The Arctic Rider

Hello there, Welcome to the Arctic Ride 2014 blog. In May and June of 2014 I will ride my motorbike solo, 6,000 miles from my home town of Whitley Bay in the North of England to Nordkapp, Norway the most Northerly point in Europe and 500 miles North of the Arctic Circle. Its going to be an epic journey which I very excited yet very nervous about. Now I know in the tagline I say that it's a solo motorbike ride but that's not strictly true. I will have an accomplice.. Gordon and Cerebra Bear (A.K.A. ???) As you can see from the photo I will be taking my Cerebra Bear with me on my Arctic Ride as my mascot. I was presented with him as a thank you after my trip in 2011. However when I decided he was going to come to the Arctic with me I knew he needed to have a real name. Big thanks to those who suggested names and voted (as I couldn't decide by myself with all the great suggestions). So here are the results.... In 5th place with 6% of the vote was... Pads. In ...

Hi Everyone, Welcome to another edition of the Arctic Ride 2014 blog! This week's blog is all about my trip to the BikeWise show in Durham on the 27th July. BikeWise is an annual motorbike show held at the Durham Constabulary Police Headquarters. The event sees thousands of bikers flock to Durham to see stalls from local bike clubs, clothing and helmet stalls, dealers, and anything BIKE related. I was lucky enough to be asked by the NEMCRC to attend with them and be on their stand. NEMCRC  have recently become a sponsor of Arctic Ride 2014 ( click for blog on this ) and it was a pleasure to attend with them and represent them at the show. Being at the show allowed me to get out there what I am I doing and why to a large biker community audience. To help promote the Arcic Ride 2014 brand I got the bike logo'd up with my sponsors and the charity's logo. I also got some literature printed off and my wife Kirsty baked some motorbike related cakes and we popped them on th...

Good day! Welcome to the Arctic Ride 2014 blog! In May and June of 2014 I will be riding my motorbike solo 6,000 miles in only 3 weeks to the top of Europe and through one of nature's most barren and un-populated landscapes... the Arctic Circle. This challenge is all in aid of raising funds and awareness for brain injury charity Cerebra . In planning my Arctic trip over the past 6 months, and on my previous motorbike endeavors, I've come across plenty of bikers and travelers. One thing I have noticed is that both solo travelers and groups often have a mascot or good luck charm travelling with them along the way. I realised that when I set of for the Arctic next May I'm going to be on my own for a good few weeks and after the back luck of my 2011 trip (see my blog post the day after my accident) I thought I could do with a good luck charm to come along on the ride with me. Cerebra Bear chilling on his Suzuki My immediate thought came to my Cerebra Bear which was g...