A Burger Run in May

Well it was a bit of a chilly start this morning (BOM told me it was 4 degrees as I was getting ready to head out) but the weather forecast was for sunny and 17 here and sunny and 19 down the coast, so the summer jacket was taken back out and off I went.  I dragged my arse out to the meet point in Queanbeyan instead of just catching everyone at Bungendore as usual…

We set off down the Kings Highway… it doesn’t have anything on Macs Reef Road so I think I’ll keep finding every one at Bungendore from now on!  Good to have a reminder every now and then I guess 

A pretty average sort of run through to Braidwood… we were supposed to be taking it very easy as two patrol cars were noted lurking about in Queanbyean and we thought they were probably off for a morning hunt on the Kings… if they were I didn’t see them! It wasn’t as insane as normal anyway.

Stopped for morning tea in Braidwood which took forever and then finally we were moving again - cruised through to the top of the Clyde and then the fun began 

Glen and Carl were out in front somewhere and James, Rob and I were all together, Rob waved me past then so did James and I was off.  Got around the hairpins and then had an absolutely great run down, hardly any traffic.  About halfway down I had gotten stuck behind a car for a bit and one of the other dudes (on a Bandit) had caught up to me so I waved him past, then sat with him for the rest of the run down.  Carl was very surprised when I turned up at Nelligen so quickly (I checked his smoke he hadn’t started it long before… YAY!)  the Clyde.

Everyone else wasn’t too far behind so after a smoke we all mounted up and continued on to Malua Bay for a burger … yum. 

Decided to head back via Moruya and do “the rollercoaster” I ended up right at the back of the group following James, we got separated a bit by traffic but that was cool, was a really good clear run, well at least until the end where some slow dickhead in some ford thing decided to merge into the right lane way early and kinda cut off James…. he went round the outside, finger blazing, and I took them on the now clear left.  Into the servo, fuelled up, another smoke break.

I was developing quite a bad headache by this stage so downed some panadol and Rob gave me some earplugs, cheers Rob! Mounted up, continued on our way… rolling over the bridge (was very slow) I looked down and there was my ex lookin up at me… hadn’t seen him in over a year… gave him a wave to be friendly but dunno if he returned the gesture…. anyway… started up the Kings - I was dead last, overtook Cas pretty quick then stuck with James up the hill, with Cas popping into sight every now and then in my mirrors.  Was feeling pretty awful but it was a good run up anyway.  I even managed to hang on to James going up Government Bend (I’m usually left for dead there) I think he failed to spot the excited gestures I was making…

Continued on into Braidwood for a regroup and another smoke, Rob and the rest of em left to go to the Bungendore Pub and James, Glen, Cas and I hung around for a bit before the boring stretch back to Canberra.  Was definitely feeling like shit there, so of course I got the best, most clearest run ever up Smith’s Gap and I couldn’t appreciate it to it’s full potential, a good run along Macs Reef, then home where I fell straight into bed.

A good day’s ride.

I really need to get out riding more! It is very good for the spirit.

The FarRide that wasn’t to be (FarRide #7)

Earlyish April, details for FarRide 7 went up - lunch at Moree.  At first James wasn’t too interested but soon enough he HTFU and we planned to go.

I think James was just not meant to go on this ride.

Originally we planned this awesome ride, which would have seen us taking in some of the best NSW riding roads to get to Moree… but James’s boss got sick so there was no way he could get the  Friday off.

Then of course the gixxer was crashed so money would be going there instead of the ride so he was out.  I decided fark it, I’ll go on my own, had a plan to ride to Dubbo after work on the Friday then the remaining distance to Moree in the morning.  Not the most exciting ride but hey I’d get there.

About a week ago got a message from James saying that he would be able to make the FarRide - hurrah!  Planned to leave my place around 6pm or whenever James could make it.  Sweet.

Thursday get a call from James - he was injured at hockey the night before and didn’t think he’d be able to do the ride.  Damn.   I considered this for a bit before approaching my boss and getting Friday off work… I wasn’t really keen on the trip to Dubbo in the dark on my own… soft I know.  So I had an alternative plan of leaving 11ish and putting in about 700km for the day… hadn’t planned the where or how yet.

Later that night James messages me to tell me that he will be alright for the ride and he’ll see me after work.  No worries! 

About 4:15 James rings me to say he’ll be at my place about 5pm.  Sweet.

5:05pm we’re on the road road through to Yass then onto Boorowa, pulling in about 6:15 as James wanted to put a jumper on.  We had a smoke, then went to get back on the bikes, I turned around but James kept starting and stopping the bike.  The FI light wouldn’t go off so we went down the main street where the light was a bit better and tried disconnecting the battery.  No good.  James decides fark it lets keep going so we head out of town, just get into the 100km/h zone and I see James in my mirrors pulling over… the bike feels like shite over 5000… so back into town. 

Tried disconnecting the battery again to no avail so we found a payphone so James could make some calls.  After a while nothing to be done so he decided to just ride it back to Canberra.  My turn to decide - do I continue on my own or head back with James?  I decided that I would follow him back to Canberra but that I would probably then turn around and head off for Dubbo.

Stopped at Yass for dinner and I tried to convince him that he should go home and get on the storm and we’d set off again but I  failed.

So I got home about 9pm after riding a huge 200km round trip to Boorowa.  Luckily it was a really nice night, the moon was near full and all the paddocks and trees and stuff looked pretty cool in the moonlight and it wasn’t too cold.

I decided that it would be pretty mental to turn around and ride to Dubbo then… so I went to bed and sulked and watched the Crow.  So disappointed it’s not funny, I was really looking forward to this ride. 

And now for some stupid reason I am awake at 6am on a Saturday morning  and I am bored already lol… wonder if I can do 770km in 5 hours?  I have no idea what to do with myself this weekend now 

Being a Flaggie is Awesome!

It was a busy weekend.

Had to work Saturday morning, straight from there out to BikeFest where I spent the afternoon catching up with a few people, then Max’s house for a viewing of Stone… after a few bourbons the smart arse comments were flying - was hilarious!!

Sunday morning - I was up before the sun, it was below 0 degrees and I was slightly hungover.  I set off for Goulburn and it was farking freezing! hit a few patches of fog along the way which promptly froze on my visor.  I got into Wakefield at 7:45am.  I was too early, so headed off to the cafe for a bacon and egg roll before the briefing.  Wandering back to the Marshall Shed I realised I’d left my lighter in my bike jacket - spewin.  I asked some people coming the other way for one, got a light and they turned out to be the other flaggies for the day (Mr Wasabi had noted the KSRC jacket).

Eventually we had the briefing and it was confirmed - the four of us were it, none of us had ever done flag marshalling before and it all seemed a little daunting at first!  We had all the flags explained to us and how to use the headsets, then it was time to collect our eskies (containing 3 bottles of water, 2 cans of soft drink, 2 muesli bars and some fruit) and our flags and into the back of the trailer to be delivered to our points.

Because of the shortage of flaggies we had quite large sections to watch.  I was on point 8 which afforded a great view of most of the track :)  The practice sessions started and it was fantastic being so close to the bikes.  The Clerk of the Course made the decision though - if they didn’t get another two flaggies there would be no racing that day. 

A short time later an announcement came over the headsets that two more flaggies had volunteered and they were duly delivered out.  The first was dropped off at turn 3 and doing the sound check they called him “Mark”.  I wondered then if this was in fact Plas… when the second was dropped off at turn 6 I knew when this was announced to be “Nikos”!  Shortly Gos came past in the trailer, tongue hanging out LOL… and that is how KSRC came to dominate the flag marshalling!

The races began with the sidecars - they are amazing to watch so close up - the swingers get bounced around a lot, does not look very comfortable at all!  Some of the most amazing passes were made by the side cars though, some very, very close ones!

I don’t know what all the different classes are… my main purpose for going up had been to check out Billy on the track… and I was a bit confused when a yellow KR came around… with Billy’s helmet, Billy’s leathers, Billy’s shape, Billy’s number… but it was yellow, not green!  he also had a green one out so got to see lots of Billy racing.

In one of the races a dude broke down so parked his bike against my tyres and came and joined me in my hut for the rest of the race… he said I’d looked lonely so he thought he’d come keep me company! 

It was awesome in the racing, in some of the classes there were over 30 bikes on the circuit and hearing them all come roaring down the hill towards me, it was just an amazing thunder. 

I had two crashes in front of me (I had been willing them all NOT to crash on my corner), one just slid out, the other was after a bit of contact… they both got the bikes back up and rejoined though.  There was a two bike crash up on Gos’s point (turn 9) one dude had a nasty cut to his finger but otherwise they were okay.

At lunchtime the trailer came back around to pick us all up and take us back in for lunch - we each had a lunch bag given to us, containing a ham and salad roll which was huge, a bag of chips, an apple and a fun size mars bar, as well as anything we wanted out of the fridge.

After a short break we were back out to our points - we were able to swap if we wanted but we all chose to go back to the same spots. 

The racing continued, the sun got warmer, it was fantastic being out there.

After each race, most of the riders would give a big wave or thumbs up as they passed by… big cases of the warm and fuzzies… Billy even blew me a kiss after his last race  I felt very special.

As soon as the races were over we packed up our gear and back into the trailer for the trip back - the organisers thanked us profusely but we all had such a great day.  Then off to garage 19 to catch up with Billy, he already had the bikes loaded up and was loading some frames onto Gos’s trailer.  A quick catch up with him, and Dave and Cath from Sydney, then everyone was off, after I duly admired Nikos’s new 10 

I set off back to the bike, geared up, and headed off to Goulburn for fuel.  Billy and his mate (whose name I have forgotten already) were there having a quick meal before heading back to Melbourne, so after a quick chat I was back out to the bike.  There were two people standing nearby, wanting to chat a bit but I had to cut it short cuz there was a line up behind me waiting for fuel… oops.  They did make the comment that my bike looks “well used” 

With a full tank of fuel it was onto the Hume then the Federal to home… straight to mum’s for dinner where I promptly fell asleep on the couch 

Was great fun being a flaggie and I would not hesitate to do it again!