Oh yes, I guess a nervous person on the back of a bike can be a problem, less than on 4 wheels. Hein had a pro navigator in the car with him, I guess from a safety point of view, someone in or on the same vehicle can grab the steering in an emergency, depends how they trust you. My one friend let me park his brother's bakkie in the garden parking about 3 m from the swimming pool. He was outside the car, and I only had to move it out of the driveway and park by the pool to make space for other vehicles. It was a Ford bakkie, so if I had my way I would have parked it in the pool and it wouldn't leak oil in the driveway, but in the pool rather. I guess the skid pan was fun, I drove a Nissan 3.3 v6 double cab on the skid pan at West bank, but my brother was in the passenger seat. I've never tried driving been navigated by a radio or cell phone coms, must be even more exciting, as no-one is in the car with you. Thanks / Regards Carl de Campos SQL DBA Business Connection for Edcon E-Mail: carldc@xxxxxxxxxx Cell: 078 750 0307 Skype: carl.de.campos Personal Web Site: http://carldc.net ----- Original Message ----- From: Jacob Kruger To: blindza@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 11:59 Subject: [blindza] Re: Fw: Radio SAFM interview on riding I've had people offer to ride on the back of a normal 2 wheeled bike with me, and I tell them no! They can ride another bike behind me, and use walkie talkies or something to instruct me, but remember that, especially on a 2 wheeled bike, balance, body language, etc. are part of the riding activities, so a stressed person on the back wouldn't help at all...LOL! Riding with a side car is completely different to riding a normal bike, but FWIW, when Billy Baxter did a lap of donington on a Ducati, I think there was just someone riding behind him on another bike, and in terms of things like Hein Wagner, he might have had someone in the car with him - not sure - but could work almost as easily with someone just talking to him using a radio/phone etc. as long as they maintain the right positioning/alignment, etc. Last time when I rode my bike across skid pan at Phakisa, I only got up to around 3rd gear - 70km/h, and the guys watching me were at one side, but had a friend talking to me over cellphone earphones inside helmet, and he was just telling me when to slow down, when to veer slightly left, slightly right, and when to stop and turn around to ride back in other direction - did it around 10 times in that session, but I did also have another friend riding a bit of distance away from me on his own bike, up and down, and that was him who said he wanted to be close enough in case something went wrong, but he didn't interfere/involve himself in my actual riding at all. The friend instructing me over phone was also making jokes during process as well - we kept it light hearted/relaxed as well. Main thing for me is due to having done around 105000km on that same bike in around 4 years before my accident, I don't even think about specific riding activities, but just think about where I want it to go...LOL! If ride happens again this year, it should be on a different bike, but light, well balanced, nimble, well maintained etc. so can also just worry about environment etc. as opposed to worrying about bike itsself, and same with offroad bike if I ever find the suitable place to play around with it. Stay well Jacob Kruger Blind Biker Skype: BlindZA '...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...' ----- Original Message ----- From: Carl de Campos To: blindza@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 11:43 AM Subject: [blindza] Re: Fw: Radio SAFM interview on riding The sidecar idea should work if you have a good understanding between you and your navigator. I sometimes ride a quad bike with a sighted navigator on the back, so if worst comes to worst, he can grab my elbows to rectify any steering errors. Thanks / Regards Carl de Campos SQL DBA Business Connection for Edcon E-Mail: carldc@xxxxxxxxxx Cell: 078 750 0307 Skype: carl.de.campos Personal Web Site: http://carldc.net ----- Original Message ----- From: Jacob Kruger To: blindza@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 10:45 Subject: [blindza] Re: Fw: Radio SAFM interview on riding Idea is to ride bike on open road with sighted passenger in side car, but the other one is to ride a normal bike into parking area at biker daytime party/jol, and then climb off it after maybe attracting a bit of attention by revving it or something...all as part of the awareness joke, but anyway...LOL! Same way have already had at least a couple of people who thought I was making a bad joke by using cane until they realised it was for real... I have found that common opinion is still that blind/VI guys don't ever get out into/do anything in the real world... Stay well Stay well Jacob Kruger Blind Biker Skype: BlindZA '...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...' ----- Original Message ----- From: Carl de Campos To: blindza@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 9:57 AM Subject: [blindza] Re: Fw: Radio SAFM interview on riding Ha ha, I like the idea of parking a bike/side car combo, and then walking with your cane into the shopping centre, can imagine the comments. I used to go 4x4 trips with a friend, and he would let me drive the 4x4 through some challenging obstacles, but he was a good navigator, and then he would make me park it, get out, and walk around the car with the cane. Thanks / Regards Carl de Campos SQL DBA Business Connection for Edcon E-Mail: carldc@xxxxxxxxxx Cell: 078 750 0307 Skype: carl.de.campos Personal Web Site: http://carldc.net ----- Original Message ----- From: Jacob Kruger To: blindza@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 07:20 Subject: [blindza] Re: Fw: Radio SAFM interview on riding Well, I have a sidecar here in my garage, and still just need to find the right bike to fit it to, and the idea (part of it anyway) is that I might be able to persuade some sighted person to sit in the side car and direct me while I ride the bike - although it's not quite the same. Otherwise, always say at some stage, similar to how I get instructed when riding on the pit area of Phakisa, I want to wait until a busyish - but not too busy - time at a day jol, and ride into the parking area myself, park the bike, climb off, take my helmet off, pull out cane from inside my jacket, and walk up to entrance fee table - all of this just to hear the comments etc....LOL! Lastly, how does that one song go: ...open your eyes, and see me... We can break their assumption barriers, but we need to make sure we make a good impression (mental impression, not a physical one <smile>) Have also already had at least one guy come up to me while was dancing on main dance floor in front of band on stage at a bike rally, and tell me I just made him feel 'stupid' about ever having worried about having only one eye. Like always say, my one friend's saying is: live with it, deal with it Just that some of us swap it around a bit: deal with it, so you can live with it... Stay well Jacob Kruger Blind Biker Skype: BlindZA '...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...' ----- Original Message ----- From: Carl de Campos To: blindza@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 6:56 AM Subject: [blindza] Re: Fw: Radio SAFM interview on riding Thanks Jacob, appreciated. I tend to brag a bit or sound a bit too confident at times, but then I love my horse and what he does for me, I feel he's worth bragging about. But ja the idea is to make sighted public aware of the various activities blind people can do, especially if those activities are thought not to be blind friendly at all. Ps: When are we going to start a Blind Hells Biker group, as long as we have a few sighted bikers with extremely loud pipes to follow. Thanks / Regards Carl de Campos SQL DBA Business Connection for Edcon E-Mail: carldc@xxxxxxxxxx Cell: 078 750 0307 Skype: carl.de.campos Personal Web Site: http://carldc.net ----- Original Message ----- From: Jacob Kruger To: blindza@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 20:14 Subject: [blindza] Re: Fw: Radio SAFM interview on riding Already downloaded and listened to it, and it came out nice - and Carl sounds good/confident - good to let sighted people hear about things of this nature. Stay well Jacob Kruger Blind Biker Skype: BlindZA '...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...' ----- Original Message ----- From: Carl de Campos To: blindza@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 7:40 PM Subject: [blindza] Fw: Radio SAFM interview on riding Hi list, if anyone's interested in hearing my chat on horse riding, on the Disability Report last night, I managed to link it via my web site. http://carldc.net Right-click on the SAFM Interview link and "Save Target AS", it's 5 MB. Thanks / Regards Carl de Campos ----- Original Message ----- From: Jacob Kruger To: Carl de Campos Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 19:01 Subject: Re: Radio SAFM interview on riding Came out nice etc. You're also welcome to post this to blindza etc. - obviously...<smile> Stay well Jacob Kruger Blind Biker Skype: BlindZA '...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...' __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5008 (20100407) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5008 (20100407) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5008 (20100407) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5009 (20100408) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com