What Would Kermit Ride?
June 22, 2015
Tracks in the Sand
We’ve all heard about the fable “Footprints in the sand”. An allegory reflecting on the journey of life with guidance for the twists and turns thrust in our way. Well here’s the Fathers Day version… Yes I know it was Papas Day yesterday but I need to get this on the blog before I forget it.
Looking back on life you see wheeled tracks of your life’s travels in the sands of time. Early on there are a pair of them. Those double lines weaving in and out denote when your father rode with you; sometimes showing you the way ahead, other times guiding you along and further sections watching over as you speed ahead across fresh sand. Teacher, Mentor, Guide. Later on there is a single tire track weaving along representing the adventures of your own experiences as they travel across ripples, over dunes, through surf; marked by knobby fresh tires at some stretches and worn down ‘boots’ at others. You ask where he went? Well he’s earned his keep on the rugged shores and is traveling parallel to the beach on the smoother roads of life driving his Jaguar saying, “I told you everything you need; now you’ve just got to get on with the job! I’ll meet you for a fish & chip supper at the cafe up ahead!”
March 30, 2015
Logan’s Run
Wolverine looking dour with stogie clenched in teeth. Bonnie is the ride if choice. Perfect ink line work in this black & white illustration.
February 11, 2015
The Countess and Enzo
Today marks the 81st birthday of John Surtees OBE. Undeniably one of the greats of two AND four wheel racing. He won both Grand Prix championships on motorcycles 1956, 1958, 1959 & 1960 and cars 1964. Riding and driving MV Agusta and Ferrari respectively.
Why he is not Knighted is one of the deepest mysteries of modern history… Well, he’s a Sir in many a book.
February 7, 2015
Speed Hound
Love this painting. Looks like our Geordie the greyhound racing along on a road going dirt bike. Though in ‘his day’ he didn’t need wheels; his legs powered him up to 35 to 40 mph around the Dairyland track at Kenosha Wisconsin between 2005 and 2008. He was a Champion… And to us still is.
Here he is in fine form fresh off his track career.
His race number is 20721 63E. Race name Broadview Tyler.
February 6, 2015
6th February
As every laddie knows he gets most of his curiosity from his father. When it comes to things mechanical my dad seemed to make sure I wasn’t afraid of fettling with things. Taking things apart is the only real way you can start to understand how things go together. Putting them back together? Well that’s another story!
“This here is the petrol tap”.
Happy Birthday Paw!
July 31, 2014
Capitaine Française
TinTin takes to the highways of The West in this conceptual idea of an adventure for our young intrepid hero. Like some gallic Wyatt and his knight-companion Billy ‘Haddock’. Snowy is erstwhile George Hanson and no doubt the Thompson Twins represent a bifurcate counterculture; split between the sixties laissez-faire and the serious seventies just around the corner.
July 21, 2014
We went to the Moon…
Forty five years ago. I grew up with this most historic event fresh in the conscience of the world and looked on the people who carried out these endeavors as heros. The iconic image of Buzz Aldrin standing in his “magnificent desolation” shows us the simple askew snapshot of a man standing on another planetary body: explorers indeed.
600 million of earths population watched these ghostly images of Commander Neil Armstrong step onto the surface uttering “One small step for(a) man; one giant leap for mankind”.
This was his first photograph taken with a space prepared Hasselblad (which is still on the moon) The lunar lander Eagles leg harshly shadowed in the vacuum-clear sunlight. Black sky starless under the lunar sun.
Let’s look at a motorcycling link to the Apollo program: a modern day take on the white NASA color scheme of the behemoth Saturn V. This a Kawasaki ZX14 by 2XtreemTV with appropriate black striping. I don’t know about the noseward escape tower… Even the leathers hint at the bulky moonsuits. This bike has 350 bhp. Orbit anyone?
Now to get a sense if scale the Vehicle Assembly Building behind this rider is where the Apollo rockets (and later space shuttles) were pieced together before rolling out to the launch pad.
A view of technician working atop the White Room (where the astronauts enter the Command Module). Vast! This represents the scale of this venture perfect. It wasn’t one, or three, but thousands who realized this dream.
We went to the Moon; but what we really saw was the Earth
April 23, 2014
Saint Geordie
The twenty third of April is the feast of the Roman soldier George who was martyred on this day in the fourth century. Typically shown defeating a dragon atop a white steed with maiden beyond his veneration is celebrated in many countries for his virtue. The English flag is his banner: a red vertical cross on white. Itself forming the very foundation for the Union Flag (Jack).
Here is a Triumph Bonneville used as a modern ride leaning into one of the many corners of a latter day dragon: the Dragons Tail at Deals Gap in North Carolina, an 11 mile stretch of Route 129 with over 300 corners.
March 8, 2014
Fast Ladies
After the delights of the Debenham sisters here’s what the seventies offered gals on their motos! Strap’d high heels and a long summer dress? That won’t get you far on that two-stroke Suzuki crosser.
Its a good job the role models for women riders include the likes of the talented Elena Myers a 21 year old AMA racer going head-to-head with the lads. Recently moved from powerful Suzuki superbikes to the sublime Triumph Daytona.
Ain’t no bugs on this gals smile! As they say “Girl Power!”
January 4, 2014
Warbird
When cars were named after heroes: the Triumph Spitfire was one such; a two-seater 1500cc powered roadster that heralded the best of British spirit. WWII ace Ginger Lacey cheekily grins from his flying cap, he saw tremendous action in the 1949 Battle of Britain over the southeast as well as flying over Japan during the close of hostilities. This car needs a white silk scarf a-flutterin’ behind the driver to evoke its namesakes legacy. Ginger is true ‘boys own’ stuff with 28 definite downed aircraft to his name he gained the DFM with Bar.
December 27, 2013
What do you call a writer of small Triumph motorcycles?
A Cub Reporter! .. Wah, waa, waa, waaaah!
One well known rookie journalist we know is young Jimmy Olsen who, as the Nikon wielding sidekick to Clark Kent, paced the streets of Metropolis. There has been a couple of storylines in DC Comics where he’s involved in a biker gang. But has also been seen to ride around on a motorcycle…
However in the more recent iteration of The Man of Steel he’s seen totin’ around the streets as some cataclysm occurs.
December 5, 2013
Freedom
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the Triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
Nelson Mandela (1918 -2013)
November 23, 2013
Double Oh Seven
Licensed to Kill: Pierce Brosnan was a great James Bond; a suave agent with a calculated gentleman’s approach to his job. Not the tough guy Daniel Craig who has taken the mantle to great effect, but a clean-cut Fleming protagonist. He was see in his second outing Tomorrow Never Dies riding a BMW R1200C with Michelle Yeoh hurling through the Ho Chu Minh City.
I prefer the Aston Martin that happens to be Bonds favorite vehicle. Here he stands with a Vanquish.
Of course with the very British marque of Triumph going from strength to strength JB should be seen on a Bonneville gadget equipped by Q’s quartermaster department.
Here’s Irishman Pierce taking a stance aboard an emerald green Thruxton. This week he was filming a new movie in Cambridge and his professorial don character totes around the college town on a Triumph: looks like its catching on…
Looking stylish Mr Bond!
November 6, 2013
Gonzo
He’s the crazy Muppet: getting involved in hare-brained stunts he’s seen here taking to the stage with a Knievelesque motorcycle jump. Ending up in the box where the curmudgeonly Statler & Waldorf mount their wisecracks from.
I was actually looking for Hunter S. Thompson images (the original Gonzo); due to having started to read his late 60’s book about the Hells Angels… More on that at a later date!
Gonzo’s likes are being shot out of cannons, balancing pianos on his nose, hypnotizing chickens, and tap dancing on roller skates on a vat of oatmeal. His only dislike is insurance agents. Seems he has more in common with HST than just a name. Dr Thompson’s ashes were shot out of a cannon…
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