OK I’m A Cliched Older Motorcyclist

Ok, I admit it. I hit fifty and got a bad dose of what my lovely wife sarcastically called, “the manopause”.

There’s something about those ages you get when you have a zero on the end. When I was 20 I didn’t care that much. At 30 I was too busy trying to keep up with our kids and hardly noticed things.

At 40 I felt I was slowing down a bit, but between family and business commitments I felt that life was going well and I didn’t need to change that much.

And 50? Well, that was a little different. With the kids out of the house and my business more or less running on autopilot I had a bit more time to reflect on what I wanted.

For the first time I realised that I was probably already more than half-way through my life. Where did it all go?

So in prefect mid-life crisis form I looked for something that would spice things up a little.

No, I didn’t go for the twenty-something girlfriend (I don’t know any twenty year old girls who have a taste for balding, overweight men. Come to think of it, I don’t know any twenty year old girls).

So, what to do?

Motorcycling, of course!

As a young man I always wanted to experience the freedom of a motorbike. I rented one on a holiday in the Greek Islands, but being back in the rainy UK a car seemed just so much more… well, sensible.

Well, I’ve had enough of sensible, and it’s time to be disgracefully fifty and invest in a shiny new motorbike.

So, I’ve booked a course of motorcycle lessons in West Sussex with a school called MTS (You can see their video below).

The good news is that as an experienced driver I don’t need to go through all of the CBT and other lessons that a youngster would require (the benefits of maturity).

The government in their infinite wisdom have a Direct Access Scheme for experienced drivers.

My instructors Matt and Nikki seem confident that I will be able to pass my test within a few weeks. Now, that is exciting!

I’ll be sure to post my progress so watch this space. In the meantime, any future Christmas and birthday gifts should have a motorcycling flavour – I’m excited about my new passion, and apologise in advance if I bore everyone to death with my motorbike adventure tales (who knew a trip to Sainsbury’s for a pint of milk could be so exciting).