Well there's a lot to be said about reaching the ripe old age of 40. Most people look at life at this point and run screaming to the bathroom for the hair dye.

Well not me mate! I am 40 years old and quite happy. I look at it like this, I have experienced a bit of life, have two beautiful children, a wonderful wife and still look good. Well, if you listen to the wife, she would tell you I look over 40, but I never listen because I still feel 21.

The great thing about being 40 is the chance to go back and do some of the thing you enjoyed doing when you were younger and still getting away with it. This seems to be acceptable and put under the heading of a mid life crisis. ITS GREAT!

Some people go out and buy a sports car and race the local  youth others find a younger woman for a fling, or if you are like me, you go out and indulge you great passion in life. My Motorbike

She is great, not like the one I had as a youth but a lean, mean beast of a machine. Silver and chrome all over.

When I was younger I spend several years as a despatch rider in Manchester, England and enjoyed it immensely. I then took the plunge and got married and was forced to give up my passion because it was deemed to be too dangerous!

Well not now! I am having a mid life crisis. LOL. It seems to be acceptable to my wife and to my friends. GREAT!

I must admit that when I first bought my bike it scared the hell out of me. When I was a despatch rider I had a JSX1100 and thought it would be OK to get a 1000cc bike this time.

Well, I can tell you that motorbikes are not like they used to be. No Sir. The motorcycle has evolved ten fold since I was young.

I remember stripping down the head on my JSX to replace a damaged valve, grinding it into the head and re-building the beast to live again.

Well, this new machine leaves me scratching my head and looking at the handbook to find the oil filler. Hell changing a spark plug means removing the petrol tank for god sakes.

I have decided that I will leave this to the experts and just enjoy the ride for now. Well, I no longer have to borrow 50 quid of my mother just to live, so what the hell, its my mid life crisis.

Well, over 15 years have passed since I last had a bike, and I need to learn to ride my new beast all over again.

A coupe of friends said to me, "Don't worry you never forget how to ride!". Well, this is true! The one thing they forgot to tell me was just how long it would take me to drag the memory out of the old grey matter. Well, I am 40 now.

I started off with a very, very slow ride up the street to the sound of laughter from my 8 year old son. You forget that you only have 2 wheels and have to balance the weight of your bike and you so traveling slow is not the best way to defeat gravity. I fell off.

Bikes seem to be a lot heavier than they used to be or perhaps I'm not as young as I was. I cant make my mind up about this so decided not to worry.

I decided at this point that a couple of lessons would be a good idea, so I took to the internet to find a school.

I eventually found a school that has their own motorcycles. I called them and they were very professional and did not laugh at my first experience of getting back on my bike.

The Motorcycle Training School was "PROBIKE". I would recommend them to anyone who is reading this as they are great.

PLUG - PLUG - If you need to learn how to ride a motorcycle then visit PROBIKE Motorcycle Training School. http://www.probikemct.co.uk. OK that done.

Well, I have been back on my bike for over 6 months now and my confidence is growing every day. My only fear was coming of at speed as a bike does not have the same kind of protection as a car.

This fear has been relieved a little with the purchase of a very good set of leathers and a very good helmet.

The clothing available for motorcycle rides has improved a lot and almost all the manufacturers have some form of armour in them. So if you are sliding down the road at 70 miles an hour, at least you can look cool as your beautiful motorcycles flips and crumples in the background.

Well I got to go now as the sun is shining and I can hear my bike calling me from the garden. I think its time to remove the cover and find a reason to zip off down the road. Wonder if we have enough milk?

As the saying goes, live long and prosper. Will write agin soon I hope.