4 June: Touchdown on TT Island

Published: Thursday, 4 June 2009, 11:40AM

The Isle of Man - a tiny island slap bang in the middle of the Irish sea - Ireland 31 miles to the west, the United Kingdom 31 miles to the east.

That is about all I can write without mentioning the TT, motor-cycling's greatest road race. Without the TT, would we know anything about this remote Island? The two are inextricably linked, and it's because of the TT that I find myself spending two weeks here with a huge production crew, ten cameramen wielding 26 different cameras, and 35,000 bike fans.

ITV will be bringing you nightly coverage of this extraordinary event, we will show you how riders build up to a race like this and how they feel after it. Some of the pictures we will bring you are unbelievably dramatic as the only place we don't have cameras is up the riders noses.

We have been blessed with good weather since we arrived which makes traveling around the 37.7 mile course all the more enjoyable. They close the roads an hour before practice until an hour after, so the biggest challenge so far has been racing off the course in our 1litre rental cars before we get trapped for hours in the far corner of the circuit.

It is the most incredible course, and seeing it close up has been a real eye opener. Imagine a small pretty chocolate box village, with lovely little houses and gardens either side of a skinny little street - and then picture a 1000cc bike ripping through it at 180 miles an hour - got it?  Welcome to the TT. It goes from village streets to tight bendy roads with stone walls and trees either side, to open mountain sections where riders tip the 200 mile barrier.

There is no doubt it is incredibly dangerous, but that is what makes it such amazing viewing. Having got a bit of the adrenaline buzz myself, I decided to bring my bike (bicycle that is) to the Island. Clad in black lycra cycling gear I took to the high speed roads, ready to burn up the tarmac.

The only problem is there is a huge hill right outside our hotel in Douglas, and I hadn't tightened some bolts on my bike properly - so after I struggled to the top of it panting, my handlebars went left and my front went right, and I fell across the road.

Thankfully I was at my top speed of two miles an hour so it didn't hurt too much, although the laughter from the hairy bikers behind me did.

Thankfully Steve Parrish and Jamie Witham were not there to see it, as you will find out in their commentaries over the next week or so ... they don't hold back.