I was born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire in England 39 short years ago. My cycling started on a blue Raleigh Budgie which soon shed it's stabilisers and I moved up to a red Raleigh Tomahawk (the little brother to the infamous Raleigh Chopper). On this sweet baby I managed my first decent length riding wheely:) By the time I became "Chopper" size street bikes had started to move towards the mountain bike/BMX era. Just as BMX hit our neck of the woods I took possession of a Red Raleigh Grifter MK2. What a behemoth that was, weighed a tonne but with those 3 gears I was out of sight. Then comes a real seminal moment in my cycling CV: The Christmas of 1981 I think it was and it was the first white Christmas in years, needless to say this was the Christmas I got a bike and what a bike it was. Names like Haro, GT, Mongoose and even the various Raleigh Burners spring to mind in those halcyon days, but not for me. Money was tight so I took delivery of the catalogues finest The "Foxbat FXII" in pure chrome. It was rad, really rad. In no time at all I had mastered the wheely, was getting serious bum air with my curb-endos and had pretty much cracked bunny hops. The following spring I joined the newly formed Hemel Rad Riders and started to race BMXs at the new BMX track in Grove Hill and went on to gain 2nd place that year in the Under 11's. Eventually the Foxbat got stolen and I stopped racing. The years between then and now are all a bit of blur. A misspent youth raving in fields and riding round the country as a motorcycle courier seemed to work very well.
Five British winters was enough of that and the bike turned into a van and the fields into clubs. Somewhere along the line my love for music and dancing turned into a hobby and I ended up doing a bit of DJing and released a few records.
After this I spent a year renovating a shabby old Victorian house that I live in now.
After this it went a bit bad, lost my job, lost my girlfriend, got a bit depressed than a bit anxious then a lot depressed and a lot anxious. Then I stayed in for a year. Then I went out a little bit. Then I did a bit of staying in and a bit of going out. Right now I get a bit depressed and a bit anxious but not as much as I did. Going on this trip is my way of seeing if I have it in me to get over the last five years and move on. The time is now:)
