Many people tour countries on their motorbikes. Some on a whim, or some as a planned break. We want our journey to have a deeper meaning than a simple sightseeing trip, or motorbike getaway. We feel the journey is a large undertaking, and should not be merely for our own desires to ride motorcycles, but it should serve others as well. Sharing an interest in the Chernobyl incident, we count ourselves lucky to be from the UK, both being born in the months before the disaster; those born in Pripyat would not have been so lucky. The site of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster may not seem a first choice holiday destination. It is, however, a reminder of how we should learn from the mistakes of the past.

The deserted town of Pripyat stands as a solemn testament to not only man's destructive potent to life on earth, but also to the sacrifice people are capable of in order to save it. While the calamity at the Chernobyl Reactor number 4 claimed many lives, exposed hundreds of thousands to radiation, and left the surrounding area uninhabitable, the actions of the fire-fighters, reactor workers and liquidators who put themselves in danger prevented the situation from becoming far worse.

During the summer of 2011 to raise money for Unicef we are planning to ride a motorcycle each from Durham in the north east of England to Chernobyl, travelling through France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland and finishing in the Ukraine.

We are hoping to get support from as many people as we can and start raising money towards the end of 2010. Readers of the blog can help by following us on the left, spreading the word and getting others to read and follow and donate if they want to.

Many thanks from the riders for everyone's support.

Tuesday 22 June 2010

Bikes, Tests, Money and Sunburn.

Well it's been a while since I've said anything so I thought I'd better start yapping.
Luck seems to have come my way, in the form of a little RVF 400. Or has it? I'm still undecided about that.
I've always wanted a Honda 400 to begin with once I get through my bike tests. CBR, VFR or RVF, I wasn't too fussed which. Last friday morning the aforementioned RVF arrives at the garage I work at, wanting an MOT. Unfortunately we were so busy, unless he wanted to wait about 3 hours we couldn't get it done. So he said he'd come back in a few days, and I thought about how much I wanted one of those bikes, and fantasized about the man returning in a few days claiming it was for sale.
Well he did.
After hearing that this was exactly the bike I was looking for, he offered the very good condition MPH converted RVF for £2,000. And thats where the problem comes up. Technically, I COULD afford this bike, though it would mean having around 30 quid left in my bank account. Insurance would cost around the £350 mark, if paid in installments. The good points about this is I have a place to store the bike until I have passed my test. Also, I think my bike lessons and tests will be paid for by my boss, as he needs me passing this to do MOTs on bikes. Another good point is in September I'll be off the crappy apprentice wage I'm on now and start earning some real money, refilling my bank account, and maybe getting my insurance paid off in one lump.
My bike lessons and tests, however, are on hold until the other apprentice at work gets through his. I really don't know when this will happen, theres a been a few setbacks and I'm not sure when I'll be put onto my lesson and tests. On a plus note, though he always said he never wanted a bike "because they're crap" and the bike license was for MOT purposes only, the other day I caught him in the bottom garage with the CB500 we have there, simply saying "I've got the bug now." He then proceeded to spend the next hour replacing the oil and cleaning the bike.
Soooo....I'm thinking should buy this RVF, this bike I've always wanted and have no money for 2 months, or not buy it and try to wait for another one locally to show up. Working where I have for the past 9 months, this is the only one I've seen.
In other news, John wanted to go out on the bikes tonight and find somewhere to do a bit of a photoshoot, to get some pictures of the bikes and maybe some better ones of ourselves for this blog. However, after spending Sunday down at Croft watching the Touring Cars at which I expected rain more than anything else, I feel like I've been irradiated in the boiling sun, and as a result my face appears to be trying to emigrate from my head. Needless to say I'm not feeling very photogenic (is that a word?), and since my arms have undergone the same treatment, I don't even want to try to put on my bike jacket. Despite it's own feelings to the contrary, I like my skin to be ON my arms. Oh well. I'm just glad that my burns will heal.
Anyway, enough of that, I need to go and plot my bank acccount's downfall.

edit: Apparently my employer isn't going to pay for my bike lessons and tests now, because the other apprentice is costing him too much with retests. So, it's gone from "I've never had anyone fail" to "how are you paying for your lessons?". With the price of the bike added with my car's insurance, tax etc coming up in October, I wonder if I'll be able to get riding this bike at all this year.
Posted by Teggert at 19:37

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