KoroJ's Blog

It's a bit rough to go two months between blogs, (espicially in ther middle of Summer) but it's not that I haven't been riding, just that I've been a bit remiss. Also, I did do a blog in December after a crap experience when flying with Virgin....but I just didn't post it up. And when I say I have been riding, I guess in reality I've only done one blogable ride!...although I have done 2,000+km! ...a lot has happened but.

Since getting the new supension James and I did a trip to Manfield to run a Coneheads thing for the VMCC. That was a nice day but having sod-all room we could only setup a GP8 course and the punters were there to race, not piss around in a carpark, so there wasn't much action.

Then at the beginning of December Ann and I took a week off to go and watch the Lion King stage show in Brisbane and relax on the Gold Coast....that was nice....apart from booking to fly Air New Zealand then finding ourselves on Virgin flights!

Christmas was quiet, then we had to go to Patea on the 27th for Ann's Parent's unveiling. That was good and I had to go on the bike as I needed to get back for work....that was even better! Did you know it is 660km from Wellington to Patea? Yes, well I thought it was only about 250km, but it's 660km if you go via Rimutaka's – Route52 – Gentle Annie – Fields Track & Paraparas to avoid the traffic! Bloody marvelous. It was about 25°, but that was hot enough to melt the tar on the Gentle Annie and Para's, so consequently I wasn't totally committing to the corners and taking cruiser lines which resulted in a few wider than normal exits....some of which had bikes coming the other way. I was in control but I was a bit pissed off with myself as the poor pricks coming the other way were probably shitting themselves to see the black death lurking on the centre line as they were setting up for a corner! Bloody good fang but!

Then, on Monday 29th Dec, I rode the bike to work and thought, "Shit, that was soft!" as I exited the driveway, then I knew something wasn't quite right as riding along Khandallah Rd and the slightest bump would have me bouncing for the next 200 metres (somewhat akin to riding a dragon). Turned out a seal had gone in the new rear shock but with some help from Andrew Templeton, I got it out and away to KSS and it was back withing two days. I refitted it yesterday and took it for a test run today.

Other things that have happened are:
I booked accommodation, sailings and registered for the TT2000 with Steve (and Woody is to join us) for 19-23 Feb.
I've bought a pair of Sena S20's for Ann and myself.

As mentioned, I needed to test ride the rear shock as well as sample the Sena to see how that went and in talking to Woody about the TT, he needed a ride so joined us for today. We just went over the hill and over to Lake Ferry, then after a snack and nice break, we returned via Martinborough – Tablelands – Ponatahi Rd – and the Hill.

I need to have a play with the preload for when I have Ann on, but otherwise, it was quite pleasant. The temp got to 29° so I had all the vents open and the wind was up a bit so care was needed on the hill and we did 290km. I do need to do a bit more riding to build up for the TT....and I'll need to get some new tyres before then.....and I need to get the Sena sorted! That's been a bit of fun and there's a fair bit of learning and experimenting required.

I've tried pairing to phone (as 1st phone) and GPS (as GPS) and pairing to phone (as 1st Phone) and GPS (as 2nd phone), and pairing the phone to the GPS and the GPS to the Sena (as 1st phone) but I can't seem to get it right. I phone receives calls but I can't seem to get it to speed dial out....and I can get FM radio, and I can hear Nav commands and music from the GPS, but when the GPS is on, I can't access voice commands or ambient sound??

Oh the joys of technology!

The other thing we've been doinbg a bit of ius the Capital Coast Coneheads practice on Wednesday evenings. That's going well and we expect to run the Grand Ginny Challenge sometime within the next two months.

So I'm busy! Busy at work, busy route planning for the TT2000 and busy with Coneheads....and the weather is finally nice. (It was a bit pissing off to see how brown it was in the Wai'rapa, so they've obviously had it good...but I guess that's normal). The bike now has 58,370km on it.