General Bike Ravings

It seemed like forever since I was last racing and thinking about it this would be only the second full race day (provided nothing stopped me from finishing the day) in a year.

I had a list of things to do to the bike but due to real life stuff the priority of that list dropped until I forgot what I'd done with it. I'd definitely changed the oil and filter and lock wired everything back up so the only thing I really needed to do was ...

Bloody marvellous! I went for my first conditioning ride this morning. I decided that about 500km would be good and worked out a route up by Wangas, then across and back through the Wai’rapa, which ended up at 530km, would be just what the doctor ordered. The straight and boring ride up ‘1’ & ‘3’ to Wangas would be arse numbing and on an early (0700) start I wouldn’t have to worry about cold, damp patches, then I could enjoy a few nice roads on the way home. And when it worked out at 530km, I thought, ...

heyhey, just wondering what the riding is like at Karipoti (Upper Hutt Wellington) ? .. are tracks blocked (trees down) rivers in flood? haven been there since last winter lol ... i wanna try my new XCF350

Damn, two months between rides is tough going. I got a bit of a surprise when I filled this morning to see that the last fill was on 14 June and even if I hadn't been working 7 days a week since that last ride, I doubt I would have been out much as the weather has been such crap. I don't mind riding in the rain but what gets me is the focus required to find a line through the tar slicks. Our roads really are in crappy condition.

I was supposed to work today but last night I thought, ...

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It is with a heavy heart I have to inform you all that Mike Hyde passed away on the 3rd of Aug 2015 after losing his fight a brain tumor. He will be dearly missed by his wife and two children plus his extended family. As well and many friends around the world.

Ride on Mike ride on.
You do the book on the next routes Mike and we will follow.

When I changed from riding an Intruder cruiser to the ST1300 sports tourer, I considered getting a radar detector, however, I figured that a detector might well encourage me to ride faster than the allowable limits and therefore opted an alternative measure of speed control and that was riding off the economy gauge, whereby if the speed rose and the economy dropped, then one was inspired to button off a bit. Ahh the joys of being a tight-arse!

The other major factor that entered into ...

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Mate, I dunno about you but I’m fair buggered.
The poster on the fridge in the smoko room at Suzuki NZ, Wanganui hit us like a bombshell. Rob Gardiner went on to explain what had happened and that understandably due to his medical condition Mike Hyde, the author of the Twisting Throttle books and the driving force behind the TT would not be there to wave us home.
It was a sobering moment reminding us how fickle and fragile life is; you never know when it’s going to stand up and ...

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Today was a Uly ride to Hunterville for lunch. My worker has abandoned me for three months so I definitely don't have time to ride at the moment....and hence I needed to go.

As it was a relatively long ride, the start was scheduled for 0900 rather than the normal 1000, so I checked the tyre pressures last night, as well as packing the wets and other usual gear, charged the Sena and phone, then had to get up early this morning to scrub, gear-up, fill at BP Mana and get to the Weigh ...

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