Frogfoot

Hey, another meeting in Canberra. And hey once again, riding there seems the most convenient option (and again, the most fun!). And the weather is looking perfect, no rain predicted, well for ages. Awesome. Looking at the weather though, my lesson from last time (you know, where I didn't read the temperatures) I almost didn't learn. Hmm Canberra is going to be -3 at about the time I'm arriving. That's going to be cold. At 120kmh that's going to be downright frigid! The plan was a straight run down the interstate early in the morning to the meeting. Arriving early so I could iron my uniform, shower (warm up!) etc. Meeting all day, then dinner and maybe catch a movie (something that has been really hard to do whilst the kids are little), then the next day sleep in (another bonus) and a enjoyable ride back along some of the more interesting roads I've been discovering between Canberra and Sydney. So problem one is the cool temperatures, problem two is that I caught some kind of cold when I was on my last trip there and it's still sorta hanging around, so I'm not 100%. Problem three developed on the eve of my departure, the kids had both came down hard with the same cold. On the plus side, Mrs was happy to handle the kids, they were mostly sleeping anyway. I wasn't too worried about the cold as I do have some reasonable gear that I have used in similar conditions (though only for an hour or so, not 4), and my cold wasn't too bad. Leaving at about 3.30am I rode out in about 4C. Down the freeway out of the city I was getting cold. But it was bearable. But don't imagine a steady even drop across the journey. It basically dropped to 0 as I passed the city limits and quickly headed below that. Until I spent a couple of hours at -2 and hit -4 about 6am. I stopped several times, mostly to hang out in a warm building (petrol station) to eat breakfast. The worst part was the last 20 mins, when I knew I was almost there, the sun was up but my knees were cold and my little fingers felt like ice blocks. It was uneventful, except for the WOMBATS. Now I'm sure you all know about kangaroos and koalas down here in Australia, and maybe crocs, tassie devils, sharks and snakes too. (and spiders and sea snakes and…) Do you know about wombats? Pretty uninspiring solid little fellows about as big as mid sized suitcase. Oh did I say solid, these guys are built like main battle tanks, and have a reputation of destroying vehicles that they cross paths with, shaking it off and carrying on (not sure about the last part). Riding through the dark at freeway speed the road is suddenly smeared with black marks and at the end is a dark lump slightly to my left on the road. Looking like a large rock, I realised I was headed towards a wombat carcass. I swerved and managed to clear it - I'd rather hit a rock, it'd do less damage! This would occur twice on the way down, but the second one I moved as soon as the streaks appeared on the road. Sunrise happened as I rode alongside Lake George. It was gorgeous and made the insanity of the ride worthwhile. I spent about an hour warming up, showering etc and was still cold by the time I got to the meeting. Not my smartest idea. I'm now fairly certain I was on my way to hypothermia when I eventually got in. The meeting went all day and I was nodding of towards the end, so much so that the chair basically begged me not to head home that night. After the meeting I crashed into the bed, sleeping from about 5pm, to about 7am, only rising for a late dinner at about 7pm (when my eldest rang me to say hi). Mrs was struggling with the kids but I was too tired and it was too cold (and would take me about 4 hours to get home). In the morning I awoke to a pleasant -1 and a bike that was coated in a layer of ice. But I wasn't too worried, it was already morning, the day was warming up, slowly, and I was headed back to Sydney, which would be at least 15C or so by the time I arrived. It sure wasn't going to be worse than the ride down. I set off at about 7:30 fuelling up in Queenbeyan as I headed off to retrace my route from my last trip, up through Tarago, towards Bungonia and the freeway. I figured this wouldn't take much longer than getting through the city then up the Hume to about the same point. It would be a lot more enjoyable and less taxing. This worked well and I hit the freeway only a little later than I would have ridden past the same point. I remembered the route pretty well and my only complaint was the angle of the sun made vision ahead sometimes a difficult proposition unless I put my hand up, even with sunglasses on. This also affected the contrast between the shaded areas in some points where I literally couldn't see the condition of the road. I can see a sun visor (like dirt bike helmets or the more adventurer type helmets) being useful here. Also passed a couple more dead wombats. I'm no longer convinced of their indestructibility, however still no need to run into one! Anything smaller than a semi still tends to need some serious repair work or even towing from the scene of the impact. I hit the freeway - did some quick maths and ducked off onto Highland Way. I could make it through here and still be home as promised. Another hour or so of cruising along this favourite road before I was taking the shortcut out from Sutton Forest to the freeway. Avoiding the Moss Vale stretch which only adds time and not fun. Less than two hours for home, I twisted the wrist and settled in. Sorry no photos this time, all talk. Home safe, very sick. I probably shouldn't have ridden, though only because my gear probably wasn't quite up to the task (though not by much) and I wouldn't have had to leave quite so early.

I put the VFR in for its service today to the usual shop. I had also booked the loaner, a old, but smooth running CB250, that is a bit of fun. 124,000km - a minor service as I got out of sync a bit by doing my last major about 3000 early. The loaner was still out with one of the other mechanics and not due back. They were apologetic but the service manager set off to find another bike. He came back with... "How are you with larger bikes" - the VFR is pretty much the biggest bike I've ridden, with only the Streetfighter 848 any bigger in capacity and nothing heavier. I was a bit concerned as I expected him to rock up with a Boulevard or something. "Uh.. ok... I guess", trying to figure out what he meant - higher capacity just means being sensible with the right wrist. A cruiser or something means a whole different style. He led me out to the lot, "Because I was going to let you take this" He pointed to a 2002 Suzuki Hayabusa. I swallowed ... that's a lot of bike. "Ok, I should be fine." I must have been convincing, but I have heard that it's a pretty nice bike to ride, makes a great sports tourer and I figure its about the same weight with a lot more go, and that just means sensible with the wrist. I can do sensible :) So without further ado (well ok there was still the copy of the licence, sign away my life on the paperwork etc) I was away. Work is about 5 mins from the shop, so by the time I was rolling in the gate it had likely barely warmed up. I came back out at lunch and set off for a short ride. I rode down the freeway for several kilometres playing with the gears and roll on accelerations. Pretty nice pickup and a great sound from the Yoshi pipe that seems almost derigeur for most Suzuki sports bikes. I turned off and headed back into the local shopping precinct, to see what its like through traffic. On the less busy back streets I found it pretty docile, but ready to roar with a small twist. But a nice linear pull away. After several blocks of first gear slow riding it started to warm up. Whilst the temps didn't climb much my legs were starting to get very warm as the fans blew the air from the radiators over them. Uncomfortably warm actually and I was glad to roll up the on ramp (passing a bunch of cars as I did, grin) and get the airflow. Back to work. Overall, I did think it was a nice bike. A lot more power than my VFR, very rideable though and easy to control. I don't think I'll rush out and buy one though. Still nice to say I have ridden one and happy to ride one again. Just didn't step of it with the silly grin that I did with the -600. Might have to look into pipes for the VFR though. Oh, the service ... found out my licence plate globe holder has burnt itself out. I've been suspicious of this for some time as the last 2 registration renewals have commented the globe was out and I was testing to see if it was bulb life or something worse. Bit strange, perhaps related to either the wiring recall work or the alternator failure. The part is on order. Here's to the next 125,000 :tour:

Once again, work had sent me to Canberra and once again it works out a lot more convenient for me to get myself there... and that means a ride. And once again, the weather was doing its crazy thing. Summer here was complete washout, but Autumn had been pretty nice. Warm, not hot, not much rain... perfect. But of course the weather changed as the ride drew closer. I left on Tuesday. On Monday they were warning us about flash flooding and downpours for the next few days. If it rained, whilst I could still ride, it wouldn't be as much fun and I may be tempted to slab it. I was already planning to slab it home anyway due to time constraints again. If the weather meant slabbing both ways it would be a real disappointment. As I had all day and generally it takes me about 5-6 hours to get to Canberra the scenic route, I planned to leave about 9am. However 6am the dark clouds were getting ominous and the weather radar was starting to show lots of pretty colours. I hit the road. The rain was costal initially, the opposite way to Canberra. A dash from the city limits was decided, and then from there I would take it as it comes. My routes to Canberra do generally give me an option to change to slab about every hour or so. Down the M7, then the M5, which becomes the Hume Highway (31) and rolls all the way to Melbourne. I arrived a the Picton turn off, still having avoided the rain and decided that it was time for some fun. I followed the road up into Picton, then a pleasant 30 mins or so along the road, headed towards Mittagong. This eventually lead me back to the Hume. Now my previous few runs down here, I've turned off at Mittagong and wound my way through the small towns, before reaching Moss Vale and eventually turning up towards the good bit along the Highland Way. Over the years these towns have grown so that they almost merge together and the ride becomes a stretch of slow speeds, traffic and towns. Not a lot of fun. So something I planned last time, but missed the turn. This time, from the other direction it was a lot easier. I slabbed along until the turn for Sutton Forest. This got me back on the back roads, but skipped Mittagong - Moss Vale. I'd been on the road for something over an hour and hadn't even had breakfast so I stopped to take a break and eat the sandwiches I'd packed. As I stood around munching away, the rain slowly started. I geared up and headed off. A few shaky moments as I settled into the wet roads, and my wet gear again. I'm sure the car caught up behind me was shaking their head. In Bundanoon I stopped for fuel and the shop owner described the wet weather chaos I had left behind, third hand from callers to the radio station. Sounded like I got out of there just in time as the rain was only light here. On the move the rain swiftly dissipated until and for the remainder of the ride I had a mix of overcast or broken clouds but no more rain. The wet weather gear stayed on for a long while just in case. I cruised along what was fast becoming one of my favourite rides, the Highland Way. Nearly no traffic, mostly 100 limits, good condition road, though not always a full two lanes of seal. An hour or so later I arrived back at the Hume. Another quick bite and took off. This time for something new. I had been browsing Google Maps a few days back and hit on a new route, which I asked some other trusty explorers I know about the condition. It came as a recommended option. Turning at Jerrara Road, towards Bungonia (don't you love Aussie place names!) then on through Windellama (or Windy Llama!) before turning west again towards Tarago, Bungendore and eventually Canberra. That was the plan. And I almost stuffed it. Whilst on the short stretch of Hume towards Jerrara Rd I came across road works where they were building a new overpass/on ramp. The signs read "South Marulen Rd" but as I passed the new overpass the old road appeared just past it. I spotted a sign down the road JERRARA RD. Crap, the turn off. Luckily we're still in the construction zone so I braked and veered into the cones. in the relative safety of the cones I did the most insane thing, turning around and heading the wrong way up the freeway. Inside the cones or not, any copper gong past would certainly come over to have a quiet word. About 5 metres later I turned up the road. This road wasn't as quite the same build standard as the Highland Way, but it was in good shape and flowed nicely at 100 (or a little more) So another hour or passed smoothly as I wound my way south and then west. Eventually I passed through Bungendore and into Queenbeyan and finally Canberra. Overall several pleasant hours winding away at a brisk and not usually licensing worrying speed through the countryside. I even arrived in Canberra in time to catch a movie on cheap Tuesday (Tuesdays the cinemas traditionally have almost 50% discounts) The route on Google Day Two My meeting was scheduled for the morning, and it turner out that the drizzle and rain finally caught up to me so Canberra awoke to some light rain. I wasn't too disappointed as the return trip was always going to be Hume Hwy the whole way. Gearing up I was on the road with about 90mins of extra time up my sleeve. The rain though got steadily more constant and steadily heavier, until I'd been riding in rain for about 3 of my 3hrs and 30 min trip. My visor completely lost the plot when I hit the city freeway traffic, no idea why, but it made for a very nervous rider as cars appeared out of the gloom. Sadly my rain gear didn't quite live up to its own previous standard and I was very wet in some areas. Though I'm not sure any rain gear would have held up, I was wet, but not cold so it was alright. But slabbing is absolutely no fun at all!!! I have to go back to Canberra in May too..... hmm

Certainly won't try a Speed Triple. Don't feel like a thou, and a Street Triple is more like the SF848. Maybe, but if you read my Progress entry I think that might not be the way forwards either way :) But I'm still looking so why not I guess.

My previous post talked about how confused I was when I stepped off the Ducati. I am now thinking that it wasn't the kind of bike I was looking for. This afternoon I stepped off another test ride, this time something a little less exotic - a Suzuki GSXR-600. This was a 2012 version, I have also ridden a 2006 version a few years ago (that wasn't a test ride, it was a loaner bike), and the feeling I had on that was sort of the feeling I expected on the Ducati, but didn't. The 2012 bike gave me more of that feeling that I was looking for and I stepped off the test ride today with a big grin and a happy contented feeling. A promising start. I'm actually interested in the GSXR-750, but the shop didn't have one to ride. However they did have the 600 and that and the 750 are physically the same size (from a riders perspective), so it was a good place to start. Much smaller, and felt like I could throw it about a lot easier. I'm sure that kind of comment is no surprise to most. The seating position was very different, however I felt confident as I had good grip with my thighs, not much weight on my wrists and whilst the pegs were far up by comparison I normally ride the VFR with my toes on the pegs not my instep, so sort of the same. The lack of anything to grip with my thighs was one of the real down points on the Duc. Engine was good and brakes were fine. The 2012 has Brembo stoppers, like the Duc. I really enjoyed the test ride as I rode places I knew, so I could concentrate on the ride and the bike. I half feel like I should give the Duc a second chance, but sort of not. I may have a second option at the Duc instead. As I don't really want a 600, there aren't a lot of choices, but the Ducati 848 is a clear option to consider. I can't think of any other 750-850 sized sports bikes, oh actually the MV Agusta F3, but that's even more exotic than the Duc. The Triumph 675 is a bit less than I want. Open to suggestions. Something else that put these two (the GSXR and the 848) high in the running as there are excellent examples of both up for sale at work. Second hand, but great condition, both with a bunch of extra goodies (bags, exhausts etc) included.

Recently Mrs suggested that maybe it’s time to look into a new bike. My 2004 VFR800, I’ve had since, well 2004, and I’m not silly enough to seek confirmation of her suggestion (in case she changes her mind). I’ve had my eye on this recently. Though not the yellow one. Ducati Streetfighter 848 Yesterday morning I got to have a ride of the Demo bike at the dealership. First impressions (compared to my VFR) very narrow at the seat, but taller felt like the front was missing…. no fairing, panel is set closer in etc. pegs a lot closer to the ground so legs are a lot straighter. That was a big surprise. Fired it up and a nice V-twin warble from the pipes. Bit of a crackle. Very nice sound and I wonder what other pipes would sound like on it. Then we left on the demo ride, basically a follow the leader with a guy from the shop and a couple of others testing other bikes (a BMW S1000RR and a couple of K1300). Awesome brakes neat sound very responsive engine once you’re over about 3000rpm. hopeless shaky mirrors (but I think all Ducati’s have that problem!) Easy to ride and a fairly upright position But I finished up feeling a lot less interested than when I left. Well no that's not right... I'm totally confused. Eventually, I'm sure I could get used to another bike. I've always been the kind of person who rides around a problem, rather than obsess about it. The VTEC change for example. It's never bothered me, I've never felt out of control when it's kicked in (even in the wet, or on curves. I think part of it was the newness, and part of it was the whole "don't like group rides" theme that's been growing over the past twelve months. It was a group test and rather than "going for a ride" I spent the session worrying over where were we headed, where is the leader, where are camera and cops, which lane should I be in, are we turning here or there etc etc. So maybe I need to get out with that group again and ride the same route again. Or should I try a different style of bike. For example I've always had a soft spot for the GSXR750 or the Ducati 848. Maybe a full on sport bike is more what I am feeling. Or maybe its a case of take my savings, and redo the forks, rear suspension, get a rear hugger etc for the VFR. As you can see, the ride has left me more confused that ever!

So if you're going to break down somewhere, where could be better than at the mechanics.... My VFR is due for rego this coming week which in NSW requires an inspection. These are done at basically almost any car related place. Most mechanics (car, bike, truck) and tyre shops are accredited inspectors. They plug some details into a website and the 1 of three parts of your renewal is complete. Been raining almost non stop since tuesday with much the same last week and more of the same expected next week (Hows that summer eh!) so it was a rainy lunchtime that I rocked up a the nearest bike shop (these guys have serviced the VFR often, so they are a known factor) to get checked. It takes about 15mins and is pretty painless. For any regularly maintained and serviced vehicle you'd be pretty unlucky to fail. Passed no worries. Stood in the garage doorway gearing back up to head out again in the rain. Pushed it out, turned the key hit the starter... it tried and nothing, and a couple more times.... nothing. Pushed it back in. They checked the voltages and under load and it was quite clear that the battery had given up. Thinking back I have had a couple of failed starts in the past week so it shouldn't have been a surprise. Now the dilemma - I can't leave the bike as I won't be back for several days. I can't wait long as I have to get home to mind the kids as Mrs has to work. A brief discussion ensues and the plan is to swap the battery and I go for a ride for an hour to get some charge into it. Then I go again tomorrow (that's today) to top it up. I look out at the rain coming down, shrug my shoulders and decide that there really isn't any choice as I don't have a charger at home. That battery has lasted 3 to 4 years so I'm not unhappy. I think the new one in the bike now is maybe the third one (in 8 years). So I spent an hour in the rain cruising up and down the freeway charging the bike. 24 hours later and its a beautiful 26C and I'm doing the same thing. Fingers crossed it will start and be ok on Wednesday. But I guess I broke down in the most fortunate place. I think the last breakdown I made to a bike shop eventually before it all went quiet as well. The VFR is always looking after me even when it's not feeling too good. So if you're going to breakdown, do it at the bike shop :) Random pic of bike not related to story.

Write this on the blackboard 50 times.... I will set up a backup regime, I will set up a backup regime :) Sounds like a nice rig.

Well January is almost finished and since the work ride I haven't had a chance to go for a ride. Sure I've done my normal commutes, but no recreational rides. Christmas Holidays wasn't really a good time, my Mrs worked most of it, so I was looking after the kids... they are several years from being old enough to be left on their own. Secondly, the police runs a double demerit point system in most holiday periods so whilst the chance of a ticket is small the way I ride the repercussions are severe in the holidays. So I stayed home. Now well into January we've been having a most peculiar summer. It's been wet and not just the odd rainy day, we've had weeks of rain, showers, drizzle, overcast, high twenty temps. Normally we're having sun, bush fires and mid thirties and forties. The long range outlook is the same. So no rides. So no posts for you all. On then to a goal I have set myself. I'm considering getting a second bike. Mrs says it will replace the VFR, but I'd like to keep it. And in reality selling the bike would get me very very little money and trading it in would get me even less. With 120,000kms, two crashes (albeit minor ones) a heavily scratched top box, ridden and left out in all weathers (though normally garaged at home, at work or away it misses out) it doesn't sound like a great buy for anyone shopping. So my second bike - I have a very short list (currently a leading contender with a couple of reserve choices). It won't be a VFR12 - bigger than I want, way too expensive here, and really much the same style of bike as my VFR8. No I want something different. And about the same size (capacity) as my VFR. There aren't a lot in the 750-850 range to choose from. Hopefully by about late in this year I'll be able to purchase it. Just in time for next summer which I hope, is a lot nicer than this one. .... which probably means we'll have no end of bush fires next summer :( Oh, here's a little tease of the leading contender....