mbazza's Blog

Off to work in the dark on the strom, it takes 5 k's to warm up so I go the long way round and get in a bit later than planned. Great to be on the bike in the greying of the early morning.
Usual work day with far too much activity and too little real success.
Come 1720 hrs it's time to go home. A shorter 'long way home' means I meet the 1732 hrs crowd, all of whom are impatient to get home to the detriment of the bloke on the motorbike. The brakes still work! By the time I get home ...

Finished last blog write up and just went out and warmed the V-strom up and went for a ride!
A grey day here but the roads are mainly dry after three days of 'Scotch Mist' which have made our dogs damp and grumpy.
A quick burst north on SH1 - hang a right and run down to Kaitangata past Lake Tuakatoto where camoflaged harvesters await the flight of their quarry. Through Kai where teens don't reply to a wave.
Back into Clutha to fuel up for the week (98 0ct 202.9 cents/litrse ...

Yep, I've been very slack with this blog! Infact, procrastination is not even in it! Haven't even thought about this blog for 6 months!
Last Thursday a meeting of bikers / riders / motorcyclists in Balclutha called by a small group of riders to organise a contact system for local riders has galvanised me into blogging again.
See KB events - Big River Bikers - post. (I need a lesson on how to include a link, anyone help me! )
Only the esteemed Mr scumdog (esteemed 'cause he's ...

My Beloved stove in the air conditioning unit in her cage by forcing it up against the rear of another cage!
Cage to cage combat! Cage menders reckon I'll be the transport captain for a couple of weeks.
Night work meeting. All the gear on and we're off to her work. I drop her and cruise on to Milton for tea with the AA (aged aunt).
This is fun, like fun should be. Open, dry road, night time traffic sparse. Yeehaaa!
After coverstation and tea in the ...

The exact thing which makes my morning scoot commute fun also hightens the danger of the ride and introduces a note of caution on two particular corners as I ride to work. The scoot is short, the handlebars are shorter and the wheels are tiny which makes for a cool, quick steering response and that scoot feeling which plants the smile every time I twist the throttle.
Combine this with a couple of corners with gravel remaining after the gravel spreading to minimise the effect of ...

Sunday ride today with Daffyd. The first ride we have had together having met here on KB. When we both turned up at a local visible intersection our bikes were almost as different to each other as is possible. Daffyd had planned an interesting 180km ride with a coffee in the middle.
Our route was Balclutha, Greenfield, Tuapeke West, Lawrence, Manuka Gorge, Clarksville Junction and returning to Balclutha.
A few K's up the Clutha we met two cruisers coming towards us, we we not sure ...

I only commute 3 k's each way to work. I find it interesting to look at just how I carry things on this tiny scooter.
This week I had to cary home 22 basketball uniforms and a ball. The uniforms fitted under the seat ok, but the basket ball had to sit on the foot plate. Commical to get underway with a basketball rolling around on the foot plate. It's ok when you twist and go as one foot either side of the ball holds it in place.
Still funnier when at a stop sign, one foot down to ...

Yesterday, Sunday took the 'Strom' off to Waihola in the late afternoon dodging showers to meet up with Dunedin KBer's for tea to celebrate a 21st.
Approaching Milton a large cumulonimbus cloud was dropping wet stuff on the hills between Milton and Waihola.
So I hung a left and did a quiet side trip up into the Manuka Gorge. It was wet in there and the going was slow, wet road, some gravel piles left after the recent spate of gravel spreading to mitigate the frosts and the fact that ...