I looked at the scene and took it all in, thinking to myself ‘Here I am on a February Sunday morning with 30 petrol chainsaw engines screaming round me, air so thick with two stroke fumes you can cut with a knife, and me with a hangover’.
‘You just can’t beat it can you?’ said the organiser James.
‘Isn’t it great Dad!’ said my son Jack.
You can beat it but not if your aged between 6 and 16, with a thirst for motorcycles that I haven’t seen in people younger than me in over 20 years.
It all started around seven months ago when East Yorkshire Council invited MAG and other concerned motorcycle bodies to participate in a meeting of doom and gloom, discussing accident figures, sliding scales of injuries and a refusal of anyone at the meeting to discuss promoting motorcycling as an alternative option to single car occupancy, commuting, or travel.
MAG also brought up the subject of the bad press with headlines like, ‘BIKERS KNOCK OLD PERSON DOWN IN PEDESTRIAN PRECINCT’.
It was never ‘Bikers’ to blame but kids on Mini Motos.
Taking a leaf out of Shan Tedder’s (East Anglia Rep) and her local council’s book, we asked the council ‘Why not train these kids properly, give them a safe place to learn and ride?’ Believe it or not they did!
Run in conjunction with the police, councils and volunteers, the Sunday ritual is becoming bigger and bigger week after week, with more new kids than ever turning up with parents and grandparents alike.
There is a small fee to cover insurance, transport, training, and repairs. Remember, kids are learning to ride so falling off is inevitable, but it’s as safe as it can be and most certainly safer than on the road or streets.
East Yorkshire MAG thought this was such a good idea that we put our money where our mouth is and obtained two brand new Mini Motos with the help of the Hull Quad Center’s Phil Coldham.
Plans are being made for a summer school holidays competition and East Yorkshire MAG will sponsor a few of the trophies.
We also plan to have some Sunday runs out to racing to let the kids see our ‘bigger bikes’.
You can contact the NPBC through the website www.npbc.ds4a.com or ring James on 0796 3311 288
Written by P Walker
Originally published in East Yorkshire MAGs Newsletter east-yorks.mag-uk.org