January 2002 saw me get back into riding the trails again. I guess it happens when your son gets old enough to ride and you have something of a mid-life crisis at 40. So I decided to get back into it in a big way. At 199cms (6ft6ins) and well and truly a centurion (100kgs plus) the bike needed to be big. So it was the XR 650 for me, mostly based on the Honda track record and bullet proof reliability. Once it was derestricted and a new exhaust tip installed it went really well, actually too well as the standard gearing is good for something like 180 clicks and the last time I looked there's not too many trails where that sort of speed is much use. After investing in all the new gear necessary to look the part I proceeded to learn how to ride again after about a 10 year layoff. joining up with AMTRA was a good start and a few camping trips started to get me into it again.