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My story begins way back on 25th January 1978 at about 10.20pm. I was riding home with three or four of my mates when the next thing I know I am lying in the road. I had hit a car head on and I came off worst, with a right Brachial Plexus injury (a paralysed right arm). Since then my association with motorcycles has always remained through watching my mates, and my days of riding seemed to be well and truly over.
However last summer I went to my local pub, The Cricketers in Eastleigh, with my wife, son and some friends to discover there was a bike show, organised by the local branch of MAG, in full swing.
We all had a few drinks and my wife, Tracey, went off to look at some of the stalls. When she returned she said she had spoken to someone about my disability and my love of bikes and they were of the opinion that I could still ride a bike and should speak to the lady at the MAG stall. I went over to the stall and spoke to the organiser, a lady named Rose, and was very pleasantly surprised to be told about the NABD. I had no idea that such an organisation existed. I went home and looked up the web site address that she had given me.
I immediately sent off to become a member, which was on the 4th May 2004, the next thing was to try and get a provisional licence. I sent off and on the 24th July 2004 it came back with a category A provisional motorcycle licence. I was over the moon, and now I could start looking for a bike.
My search took me to our local bike shop, Spike Island, where I discovered a beautiful Yamaha FZS 600 Fazer, it is a 2002 model with about 8,500 miles on the clock. My heart was set on it and the deal was done. Spike Island were very generous and let me borrow their bike trailer whenever I needed to move my bike.
I then set about finding an engineer to adapt my bike and after several phone calls, and some more help from Gordon at Spike Island, I was put in touch with a motorcycle genius called Barney Chapman at Barney's Super Bikes (tel; 01329 825505).
We sat down and discussed what had to be done and after some deliberation decided that the best thing to do was to link one of the front disc brakes to the rear brake and to have a thumb brake for the other front disc. We thought it a good idea to use braided hoses, as this would improve braking efficiency. Obliviously the throttle had to be put on the left and we decided on a good quality steering damper (not a cheap one). Once we had agreed on the adaptions Barney set about writing me a quote to send to the NABD with my grant application form.
My grant was approved at the NABD meeting on 16th January 2005 and we received a Thumb brake kit in the post that week with a further ?190.00 towards the adaption work. This was great and Barney had my bike ready for me to pick up on 1st February 05. He has made an excellent job of the adaptions and everybody who has seen it has commented on what a superb job he has done for me.
Next came the insurance, which I have taken through Bennetts, and then I had to book up for training, first my C.B.T. and ultimately my test.
While I was looking through my copy of Open House magazine for a decent Insurance quote I came upon an advert for training with a company called Motag Motorcycle Training Ltd. It's a Free phone Number (0800 652 0677) so I gave them a call and booked up my first block lesson of three days to include my C.B.T.
Training started on the morning of 22nd February 05, and it snowed, not much but it was freezing. The next day of training (24th February 05) I completed my C.B.T. and on day three we went out on the road.
It was a beautiful clear cold February day and after 27 years I was finally there doing it, I was in control and riding again. I felt like I had just won the Lottery! My instructor, Nigel Chandler, had been just about the best anyone could be, he was always full of praise and helped me overcome a very long separation from Two Wheels. We spent all that day (Friday 25th February 05) out and about. Now I was keen to carry on and do my test, so I booked the first available test (8th March 05) and three days of further training with Nigel.
Sunday 6th March 05, the first day of my second block of training, (Mothers day) we went out all day and things were ok but the thought of that test was keeping me awake at night, roll on Tuesday. Monday was a much better day for me, things just seemed to go better, even though I had struggled with the dreaded U turn. I went home feeling confident but again I had little sleep, the sheer excitement and the terror of the test day was almost too much, but there was no turning back now.
The big day dawned and the weather was set to stay dry but a little cold. Off we went to practice that U turn. Thing's were ok when we found a wider and more suitable road. We drove into the test centre at about 1.15pm, my test was at 1.33pm. After what seemed like an eternity the examiner came out, and we were off. About 45 minutes later we returned to the test centre, U turn completed successfully, and inside for some further questions, (and to repair the worn out bit of the carpet where Nigel (my instructor) had been pacing up and down like an expectant father).
"I'm pleased to tell you that you have passed" the Examiner said, and me being slightly over emotional I shed a tear. I just turned to Nigel and gave him a big kiss on the forehead (no tongues) I know he was as pleased as me. I could not believe I had done it, nothing can describe how I felt, it was just like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders!
The only thing that has ever been like this to me was the birth of my beautiful son Andrew, and that was emotional.
After about half an hour, when I had calmed down a little, we rode home to my house, and this time we went straight down the Motorway. I left my bike at my house and rode on the back of Nigel's bike back to Motag H.Q. for a course debrief. When we arrived at Motag HQ the team there had put up a "Congratulations Eric" poster on the office door. What great people they are. Now I have the freedom of being a biker again and it is thanks to all these people mentioned here.
THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH.
This NABD grant of ?400.00 was sponsored by a donation from Calne Rotary Club
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