As most of my friends, family, and followers know, I am not great at off-road.  Don't get me wrong I have done some over the years, my first bike being a Honda C50 field bike, which my brother and I used to use on a relative's farm, and later a CG125 that got very muddy on occasion, on the forest trails in North Yorkshire UK, but I never got into motocross or trail riding as a youngster.  In later years I bought a BMW F650 and did a few gravel rides in Spain before selling it.

Every year bike show season comes around and we start to daydream about new bikes or pieces of kit however, in the last 2 years, we have missed out due to the global pandemic.  The last show I went to before everything hit the fan was EICMA 2019, it was my first visit to Milan, and the show and I thoroughly enjoyed it, so when the opportunity came around again I jumped at it.

What better way to spend a sunny Sunday morning than messing about on dirt bikes!

It's been a good few years since I have been off road in any capacity, the last time being on our old BMW F650, riding some tracks in the valley near my home.  This would be different though, a two and a half hour training session with a flat track twist.

Alan Whelan set off on his African adventure in search of the perfect cup of tea. Does such a thing exist and if so what makes it perfect?  Is it the tea itself, the ceremony, the location, or the people you share it with?

The following paragraphs were written for a local magazine in June 2006 and are an account of my first ever track day, held at Ricardo Tormos Circuit on the outskirts of Valencia on the Costa Blanca.