ricecooker

A week earlier the 7 had developed a “gremlin”.  Something somewhere was shorting out and blowing the ignition fuse.  The Kwaka Whisperer had been around to take a look, some wires were wiggled, the tank came on and off and without really doing anything much the 7 he was fixed.  For now.

I had meant to take him out for a good run on Saturday but just never got around to it, so Sunday it was to be.  Saturday night I saw a post from Yedi that he was going to do a ride out on Sunday, so I decided to join him.

As the meet point was at Maccas I left home at 9:30am to make sure I had plenty of time to get some breakfast before we left.  Diana on her ZZR250 pulled in just after I did so we got to chatting over coffee/breakfast and eventually others started rolling in - Sean on his baby Ninja, Nik on his yellow firestorm, the ’support vehicle’ and driver (sorry dude, I can’t remember your name!).  Glen and Cas turned up in the car just to say gidday to everyone… but still no sign of Yedi!  Eventually a motard rocked up with a black mohawk on the helmet and we’re all like nah that’s not Yedi, no red mohawk and firestorm.  But Yedi tricked us all, the motard was the reason for his rush trip to Melbourne on Friday night.  Awesome.  Lee also turned up on her R1 and eventually we were all ready to roll.

So somewhat later than anticipated we all left maccas Qbn and headed up the Kings to Bungendore.  I was last and was behind Lee who was behind Dianna (who has only had her L’s for 3 weeks).  I was expecting Lee to take off at the first overtaking bit but she didn’t, so I did  Felt good to stretch the legs on the 7 but only for a bit as I was a bit worried about Constable Care being out and about so I backed off.  Regroup at Bungendore while we waited for Lee and Diana to catch up then Yedi took off, then Sean had to wait for a bit of a break before he could go and meanwhile two Ducatis came by which confused poor Sean because then he started following them for lattes…. realised his mistake so I passed him and we headed off for Tarago.  Before long we came across Yedi who had pulled over when he realised no one was behind him and then he showed us what the mighty DR650 can do (not that much in a straight line lol) it was nice though, for once I could keep up with him

We pulled in at Tarago for a regroup/smoko and soon enough everyone was there.  Diana had planned to just go home from there but we managed to convince her that Wakefield really wasn’t that far away now so she might as well come out there with us, so she did.

Tarago regroup

So we headed off to Wakefield where we checked out the track day that Yedi and I were supposed to be doing.  We hung out there for quite a while, ran into Macca and Bogan and also Avartie and Rider1.

Wakefield

Eventually Lee, Diana, Bogan and Macca all headed back for Canberra and the rest of us headed for Goulburn to top up the fuel before heading out to Crookwell.

I had never been to Crookwell on the bike before, Avartie led us down some goat track and as someone hadn’t gone for a toilet break at Goulburn, the bumpy road was very painful.  I was following Sean who is also on his L’s and he was doing pretty well I was very glad to get to Crookwell and luckily they pulled up across the road from some public toilets.  Yay.

Coffees were had and we warmed up by the fire for a bit before heading back to Canberra.  I sat behind Sean again and quickly everyone else was out of sight but that was OK, we just cruised through the countryside and it was very nice, so pretty out there  We rolled through Gunning, with Avartie and Nik going the other way as they were both low on fuel (shoulda fuelled at Goulburn boys ) and then we stopped in Gundaroo for one last smoke and to say our goodbyes.

There must have been a fair bit of rain as once we hit the Federal there was so much water on the road… and one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen.  Got home about 5:30pm.  And the 7 - well he performed beautifully.  :D

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I think my last blog was in November last year, and here we are at the end of April.

I guess I have been pretty busy in that time, December saw me sell the ZX9R and even though my heart was set upon a brand spanker ZX6R, to appease Bruce I rode a GSXR750 which I ultimately bought.  I went to the KSRC Xmas party, went on a snowies ride and got an epic puncture (bit of wood about as big as my thumb punched through a brand new Corsa III), first time any of my bikes had to come home on the back of a trailer :(. 

Over the xmas break I went riding of course, 29th went to Dargo for a Skuffy ride then made my way up north, seeing in the new year with Robyn, Yedi & Jules at Blayney.  Spent a couple of nights up at the goldie with Jen and the rest of the family up there before heading back south and past Canberra to Corryong for the swim ride. 

Later in January, seeing as I had a bit of cash, I decided that I would look at getting a ZX7R to have as a second bike, to be used as a commuter and if I wanted to put something on the track.  Well I was told the 7 would be a shit commuter and the GSXR would be much better on the track, but when have I ever listened to anyone? LOL.  I had my usual problem with ZX7R’s - getting to look at one before it was sold.  Eventually I found one - in QLD!  Not too far up the road from where Jen is now living so I arranged to have the Monday off work as Tuesday was Australia Day and set off after work on Friday just hoping that it wouldn’t have sold before I got there.  It didn’t!  I think the reason for this is the high kays on it - 92,xxx.  My uncle had driven me out to look at the bike and I rode it back to their place.  The plan was to leave the 7 there and come back for it in a couple of weeks, but new bike fever took over and the suzuki was parked up next to the XT for a bit.  I fell in love with the 7 on the way home.  Awesome bike.  When I flew back and rode the gixxer home the next week the decision was made - the 7 was going to be my number 1 bike!

In February I again celebrated my birthday in Tintaldra with the addition of a canoe trip which was nice.  The 7 loves the snowies!  Also attended Wetbucca on the 7, which again lived up to it’s name.

End of February saw the various KSRC crews heading down to Phillip Island for the CDT - the day before we left - disaster!  The 7 wouldn’t start!!!  He would bump start OK but the starter button wouldn’t do anything.  I was very tempted to take the 7 and just get the boys to take turns giving me a push but in the end I ended up taking the gixxer and had an awful ride, I just couldn’t get into a good rythym pretty much the whole trip.  And then the gixxer got it’s second epic puncture, and ended up spending a week on a farm down near Tooma (thank you so much to Farmer George for babysitting him!) and I ended up being dinked back to Canberra on the back of a Crim… which actually wasn’t as bad as it sounds, only my feet really got sore on the trip back and I actually quite enjoyed the run up the Elliot Way from the back, it was quite a different perspective.  Cath had kindly ‘gotten bored’ of riding so I got to have a turn of her ZX6R as well - it was very nice and so so so so similar to my Jimmy!  But I think if I was to choose between the two I would go the 03/04 over the 05/06 - I could notice the extra heat from the underseat exhaust.

The Tintaldra/Bright ride was on again at the end of March - much smaller crowd this year, which made for much quieter party nights and much better riding!  There was only one person there that I hadn’t met multiple times before which made it a lot more relaxing I think.  It was also the first time ever I think where I haven’t woken up hungover at Tintaldra.  Which actually made for some really awesome riding

I guess it must have been around mid-March that planning seriously got underway for The Adventure of a Lifetime (or at least the adventure for this year!) 

Today I leave Canberra and will not be back for seven weeks, Robyn and I are riding around Australia.  A lot of planning has gone into this and we are raising funds for MARI (motorcycle accident rehabilitation initiative through ST Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney).  It is currently 5:30 am and I have slept very poorly, but told myself I am not allowed to get up before 6am.  Not sure if I’ll stick to that or not.

I am very excited of course and a little bit nervous.  I have never ridden the 7 really loaded up before (seeing as I only just got my ventura rack a couple of weeks ago, I put it on myself and it’s a bit ummm crooked/uneven/bent. )  I have also realised that it has only been in the last couple of months that I have really gotten over my 2008 trip.  I wonder how long it will take for me to get over this one?  I’m not sure, now that I think about it, whether it is a good thing or not… in a way I feel like a part of me that I found on that trip is again lost… anyway, I bet I’m about to find it again.  Wonder if some out of the way Roadhouse will offer me a job again… :D  I think Ksenia would hunt me down and do foul murder upon me if I didn’t return. 

Well it’s 5:30am and I am done with this blog… I think stuff my rules, it might be coffee time.

Mel.

www.2girls2kawasakis.com

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Billy had informed me some months prior that he and Stace would be racing in the PCRA one hour in November.  Mick C was also to be Billy’s co-pilot for the race and so I went along to cheer them on

Got a lift up with Gos (the ride to goulburn is just not that exciting) and we soon found the boys in the garage at the end of the world.  Stace had not been able to make it due to a family matter, but Simmo had Stace’s bike and Nikos was coming down from Sydney to co-pilot with him.  Also in the garage was Kev from KSRC on a ZX9R (which looked to be about four times the size of all the other bikes in there!)

Preparations started and the temperature was rising.

preparation

Rider briefing

Eventually Mick got to head out for his first race…

Mick C

and we all stood on the wall watching him go round… and how was his first race?

fkn awesome

That smile says it all really!

The sprint races continued and I did a fair bit of spectating as well as hanging out in the garage…

Simmo heading out

The one hour race was good - had a Leman’s style start which I had never seen before.  Gos, Stevo and I headed up to the hill to find some seats in the shade while we watched - the boys did good!

Eventually day one was over and although I was supposed to be heading home, Billy said there were heaps of spare beds where they were staying so I decided to stay for the night.  We headed into town to buy some groceries and Billy cooked us all truly awesome pizzas for dinner.  After dinner a few bourbons on the front porch was the order of the evening before we all headed to bed around 11pm.

Up bright and early Sunday morning and back out to the track.  Billy & Mick still had a few sprint races, but the rest still had their one hour races to go.  The forecast was for 40 degrees so the race order was changed around a bit to get the one hour races in as early as possible (some of the co-riders weren’t there yet though which was a problem). 

As someone was very sunburnt from the day before, most of my day was spent in the shade in the garage. 

Simmo & Nikos did well in their race and was good to watch Kev go round, and Nobby was his co-rider. 

The last few races were cancelled and then we went over to the presentations where the boys picked up an impressive amount of silverware

Then into the Commodore for the trip home.

Oh, now I want to get a bucket and go racing (but I say that everytime I come home from watching the PCRA guys at Wakefield)

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Oooh a free weekend!  What to do?  Tee up a ride with a friend! 

Friday saw me leaving work at 4pm for the slab down the Doom to Albury (halfway to Melbourne).  It was unexciting.  It was the Doom.  Got into Albury about 7:30pm, at pretty much the same time as James.  The plan had been to have an early night, get up early and get a full day in on the awesome roads that Victoria has to offer. 

FAIL.

It was pretty hot so we had a swim first of all.  Then we had visit from Mr Beam.  A wander up the road for dodgy servo frozen pizza and coke. 

dodgy servo pizza... it is as bad as it looks

We did a spot of ‘decorating’ (every ceiling needs stars, right?)

stars

after a few hours of sitting outside, talking shit, laughing at the bogan kids in the park across the road and listening to some truly AWESOME music, the bourbon was somewhat depleted and at some stupid hour it was finally bedtime.

Mr Beam

Saturday morning dawned fair (it usually does) and I woke up at stupid o’clock and felt great (actually I was probably still pissed).  After a while I fell back asleep… dragged my arse out of bed by about 10am? and was feeling rather poorly by that stage.

Into town for a coffee (where I was amused by James putting about 7 sugars into his coffee… and then not stirring it because he “didn’t want it sweet”) and then round and round Albury trying to find a servo.  Eventually fuelled up and then I took the lead trying to lead us to some good roads.  I actually had no real idea where I was going so just made it up and we ended up in Mt Beauty. 

Mt Bogong lookout

Filled up, sent James off first and headed up to Falls Creek.  James was promptly out of sight and I had quite an enjoyable run up to Falls Creek (love this road).  Regroup up the top and then it was time to ride the ‘new road to Omeo’.  I had been looking forward to this road for some time as it was supposed to make an awesome circuit… but it was not to be.  So much gravel on the road, it might as well have still been dirt.  I wasn’t impressed and I don’t think I’ll bother going that way again (would much rather go back down Falls Creek, over Tawonga, over Hotham and into Omeo that way ).

We stopped at the Blue Duck Inn for lunch before heading onto Omeo… I had a moment on this road where, for some reason, I threw the nine into a right hander harder than normal and had the front wheel slide :O but it was all OK just shaken nerves!  Fuel at Omeo and then for the run up to the top of Hotham and down.  We got caught up in another group of riders at the top and then I had something biting me on my neck so I had to do an emergency stop and strip off the jacket to get rid of whatever it was (no idea, but I had some nice blistery things on the back of my neck from it).  The run down Hotham was OK though towards the bottom I got caught up in that group of riders again (and it turns out I know some of them!).

We made our way to the backpackers and after a shower it was dinner time - and an alcohol free night followed!!  Hung out in the park for a bit, before turning in pretty early.

Sunday morning we were up pretty early and feeling good!  Went to get on the bikes and realised that the cafe across the road was open - hurrah! so after coffee (James tried to convince me I wanted lots of sugars in my coffee this time… but I managed to get away with only one extra) and toasted sandwiches it was time to hit the road… Halllloooooooo Mt Buffalo!  Passed a huge bunch of cyclists and luckily got onto the mountain ahead of them :).  James was once again quickly out of sight (though he kept stopping for photos so then I would get in front again) and I had a nice run up to the top. 

This was going to be a special weekend - the 9 was going to turn 100,000km!  Got to the end of the tar at the top of Buffalo and I was 4km short.  Bugger!  So we turned around and James must have got sick of me going so slow watching the odo (on the way up I kept having too much fun and forgetting to look at the odo) and he rounded me up on a hairpin just as she clicked over 100,000km. 

my first 100,000km bike

OK so the odo pic didn’t work out so good. 

The 9 at 100,000km

Pulled up at a pretty spot for some pics - decided to see how my self-portait skills were holding up after the efforts Robyn and I put on at the Border Run…

Not bad for first try!

Stood and admired the view for a while - it is just breathtaking up there…

Mt Buffalo

and because I love having photos of my bike… here is the 9 at the bottom of Mt Buffalo LOL

Mt Buffalo

From Mt Buffalo it was back into Bright to top up the fuel and have a quick break before heading back up Mt Hotham :D  Had a pretty good run up, stopped up the top and James kept going and I turned around and headed back down (damn shame that) then over Tawonga Gap and Redbank Road towards Tallangatta where I would get more fuel.

Not long after I joined the Murray Valley Highway, it was stinking hot and all I could think about was getting a drink of water at Tallangatta… and then I noticed a copper nearly on top of me, coming the other way… I looked down, 130.. bugger.  Sure enough, when I checked in my mirror he was turning around, so I just pulled over and had the helmet off by the time he’d stopped behind me.  He walks up to me and pulls out the breathalyser… apparently they are stopping and putting all motorcyclists on the breatho in Vic at the moment because there have been too many crashes.  Phew!  Finally after about ten minutes he let me go (he wanted to chat) and I got my fuel and drink and had a bit of a rest.

Fuel again at Corryong and then up into the hills - thankfully the temperature was about 10 degrees cooler up there :D  I stopped at Jono Corner and took some pics - it’s a bit faded now but definitely still there.

Jono Corner

Jono Corner

Jono Corner

I really enjoyed this stretch of road - there was hardly any other traffic (I think I saw maybe five cars all up??) and it was just heaven.  Stopped (as tradition dictates) at Tumut Ponds and it was a bit strange to not have Stevo & Tess there waiting for me.

Tumut Ponds

 From here, onto the Awesome Road (and it was AWESOME) and into Adaminiby where the usual dude at the servo wasn’t there (I still haven’t seen him yet this season).  From there it was a straight run home to Canberra.

I love riding the snowies.

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After the 4M’s ride I came home with a killer Victorian flu… knocked me on my arse and I was just praying that I would be better in time for the Snowy Ride!  A trip to the doctor saw me with the rest of the week off work and come Friday I decided perhaps the best course of action was to simply try and drown the flu with bourbon.

So… 3pm and Tess and I met at Hume ready for the bore to Cooma.  A late lunch for me in Cooma before topping up the fuel at Jindabyne then onto Thredbo.  As we got closer and closer to Thredbo we had some moments with the idiots on R1’s who just have to be faster in a straight line *roll eyes*.  My favourite though, heading towards Thredbo, a CBR600F something had come up behind and was sitting fair up my arse, that was fine an overtaking lane was coming up and he soon went round, followed by the ducati who was following him… until the first bend where I, still in the left lane got to go round the ducati round the outside but then it was Tess, CBR600 dude, me and then the Ducati… the CBR guy couldn’t ride for shit… luckily Thredbo wasn’t far away.

We found our accommodations (Stevo had kindly draped a CR tshirt out the front) and OMG luxury!  It was a 5 bedroom penthouse and it was niiiiiiiice. 

CR penthouse

Tess and I were sharing the master bedroom… it was HUGE.  We quickly got out of the riding gear and into the drinking gear and joined the rest of the crew out on the balcony.

CR Crew at the Snowy Ride

Jess had brought along heels (!) which Dazzabee kindly modelled for us…

Dazzabee and the heels

Before long, the drinks were kicking in nicely and we were joined by some of the KSRC Crew - Seiko (psycho), The beautiful Gig and The Awesome Robyn

KSRC crew at the Snowy Ride

More drinks were had - the rest had dinner (probably a smart move) until we heard the sounds of the band starting up…. YAY.  We moved the party upstairs and hit the dancefloor.

The girls rocking the dancefloor

The band were totally AWESOME, playing all classic pubrock songs

Eventually they had a break and Tess and I looked at each other, yep time for some cool air… we got outside and the pavers looked so inviting in the cool Thredbo air… so…

stars, angels or something

… we decided to get as much of ourselves in contact with those cool pavers as possible.  We caused quite a commotion.  Some random dude took possession of my camera and there are heaps of photos of us being stars or angels (as passersby referred to us as).  Eventually the band started up again and we were straight back into it… after the second break we decided it was perhaps time to call it a night and we hiked back up to the Penthouse.

Saturday morning dawned bright and fair - the beautiful penthouse room we were in didn’t have curtains on all the windows so we were awake at stupid o’clock (even after a night of barely being able to breathe with the stupid flu - drowning it in bourbon didn’t work).  Eventually everybody dragged themselves out of bed and Stevo & Gypsy concocted a fantastic breakfast for everyone.  Eventually everyone was ready to go riding - except for me… I gave my ticket to Avartie to collect the stamps for me :o) 

Jess decided to forego the ride as well and stayed to keep me company.  We had a really nice morning lazing around on the couches and sitting out in the sun on the balcony just chatting.  Eventually we decided it was time to go down to the village where we wandered around the shops and looked at the bike displays… and I fell a little bit in love with a Ducati (this has never happened before!  Seriously!!)

Streetfighter!

We then went and had a picnic by the river (well I did - the buns had sesame seeds on so Jess couldn’t eat them) and found a friendly duck which wasn’t quite brave enough to eat straight out of Jess’s hand, but close!

Jess & the duck

We then decided to stick our feet in the river - mistake it was fkn cold!  Had a good laugh over that.  We then treated ourselves to ice cream before wandering back up the hill to the penthouse (we took the ski slope instead of the stairs… it is really much the same).

More lazing around and eventually everyone came back buzzing from their ride and then… whaddya know, it was bourbon o’clock again!

A couple of drinks before heading down to town, meeting with the KSRC crew (who had now expanded to include Billy & Stace) on the way.

Dizzzy - stayin' alive or directions to the pub?

We had pizza for dinner before heading down to see the band (Hoodoo Gurus this year).. and we ran into an old friend!! anyone remember Baaaaawb?  from Ohiiiiiiiiiiooo?

Baaawb from Ohiiiiio

More drinking, more dancing, though I didn’t really rate these guys - but we knew the band from the Friday night was playing at the pub later so at least we had that to look forward to! :o)

Oh… and this was the weekend that MESS was created - arising from Stevo’s confusion (always calling me Tess and calling Tess Mel) - now we are just collectively known as MESS (strangely appropriate).  So….

Introducing... MESS

MESS had decided that this was an appropriate evening for the “chicken strip inspection squad” to come out… good decision.  We made lots of new friends and featured in a fair number of photos!

Finally the Hoodoo Gurus finished and we set off to the pub for the good band.  We were chilling outside for a bit when the band started in, and when MESS entered everyone was kinda just standing around… now we can’t have that so we dived straight onto the dancefloor and straight into it and by the time the band finished that song that dancefloor was rocking!  (and they remembered us from the night before).  We danced and danced and danced until the band stopped playing… then it seemed like a good time to go home.  We were escorted by some of our new friends and we hung around outside the penthouse for some hours talking away… eventually they left and we were in bed at some ridiculous hour.

Up again at stupid o’clock on Sunday.  Those who were heading home did so, some others went for a ride.  I found a My Little Pony Puzzle to do and Ben only helped me a little bit (I was very proud).  Pity it was missing a piece.

Puzzle

Tess and I were eventually left to our own devices and after some snoozing decided to head “hero” style into town… but everyone had gone! (we did get spotted by the KSRC crew at least).

Back to the penthouse after gathering some supplies and more relaxing ensued…

Tess knows how to relax

and eventually, once again, it was bourbon o’clock and time to head back down to the pub.  We caught up with our new friends from the night before for a few games of pool, watching the 125’s and 250’s on the screen.  Missed the main race walking back up (kept stopping to admire the stars etc) but just caught the highlights.  Another night passed without much sleep and then Monday it was time to ride home

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