Valencia test

It’s happened again, me and technology, we’ve had a bit of a to do!!! You see it all started a while back when I was looking into options of having video clips up on the website, well, in I go to the Apple store in Bluewater armed with the new camcorder I brought for Christmas and my laptop being unable to get one thing talking to the other, the guy eventually fixed it, downloaded some updates etc and strongly recommended I upgrade to the latest Mac operating system, Snow Leopard, £25 I thought, can’t go wrong!! Typically about two weeks later (literally just before we left for Portimao I decided to load the disk and do the big upgrade) for once everything went fine, fine until I tried to open my photo resizing program that I use to fire pics up on my website and to Twitter, the program s**t itself and said no way Jose, b****ks I thought, (the upgrade version of the program I have is £350!!) so I downloaded a free 3o daytrial version to get me out of trouble and off we went to Portimao, on route there Reg suggested checking the net for something so I said no problem, connected my data stick, turned on the laptop and what happened, it s**t itself again, everytime I put the Vodafone stick anywhere near it the laptop crashed, great, oh well, get to Portimao, go in the press room, call Vodafone and download the latest version right, wrong, some arrogant twat had the audacity to ask if I’d called Vodafone beforehand to let them know I was thinking of getting a new laptop, I’m sure he was on drugs you know, anyway the long and the short of it all is I haven’t been able to keep you up to speed how I intend too so here’s a run down of what’s gone on in the two days we’ve had testing in Valencia.

Day 1, nothing!!!! Did 6 laps on what might as well of been called an ice rink, useless, no good at all so no riding, I did go ten pin bowling with Reg, Leon Camier, his manager and their motorhome driver though which was quite amusing, something even more funny was how anal Leon’s manager was about their hire car, a white 1 series BMW, well, I brought a microphone thing from PC city or whatever it’s called and asked for the car key so that I didn’t have to carry the bag around all evening, Storka (Leon’s manager) reluctantly gave me the key so I went back to the car and thought right, lets move it so I hid it right in another corner out of the way and went back to meet them, when we left a couple of hours later I told the others but not Storka what I’d done and as luck would have it there was a car near on identical to there’s not far from where he originally parked, we wondered across towards it and I saw the key come casually out of his pocket and him hit the unlock button, 1^st time it never worked so he tried again, by now we’re getting closer and it’s still not opening, we get right to the car and with a confused look he says the keys f***ed, with that I burst out laughing and said I’d moved it but he clocked eyes on yet another near identical one so thought that was his, when we got to the 2^nd car and that didn’t open the boys were all wetting themselves, maybe you had to be there but trust me, it was funny!!!!!

Day 2, mega!!! We woke up to a real sharp frost and the crispiest coldest morning you could ever imagine with damp patches everywhere, I was actually desperate to get out riding but there was no way it was going to happen in the morning, eventually we got out in the afternoon and got to work, I really enjoyed myself riding, we took things very step by step and I was delighted to see that the problems I’d suffered at Portimao were identical at Valencia, exactly as I told the team they would be, as I said step by step we worked on the balance of the bike and made big steps in terms of my level of confidence with the bike, I’m not going to say I wish the races were tomorrow as we still have quite a bit of work to do with the electronics but we’re probably about 80-85% now and with two days testing at Philip Island hopefully we’ll be there or thereabouts, it would appear the new Ohlins suspension is pretty sensitive but we seem to have found a pretty good base now, in Australia we’ll have a few more bits and pieces to test too which should be good. In terms of performance I actually topped the time sheets for a large chunk of the day but I think I ended up unofficially 2^nd or 3^rd but only 2 10^th’s of a second off on standard rubber, here’s an indication of my performance, on the same tyres as last years race I lapped 1.3 faster so it’s going in the right direction.

I’m really looking forward now to a solid two or three weeks of training before we head over to Australia, I literally can’t wait to ride my bike again, I’ve got a good team behind me and a cool team mate so it’s all good here on Planet Byrneard right now, talk to you soon, #67!!!

Portimao day 3

There's really not a great deal to say about yesterday so i thought i'd just skip it and go straight to day three. I've had a really difficult day, i think i told you before that our bike has a lot of potential but unleashing it so far has been very difficult indeed, i'm not kidding when i tell you that three problems, 2 electrical and one suspension have worked hand in hand to make things really hard for me, however step by step my team have worked mega to get to the bottom of the problems, i won't go as far as saying we've totally fixed any of them, in fact quite far from it but we definitely now have a positive direction to follow and with just two or three days off before Valencia i'm even more excited about going to ride there than i was about riding my new bike here for the 1st time!!!! Valencia should in my opinion really show the problems we've been having probably much more than here so that in itself will help us to get to the bottom of the problems quicker. i think once we've got Valencia out of the way we should be in pretty good shape, Valencia for me is almost more important than this test here, i can't wait!!!!!!

The smile's even bigger after finishing P3 today!!!

Carlos and I, i think they use these photos in the programmes...

I'm sure if i keep practicing i'll soon be able to get my knee down!!!

There we go, i've cracked it, ha ha!!!

Quick update!

Had our first session this morning, it started pretty damp and slippery but dried out ok in the end, we still have a lot of work to do to get the right feeling from the bike but we're definitely working in the right direction, some aspects of the new bike are really good already so we have to just keep chipping away at various bits and pieces to do with the electronics and suspension to find a good balance and then we'll start to push hard for a lap time, we're working hard and it's all good!!

Be alright if i looked where i was going wouldn't I!!!!

Portimao day 1

Do you know what I don’t believe what’s happened today, you know this is my 3^rd season now with the 1198 Ducati and to be honest I pretty much thought I knew all there is to know about them, boy was I wrong. As you’ll probably know I made my debut today for the Althea Ducati team, I was mega pumped about getting out on the new bikes, we had the chassis and suspension set exactly how I had my 09 bike set here for last October’s races so it was a case of get on, go and go fast right….wrong!!!

This new bike is totally different, sure chassis wise it feels familiar, it fits like an old slipper for me now but that was quite literally the only thing the same, electronics wise it feels so different, it’s like chalk and cheese compared to my 09 bike, you know as a rider you always sit and think do you know what if I had that bike they wouldn’t see me, if you dont believe in yourself then what’s the point, our new bikes I believe are pretty similar to what Xerox had last year, the bikes I was dreaming of riding but I can assure you it’s definitely not a case of simply get on and go, that said though I’m fairly certain that despite ended today P6 we’re literally only just scratching the surface of this new bike, I’m looking even more forward to riding tomorrow now than I was today, we have a host of things to try that should help both lap time and consistency, I’m pumped!!!! The security guard’s asking us to leave the pres centre now so I’ve got to crack on, a domain!!!!!!

Tense times, just about to head out for my first ride!!

Don't stall it now, ha ha ha!!!!

The first action shot i've seen!!

One of the team trucks...

Some pics from the Portimao test!!

Hey guys and girls here's a few preview pics form here in Portimao, check them out!!!!

The boys hard at work in my side of the box!!

Won't be getting far on this one at the minute, ha ha!!!

My two babies waiting to go out to play!!!

Hopefully the view plenty of people will see of them this year (the rear i mean!!!!)

To top the day off!!!!

Check out this place we went for a big dinner after the launch, it was down in a cave where they used to produce olive oil!!!

We ate some very good food here!!!

A few pics from the team launch!!

Here's some pictures for you to see....

Flavio, me, Carlos and team owner Genesio

My guys who will work with me this year

The three of us kitted up!!

The mayor of Fasono, the owner of Unibat (our main sponsor) Genesio and the riders

The dance show, i never even knew this happened as we were getting changed!!!!

The 2nd job of the day, a photo shoot...

Our 2nd job of the day on Saurday was a casual photo shoot with our bikes, here's a couple of pics of the three of us!!

Autograph session at out team sponsor Bikerstore, a case of mistaken fame!!!!!

I had a really funny moment on Saturday shortly before arriving for an autograph session at one of the team's sponsors Bikerstore in Bari Italy, we stayed the night before in a real nice hotel and i knew that in the morning we had a few things to do before heading off to another town for the team presentation that evening, well, i was due to meet team owner Genesio Bevilaqua downstairs at 9-30am for breakfast so unlike my normal self i got there 5 minutes early, the lift doors opened into the hotel lobby and there were people everywhere, the place was packed, TV cameras and paparazzi were all over the place, Bloody hell i thought, Genesio's gone big with this launch thing!!! I went straight in for breakfast to get away from everything only to find out that the ex Italian president was in there having breakfast two tables away, for a minute there i thought i was famous, ha ha ha!!!!

Inside the store, Flavio Gentile our teams Italian SBK rider, me and Carlos keeping on the right side of the law!!!!

The aftermath!!

Sneak preview!!!!

Hey guys and girls, here's a little sneak preview for you, i'm currently over in Italy as it's my teams (Althea Ducati) launch tonight, here's a few crafty i phone pics of the bike and potentially my new helmet design for you to see, i'll upload some proper photos probably tomorrow for you to see properly, but for now, here you go!!!

My new, old baby, this is my heavily updated ex Airwaves BSB title winning bike!!!!

Doesn't it look the absolute nuts, i'm well excited about Portimao next week!!!!

Pretty much my new design for 2010, a few tweaks here and there we'll be rocking!!!

Petra and Zack on the back, this design will change slightly... Zack's mini moto bound!!

The matt white stripes rock!!!

All a bit last minute...

What an absolute nightmare i had yesterday, i got a call from Midlife saying they needed my new Vito back in order to carry out some work that needs doing on it urgently but due to my schedule in the coming weeks the only day i could bring it back was yesterday, so after receiving his call around 3pm i got sorted, booked a ferry and a flight home and hit the road, that's where it all went downhill, driving up through France i got into some hardcore snow storms, in our car such things aren't a problem but in an unloaded Vito they become a bit of an issue, a few octopus handed attempts at keeping the thing in a straight line made me realise Vito's definitely don't do snow quite like a 4x4!!! All in all i saw a jack knifed lorry, and 3 cars crash, works wonder's for your concentration you know!!!! I finally arrived at Calais at 5-30am this morning only to be told i'd missed my slot, matey in the booth got a proper earful and eventually put me on another ferry.. at 6-45, the retard could've boarded me straight away but we spent too long discussing jack knifed lorries and snow drifts, i was fuming, i finally got to bed at 8-30am this morning and now i'm back up and on the new high speed train to London then onto Stanstead, it ain't easy!!! To top all that off it's my fiances birthday today and she's at home waiting for me to get back!!! It's all go here!!

The three wise monkies!!

Hey everyone, had a real cool day today, we've been snowboarding, it's literally been perfect conditions as you can see from the photos below, two of my good mates, Proff and Stef (aka Cake Dave) came over and we all went to the mountains, it was my first time on a snowboard in over 5 years but we soon got back into the swing of things, it was Stef's first time snowboarding full stop so he had a steady start but got going ok in the end, like i said it was highly amusing!!!!

The three wise monkies on top of the world!!

What a lovely view....

Proff begged me to say he'd just landed a 90ft jump, trust me, he hadn't!!!!!!

The 1st lift up, all smiles!!!

I'm sorry!!!

I'm sorry guys and girls but like a dipstick i forgot my log in and password details to upload blogs to you all, with all the dramas we've had over the past few days with travel due to snow it's not exactly been top of my priority's to sort it but done now, i'll get on the case with some proper updates soon, take it easy, Shakey #67

Happy new year!!

Hey guys and girls, just a bit of a message to say Happy new year, yes i know it's the 2nd already so i'm a bit late but there we go, i hope you all had a good time, we had a really quiet one in England which was nice, now we're just sat relaxing in the Czech Republic, it's -1 outside but the forecast is -12 later, i'm getting cold just typing it let alone feeling it, i'm hoping we're gonna get some more snow so that we can take Zack out on a sledge but we'll see, we've got 5 days over here now so plenty of time to train and relax in equal amounts which will be nice, i'm also hoping to go up to Praque for a look about too whilst we're over which will be cool, talk to you later, Shakey.