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I think it's taken all of us a bit by surprise at how quickly the inaugural race of the Canadian Thunder Series has come around. Thankfully it appears that all the important bits have come together, although we're still in eleventh hour negotiations with some prospective sponsors.

So the folks at CMG asked if I would be interested in testing some Dual Sport/ Off-Road bikes. Hell yeah, that would be great. I've ridden off road for many years and was anxious to try out the latest machinery. So in typical CMG fashion, my first assignment is a Yamaha's V-Star 650 Custom. Hey what the…

Everything slowed down for a moment, as the sounds of revving motors all around me lost their bark. I took one big deep breath and let the clutch go in unison with the flag drop.

Although I suspected that the rider's meeting would be much the same as yesterday and still in French, I dutifully attended and as expected, left non the wiser.

Suddenly, I’m there. Dressed in fancy new leathers, boots and gloves, perched atop a new BMW R1100S, I'm about to enter the infamous Mosport race track. "I don’t belong here," I think to myself as the race official turns to open the track access gate. I can't afford this bike. Even the gear is a stretch. Bloody hell, I can’t even race.

After a couple of days on Kawasaki's revamped ZX9R in Arizona earlier this year, we thought that it might not be a bad idea to grab it again this summer and share it amongst the CMG staff. That way they could not only feel special (and therefore work for even less money), but also give their opinions on the beast.

Returning to the land I'd given up just a few years ago in favour of my new home, Canada, I was given a typical English summer greeting of low overcast clouds and a chilly nine degrees Celsius as the plane descended from its sunny domain at 30,000 feet.

One fine summers day it suddenly dawned on me that it would be just a dandy idea to do a road test of some of the larger cruisers (Fat Bastards as I like to call them) that have appeared on our ever tasty bike menu recently. Let's see ... we have the Honda Valkyrie, the Yamaha Royal Star and the ever present Harley Road King. Cool, that should do it.

I think I have a new favourite BMW, even considering my aging body and the mildly sporty riding position.