Blue88 is actually my 'Call Sign' as a Courier with CitySprint in London, .... which gives a big clue as to my current 'Job', .... something that used to be called a 'Career'.

Orignially from Newcastle, I was brought up in Darlington by my parents George and Barabra Thomas. Thankfully, George was the proud owner of a Triumph 6TA motorbike and thus, .... my love of bikes began at a very early age. I can't claim to have been able to ride a bike before I could walk, ..... but I was certainly the only kid in Easson Road with a throttle and rear view mirrors on my rocking horse.

At around 17, I read my first real book, 'Jupiter's Travels' by Ted Simon. At the time I was the proud owner of a my first road legal bike, a Suzuki AP50. Given a passport and a decent supply of acne cream, I would of happily set out there and then to ride around the world on my own great adventure. Instead, I invested what little pocket money I had in a Readers Digest World Atlas and let my dream stew for the next thirty years.

Marraige, divorce, career, redundancy, war, kids, mortgage, a little more marriage and almost a million bike miles since reading Jupiter's Travels, .... and I was still no closer to achieving my teenage dream.

In 2004, I became an accidental team mate and deliberate friend of Alan Kelly, my co-conspirator in Poor Circulation. It was the Nick Sanders Moto Challenge GB 2004. Together with Mark Wallis and Lee Crahart we became 'Team Haphazrd'. For ten days, we raced on closed circuits, competed in hill climbs and rode point to point across the British Isles against the clock and twenty five better equipped and more experinced teams. Against all expectations, we ended the challenge at Knock Hill in Scotland collecting a mass of team and individual trophies. Had there been an award for cocking about,... no doubt we would have won that too.

For the next two years I continued working as a courier with City Sprint, I crashed and raced my bikes and basically got on with a fairly unexciting existence. Towards the end of 2006 following a quite spectacular interface with a Ford Focus, I decided that if I was ever going to have my great motorcycle adventure, ........ it would have to be soon.

And so it was that Poor Circulation was born. The only missing elements were money and a slightly more up to date World Map, ...... but I knew that over time I would find ways to overcome such minor technical details.

In late 2007, I mentioned 'Poor Circlation' to Alan Kelly over Pie & Pints, ... and by the evenings end, ...... he was the second member and Poor Circulation was now a 'Team'. Together we set about gaining the support we would need, designing a route and obtaining the necessary documentation for the journey. As of March 2008, ..... with the exception of spare tyres, we are ready to begin our epic adventure on 23rd April 2008. When I say 'Ready', ...... I really mean 'Ready' in a Poor Circulation sense of the word, which is slightly different to most other definitions. For me at least, 'Half Cocked' is about as close as it will ever get.

For details on how we achieved this 'Cashless Solution' to World Travel and many other interesting issues, ..... then jump to our respective Blog's for the full 'kiss n tell' story.

A slight update on our departure. We will be meeting at the Ace Cafe with friends from the Riders Digest Magazine for a Royal Send-Off from 7pm on Monday 21st April (Happy Birthday Mrs Windsor) and your all more than welcome to come along and poke some more fun at us.

Blue88

http://www.poorcirculation.blogspot.com