The tour of New Zealand for Shiny Side Up 2023 is over. The final round of events kicked off from the evening talk series event in WHANGANUI on Wednesday 1 March, before moving to ROTARUA on Thursday 2, then a breakfast time talk event in Auckland on Saturday 4, before the extended lunch-time talk show in WHANGEREI that finished the tour Sunday 5 up in the northland. Frankly, we weren’t left with much spare time after driving from event to event, and the group of us took our chance on our last evening together to head out for a meal. Then early to bed for me, since the final drive from Whangerei back to Auckland was extended by well over 100 kms since the direct route back south was closed for repair on the Monday morning.
We had a silly o’clock flight out to Sydney on Tuesday last, to stop over with friends for a few nights. I also took a side-trip to Geelong (flight to Melbourne, hire car etc) to visit Dr Chris Hurren’s lab where he’s extending his bench testing of riding kit and working to ‘calibrate’ the abrasion testing belt against 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.
Now we’re at our final pause on the way home, stopping with my brother and family in Los Angeles for a few nights where the weather is unseasonably cold and damp right now it’s tipping down. Our final flight leaves tomorrow evening so no Elevenses - I’ll be back with the morning live webcast on Sunday 19th.
Soooo...
...when I get back 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.
SHINY SIDE UP March 9 Over for another year
https://ko-fi.com/post/SHINY-SIDE-UP-March-9-Over-for-another-year-T6T0JBBWN
ToT March 8 Hazards and how to understand them Pt 2
https://ko-fi.com/post/ToT-March-8-Hazards-and-how-to-understand-them-Pt-P5P1JAF6O
MYTHS ON MONDAY March 6 ABS isn't as good as a good rider
https://ko-fi.com/post/MYTHS-ON-MONDAY-March-6-ABS-isnt-as-good-as-a-goo-J3J4J9DMF
SoS March 4 Quick-n-Easy #1 STANDARD BRAKING
https://ko-fi.com/post/SoS-March-4-Quick-n-Easy-1-STANDARD-BRAKING-F1F5J7KN8
FoF March 3 Preventing slips and lapses - using memory joggers
https://ko-fi.com/post/FoF-March-3-Preventing-slips-and-lapses--using-me-W7W2J6VQ1
Shiny Side Up(date) February 3 Rotorua Talk Event
https://ko-fi.com/post/Shiny-Sde-Update-February-3-Rotorua-Talk-Event-X8X3J631E
Elevenses 316 Wed 1 March - motorcycle news, tips & views
https://ko-fi.com/post/Elevenses-316-Wed-1-March--motorcycle-news-tips-R6R0J5J7D
ToT February 28 Hazards and how to understand them Pt 1
https://ko-fi.com/post/ToT-February-28-Hazards-and-how-to-understand-them-I3I6J45WD
COMMENT January 27 Parallel evolution and convergence
https://ko-fi.com/post/COMMENT-January-27-Parallel-evolution-and-converge-E1E8J34PP
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? Worth £3 a month? You decide - here's a free post from 2017:
==READ FOR FREE== February 14 Coping with foreign drivers
https://ko-fi.com/post/-READ-FOR-FREE-February-14-Coping-with-fore-Q5Q53GDTU
Thanks for reading Survival Skills - the Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.