I encouraged Sophie to buy the little Honda 250. I’m pretty sure that she bought it brand new.

I had borrowed it one day and was outside Mike and Jackies in West Street Feilding. I pulled out and, on a whim, lifted the front wheel. It was one of the few times that I fluked a wheelstand. I had the balance perfect and it felt like I could have kept it up forever.

I still remember Sophie going wide on the left-dip-right-up-left on Stoney Creek Road…. and slamming the far left bank when she should have been going right. I don’t think I was actually there at the time. Did she go to hospital?

We both had Garbro suits – hers red, mine blue. Seems pretty weird looking back but, at the time, they did what it said on the label. No real crash protection but great at keeping the weather out and the warm in.

We had a few arguments and, once, she took off on her bike and I chased after her on mine. We ended up somewhere out the back of Bunnythorpe at the side of the road. I have no idea what it was about but it was probably my fault.

She must have wondered about more horse power because I remember discussions about buying another bike. The only one that I remember talking about was a BMW650. This was probably after we’d broken up?

The little Honda suited her perfectly.