 'ELEVENSES' LIVE webcast. Join me, Kevin Williams, twice a week on Wednesday and Sunday at 11am for 30 minutes of topical news, controversial views and better biking tips!
RESUMES SUNDAY 19 MARCH at 11AM UK TIME
Watch live or catch up later at www.youtube.com/survivalskillsuk
APRIL'S LIVE EVENT - 'Pre-Performance Preparation & getting ready to ride'
WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2023 at 20:00
MAY'S LIVE EVENT - 'SOBS - the FULL presentation'
WEDNESDAY 1 MAY 2023 at 20:00
Tickets for all talks cost £5 and if you can't make it live, they are available on 'catch-up' for 72 hours after the live presentation
BOOK the ONLINE TALK SERIES events at:
https://survivalskills.tidyhq.com/public/schedule/events
Thanks for reading Survival Skills - the Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
SoS March 18 Choosing an effective gear
https://ko-fi.com/post/SoS-March-18-Choosing-an-effective-gear-U6U5JL5PI
FoF March 17 Human error - understanding mistakes
https://ko-fi.com/post/FoF-March-17-Human-error--understanding-mistakes-P5P4JK6DT
SHINY SIDE UP(DATE) March 15 Back to Blighty this evening
https://ko-fi.com/post/SHINY-SIDE-UPDATE-March-15-Back-to-Blighty-this-A0A4JIJ23
ToT March 14 Hazards and how to understand them Pt 3
https://ko-fi.com/post/ToT-March-14-Hazards-and-how-to-understand-them-Pt-Z8Z5JHIKV
MYTHS ON MONDAY March 13 Dealer wants NI number for test ride
https://ko-fi.com/post/MYTHS-ON-MONDAY-March-13-Dealer-wants-NI-number-fo-X8X2JGLKI
Can't make it live? Watch it later at www.facebook.com/survivalskills, catch up at www.youtube.com/survivalskillsuk, or over at www.ko-fi.com/survivalskills where you can also check out HUNDREDS of better biking articles for SUPPORTERS and SUBSCRIBERS.
With (almost) every 'better biking' tip from the long-running SKILLS on SATURDAY & TIPS on TUESDAY series from Survival Skills Rider Training already online, is there a bigger archive than my Ko-Fi page? There's plenty of free stuff to read but you can get full access to the archive from just £3!
Worth £3 a month? You decide - here's a free post from 2014:
==READ FOR FREE== 11 Mar 2014 some thoughts on riding
Thanks for reading Survival Skills - the Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.