A Local Sunday Ride

Kathleen was organising  a little local ride and I asked if I could come tooooooo. 

I had a bit of a bad start… I got caught out by a dream!  Well I figure I must have dreamt it… my chain was heaps loose so I had to adjust it before the ride… well so I thought… I took out the split pin and loosened the axle bolt… wiggled the chain to see how much I should do on the first go… there was nothing wrong with it!  Thought maybe I had a tight spot already (ooops) but nope it was fine.  So I can only assume that I dreamt my chain was heaps loose :lol:  

Anyway… we met at Watson at 9:30 for a 9:45 departure, Leen, Dazza, Tess, Ant, Fox and myself.  We took Macs Reef Road and then onto Bungendore where we met Nereash and had a coffee (already!!!! LOL).  It was a little grey but meh what the hell, we continued on to Tarago where we saw a bunch of riders on the corner, it was Carl & Co, so I blew ‘em a big kiss before taking off up the road.  From there we did the little back roads that Leen knows, such a change from last time I followed her through there when she was learning them and we had to keep back tracking when we ran into dirt!  But this time she led us through without hesitation, onto Windellama(sp?) and then Bungonia, before taking the backroad through to Goulburn.

We pulled up in Goulburn, it was a bit early for lunch (11:35am) but I yelled TOIIIIIILLLLLLEEEEEEEET so off to the park and THEN we could figure out what we were doing! 

Leen wanted to look at a bike that was in Goulburn so she rang the people up and we all went off to invade these people’s shed while Leen went test riding.  After the ride it was off to a pub for lunch - AWESOME burger (very very messy, but that’s the sign of a good burger, right? :D)

We had a few spots of rain here and there… but nothing much.

Fuelled up after lunch and headed out for backroads through to Breadalbane… saw the most spectacular rainbow along here… it was so bright and you could actually see the end of it!  Didn’t spot any pots of gold though…   Bit more rain along here but that was okay.  )Again, following this stretch of road was much better than last time I had done it as a learner and me and another girl had been left behind and we took the wrong turn somewhere and had to be rescued hahaha).

From Breadalbane the road was more familiar so off over the Cullerin range and into Gunning it really looked like we were going to be in for some weather but I don’t know what happened to it but it all went away (YAY).    The group got separated a bit on the stretch between Gunning and Gundaroo as three of us got caught behind a truck for a bit… stopped in Gundaroo, down a back alley to the “dodgy” cafe (the mug and cup hold the same amount of fluid… but they charge an extra 50 cents for the mug… in case anyone actually reads this and happens to stop in Gundaroo for coffee and thinks to go down a little alleyway for the said coffee…).  Ant left us here, bye Ant!  And the rest of us sat around and chatted for a while before heading for home.

It was a little day in terms of kays, only about 300km I guess, and it took us all day but it was one of the most enjoyable day rides I have had in a long time! 

CanberraRiders Girls Weekend 2009

The second Canberra Riders Girls Weekend was scheduled for 20-21 June 2009 - destination Junee!

A few of the girls had wanted to go to the Monte Cristo haunted house, the chocloate and licorice factory and some rail history museum thingo… so Kathleen and I put our heads together… I organised the people and Leen did everything else - thanks Leen!!!!!

We were set to meet at the Caltex at Gold Creek for a 9am departure… most of us were there except for Lee and Tess… Lee turned up… but no Tess?? Leen being Leen was itching to go, she asked if Tess knew where we were going, I said I don’t think so but I’ll wait for her, try and get her on the phone, etc. and I’d see them at Binalong.  So they all rolled out (after having to bump start Michelle’s R1… she shoulda stuck with a kwaka hahaha) and I tried calling Tess… no answer. 

I hung around at the servo and about ten minutes later Tess called back… the battery in her remote to the garage had died so she couldn’t get to her bike!!!! disaster!  She told me what battery she needed so I got it from the servo and headed out to her place… got there and the bike was out and she was ready to go… she had snuck in when someone else was going in… nice work!  Tess said she would need fuel in about 70km so we headed straight out to the Barton and then onto Yass to fill up.  Tess didn’t know where she was going so I took the lead, warning her that my indicators weren’t working so I’d be using hands and feet 

Figured that the girls would have finished morning tea by then so we skipped the Bowning turn off and took the Binalong turn and rolled straight through Binalong, Harden, Wallendbean and into Cootamundra… crossed the railway, around the corner and we are being waved down by Kim (our tail-ender in the car)… one of Robyn’s friends from Sydney’s harley had dropped the chain… oops.  It was in terrible condition, we asked her when she had last lubed it… she says “Oh I had it serviced a few months ago”… OK.  Luckily it had happened out side some truck shop and two *very* cute boys came and tried to fix it for her… we eventually came to the conclusion that it was completely, totally and utterly fucked… just down the road a bit was a bike shop so arrangements were made to leave the bike there and she would come back for it at a later stage… Tess and I left them there and continued onto Junee.

Got into town, with no idea where the pub actually was, Bec was patiently corner marking (she must have been there for ages) so we stopped with her and waited for Kim to turn up… we went and got fuel then into the pub to find our rooms 

Then downstairs for the first can of Jimmy =o))))))))

We had lunch then most of the girls wandered off to the haunted house and a few of us opted to stay at the pub and play some truly awful and truly awesome pool!  Eventually the girls came back and the evening progressed….

It pissed down Saturday night but had stopped by morning though everything was wet.  My flu had come back with a vengence and so I wasn’t feeling very well.  We had a very late start, lined up for a shot under some clock tower and then onto the Chocolate and licorice factory where I left the girls and just headed straight for home, the roads were wet but I didn’t actually get rained on until about Yass where it then rained on me for the rest of the way home.  I stopped at the shops to buy some pumpkin soup and bread rolls and then home at 1pm to get into my trackies and ate my soup on the couch with the heater going 

Larbert Dirty Day 13 June 2009

It was to be my first day out on the TTR250 :D  The TTR was still up at Gos’s place cuz I’d been slack and not picked it up yet, James was bringing a trailer to trailer one of Gos’s bikes out as well as the TTR so at the appointed hour I wandered up the street to find the bikes already loaded.  Eventually Pat turned up and the 750 was loaded and then the buggy came out… looks awesome!  loaded that up and left Gos to sort out a few other things and we headed off.  Stopped at Bungendore for a wee break and Mick and Jono turned up so we had a bit of a chat before getting underway again and off to Larbert.  Paid our fee and then headed back to where everyone was gathered.

Bikes were unloaded and we all stood around chatting for a bit.  Gos turned up and everyone was playing around with the buggy for a bit and then it was time :)  James filled her up for me and then tried to start it… oops flat battery.  IT had started fine when it was delivered to Gos’s place!  Bugger.  He tried kick starting it, wouldn’t fire, so they tried bump starting it, still no go.  Not a good start!  Eventually jump started it and let her run for a good while then it was time to go :)  Geared up and Mick kindly offered to come out with me for my first go… thanks Mick!  He got on the Wizard (Gos’s 500) and we set off.. before long Mick had left me behind and he waited for me… it felt so good… okay so I was just on the main dirt road but it was fast for me!  I could feel the bike moving around underneath me and it FELT GOOD (not like on the roadbikes where I just panic!!! lol).  We went up to the quarry and Jono and Charlie and Pat were all there going up the big hill thingos… I had no inclination to go up the big hill thingos so I just rode around in circles a few times or hung around watching the boys doing their thing…

Came back from doing a circle around the quarry and saw Mick go down… oooops he’d flipped it and now the wizard had a new sissy bar :lol:.  He picked himself back up and then headed back… I didn’t know where he had gone but decided to go back also cuz I figured that was what he had done… went out of the quarry a different way and was worried that I was lost already but it was okay :lol:  cruised back and had the biggest grin on my face 

Then James was going to have a go, but I noticed something was leaking out of it, I swiped my fingers and sniffed but with the stupid flu I couldn’t smell anything through my clogged nose, so when James asked if it was fuel (we had overfilled it before) I said I think so.  Anyway, he took off, promptly nearly lost it (no matter how controlled he says it was hahaha).  He came back and it was leaking a lot worse… that’s not fuel, that’s oil!  Pat’s dad loaned me some tools and we pulled the front sprocket cover off… bugger there was a patch job on a bolt flange and it was leaking out of there.  NO more riding for the TTR that day.

Watched the others coming and going for a bit and then Jono convinced me that he would ride Charlie’s KTM and I would take Mick’s KLR.  Mick said that was okay, and then I got a lesson in kickstarting (I learned that I kickstart like a girl hahaha).  The KLR looked so easy to start, but I couldn’t do it!  Eventually Mick got it going for me and then Jono headed off and then I followed him and I noticed Pat pulling behind me!  Nooooo can’t have someone who knows what they are doing behind me!!!!! LOL.  I stuck my foot out for him to go past but he didn’t (maybe dirty riders don’t do this????).  Anyway back to the quarry where they did some more going up the hills things and I did a few more circles round the bottom but I was feeling really uncomfortable being on someone elses bike so did more sitting there and watching them…. then they were heading off to do some “single” and convinced me that I should do it too… they stopped at the turn and I tried to brake using the rear brake… eeeeeeeeeeeek!  Overshot them by heaps, thought about doing a u-turn but decided to just head back, i really didn’t feel right being on Mick’s bike (I know that he wouldn’t care if I fell over on it but I would!!!!!!!) so I waved goodbye to the boys and headed back. 

The BBQ lunch was awesome and well appreciated and then spent the rest of the arvo lazing about chatting and watching everyone come and go.  Eventually it was time to go home and we got back to Gos’s, unloaded the bikes, Pat and James left, Gos rolled the TTR home for me (thanks Gos!) and then finally I was at home and was not long into bed (grrr stupid flu - really felt like hell).

So it was only a short turn on the TTR but I loved it and can’t wait to get out on it again! 

Queen’s Birthday weekend ride 6-8 June 2009

A long weekend means a ride… plan was Tathra first night, Paynesville second night.

It started off with the regular crew and then more and more were added… met up with Tess and Carl (no Stevo!!!!) and also Rob and Wendy and Avartie at Bungendore at a very civilised hour (that I can’t now remember, maybe 11?  I really should update my blog more regularly).  We set off, through Braidwood, and onto the Clyde… YEAH!  No.  Rob and Carl took off into the distance, Wendy and Avartie were behind somewhere… and didn’t Tess and I have the WORST trip down the Clyde ever… traffic in all the bad places, we’d finally get around it all… corner corner more traffic.  Regrouped at Nelligen and we were about to take off when a bunch of dirty boys rolled in… suddenly lunch at Nelligen seemed like a much better idea, well to Tess and I anyway… Rob offered to go and bring them over but then he didn’t :(  We decided instead to go to Narooma for lunch and check out the million dollar view a the pub… it wasn’t bad!  Food was okay too.  We got into Tathra stupidly early (as was expected) and once we got into our rooms… well it was bourbon o’clock. 

Much laughter was happening and somehow it got dark and, right on schedule, Skuffy, Bubba and co rolled in at 6pm… they’d had an eventful day with a serious run in with Constable Care… they were all lucky to get away with their licences (12 months of being good boys for them).  Dad was in dire need of a bourbon so we got him sorted… dinner over at the pub and then back to the motel room for more drinking… at some point I went to get more bourbon and both bottles were empty… where’d it all go?  Guess we were thirsty.  Eventually the stayers headed back over to the pub (Bubba, Skuffy, Luke, Billy, Deadman and me).  Billy went off to bed… then Deadman was escorted back and not too long after Luke and I went as well, leaving Skuffy and Bubba to laugh at the locals playing Ping Pong!

Woke up bright and early Sunday morning… and Tathra is a spectacular place to wake up bright and early… sit up in bed and watch the sunrise over the ocean.  Gorgeous.  Eventually got out of bed and down the road to the bakery for some breakfast… a little hungover but not too bad.  On the road, fuelled up at Merimbula… Dad and I wanted a smoke so sent Skuffy and everyone else off, though Luke stayed with us as well.  We finished smoking then set off, headed south to the turn off for Wyndham.  Before long Bubba was out of sight and I was just cruising behind Luke… still a little hungover LOL.  Through Wyndham (laughed at the pub) and was getting excited… Mt Darragh YAY!  No. 

Get started and hear the “ping ping” of loose gravel on fairings… WTF?  Yes there is fine black gravel all over the black road.  Grrrrrrr.  One slip and I’m onto Granny pace.  Coming up to the hair pin and Luke has stopped and is signalling for me to slow down, I wonder what’s going on, oh right even more gravel… it’s okay, I’m going slow enough!!!! So we crawl up Mt Darragh at granny pace… eventually get onto the old surface and it’s a bit better then.  Get up the top and the crew are all waiting at the “usual” place (I say usual… I was thinking outside the general store in Cathcart for some reason…)  From there into Bombala where Bubba is corner marking.  I pull up because I wanted to put my MP3 player on… and then thought I might follow him down to Cann River and see if I can stick with him… I can’t remember why but Carl was with us and then Luke and that was it.  We took off, Bubba, me, we get to the left turn just out of Bombala… where the hell is Carl and Luke??? we wait… and wait…. rock out to our respective musics for a bit… wait some more (I had Sweet Child O’ Mine to rock out to :rockon) and FINALLY they turned up… never did find out what happened.  We waved them through then started our bikes and took off after them… Bubba passed everyone, I only passed Luke, sticking with Bubba and Carl until just past the Imlay turn off… I wasn’t sure that Luke actually knew where he was going so I pulled up til his headlights appeared and I could tell he wasn’t turning off… so it was a lonely cruise down to Cann River and being paranoid about Constable Care it wasn’t a very fast one either… caught up to Bubba and Carl just coming into Cann River (so they must have been ” just cruising” even more then me).  Fuelled up and then up the road to the bakery for the WORST pie ever. 

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THE PIES AT THE BAKERY AT CANN RIVER!!!!!!

After much gasbagging and hanging around again it was time to continue on to Paynesville… headed towards Orbost, got separated from the group a bit and then I got flashed.  OK time to stick to 100km/h.  Got overtaken by a few of the others then and just at Orbost found the rest of the group all pulled over… Derek had been out and playing but thankfully no tickets today.  Ever onwards, we headed through Nowa Nowa, Bruthen then Bairnsdale where we turned off for Paynesville… I could hear Jimmy calling!  And this was new territory, having never been to Paynesville before :o)

Found the pub, took over the beergarden with the bikes, got our beds sorted and then we waited a tiny little while before hitting the bourbon again.  It was karaoke night and I eventually decided to head downstairs and see what was happening… walked in and they were calling out for someone, anyone to come sing so I put my hand up  and start singing Khe Sahn(sp?) with some dude… then I got lost so I ran away a little bit… next song… they called for Tess and Mel… I’m all like WTF????? We didn’t put our name down and Tess isn’t here… then wouldn’t you know it two skinny bitches turn up to sing (and they sucked huh!).  Got talking to the dude I had been singing with and turns out he was there on a bucks party… surprise surprise.  I went back upstairs to get Tess and we headed back down, had a bit of a dance… talked a bit more to the dude but he was a bit of a fuckhead so ditched him and back upstairs.  Before long everyone was going to bed but I wasn’t tired so I went for a walk for a bit before finally heading to bed. 

Monday morning was pain… shoulda drunk some water or something! LOL.  I stayed in bed as long as I could then packed up and ready to go… and everyone is hanging around having breakfast.  Eventually everyone was ready… and then to the servo to get fuel and hang around a bit more… finally we are underway, I really needed the fresh air!!!! 

I ended up leading(!) for a bit anyway, between Bairnsdale Carl and Avartie had dropped off and Tess came up beside me to signal where the fuck are they????? so she took the lead and we slowed down til they caught up again… through Bruthen and we lost them again??????  Tess and I pulled up at Nowa Nowa to wait for them… eventually the boys turned up and Tess waved them through… she started the bike up and went but the 9 wouldn’t start! (it was cold).  Eventually she started but Tess was already out of sight… Tess had pulled up to wait for me at the end of the roadworks and by then the boys were well out of sight.  We got flashed again so it was a very slooooooow ride into Cann River… the boys weren’t at the Mobil so we went up to the Caltex… and they weren’t there either?????  I was convinced I was going to die by this stage, been a while since I rode with a hangover like that!!   We fuelled up and the only thing we could figure is that with their greater fuel ranges they had pushed straight through to Bombala… we had just moved the bikes out of the way, and I was downing some much needed Panadol with some much needed water when Avartie rolled in… but where was Carl? 

Avartie tells us that Carl turned off at Orbost so Avartie followed him.  Then Avartie promptly pulled over to do something to his luggage and didn’t see where Carl went.  So he turned left at the T-intersection and took the scenic coast road to Cann River.  He didn’t see Carl along the way.  We hung out at the servo for a while, still no Carl, and he wasn’t answering his phone.  So we headed up to the other servo in case he was there… nope.  We decided that we would head up to Bombala and try Carl again there and we left him a message to that effect.  Avartie geared up but Tess and I kinda just stood there looking at each other… we couldn’t leave Carl behind… we ummmed and ahhhed then decided that we should back track via Avartie’s route just in case…

So we set out with Avartie in the lead…. he led us down the wrong road  so more backtracking and then we were on the right road… pretty road, adds about 30km onto the trip though.  Through Marlo and into Orbost and into the servo where we spoke to the servo attendant who confirmed that Carl had been there a few hours earlier, had a smoke then left.  The bastard had done the BONANG!!!!!!!!!  Avartie wanted a break and Tess and I were keen to get back to Canberra ASAP so we headed straight off without Avartie.  Back to Cann River for a top up on the fuel and some more fried servo goods :o) and whaddya know, I had a message from Carl… he was in Cooma… he had said to the group that morning if the weather was good he was going to turn off at Orbost and do the Bonang… pointed out that it would have been useful if he had of told that to the people he was riding with!!!!! and apparently Avartie was there… Carl offered to wait at Cooma for us and I thought about making him do that as punishment!!!! but nah sent him on.  We rolled straight through Bombala and onto Cooma where we stopped at Polo Flat to top up the fuel… it was freezing!  Was snowing up at Selwyn according to the people in the servo… we decided to have coffee and warm up a little before the slog back into Canberra. 

Got into Canberra and it was dark and it was raining.  The 9 was complaining cuz it was cold and I had to lead in the end cuz Tess only had her dark visor!  We went into coffee and caught the tail end of it, a quick chat with everyone then home to get warm :o)))))))

There were lots of drunken photos taken (about 100) and one, that’s right ONE photo taken of my bike.

We missed you Stevo!!!!!!!!

New addition to the family...

I’ve been on the lookout for a little trail bike for a while, after asking various people for opinions, I decided the TTR-250 (or TT250R) sounded like the perfect option (in the ACT under 300cc is $188 for a years rego…) So I hit up the bikesales, all classifieds and ebay and spotted two 1996 models on ebay, one in Gladstone with a start price of $850.00 and carby probs and a fuel tank leak and another one in Sydney with a start price of $1,890.00.  Well Sydney is a little more reasonable than Gladstone, so I contacted the dude, said I’d like to come take a look Saturday morning and he said fine :o)

So I messaged Kimmie to ask for a bed Friday night and rang the seller Friday arvo to confirm (no bids on ebay yet).  He said that there was someone coming out later that day to have a look… I told him I was coming up from Canberra to have a look… anyway will give him a call in the morning and just cross my fingers.

Left work about 4:15pm and just rocked up the Federal/Hume to the rock show in my helmet… found a nice falcodore to follow who was setting a nice pace but unfortunately they turned off at Marulen but a V-Strom had been following me and eventually got sick of the slower pace of the next car I decided to follow so took off and I followed him through to Pheasant’s Nest where I pulled in and he kept going.  (I have to pick someone to follow otherwise I end up sitting on about 150 or 160 and that is bad.)

Fuelled up, message to Kimmie to let her know where I was at then along the Northern Road and out to Kimmie’s place where she had cooked an awesome beef stroganoff for dinner.  We sat around catching up (Karl was there too) on all the goss since we had last caught up before it was off to bed.

I got caught out in the morning - I woke up - it was dark.  I woke up again - it was light enough to be about 6:30am… check my phone, nope it’s 8:30! The window has security shutters on it! LOL.  So I got up, had coffee and rang the dude… I was in luck, the guy who was gonna check it out the day before had done a no-show!  So I said I’d be out to his place in around 1.5 hours. 

Chatted with Kimmie for a while (Karl had to run off early as he had to go and collect Izzy) and then geared up and headed off… didn’t get lost (hurrah!) and found his place fairly easily.  He had warned me he had a long gravelly type driveway and that it was quite sandy around the back… he wasn’t wrong!  The 9 bounced her way down the driveway (it was pot-holey and muddy as well) and tried to park off to the side, nope, side stand sinks straight down, okay find a concreted spot.

And there she was… the TTR-250.  Bigger than I had thought, even though Karl had warned me the night before that it was likely to be quite tall for me.  John (the seller) started it up and warmed it up for a bit before backing it out and holding it while I swung a leg over.  I was a bit nervous and he said to just keep my weight forward as the front might feel like it’s going to wash out through all the sandy stuff I was about to tackle.  Well I probably could have walked around the track quicker but I didn’t fall over!  (out the back there is a sandy track that runs through the bush - I only did the short bit but apparently it was quite extensive and gets quite “snotty” further out).  I did a couple of laps and then took it up the gravelly driveway (about twice the speed that I came down it on the 9) then up the road to get it up to speed… I was accelarating and going nowhere hahahaha I guess that’s what a bike with 30hp does in comparison to the 9!!  Rode it up the road abit then did a u-turn trying to stay on the tar at first then… brain kicks in… what are you on?  That’s right so over the grass :o) It felt quite straight and everything so I went back to John’s and we just chatted and chatted and chatted (as you do) bikesbikesbikesbikes for ages while I poked around the bike.  Started it up again, checked it’s not blowing smoke or making any weird noises (well it just sounded motorey to me). 

He told me about how he came to have it, he only bought it in February this year, he bought it for his girlfriend but she sat on it and said it was too heavy.  So he decided to keep it and commute on it but now its getting too cold so he was selling it.  When he bought it, it had been painted black so he replaced the front and rear guards and the seat with the proper white and purple parts and repainted the tank white. 

Well I really liked it and decided it had to be mine so I asked him how much he wanted for it and he said he really wanted $2,000.00 which was what I had been thinking of offering him for it so a deal was done, pending a REVS check (which he let me do on his computer… also check the CR thread in case somebody had said MEL WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT BUY A TTR-250 (they didn’t) :o)  I scooted off to Richmond to get to the bank before they closed then came back handed over cold hard cash, we did the paper work then more chatchatchatbikesbikesbikes (he used to race vintage motorx and used to have an SV650 roadie but just has trail bikes now).  He wasn’t happy with how the indicators were sitting on the back of the TTR so he pulled them off and played with the brackets a bit (they’re still not perfectly aligned but they are better!).  He offered to put the bike on the back of his ute and drive it around to Kimmie’s place (turns out he used to live in the same street - such a Canberra moment…) so we did and then it was installed in Kimmies Garage pending me figuring out how the hell to get it home.

Chat chat chat with Kimmie for a bit (I really must get up and visit them more often - such awesome people) then headed off about 3pm.  Got rained on a fair bit heading back out on the northern road and got to Pheasants Nest at about 4:15pm.  Hadn’t actually eaten yet that day so a quick pie was in order (note to self - do not eat pies at Pheasants Nest.  $5.00 for a pie is ridiculous!!) then I just slabbed it home from there in one hit.  The 9 was complaining from around Marulan as it was pretty cold (I don’t really blame her, I was complaining too but I was a little worried if I stopped she might not start again so we just coughed and spluttered our way home).  Got in about 6:30pm(?), tried to bore my sister with all my excitement about a new bike then a hot shower to defrost.

Disco very kindly offered to bring my bike to Canberra for me so he collected it from Kimmies place last night and will be dropping it round to Gos on Sunday (seeing as I won’t be back until Monday).

OK now that was a long winded way of saying I got a new bike!

TTR

TTR

Stage Two of TTR comes to Canberra