The Blez Blog
Ive had a funny old life, really. Who would have thought that a public school education, a degree in Psychology and an MSc in Environmental Planning & Design would lead to a life of motorcycle journalism, with a substantial side-order of leading American schoolgirls all over Europe in coaches?My parents were both professional musicians but neither of them could drive a car. I studied music for eight years, but gave it up as a teenager for sport and motorcycling. Ive been riding and driving motor vehicles for over 30 years now and writing about them for nearly 20. Ive written features for most of the UK specialist motorcycle press and foreign magazines in the US, Japan and throughout Europe. Ive also had motoring articles published in the Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, Sunday Mail, Top Gear Magazine, Autocar and many others.Ive also had a go at most forms of motorcycle competition from the Le Touquet Beach race to the Monte Carlo Moto and international scooter racing. This has been both enjoyable and humbling and has given me an appreciation of the true skill it takes to ride a motorcycle supremely fast in a whole variety of different conditions along with the realisation that I dont have that skill!Other claims to fame include racing an Ecomobile at the Brno Grand Prix circuit, riding one into the BBC studios live on Blue Peter. In 1988 I had a large chunk of my fifteen minutes of fame when I wrote and presented a ten minute feature on feet first motorcycles for Top Gear. Ive also written and presented several videos on motorcycling, trail riding and Ecomobiles and in 1991 had a hand in the setting up of London’s first Taxibike service.More recently, in 2003, I was the only British journalist to take part in the inaugural Moto Tour de France and the only Briton at the Moroccan launch of Yamaha’s 2-wheel drive WR450 2-Trac. In 2004 I had my first ride on a Yamaha R1 in Laos, and my first ride on a ZZR1200 in Thailand. In 2005 I finally bought myself a Quasar, over 20 years after I first rode one. In my 50th year I survived my first North African desert race, in Libya and had two fantastic days in Namibia on an R1200GS Adventure with BMW. In 2007 I did my second desert race, in Morocco and became the first journalist in the world to test the new Peraves MonoTracer, twenty years after my first ride in an Ecomobile.As I said at the beginning, its been a funny old life, but I aint complaining! I hope you enjoy having a browse around my blog.
Blez