Isle of Man and the TT an introduction

As I sit writing this, I can hear the roar and screams of bike engines in the distance. A sound that anyone who lives on the isle of man will be accustomed too.
Having lived on the Island many years ago, its a sound I am already familiar with and love , even though my heart lies with vehicles with more wheels and larger capacity , there is something truly awe inspiring about the sound of bikes hitting the rev limiter and passing by at 200 mph.

To truly understand what TT is all about however, and trust me when I say it is way more than just 1000's of bikes lining the streets and a fortnight of qualifying and racing. You must be here to experience it for yourself, its very much a cliché but also a fact, however I will do my best to convey the amazing atmosphere of a small island who's population doubles in one week and who's consumption of alcohol probably equals the volume of loch Lomond.

It pretty much kicks off with bushy's beer tent , last night in fact. With a battle of the bands. Unfortunately I couldn't attend the venue, its a 12 hour battle of local bands , as you may know the Isle of Man has a long history of music ,both in production and bands, ( think beegee's ) . Now you may be wondering what / who / is Bushy's ? Bushy's make bitter locally and every year they hold a venue named bushy's beer tent, its pretty much a hub of drinking ,music ,bike porn and debauchery of all kinds. It is the Mecca for bikers and biker types during TT.

Onto the bikes and racing of which there is loads , I really cant express how incredible it is to see so many bikes in one place. Everything from old Norton cafe racers to full on custom harleys and the very latest super bikes, they all have a place here. The first week of the TT is practice week events take place over the islands Snaefell road course, this year being the centennial year of the revised course and the second week is race week, culminating on the Friday for senior race day (which is a bank holiday here) also nicely stuck in between theres Mad Sunday, a day that is infamous to any hard core rider, and the basis of hot debate year to year, due to safety fears of amateur riders who tackle the mountain course which is restricted to one way that day. Its also a day when things get a bit crazy back at bushy's tent and a day of BBQ's ( weather dependent).

As I said earlier, I used to live on the Island many years ago, while TT hasn't really changed much, if at all, the people here have, not good not bad just a change in the ideology more than likely brought on by the tightening purse strings , increased unemployment leading to stricter policies on work permits etc ( yes you need to have a permit to work here if you're not and Isle of Man worker and its a very convoluted system) being a “come over” isn't so much of an issue however, not with the locals. The people here are very friendly and for the most part trusting. Ive been welcomed warmly by everyone here and made to feel at home , I truly feel as though the Isle of Man is my home from home, it helps that there is a strong Celtic influence here I guess.

Any-who I digress, the TT is well and truly on as of 6:20pm Monday night and I hope I've managed to wet your appetite as ill be posting again in due course and hopefully with a few random photos .

So,for now , its goodbye from me on this small rock with loads of hairy bikers and Manx people clinging to it, stuck in the Irish sea.