Hunting For Inspiration Plus Some Island Magic

Well, October went in the blink of an eye and here we are at the pointy end of November! My 2018 Great Cycle Challenge sort of fizzled into a piss-weak effort due in part to a lack of mojo and a fairly busy work schedule. To be totally honest, every time I got on my bike to ride I would think "WTF am I doing this for?" It just felt like work. The usual joy of riding just simply wasn't (and still isn't) there. I am guessing I probably finished near the back end of the fundraising list. (edit: fark! Of the 13265 riders registered, only 5636 rider actually raised any money! I didn't do too bad then at 4516th place.....)

I can't blame motorcycles for this lack of enjoyment as I haven't really felt like riding them either, so I am not sure what is going on.

I thought I had a cunning plan to use October as a big kilometre training month to help me build fitness for the Hunt 1000 bikepacking ride being held near the end of November. I certainly doesn't feel like that has worked out and to further rub salt into the wound, our rosters were delayed by four days over the weekend and I note now on the Hunt website that registrations have closed. 

FUCK!

I now have the time off, I have the experience and I have the slightly questionable fitness to tackle the ride but do I have the motivation? You can't do a 1000km(620mi) ride, with 20 000m (66000ft) of climbing, through the remote Snowy Mountains region without a bucket load of motivation. I have three weeks to find it.....

So with this lack of mojo, over the last weekend I decided to take some time off the treadlys and join my little brother down at Phillip Island for the Australian round of the Moto GP. I hadn't been to Phillip Island (or pretty much any motorcycle race) since about 2003. This time I was taking my 14 year old son to his first ever race meeting. He hasn't shown much interest in anything really, so I was hoping he might enjoy it.

Steve had offered to take some camping gear for us as he was driving down, so all we had to organise was some flights, a hire car and a spot in the Trackside campground. I was a bit apprehensive about camping trackside as I recall it being a filthy looking mudpit occupied by a bunch of yobbos whenever I had walked by it back in the 1990s....... would it be any different now?

Thursday

After a super early start, we landed in Melbourne, picked up our car and headed for The Island. Without going right through the centre of Melbourne there is no easy way to get to the south east side of the city. 

Funny town names down here.

We battled suburban traffic for a while before being spat out onto the Monash freeway. From here on it was sweet and we met Steve in San Remo (the mainland end of the bridge to Phillip Island) for a hello er......beer.

There was a large police escorted ride that arrived outside the pub as we sat there so we took a while to watch them arrive, assemble then depart again.

After they departed we made our way to the track's visitor information centre to check in and get our campground pass.

 The Trackside Campground is located on the little go cart track that is an exact mini replica of the main circuit. Our selected area was nice and green and level. Very important for a good nights sleep.

Steve also had Ray and Geoff's tents, who were riding down to The Island from Sydney, so we set those up as well. That task done we decided to go for a drive into Cowes for a look around and some dinner.

The main street was busy with bikes and people as it always is at GP time. We had a look in a pop up shop that Andy Strapz had set up and it was good to see all of his products in the flesh. You can only ascertain so much from the internet so it was good to see them first hand. Steve bought some of his Strapz and I bought a new Buff that will be my dedicated motorcycling Buff (as opposed to the MTB Buff I have had for almost 10 years). 

We headed back to the campground for what turned out to be an early night as it was pretty cold for us banana benders plus the fact we had been up since 0330.

Friday

Friday morning dawned cool and cloudy. Exactly as I remember The Island. We wandered up to the Visitor's Centre cafe' for some breakfast and a coffee.

Gold and Goose have nothing on this goose.....

 I had never been to the centre before and as well as good food there was a very pleasant little garden area that we had a look around while we waited for some passing showers to er....pass.

Will and Uncle Chillertek.

The poor old Aussie Superbikes were whizzing around in the rain while we ate. The Moto 3 first free practice had started as we were wandering around the garden. Unfortunately, one of the riders leaked oil half way around the circuit without realising it so the next 2 hours were a bit dull as a massive track cleanup effort got underway.

Waiting.....

We used this time to check out the Moto Expo (and dodge some more rain), fill up on more coffee and enjoy the four-seasons-in-one-hour experience that is Phillip Island.

Still waiting......

Yeah, um, well........

Then the Moto 2 bikes were out! I had no idea what they were but as soon as Steve said they run CBR600 engines I knew where I had heard that sound.

Moto 2 free practice gets underway

Remy Gardiner (Wayne's son) almost made it around a full lap....

Luckily, he walked away but it was a BIG highside on the left out of MG.

So that Remy didn't feel too bad, Stefano Manzi decided to have a close inspection of the grass at MG....

He wasn't giving up though! He was determined to test the fitness of the track marshalls....

Push you lazy bastards!

More cardio fitness needed...?

This was the most striking thing that I noticed over the weekend. There were many, many crashes. I can only remember a small handful of crashes over the whole weekend 15-20 years ago but during the few days we were there, there were plenty of crashes in all classes. The riders were whisked back to the pits on the back of a Honda CRF250L, while the broken bikes were trailered back behind a motorcycle as well, where in the past the bikes had remained by the trackside until the end of the session sweep trailer came by.

Crasher pickup.

We wandered around to Lukey Heights so that the photographers could get a new angle. (Will took pretty much all of these photos)

This is a great photo of the track showing how much of a bend and elevation change there is from Siberia, past The Hayshed and up into Lukey heights.

The Moto GP bikes ate that distance up in just a few seconds!

Much faith is required to stay on the gas as a rider crests Lukey Heights! They are hard on the gas as the track then drops into the tight right of MG Corner.

Watching all this daredevilry is thirsty work and Steve made sure he stayed hydrated in the blistering 15C heat of Phillip Island.

Moto 2 practice got under way again and it wasn't long before the team mechanics had some more trade, this time at Honda corner.

Perhaps some of these guys needed it, but didn't know it?

The Moto GP were soon out again for another session. Did I mention how loud they are? No? Well, they are ear-splittingly loud!! Like as in need-ear-plugs-in loud!

Deaf old bastard still needs earplugs to ease the pain of Moto GP exhausts.

Maveric on the gas.

Alvaro Bautista was lucky enough to be given the injured Lorenzo's bike. Yep. Pretty lucky....

That Ducati is jinxed. At least he was walking, unlike Lorenzo.

I don't know if they are just trying too hard, if the electronics save them, if the electronics let them down or what the story is but everyone had moments, world champions included. In fact, Marquez had a few.

Friday afternoon practice. A portent?

Takaaki Nakagami fell victim to Siberia's gravel trap late in practice Friday as well.

As the practice sessions wound down, the Aussie Superbikes put on another display race. Troy Bayliss was dicing with Glenn Alerton for the whole thing. Not bad for a 48 year old! He can still ride!!

Bayliss blasting.

Back to camp for a rest and a rehydrate before wandering up to the food area where there was to be a screening of Wayne Gardiner's movie, Wayne.

Geoff's original R1.

It turned out to be quite a good watch with some great old footage in there. While I tip my hat to Wayne for winning that '87 championship, effectively bringing the Grand Prix to Australia in 1989 and every year since, it feels like he is rewriting his character a bit as Mr Nice guy when at the time and into the 1990s he was definitely Mr Me Me Me. (My opinion only of course)

Saturday

Well, Saturday dawned cold, overcast, windy and just as we were exiting the tents, wet! Typical Phillip Island again! It quite often looks nice on television but look closely and you will see how everyone is all rugged up despite it looking sunny and green. I think this is why the riders have so many tire problems at The Island. You need a hard tyre to last the distance but because it is always so cold, riders need a soft tyre to get it to hook up. There is probably more trade-off in tyre selection here than any other race. If only the race was held a month later or perhaps as the first of the season. It does actually get plenty hot in summer down here.....but not so much in October....

We waited about 15 minutes for that rain shower to pass, then headed up to the Visitor's Centre cafe' for breakfast again. Will tested his riding skills while we waited for the cafe' to open.

On the way out he said g'day to Wayne, Mick and Casey.....

of course though, it isn't the first time he has had a chat to Casey....

We were down to the fence nice and early to watch the Aussie Superbikes splash their way around a very wet, windy and cold track in their last support race. 

At the end of Gardiner Straight.

Despite the arctic conditions, Steve was taking no chances with hydration. After all, Australia is the driest continent on the planet....

Will, following his Uncle's lead indulged in his first cappaccino. At least it would keep him warm....

A cap and Oreos.....mmmmmm.

We wandered our way around to Siberia to watch the first Qualifying session(Q1). The crowds were starting to build by mid morning.

Dumb and Dumber.

The lads on the track were starting to get serious. I had noticed that the Suzukis looked fast and consistant both days so far. Not that I am a Suzi fan but it would be nice to see them going strong and on the podium come race day.

Rossi, Dovi, Rins and Luthi.

Another shower rolled through so we took shelter under a tree. Will thought this would be a funny photo. His Mum didn't agree....

Things got very serious in the afternoon session.

They were LOUD exiting Siberia.

Marquez was pushing hard. Perhaps just a little too hard.

Siberia action.

We eventually got right around the track and while doing so caught up with moto blogger Jules of Tarsnakes fame. It was nice to finally meet him and have a chat but I must apologise for being a little distracted. Will wasn't feeling well at all and I was a bit concerned as to what might be up. We bid Jules and his wife g'day and made our way back toward the campground, just in case Will needed to lie down. 

Will seemed to come good about an hour later and we watched the end of Q2 from near the campground. After ditching our chairs, cameras and backpacks we headed up to the camp kitchen for a meat-fest dinner.

While the campground food was a little basic, I must say that the catering at the track is about a million times better than what it was 15 years ago! There is a wide variety of foods available and they were all good quality. Of course, you pay for it but overall I thought the facilities were top notch, not the grubby third world conditions that used to be provided for spectators. The Trackside Campground was a pleasant revelation as well. Gone were the all night redlining of motorcycles and endless raucous behaviour. Sure, there was some burnout action, some fireworks and yahooing but nowhere near what I was dreading. Have Aussie bikers become pussies....or are we just all old and no youngsters are coming into the sport...or are the youngsters pussies.....?

We turned in pretty early again as Will and I had to catch a morning flight home on the Sunday. No race day for us! No, I had to work early Monday morning and I couldn't risk being stuck in Melbourne Sunday afternoon. 

A huge thanks to my Bro, Steve for taking care of the camping gear so we could get down to The Island for a few days. Will absolutely loved the racing and is pretty keen on motorcycling it would seem. 

Perhaps a little dirt bike might be in Santa's bag this year.....?

Cheers.