EDITOR SPEAKS

what’s he blabbing on about now?

Have you ever had that rumbling in your guts (no, not because of food!) that put you on notice that something just wasn’t right? When you know that failing to deal with what is occurring will end in disaster? Well, I’ve had just this experience recently, and believe me, the statement “trust your gut instinct” has never been more appropriate.

How does this relate to motorcycling? Well, you know when you barrel into that corner and you know that something isn’t feeling right, or you’ve taken the wrong line and you have that, “oh, shit” moment? This is the time to really trust what your instincts are telling you and not “go with the fl ow” and wait for something to go dramatically wrong. Act on it as early as you can and there’s a good chance you’ll come out the other side intact. It’s when you don’t trust your gut instinct that hindsight becomes such a wonderful thing – if you’re still around to tell the story, that is.

I won’t reflect on hindsight, because after a crash most people will try to justify what they were doing to make themselves feel better – I’ve done it myself. It’s not until you really face up to the facts that you realise you just stuffed up. This is especially important because you will then be able to learn from it and improve.

What did I do? In a corner that required a bit of restraint, I got on the power instead.

Fortunately I realised what I’d done and managed to recover.

Phew. Lesson learnt.

Now, our cover image and opening shot of the Ducati Multistrada 1200 DVT story in the most recent issue has drawn praise from many of you. A lot of people are asking where we took the shot. If I told you, I’d have to kill you!

No, it is Mt Banks, which you can get to via the Bells Line of Road out of Sydney towards Lithgow. An amazing spot to admire the stunning scenery, or take some pictures of yourself and your bike. The road into Mt Banks itself is not very long, maybe one kilometre in total and the good bit, around Mt Banks itself is blocked with a gate. You can walk, which takes around an hour or so (from memory).

Where we took the shot is not far from the locked gate. Go there and you’ll find it for yourself.

We do get to ride just about all of the latest and greatest here at AMM, but Alana and I have just purchased our long term Yamaha MT-07 to keep.

This is the fi rst time I have personally bought any bike we’ve had as a long termer, or even tested. To me, this speaks volumes to just how good the MT-07 is from an experienced rider’s perspective – and also a learner’s perspective, which is Alana’s. We will probably keep it until Alana is on her full licence and then look at something else, but you never know, we might just keep it much longer than that. You’ll continue to see the MT-07 within the long termer pages, we’re not finished with it yet!

Cheers, Stuart.