Been a busy old week.

First, we had the small matter of a multi-million pound project to deliver at work. Usual stuff - people working through the night and stuff. Usual pulling rabbits out of hats against the clock. What was different this time was that I got paid for it - normally I don't even ask, but this time I did.

The reason for this is that it had dawned on me that I have a little trip planned for next year - you may already know this - and this trip is going to take a bit of munny. So, asking for munny in return for working isn't really a bad thing.

Saturday was a welcome relief, out for a spot of trail riding with Chris, Charlie, Glen, Brian and Steve. All of them doing Enduro Africa in October and Brian, who hails from the evil Accenture empire, has his own website at http://www.enduroafrica2008.com/. If you look really closely you will see their handsome instructor in the photos.

That's "instructor", incidentally. No plural. Martin didn't go. He was going to go but Charlie's, em, "progressive" riding style caused little Nadia to give up the ghost and bend a valve. Martin drove the Husaberg up on the trailer and Charlie then got on to Tango. He spent most of the day lying down, in one shape or another, although Brian shot this great video of Charlie jumping off the bike and going for a run - very amusing.

Tango also had her picture in TBM this month - 16 pages of a shootout against the larger Yamaha WR250R. Complete with bright orange wheels, which TBM described as "funky".

The girl doing the test ride, a girl by the name of Mel, wasn't having a good day at all. She didn't gel with Tango, and wrote a four-page review of a bike I didn't recognise at all. And, bear in mind, I've ridden this bike over the same trails on Salisbury Plain that she did.

I've got some complaints and observations about the little PR3 - I've posted some of them here before. There's the clutch, and how you really need a strong aftermarket clutch to be sure that it will last. There's the power issue, and how she really needs more grunt if she's going to be taking on long distances. Martin is working on this, inbetween going swimming in wells.

Mel described a bike that was twitchy, where the forks bottomed out going over bumps, and where the brakes didn't work. Me, all 50 kilos of me, and Martin - all 11 stone of him - have never been able to recreate these problems on some pretty tough terrain, including Tea til Dusk. I don't know how heavy you need to be to bottom out the forks, but Martin's 11 stone can't do it and Mel is only 5 foot 3. Hmm.

I rode Tango on Saturday and couldn't fault her (apart from me wanting more power). So I'm not sure what went wrong.

Then it dawned on me. The folks at TBM ride 5-grand-plus bikes every day and write about them. The little AJP is 3 grand, even with the Marzocchi forks. That extra 2 grand buys a hell of a lot more than 2 grand's worth.

The thing is, that when you step onto a PR3, you need to start with 3 things:

1. This bike is 3 grand
2. This bike is 90 kilos
3. This bike is a 200cc single

and, once you've got those things in your head, you realise what a little engineering marvel she truly is. If you sit astride her expecting her to behave like a 5-grand KTM then you're going to be a bit disappointed.

I had a bit of practice of long rides on a trail bike on Sunday as well. I rode Madge - the original Madge - back from Trowbridge on the road, about 60 miles in total. Chronic monkey butt set in after about 20 miles and I had to do the rest on my pegs. We really need to do something about that seat - maybe just gaffa tape a big pillow to it or something.

My Ma got some bad news today. She is being "consulted" about redundancy. Probably in much the same was as Hitler "consulted" Poland about invasion. It's not going to be a problem though, since I am imminently about to receive riches that would make King Solomon jealous. Munny is never going to be a problem again.

The Missus and I were talking yesterday and I was saying that I was tired. She told me to let up for a few days and stop churning out so much code (computer programs) and I explained that I might let up, but my brain won't. I am churning out a couple of thousand lines of code a day or something of that order, and the ideas are coming fast and furious. This is my moment, this is what I've been working towards for years, and payday is approaching.

So please bear with me for a wee while whilst I get this stuff churned out. When the cheques start hitting the mat and I'm getting paid to sit at home all day, I promise you that I'll be battering you to death with blog entry after blog entry.

And as soon as Martin has plucked up the courage to tell his Missus that he's going to Beijing, then we can start planning proper.

Less than 3 weeks until Dawn to Dusk, which is going to be a bit of a laugh. Tents and sleeping bags are being pulled out of lofts and cupboards. My ITM is coming over with Missus ITM and the wee ITM-ettes. Martin will be there, probably with kids in tow, and there will be several dozen people who we know. It is going to be a total blast. Not just for the riding, but mainly for the people and the crack and the event itself.

Two years ago, I had never even heard of Dawn to Dusk. And now I'm riding in it with two individuals who I am proud to call friends. We'll all probably fall out with eachother by the time we get to Beijing, but I'm sure we can cope with a 12 hour enduro in Wales.

Still needing help with the punchline though ...

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