Ride The Wild Wind is Regenerating

Hello all Editor Nick here.  Doctor Who fans will get the reference above, for those who don’t it means a new incarnation of Ride The Wild Wind approaches.  This will be version 4 of the site, having started as a simple html local site, then moving to VOX for a bit more of a social blogging effect.  While RTWW did well on VOX with about 800 readers a month, there wasn’t much happening on the VOX service itself, and it’s now closed as of the end of September 2010.

At the start of 2010, after a brief break for the birth of my son Brandon, RTWW moved yet again to WordPress.com and fouind a good format there that has seen a huge rise in visitors with close to 10,000 a month now.  I started the site as just a bit of fun to let me waffle on about how awesome motorcycles are,  and it would seem quite a few people are tuning in. I can’t thank you all enough for checking out the site and I’ve made some great friends via RTWW both here as well as via the accompanying Twitter feed (@Bikers_RTWW), and on Facebook.

So in an effort to keep things fresh, and make all the content that has built up on the site over the last couple of years more accessible, a new version of RTWW is due for launch on November 1st.  We’ll still be featuring stories as usual until then but hopefully come Monday the 1st RTWW will have regenerated into its new version.

….Of course I probably shouldn’t have said this in case I miss that deadline but hey ho! 🙂

Making Connections..

Taking a blog break today to focus on building Ride The Wild Wind’s ‘social networking’ profile, as is the done thing these days.  One of the reasons RTWW came into being was to allow me (the Editor Nick) to connect with bikers everywhere to learn about all the cool stuff going on.  Motorcycling is such a diverse field to be involved in with so many types of bike, from sports, to adventure, cruiser, chopper, cafe, custom, dirt, and then to the challenges undertaken on them, on tracks, both smooth tarmac and loose gravel, touring around the world, endurance runs, drag racing, freestyle stunts, and the list goes on.

So in order to keep learning, and reaching out to motorcyclists across the globe, RTWW is getting a Facebook profile to better help the site make connections to bikers for whom the differing activities mentioned above, are their daily adventure.  RTWW already has a Twitter profile http://twitter.com/Bikers_RTWW which is great fun and hopefully Facebook will be another way of making friends and getting to know people who make bikes their hobby, passion, obsession, and essential part of their lives.

RTWW on Facebook will launch in a few days, back to regular blogging shortly.

Danny and Graham’s Iron Butts Challenge Blog

Red Dwarf’s ‘Cat’ and bike fan Danny John Jules and his team mate Graham Hoskins are taking on an endurance bike run in aid of Sport Relief.

You can follow their adventures on their blog here and donate to Sport Relief here

The profile on their blog reads;

Red Dwarf star Danny John-Jules and his team mate Graham Hoskins undertake the challenge of a lifetime, motor-biking nearly 7000 miles to circumnavigate the Mediterranean Sea in just 15 days. Graham and Danny will travel through 3 continents, riding across 14 diverse, scenic and often chaotic Mediterranean countries as they cross from Europe over the Bosphorus into Asia, through the Middle East and round into North Africa. It’s an endurance challenge and not for the faint hearted! To finish the Iron Butts Challenge, Danny and Graham will have to work together to overcome whatever trials face them. From bad navigation and getting lost, to flat tyres, mad and bad local drivers, mechanical failure, visa and border issues, running out of fuel and cultural differences.

About Sport Relief

As one of the UK’s biggest fundraising events, Sport Relief brings the entire nation together to get active, raise cash and change lives. It has a unique history of dedicated people doing extraordinary things to rise to the challenge and make the world of difference to poor and vulnerable people.

And, following in their footsteps, hundreds of thousands of people, right across the UK, have a great time when they complete brilliant challenges of their own.

The Sport Relief Weekend is taking place from Friday 19th March to Sunday 21st March 2010 and it’ll be three whole days of energy, entertainment and events for everyone to enjoy. From the Friday of fundraising fun, and a night of cracking TV on BBC One, right through to the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile on Sunday, it promises to be a brilliant weekend.

And, the best bit is, all the money raised by the public will be spent by Comic Relief to help people living unimaginably tough lives, both at home and across the world’s poorest countries. So be a part of it… Rise to your challenge!

Sport Relief is an initiative of Comic Relief, registered charity 326568 (England/Wales); SC039730 (Scotland).

Merry Christmas to Bikers Everywhere!

Hello Fellow Bikers

The Blog has been on hold of late due to the arrival of my son.  Brandon James Tiberius Moore was born on Nov 30th at 10.16am, and weighed in at 7lbs 12. 

Brandon James Tiberius Moore

Unfortunately he developed a few minor complications and had a bit of an extended stay in hospital.  However he's home now, doing great, and enjoying episodes of 'American Chopper' on Discovery during his 4am feed!

This has meant blog time has been zero of late but normal service will resume shortly.  Thank you to everyone who kindly sent messages and congratulations via Twitter, much appreciated.

Until the blog is back full time, for now I'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

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Climate Change & Motorbikes..

Climate Change & Motorbikes

A bit of a change for today's post in
honour of a special blogging occasion. Climate Change is a big topic
at the moment, and the subject for the 'Blog
Action Day 09' www.blogactionday.org
but is it something to worry about? So it gets a bit warmer, there's
a few less creatures running about in corners of the Earth that don't
affect you and you'll never visit, what's the big deal?

Let's
put it another way… Would you sail out to sea far
beyond rescue then start drilling holes in your boat? Or go into
your home, brick up all exits then set fire to the place?

Hopefully
you've sensibly said no to all of those, as that would be crazy
right?

However
our planet is our only home, our only safe haven in the cold vastness
of the universe. This island Earth is a place we can't afford to
destroy if we as a species want to survive. There's nowhere else we
can run to and ignore the consequences of what we are doing.

Human
arrogance affords us the luxury of thinking we are the only creatures
on the planet that matter as we're the smartest, but are we? No
other creature with a bit of sense destroys its only habitat and sits
back watching itself suffer and die, only the foolish humans.

So
what the hell has this got to do with Motorbikes I hear you cry!!

Well,
it's not bikes that guzzle gas causing pressure on fuel supplies
(apart from the V-Max but we'll turn a blind eye there)  Bikes are at
the forefront of green technologies with new electric concepts being
announced regularly, and what's better they actually work unlike the ill
fated attempts by car companies, who announce staggering battery
powered mileages of a whole 1.8 miles!

Hybrid
technology is also starting to make an appearance, with the eagerly
awaited Gen-Ryu concept from Yamaha making it's way to a production
version soon.

Even
Honda's new Pan European replacement, based on its V4 tech found in
the recently announced VFR1200F, will intelligently switch to a V-Twin
to save on gas.

Many
commentators are quick to strike out at bikes as being not
environmentally friendly and they couldn't be further from the truth.
So remember these few examples when next some 'expert' starts
waffling on about how we damage the planet, and put them in their
place.

(Then
on the quiet find a way to run your V-Max on bio-ethanol and we're
sorted!)

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Opening the shutters..

Almost ready to get this 'Ride The Wild Wind' VOX blog up and running.  I previously set one up on Blogger, but I wasn't impressed with it technically.  I've a personal blog on VOX and thought it would be good to shift my old posts across. 

So I've updated my profile so you know a little about me
and what this blog will be dealing with. As for the Ride The Wild Wind
website, it is currently under construction and I hope to 'launch' it
properly within a month or so. It will be updated throughout next week
with more page structure and email addresses for folks to send in their
pictures, stories, tips, etc.  Oh and for those reading this who aren't in NI pictures and stories can come from anywhere in the world, so send them in and showcase your pride and joy!

Hopefully this will be a fun
project and I'm looking forward to hearing from fellow bikers both from
N.I. and further afield. Biking in Britain has been getting a bit of
bad press lately, with some high profile speeding cases getting bikers
punished as if they were murders. Hell you get less of a sentence for
murder these days in Britain.

Despite the best attempts by UK
and Euro Gov's and Health & Safety enthusiasts, I don't see it is
fair to allow them to demonise us. With the site and the blog I would
like to showcase the good natured fraternity of motorcyclists, which is
one of my favourite aspects of being part of it all.  Even with my
crappy L-plates, which will be dumped soon, virtually every biker nods to acknowledge that I'm part
of the club.

I'm looking forward to hearing you're views and opinions on every aspect of being a biker, and I'll post my old Blogger thoughts here shortly..

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