General Bike Ravings

The tour proper gets underway today, heading north from Los Angeles to a little town called Morro Bay.

The debacle last night didn’t assist in getting an early night’s sleep, getting to bed around midnight, after re-packing things where they were supposed to be. Nevertheless, the alarm rang at 7am, and Murray was already up and showering.

Had a quick breakfast, again of cereal, milk and yoghurt. If anything, their supply had grown since the previous day, so ...

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Monday. It’s about time. We’ve only been counting down the days to see the bikes for about 2 months, and we’re all pretty keen.

I was up at 7am, into the shower then down to breakfast. Another 2 boxes of cereal, milk and yoghurt, and 2 of the others had already been at the cereal. We’ll do our best to deplete their stock, but I think they have far more than we have time. 5 different flavours available, so I had Raisin somethingorother.

We met down ...

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Woke up about 8am, but took a while to rise. Into the shower, using it to clean some garments. First shave in probably 4-5 days, and felt much better (still need more sleep though). Time adjustment seems to be going very well.

Down to Mariposas again, and hating egg didn’t leave me a lot of options. Ignoring Steak, French toast and nothing was left. Hmmm. I don’t like having a heavy breakfast. Luckily I noticed the milk and cold cereal in the bottom corner, so hoping the ...

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Today we finally got to do the Three Passes Ride (Track – Gorge – Saddle) which was cancelled due to bad weather a few months back.

After yesterday’s practice, I finally got the opportunity to clean the grime from the last ride off the bike and when I checked the fuel log, I saw that this was the first fill for a month, so it’s definitely been an economical period of weather (although there was a wee excursion to the Gold Coast in there).

I wasn’t expecting too many ...

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On Saturday, I took the opportunity of good weather and organised with Dennis to have another Slow Handling practice.

Over the past two months I’ve managed to have six or seven sessions, trying and testing various courses (about eight of twenty plus), practicing a few of them on the ST and comparing how other bikes seem to go, although so far that has only involved Ken on his DR, BMWST on the Paris Dakar and Dennis on the ‘Busa.

The process has been quite interesting ...

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The day off on Friday isn’t… and I find myself leaving the office around 5pm on Friday afternoon, hadn’t packed yet, but at least I had sorted all the errands.

Dinner with family after a little packing, and I continue packing. Finish packing, shower etc, and I’m crawling into bed at 1am. Alarm rings far too soon at 2.30am. Changed into flight clothes, and since I made excellent time to the airport, arrived earlier than I needed. Flight departed just after 6am, but I was checked in ...

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The eternal question posed many a husband since men have tried to faster.

Last weekend I took my older daughter up to ride (giving me an excuse so I could race there) at Roy's Hill go-kart track, which she did with much enjoyment. I must admit I had my heart, lungs and stomach stuck in my throat each time she headed out with visions of broken bone x-rays and a very angry wife. But by the end of the second days racing I was one very proud Dad with the way she rode.

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Hello,

Just letting you know that Mike Nash (some of you may know Mike from reading various Bike publications in New Zealand) has a new site which he will be updating with all his new articles, reviews and lots of photos. There is already a few great reads on there, check out the reviews of the Brass Monkey this year.

Address is www.bottomoftheworld.net

Would love to hear any feedback!

Thanks,
Rowan c/o Mike Nash