Dictionary corner

It disturbs me that the only things I can think of writing this morning are X-Factor or Strictly Come Dancing related. I refuse to dwell any longer on these things and I have a cunning plan to help me overcome this patch of writers' block. My secret weapon is the dictionary. Well it may not be quite so secret now, but you get my drift.

I hold within my hands a 2001 edition of the Oxford Concise English Dictionary. Momentarily I shall open it at random, with my eyes shut and pick a word using the age old art of pointing. I shall then hold forth with my knowledge of and feelings towards this word. It's a dangerous game (in the past some have likened it to Russian roulette) but I feel it is my only choice.

Here we go...

...and the word is: dirt bike (noun) - a motorcycle designed for use on rough terrain, especially in scrambling.

Fascinating I'm sure you'll agree. Dirt bikes eh? The type of sport that you only ever see on British Eurosport or late night Channel 5. It is strange how so many of us are happy to watch cars go round and round a flat, tarmaced surface but don't take any notice of the crazy loons on dirt-bikes; leaping, jumping and achieving feats which seem to defy gravity. If I was going to go and watch some sort of dirt bike activity I guess it would be the indoor trials that I've caught on TV a couple of times. It's kind of difficult to describe but it's akin to an obstacle course for bikes. Very springy and flexible bikes, but motorbikes none the less. The riders have to maneouvre these machines, not to mention themselves, around tyres, balance bars, huge piles of dirt - kind of like show-jumping but less pretty. Goodness knows how they do it. It must be frustrating when you have an incredible talent for something that no-one knows about! If they were footballers with the equivalent skills they'd be earning mountains of money and have supermodel (or at least popstar) girlfriends. Ah the dirt bike life is a tough one.