Nick and Miles

The 2009 Isle of Man TT will be memorable for a number of reasons. I was there to work, and I worked, but the whole trip was great. Fine roast chicken, chili Yorkshire puddings (yes) and homemade jaffa cakes at Dan and George's Manchester Sanctuary on the way there; a deserted ride to a packed 2am ferry; the 5am lap; sleeping on the sofa in the Red Torpedo house; stories of working for Marco Pierre White and Damien Hirst at Quo Vadis from Kev; fetching fuel with Guy Martin on the morning of the Senior; a leisurely night out in Peel with my mate Rupert...
But bumping into these two fellas was the highlight. I was walking up Nobles Park at the back of the pits when I spotted Nick, with the shaved head. He was wearing a 4Q Conditioning sweatshirt. Miles was sporting a Ken Howard T-shirt. I went to introduce myself and try to turn them onto Sideburn when they saw a Sideburn sticker on my notepad. 'Hey, you've got a Sideburn sticker,' said Nick. I told him who I was and he said he was wearing his Sideburn T-shirt.
The three of us talked about the tattoos (they're both tattooists, Nick co-owns Cult Classic in Essex, Miles works there and at the famous Frith Street Tattoo in London). Miles has McQueen's Bell helmets and On Any Sunday inked on his gut. We spoke about broody parrots, bikes, cars, boots, kinky judges, Australian bike gangs, Deus Ex Machina... We talked for about two and a half hours. Fellas, if you're reading this, it was a pleasure. GI