Going to my girlfriend, I decided to take the bike tonite. This morning's traffic was hell enough to motivate using the bike for the next two weeks, and you never know who or what you might encounter on the way. And exactly so!

As I stopped by the robot at Investment Cars, I noticed a stylish white Porsche Turbo leaving Investment Cars, stopping right next to me at the robot. Well I didn't think much of it, cars are usually no challenge at all to the bike. So when the light turned green I popped a smooth wheelie and rode it through all the way to the mid range area of 2nd gear putting it down softly at about 140km/h. Stopping at the next robot I notice in my mirror that the Porsche is about to get a slight running start when the light goes for green. I'm hoping that this guy is in for fun, so I wait till he's next to me, give him a slight headstart before I open up the throttle and to my delight I can see he's in! We hit 120 as I flick the gear lever into 2nd. I was expecting a white speckle in my mirror, but instead I get the most amazing sound of a high quality turbo engine and in the corner of my eye I notice that he is keeping up. High into 2nd and then 3rd - it feels like a slow motion replay from a computer game as I hit 200 and I notice that he is still next to me, literally flying, the engine screaming with authority and power. The last few split seconds hanging on the throttle, squeezing every bit of horsepower and I realize I'm the one trying to keep up. Wow! What a car.

I hit the brakes, the next red robot almost upon us, and safely slow down well before the lines. Slowly approaching the robot looking at me, the Porsche driver cannot hide the pride in his smile and I give him a thumbs up for a few seconds of fun. I live for these moments. Call me what you will, but I empathically hear Vin Diesel in the The Fast And The Furious saying: "I live my life a quarter mile at a time, and for those 10 seconds or less I'm free."

Respect.

If a guy comes up to you and tells you that everything he says is a lie, is he telling the truth?

We took a sunset ride on the bike to the Impala Rally on Friday afternoon. It reminded me of the Pretoria Show, been there one year, been there every year. It consisted of the usual stunts at the gate, and somewhat amusing was this one guy who wheelied quite a distance on his scooter. And then there was the food stalls, the beer tent, the video screen and guys revving their engines just for the sake of making one hell of a noise. Somehow it lacked the excitement that I associated with those kind of things in the past and I wished I could have had their engines blown by a mere thought in that direction. It all seemed rather pointless and idiotic. So we left early, in time for a well deserved good night's rest.

My girlfriend is buying me Flight Simulator X for my birthday. And I am now treating myself with some early birthday presents this year. - This weekend I placed my order for a Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2 Vibration Feedback Gamepad. This after I nearly bought myself a PS2. Luckily I came to my senses just in time - I couldn't believe that I have for a moment, rated a PS2 above PC! And today I have placed an order for a 19" LG L1960TR-BF LCD monitor. According to LG, this monitor has a super-fast 2 ms response time, and delivers accurate and stunning images that will leave me on the edge of my seat. 19", 3000:1 contrast ratio... Lovely.

Dawie was so kind to offer me his Fireblade for the weekend since my R1 was out of order. Now who can decline an offer like that? So we had an amazing breakfast run.

The Fireblade has more than enough power and an amazing power band which reminds me of my two-stroke days. If you open up in 1st gear, and especially with a passenger, the wheel flies of the ground and high into the air when the power kicks in. You will flip the bike if you're not used to it. Many times I wonder how they can sell such mean machines to anyone who has R105,000.00 to spend.

I took this photo on the famous 'satellite' road:



And here's a photo of the brand new R1, this one having a mere 175km on the clock. What a fine piece of art. If you're honest with yourself, this is the bike to have. It doesn't get better than this. This one belongs to 'the leader of the pack', Helmut from The Rock Riders.

My girlfriend lives quite close to the road of happiness, the biker's highway to heaven. It's a nice sunny day and the weather couldn't be more perfect as there is a slight chill in the air - and bikes crave that chilliness in the air. Mine will show it's gratitude by providing at least an extra 5 horse power.

Sadly, it's almost a month now, and my bike is still out of action, so the teasing is about to begin as I hear hundreds of bikers finding the most important part of themselves, as they fly along the road of love.

Yamaha's, Suzuki's, Honda's, Kawasaki's, Triumph's, Ducati's, Aprilia's, Agusta's, inline fours and v-twins. For many, you can hear a distinct pattern as the revs go high, telling you the light has turned green, but more importantly, one wheel's enough...

I feel lost in this blog, like a programmer without a PC. I used to be good at creative writing, but that was 10 years ago. I've learnt to speak a different language, computer language. People ask me many times why I am so quiet, and the truth is that I have almost forgotten how to speak human language, but I tell them it is because my goiter scratches the inside of my throat everytime I speak. I am out of practice! But I am resolved to return to my roots, to master the language of my beloved brothers and sisters. I think that the first step could be to reduce the use of the word 'I'. I notice that it's been used in every sentence in this paragraph so far..

Did you have a nice Christmas? What did you do for New Year's?

There are no long countdowns. There is no backup. The blogging has begun.