Featured Biker Down ….. But Not Out

I will be up front I have only recently registered on this forum but I have read the content for many years But I am after a favour from the good people of this forum

I consider myself very lucky for two reasons:

ONE I call myself a biker who KNOWS what it is like to have that childish primeval giggle inside your helmet from outrageous acceleration, FEELS that pleasure from every one of your senses when you get a series of bends just right, SEES other bikers out and about and identifies with that vibrant multitude, REMEMBERS the sensations of a really good road ride long after the engine has finished its mechanical cooling groans in the shed.

TWO I suppose like many on here I have a great biking mate. We have very little in common he is very tall me very short, he’s from Lancashire me from Yorkshire, he is practical and a perfectionist me just an academic, he is laconic and introvert me verbose. BUT we share an absolute passion for sports bikes and my mate B is the utterly reliable and genuine buddy you want when things go awry. Together we have ridden the twisty roads of North West England usually making “brisk progress” for nigh on 30 years. Him mostly on his trusty green 04 ZX10R me chasing on a variety of T595, Daytona675 Fireblade, SP2, R1200S, K1300S, 1000RR I could never match his fluent speed and once he got a clear road …….we would meet up a few miles later and with a quick Hi beam flash we were off again. The 100+mile rides were often none stop and squeezed into weekends between shifts and family commitments and always disseminated on the phone a night or two later.

I retired 6 years ago to Southern Scotland and the plan was for us to swap weekend dashes for some midweek leisurely romps on quiet sunny roads midway between his Lancashire and my Galloway home.

Then it all got ripped asunder 5 years ago my mate B got a really aggressive form of cancer he fought it hard like riding a twitching ZX10R on a bumpy B road with gravel on the bends for good measure. For 18 months he suffered unwholesome chemo and profane Radio therapy understandably it knocked the shit out of him but he recovered slowly. Then when he was on the mend riding his beloved 10R the Gods of unfair threw another spanner his way he was hit by a van on a bend the bike was smashed beyond repair and the rider with smashed up ribs shoulder and leg. Out of respect to his family he decided to stop biking but we still spoke regularly on the phone about times past and that sports bike passion still surfaced from time when I told him about rides on my Thruxton R. Well the Unfair Gods have singled him out again with a repeat diagnosis of Cancer and a further three months of Chemo to look forward to.

What I am asking is that if you ride the roads around Devils Bridge, Settle to Ribblehead, Hawes to Sedbergh or through the Trough of Bowland or in fact anywhere at all!! Please take a moment to grab a photo and stick it on here so when he is taking the latest treatment he can see some of his favourite roads and know that there is some solidarity for a biker down but not out!

Cheers

 

Many thanks to everyone that gave up their time and replied to my post.
I had a good chat over the weekend with B he was really upbeat despite a number of very uncomfortable biopsy procedures earlier in the week. He was still taking the p*ss out of my Yorkshire roots! I will let him that victory for the time being!!
He started his first Chemo session on Monday
Cheers