Alex Pickett at Isle of Man TT

We arrived on the Isle of Man on the Wednesday morning, after catching the ferry from Heysham a bit after 2am. That was after a four-hour drive to get to the ferry in my van which maxes out at 90km/h. Set up was OK but in terrible conditions.

Our food tent had ripped, which that took some mending but we got the job done and we were all really happy with the set up, being able to cook great meals and have everything we need right where we are.

My parents arrived on Friday morning and we surprised them at the airport. After not seeing them for close to nine months we all go a little emotional, and went for a full English breakfast down the port at Douglas. I’ve lost over 20 kilos since arriving in the UK last September, being trained with military precision by my friend Gaz Cranage who I’ve been living with.

Gaz and his wife Jennie and daughter Megan have treated me like family and all this would not be possible without their help. They are all with me on the IOM, and Gaz’s mum Sue is here also, ensuring the kitchen is run like clockwork.

As usual we are staying with our Isle of Man friends Maggie and Kirsten George, right in the heart of Douglas. This has been our home base for three years now when racing here, and the George’s are also like family. Racing has been in their blood, with Sheila, Maggie’s mum owning a boarding house for many years, always frequented by racers, long before the internet and when morning practice was at sparrow fart. Sheila passed away late last year and I was able to come to her funeral. There’s a bit of a hole now, she used to fuss over me so much.

But it’s been great catching up with all my friends in the paddock, the camaraderie, the friendship and respect that’s there.

FRIDAY
After picking up my parents I had to sign on up at the race office. Like back in Australia, the event organisers get to know you after you’ve been racing for a while and it’s always fun to catch up with them. I still find it a bit intimidating lining up behind riders like Bruce Anstey, even though they are so easy going, dressed in jeans and a jumper. My gear had to get scrutineered too. I have all new gear for this year, as I usually do, my RST leathers are all decked out in logos, and my custom painted Arai helmet gets plenty of comments, thanks Stuart and Alana Woodbury.

Rob Wilson from Street Evolution Motorcycles in Fife Scotland is a well respected race mechanic and has lots of experience at the Isle of Man. He’s a great mate of mine, and a laugh to be around, your typical Scottish ‘hard man’. I won’t be upsetting him, I might get a ‘Glasgow Kiss’. He’s my main man on the tools, even if my tool kit isn’t as comprehensive as he’d like. Looks like another trip or two to the B and Q (hardware store) will be in order.

Mark Standley from SSR suspension is also on the team, he’s the suspension man and also a trained motorsport engineer. He’s also had a lot of experience in the British racing scene with Ohlins and LeMans car racing, but the TT is a bit new to him, usually being a ‘short’ circuit’ man. My bike has Mupo suspension. It’s relatively new in Australia and the UK, but big in Europe. It’s Italian, and Mark flew to the Italian Mupo factory to spend a week there getting to know the product, and is now the UK distributor. I can’t thank him enough, he did this all of this off his own back and he’s very meticulous.

Other than that my dad Chris got on the tools, changing the gearing for the bike after borrowing the right sockets from the sidecar boys across the lane, and generally doing a check of things. It’s good having a few guys with so much race experience here, it’s easier then for one person to pick up something another has missed.

SATURDAY
The weather was great Saturday with conditions near perfect. No wind to speak of, but I knew by the time we set off for first practice the sun would be getting low and in spots you are blinded.

The Newcomers had their first lap. There’s not many at the TT, normally only half a dozen or so, compared to the Manx GP where there can be close to a 100 in a few different classes.

The sidecars then went out and once they had gone halfway around the supersport and super twins riders were let out. No big bikes tonight. The first 20 go first then the rest of us line up to get our first tap on the shoulder of the fortnight.

My first lap was a bit scary really. I forgot to set the steering damper so it was very ‘flighty’ you might say. You forget how fast this place is and it attacks your confidence a bit. I crashed at the Black Hut last year in the Superstock 1000 race, and I did give it a fleeting thought as I came into that corner, but I had a fairly big moment coming into Hillbery, a very fast right hander which you dip into after being close to flat out in top, and then accelerate up the hill out of it.

I love that corner, but as I tipped in and set myself to blast past the bike it front, its engine blew up big time, putting my bike into a massive slide, throwing my feet off the pegs and getting oil on my visor. That was a bit of a shock, so I eased off and pulled into the pits when I completed the lap. Hillbery isn’t far from the end of the lap so that was all OK. Paul Phillips, the man who runs the TT, came over to have a chat. I told him about the oil, he said he’d get word out.

A top up of fuel, a visor change, tyre pressures checked and off I went again. I felt better on the second lap, and the bike is fast! I overtook some other supersport bikes on fast sections. One of them was Dave Hewson, and I know he builds good engines. I was able to overtake him quite easily on a straight section. Glen Willing from Kawasaki Australia built the engine in my bike, when it was owned by Luke Burgess from Mackay Kawasaki. It hasn’t done a lot of work and feels strong. I feel better knowing Glen built this engine.

My second lap was much better, the bike was more stable with the steering damper actually on, but the bike’s rear was sliding a bit on the white lines. I asked the guys to check the rear tyre when I got back in and there was no oil on it. Mark made some changes to the rebound on the front forks to combat this so we’ll see how it goes when I go out again on Monday evening.

I’m using Michelin tyres this year, and these compounds are specifically made for the TT. Mark has a lot of experience with them and is very specific about the tyre pressures, with the info we have coming direct from his friend at Michelin. They looked great when we ended the two laps and will be fine for Monday night’s practice too. Four laps around here is probably harder on a bike than a whole weekend of short circuit racing.

We got the bike back in our pit tent and Rob and Gaz set to work taking the fairing off and wheels out to check everything over. It all looked spot on so a good clean and she was right to go back together.

You can’t imagine how many bugs were on the bike and my helmet. It’s insane. I’m wearing Arai this year and they have a big presence at the IOM. I simply take my helmet and visors up and they clean them and prepare the visors with tear-offs free of charge. They even do your visor change in the pit stops.

We rounded off the day with Lasagna in our pit tent. Everyone was happy and I feel confident on the bike now.

SUNDAY
An easy day today, Chris and Gaz went to the technical briefing for crew chiefs. In the briefing the TT organisers go over certain issues in regards to rules for certain classes but also things that are TT specific, things like numbers and scrutineering issues. We got knocked back on the first night because of our numbers. They have to be clearly visible to marshals.

They also mentioned making sure you have sealed valve caps, as I know the photos of my front tyre coming flat at the end of Sulby Straight last year caused a big stir behind the scenes. I will not be using plastic valve caps this year, despite them having seals inside. I do not want to repeat that performance again. Dunlop might still be using them at the TT but I won’t be. Steel caps for me.

Then it was off for lunch at this little cafe we know in the centre of the island. Great food and great scenery, it’s like ‘The Shire’ out of Lord of the Rings. I love it, even if my girlfriend Tay said, “What’s an Orc, who’s Bilbo Baggins?” We couldn’t resist an ice cream at Laxey and then it was a reasonably early night. Second night of practice tomorrow!