Have you ever stopped to think how many of your mates you’ve met through bikes? If you’re anything like me, that shared interest will form the basis of your relationship with most of the people you know and knock around with. Motorcycling is bloody fantastic, we all know that, but it’s also a great way of getting to meet folk and make long-lasting friendships that seem to weather the challenges of time and distance like nothing else. I bumped into an old mate the other day.Well, technically he bumped into me as we fought for supremacy on the run into Barcroft corner at Croft circuit, where I was racing endurance with my brother (which you can read all about in this issue).
It was a proper sketchy moment. One of those times when you shout the first swear word that comes to mind so loud you wonder how the whole world didn’t hear it. Of course, I laughed about it post-race with this aforementioned megalomaniac, who’d now grown up, had kids and decided, like me, to give racing a second stab. It was great to catch up, talk bikes and reminisce about the nonsensical goings-on from a decade earlier when we raced one another in the GSX-R Trophy. If I don’t catch him for another 10 years, it won’t matter. We’re mates and that’s that, all thanks to power of some sticky tyres, a fistful of throttle and a common love of going round and round in circles as fast as we can.