Don?t get me wrong, I?m not some sort of legendary motorcycle racer that?s won races and championships all over the world. I?m a fairly average one, to be honest. But I?ve been doing it a long time, and I?ve had a little bit of moderate success here and there. And because of that, I?ve won quite a lot of silverware (silverware which is actually almost entirely plastic). But a few years ago, I nearly threw all the trophies I?ve ever won in the bin. This is why.

A lot of my trophies date back to my schoolboy MX years. Back then, if it was a full grid (or ?gate?, as us MX kids say) they might have handed trophies out down to tenth place. I wasn?t fantastic at motocross, but I was quite often good enough to go home with a sixth or seventh place trophy. I don?t remember winning my first ever trophy and I certainly don?t know what it looks like, so I wouldn?t be able to lay my hand on it even if I wanted to. For some of my mates, their first trophy is a bit of a thing, but for me it?s not. Possibly because it?s likely to be a ninth place trophy or something a bit crap like that.
Most of my trophies though, are from the various events I?ve competed at since the MX days. Naturally, some trophies do mean slightly more to me than others and I?d be lying if I said otherwise. But I wouldn?t be able to tell you where any of them are.

Way back when

Anyway, about five years ago I was getting ready to move house. I was sorting through some stuff I?d left at my dad?s hou...