LONGTERMER KAWASAKI NINJA 1100SX SE

There has been a recent addition to the family; I've become a proud grandad, and the ride to the hospital to welcome my first grandson after a long day at work on a warm summer evening filled me with energy and joy at the thought of seeing him for the first time.

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As I was parking up after arriving at the hospital, I was grinning inside my helmet, not just because of the ride or the prospect of seeing him, but also because I was wondering how often a new grandparent has made this journey on a motorbike for such an occasion.

Within the next few minutes, I had him in my arms, and his name was announced to me... Ryder.

A few weeks later, knowing the new family were settled at home and with the last bank holiday of the year approaching, I decided that the wife and I needed a day to ourselves. I managed to convince her that a ride out to a little town we have visited a few times was called for.

My parents used to take me and my little brother to Matlock Bath on a bank holiday years ago, a town in Derbyshire that has become increasingly popular as a destination for bikers on such weekends. Little did they know that they had instilled in me a desire to come back to this place on a bike of my own in the future to be part of the scene. Although I have been back over the years several times and got to know the town fairly well, turning up on two wheels on the bank holiday Monday has been a box that had gone unticked until now.