Tumbleweed...

Or at least there's been tumbleweed on here... my bad.
Been stupidly busy trying to have the day job - coming to an end - and also to make inroads in setting up the new business and spending nights and weekends working on its first projects.
As a result I'm 1) failing to post here anywhere near enough, 2) failing to post on my favourite forums and 3) utterly and completely shagged out.

Still a couple of nice weekends coming up...
This Friday it's off to Madrid to see El Canto Del Loco in concert at the Palacio de los Deports, which I'm giggly like a kid over.
And then the following weekend it's the final race in the MotoGP season; the Valencia GP at Cheste. Repeat giggly behaviour. I'm there as Media for BatiFans, Team Aspar and the other VROOM sites, and also to try and chase some business if poss - as well as being booked in to meet with the Official Alvaro Bautista Fanclub Saturday and Sunday.

So, er.... not many posts here again, then.... ;-)

...And Back To Spain

Still somehow seems that I'm barely back from the break on the Costa Dorada (although I'm very aware I've still not posted any pics of Tarragona yet, which is a pretty piss-poor state of affairs) - and yet it's back off to Spain on Friday; this time to Madrid and then on to Talavera de la Reina for the summer fanclub party for Alvaro Bautista.
Last year it was like a big and beautifully landscaped oven in the centre of Spain, with temperatures in the mid thirties - and according to my iPhone's weather app (always set to Talavera) it's likely to be little different this weekend.
Extra cold Mahou then... ;-)

One In The Eye...

Cool - Private Eye have published a "Colemanballs" I sent in, in the current issue - 1239.
It's one of the many clangers from Eurosport stand-in MotoGP commentator Carlton Kirby from the Catalunya GP a couple of weeks back....
"Two Spanish flags for the crowd to see – one of them Japanese… "

He's seriously awful though. I should have just sent them a tape of all 3 races and let them publish the lot.
Thankfully the marvellous Toby Moody and Julian Ryder were back on the case this weekend at Assen - despite it being a bit of a downer for my hero Alvaro Bautista in the 250cc race. I say 'bit of a downer' - it was a real huuuuuuuuuge downer actually.
Still - could have been worse... Carlton Kirby could have been commentating too.

Alvaro Bautista Grungy '09 Desktop Wallpaper

Even though I tend to stick away from my MotoGP geekdom and nerdity on this blog, there's times where it seems right to let the odd post slip through.
Like now...
I've just completed the first in a set of 2009 Alvaro Bautista desktop wallpapers which hopefully bring stylings and treatments on a big step from last year, whilst remaining stuffed with my basic design DNA.
The first one is now available for download, and comes in 1440x900 and 1280x800 widescreen options... A lush, deep and grungy treatment, finished off with a cracking action photo from the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi, and a discreet rack of sponsor logos. I've tried to make the composition totally appropriate for both Mac and Windows desktop layouts.
Click here for the downloads...

Mmmmmm... Tinajones...

Mahou & Tapas, Bar Los Tinajones, Talavera De La Reina, 11pm 21_03_09

Off To Talavera De La Reina Again

In a moment of madness I’ve been persuaded (like I need much persuading!) to do a completely daft but brilliant last-minute trip to Talavera de le Reina this weekend to attend the inaugural party / Fiesta of Alvaro Bautista’s new “FAN’S CLUB”, which is being held at the town’s Palomarejos golfing complex.
As well as bar, F1 simulator and bouncy castle (bouncy castle? they must have known I was coming!) it’ll be a great opportunity to meet the new directiva and to also hopefully renew many old friendships too.

Incredibly excited. Like a bloody kid.

Talavera de la Reina Photos

Had a superb break in beautiful Talavera de la Reina, with Tamara and Michaela; having a great time with Alvaro Bautista's fanclub members ad directors - meeting Bati himself on a number of occasions and having a thoroughly enjoyable time celebrating and making merry.
Here's some photos of the beautiful town itself - there's more in my Facebook albums and on the BatiFans.com Fan Forum.

All over far too quickly and I can't wait to go back...

Talavera De La Reina Here I Come. Again.

I'm heading off to the beautiful and amazingly friendly Talavera de la Reina tomorrow.
It's a fat, long weekend trip in my role of MotoGP geek and Alvaro Bautista fanboy - meeting with Michaela and Tamara to attend Alvaro's official fanclub winter dinner.
The summer party in August was a superb and unforgettable experience and whatever time and contact I may or may not get with the Batster, I already know that his family, friends and fanclub members will be ridiculously warm and welcoming.
I may post up notes nad pics over the weekend, or not - I have no idea how things will pan out at the moment and where all the time will go.
Hopefully there'll be stuff to share in due course. For now I just can't wait to get there :)

Feliz Cumpleaños Alvaro Bautista!

As random as pretty much any other post on here, I need to send big best birthday wishes to the fab Alvaro Bautista who turns 24 today.
The MotoGP 250cc ace and former 125cc world champion has had a slightly frustrating, but still phenomenal year, finishing the championship in 2nd, and turning in some of the fastest, most exciting races I've seen. Genuinely edge of the seat stuff.
I'm heading off to his hometown of Talavera de la Reina (southwest of Madrid) next week with a couple of friends to attend his official fanclub's end-of-season dinner and party, which should be brilliant... Any odds on meeting him again are basically a bonus, as his friends and family, fanclub directors, fans - and the whole population and town in general are just awesome anyway. I'll be a very happy bunny just to be there again to be honest :)

Anyway:
Happy birthday mate - have a good one!
Gareth

Why I Support Alvaro Bautista

As well as recently finding MotoGP to be, by and large, a lot more fun to watch than my ‘favourite’ sport - F1 (which has become an ever-more boring, redundant procession covered in the most inane and infantile fashion by TV and other media... phew, rant over...) - I also found that quite often 250cc and 125cc are more exciting than the top class.

Racing, overtaking, mixing it up - second after second, corner after corner - race in race out.
And when I saw how Alvaro Bautista rode 100%, totally committed, fearless, balls-out, and yet still with a degree of maturity that allows him to find limits and to cope with misery as well as victory, I knew I’d found somebody I really wanted to support.

I also reckoned that Alvaro - or ‘Bati’ to use his nickname - deserved better coverage in the English speaking world though... his official website was (and still is at the time of writing) entirely in Spanish, and nowhere was there a proper fan forum.

I got in touch with Tamara, who I’d come to know via a LiveJournal Bati group, and suggested we build a proper bunch of sites; full-on professional ones that would cover off all the basic information and download needs of fans and also a really cool forum. We now both run these as well as our own blogs in a network of connected sites that pull in many hundreds of thousands of visits each year and have a draw on fans in over 120 countries.

It’s been worth every single bit of effort - and there’s been an awful lot of effort, believe me - and if you fancy a quick sneaky peek at the sites, then here they are:

alvarobautista.co.uk
batifans.com
alvarobautistafanblog.com