To be perfectly honest with you there's not really been a great deal to report, those of you that follow me on twitter @67shakey or on Facebook 67shakey will know pretty much everything that's been going on anyway.
Obviously the main thing that's happened is that I resigned for the Rapid solicitors PBM Kawasaki BSB team and that's something I'm truly really happy about, it's the first time in my career that I've ridden for the same team two consecutive years and I personally see it as a massive boost in my quest to become the all time most successful BSB rider in history. I had the very fortunate opportunity to have a great guy who spends shit loads of his own money saying to me Shakey, you just tell me what you want to do and whatever you choose I'll back you 100% but please just have a ride on my CRT bike before you make your decision, not easy being me lol!!!! Unfortunately the opportunity to ride the CRT never materialised due to the weather at the Valencia test but both my heart and my head were leaning towards the BSB side of things anyway, after all, I had a good bike, one that we know with another winter of development we can improve quite a bit, a fantastic team and a great competitive championship to race in which every weekend when I line up on the grid I know I'm in with a good shout of at the very least a podium finish and that ladies and gentlemen is what I go racing for, of course I understand that by racing in the UK I'll never achieve my goal of becoming a World Champion but I'd far rather fight for another title in BSB than fight for a point or two in MOTO GP or a top 5 or whatever in WSB, don't get me wrong, I truly believe I could fight for a title in WSB but nowadays in that paddock it's becoming increasingly like MOTO GP where only the top bikes are capable of winning, I mean look no further than probably the greatest rider of all time's last two seasons and that's with a manufacturer who have a remarkable eyebrow raising amount of money to play with.... I rest my case..
Anyway, moving on, last week was the Motorcycle live show up at the NEC in Birmingham, it was a good show, I had a lot of fun and met some nice people which was good, next week we're off to the Czech Republic for a bit, we're off to see the in laws for a few days then they're gonna look after the kids for a few days and I'm taking my with to Praque for a few days to a real nice spa hotel so we can finally totally wind down after the season.
It's been a weird year this, if I'm honest which to me there's no point not being this is the first year ever that I've taken a bit of time out after the season finishes, you could probably count the amount of times I've trained since the season ended on both hands but I've just wanted to rest and heal up a bit, I worked so hard this year getting back to fitness after the shoulder injury and then with the stress and pressure the whole showdown format puts you under I made it, I won and then I stepped back and relaxed, that's not something I'm particularly good at though as I like to keep busy.
I brought myself another Harley recently, a Sportster 48, they're making 2013 models with a Gold metal flake tank on and after getting my championship winning helmet in the same colour and always fancying a 48 anyway I figured now was as good a time as any, not only that my other Harley is down at Shaw speed and custom being tricked up to the absolute max, and I mean the max, in fact they contacted me the other day about the bike going to a bike show in Italy and maybe the London excel show when it's done so its obviously gonna be pretty rude if they're thinking of stuff like that for it, I can't wait but in the mean time if the temp ever gets above what feels constantly like minus 20 then I have the 48 to cruise about on!!
I've got a meeting pretty soon with an ex Olympian who may be helping me with some training ideas for the winter to get me in tip top condition for next season which will be cool, my approach will be the same as this year it's just that I want to make even more effort and cover even more bases, a 4th title would mean the world to me and that's what I'm 110% focused on trying to achieve, come along and enjoy the ride!!! Take it easy guys and girls, lets catch up again before Christmas, Shakey #67
