High Time For Some TLC

Now before you get all excited that this might be going somewhere interesting, I am referring to giving some TLC to my much neglected R1.

Sharing the shed with the Tour Divide rig.

Yep, I have had it in the shed for just over 4 years now and in that time a mere 3957km (2473mi) have rolled under it's wheels. Some may say that this is criminal and a bike deserves to be let out but I counter with my original plan that this bike is a keeper that I want to limit the kilometres (metric miles) that appear on it's odometer.

However, it has been 3 1/2 years and 3177km (1985mi) since I last did an oil and filter change on her. The mileage was probably ok but the 3 1/2 years in this humid environment probably wasn't so good with moisture ingress bound to have occured. 

So it was off to Ultimate Motorcycle Spares for some Motul 5100 and a filter. That rocked me back just shy of 100 beer coupons but divided by 3 1/2 years I guess I can live with that.

I had ridden the bike to go test ride another bike (no, not this but something similar...) , so it was nicely warmed for the old oil to be dropped. Shit that stuff stays hot for a long time though!!

While I waited for the oil to drain I cast an eye over the bike, something I haven't done for at least a few years. Just taking some time to eyeball my bikes, be they motor or pedal, is something that I rarely get to do. My spare/down time is unfortunately spent in a hotel room on the other side of the country and when I am home it is always ALL SYSTEMS GO! It was actually quite relaxing to just sit and sip a cup of tea and relax.

Until I noticed that a bolt was missing of course. Yep, I had noted that when the bike had it's swing arm resprayed a few years back I couldn't get any torque on the bolt that holds the chain slider (and my registration label holder at the time. You can see how they put the rego label on the race stand pickup! ;( ). It had been stripped when they put it back together. I didn't say anything at the time because I felt I had a great outcome with the battery distributors going above and beyond to make my bike right after their product screwed up.

So now it is missing so I will have to look at getting a helicoil or similar to anchor the slider.

Anyway, the job took almost no time to complete but what is with these "easy pour" spouts? 

I think it took longer to pour the oil out of the silly spout on the Motul bottle than the whole rest of the job!

It looks like that new chain finally needs some lube and while I am at it I am sure the brakes need bleeding. 3 1/2 years since I did that little chore and in this sub tropical humidity I guess it is past due as well.

Why this sudden burst of action I sense you thinking? Despite what I wrote above, I do reserve the right to actually put some kilometres on that odometer and well, it looks like I will be heading out for a ride this coming Sunday and Monday and I want everything to be in tip top shape for lots of this.....

I have some visitors to show around the roads of northern New South Wales and South East Queensland and I don't want to let them down......

Cheers.

Man Flu Blues Equals Cunning Plans

All plans for much riding while on holiday are scuppered by:
1. no motorcycle and 
2. having a cold.

Yes, the R1 is still in the shop for a swingarm respray after it's battery split and new swingarm bearings while it is pulled apart. It has been six weeks now since I dropped it in but to be fair I was away for four weeks so wasn't pushing to have it fixed.

The cold is even more frustrating as the riding weather is perfect at the moment. Not too hot and very dry. It makes for fun, drifty corners.

It is giving me some time to think about my next bike packing trip though, as I haven't had the chance to get out since waay back in June. 

I managed to pick up a new sleep system while in the US. The AMK Sol Thermal Bivy is a lightweight waterproof, breathable bivy bag that can be used as a sleep system on its own in warm weather and I can use it over my sleeping bag come winter. The best bit is that it only weighs 252 grams (8.9oz) and was about $30 from REI. For summer bike packing I should be able to leave the sleeping bag behind and just use the bivy, saving quite a bit of weight. However, before I blast out into the middle of nowhere with this thing as my only sleep option I am planning on doing a "local" overnighter to test it out. I can hit up some of the fun trails around here at a convenient time, then "stealth camp" before sampling some more singletrack fun the following morning.

Also while in the US, I got to cross paths with the Tour Divide Route at Pinedale and again near Flagg Ranch on the southern entrance to Yellowstone. It gave me a chance to see the sort of countryside that riders are up against and let me tell you viewers, I was more than a little concerned about being out there on a pushy! 

That was some seriously spectacular, mountainous, bear infested (in my tiny mind anyway!) country. Did I mention the thunderstorms? Oh, yeah, the mountains were covered in them as we drove by Pinedale. 

The Tetons were spectacular at just on 14 000 ft high. Even the flat bits in these pictures are at 7000 ft above sea level, so that Grand Teton at the centre is sticking up almost 7000 ft. That is as high as our highest mountain!The TDR winds it's way just to the north of these to Flagg Ranch before turning south toward Pinedale.

As this panorama unfolded in our windscreen, I mentioned to the boss how I would love to be able to work month on and month off for a while, so that during the off month I could come over and do some sections of the Tour Divide Route. You know, rather than trying to ride it all in one hit like the racers do? Surprisingly I received a green light to the idea! The reality of doing it though is very different.....I just have to hatch a cunning plan, as I have all of the gear now.......

Just to get you into a bikepacking frame of mind, here is Chris Miller's(from Gooney Riders) view of the Colorado Trail Race this year. Riders that finish the CTR are hard as nails. You can see how knackered Chris looks toward the end.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Acid Rain

You may remember last month that I had to purchase myself a new battery for the R1 so that this ride could go ahead.

After the ride I washed my bike and put it in the shed, only getting it out again last week for a "tootle" to the shops to pick up some dry cleaning.

As I was putting it back in the shed I noticed some water on the swingarm, in front of the rear wheel. Now, as we have not had any rain in almost 2 months I was suspicious. On closer inspection I could see that the liquid was dripping from the battery box! Oh....no...!

 

Oh f@#k Yes! It was battery acid. I quickly whipped the seat off, had the battery out and began washing down the swingarm. But it was too late. The damage was done.

 

Fast forward to this week. I took the battery back to the store that I bought it from with the idea of chasing the battery distributors up for a replacement and restoration of my bike. I wasn't angry but I had my argument firmly laid out in my mind for when the "its not our responsibility" excuses were trotted out. Well I was pleasantly surprised. I presented the battery, explained what happened and the bike shop staff quickly nipped off to the workshop to show the "boys" the battery. He came back, rang the distributor and organised to have my bike picked up to assess it and test the voltage regulator. All without a further question asked on my part. I was impressed! I was also worried. Worried that a faulty regulator on my 10 year old bike had fried the battery, causing it to split.

 

 

I had a call from the bike shop yesterday and it turns out that my regulator was tested by the battery distributor in the bike shop's workshop and it was charging normally. Whew!

Now the battery distributor is organising for my swingarm to be repaired as well as a new battery. Or so I have been told. I must admit, with me leaving for the US on Monday I am a bit concerned with how this will pan out. I just hope it stays on track nicely, as it has so far. Watch this space....

Speaking of "watch this space", some of you may have seen this guy before but you can never see too much. I especially like his dismount at then end.

How It Is Panning Out

Well the Tour Divide race is almost one week old now. The leaders have covered 1019mi/1630km in the last six days and god knows how much climbing (as I type this at 20:30 Brisbane time). Very impressive stuff considering that they are only averaging about 4 hours sleep per night to cover those sort of miles.

I arrived home this morning from a "red eye" flight and thought I would carry out a small experiment to get a feel for what they might be going through.

To this end I saddled up at 6am, after being awake all night and rolled out for a road ride. Initial impressions were that the legs felt strong. This was to be expected as I hadn't ridden since last friday morning, so the rest week did the legs good.

The slightly unexpected thing was how uncoordinated and unbalanced I felt. Things that normally need zero thought to execute were difficult. My pedalling technique, while never a thing of beauty, was non existant. My legs flailed around, resembling a wonky eggbeater, as I tried to dodge potholes in the road, and saw me pretty much maxed out in a cognitive sense.

This had me thinking (when the road was flat and straight) how tough it must be for the racers who have been doing this for six days, on mountain roads, slogging through snow, rain and cold. To average 200mi/360km per day, every day so far is way beyond my comprehension. And they have another 2 weeks to go!

The current leaders are Ollie Whalley from Christchurch, New Zealand and Craig Stappler from Alberta, Canada. Here they are crossing Richmond peak in Montana earlier in the week. One slip in their bike shoes on that snow and it is a looong slide down the mountain side!

Photo by Casey Greene, BikePacking.net

Photo by Casey Greene, Bikepacking.net

Photo by Casey Greene, BikePacking.net

Photo by Russ Kipp, BikePacking.net

                                                             Yes. They are all still smiling.

Despite the adversity of the past week they are still enjoying themselves. That is what the Tour Divide is about. Pushing yourself to find out what you are capable of, yet enjoying the experience as it unfolds

Photo by Russ Kipp, BikePacking.net

After my little sleep deprivation experiment, I can safely say that these riders are as hard as nails to keep that sort of pace up, while at the same time feeding themselves and wrenching on their rides to keep them mobile.

Here is the link to the LeaderBoard and where they are now.




On another note, but sticking with the "How is it Panning Out?" theme, I got to take the R1 for a spin to work last week.

After bagging my brother for his battery issues as seen on this ride of his, sure enough Murphy's law kicked in and saw me with a flat battery! Not totally unexpected when I only ride the bike every few months and the previous owner rode it even less. A mate came to the rescue with his new "all singing, all dancing" CTEK battery charger. Hooking this smart charger up for the week saw it recondition the battery as well as keep it topped up once the charge was complete. One of these is definitely on the shopping list as I will certainly have more battery issues in the future.

Anyway, this meant that I could ride to work for the classroom duty that I was assigned. I took a quick snap and a video with the smart phone to prove that it did get out for some sun. Not the best audio on that video, but what can you do?

Motor Bicycling

With my little bro bailing on me to go ride a "duck", I suddenly had a clear morning before heading back to the salt mines.

Too late to organise a MTB ride, I had to come up with a plan C. It was a nice day, being not too hot or too humid and I did have a jacket to wear now. Must be time to get the R1 out of the shed then!

Dragging all of my gear together and checking tyre pressures took about thirty minutes. Thirty minutes to let the butterflies grow. How would it go? Will I remember how to make the bike go around a corner? Will I have fun or was this going to be a big mistake?

As I sat on the bike to ride away, I was struck by how "in the bike" you feel when compared with riding a bicycle, where you are sitting waaay up high. Feeling awkward right away can't be good. I gave myself an uppercut and calmed down to concentrate on the basics of smoothness and throttle control. It is amazing how rusty you become with throttle control and sobering to realise how important it is to riding a motorcycle with the direct response that the R1 has to said throttle!

I rolled on to the Motorway heading south. The plan was to take in a pleasant loop up over Mt Tamborine to Canungra, the return home via Nerang. This route would necessitate riding some narrow, twisting roads. A sure fire way to focus my attention on the issues of the moment, namely throttle control and cornering ability.


View Larger Map

Shortly after getting off the motorway, I noted another large jap road bike following me. Great. A witness to my ineptitude! Stuck behind slow moving cars I concentrated on road position and where to look in the corners. One of the first things I noticed was how wide the road was. I had plenty of tarmac to select a line from, unlike in a car. This immediately made me feel more at ease and when the slow cars finally turned up a side road, I was able to up the pace gently and work on my lines. Funnily enough, looking in the rear view mirror I saw the following rider wobbling and running a bit wide on corners. Maybe I wasn't the only newbie out there this morning!

This part of South East Queensland is always picturesque and today was no exception. With thunderstorms scrubbing the sky clear the previous day, the colours of the mountain were particularly vivid, as if someone had upped the colour saturation on the entire world. I was starting to relax now and enjoy being out on the bike.

Riding over Tamborine, I dropped down the narrow, winding road into Canungra. Following a bogan in a huge four wheel drive helped me keep my pace under control, if not my frustration. This idiot was using both sides of the road to maximise his corner speed. Too bad if another road user was comimg the other way. As soon as I could, I safely dispatched this menace, not wanting to be witness to a head on collision.

Pulling into Canungra, I stopped for a coffee and bite to eat at a cafe' frequented by bikers.

Relaxing under the cooling mist of water that the fans were blowing around, I took a moment to reflect on how much fun I was having....and how damn hot that bike looked!

I also noticed the perfect place to hang the GoPro for no vibration footage. Those rubber Oggy Knobs on either side of the bike are rock solid and would allow a forward or rearward shot. Hmmm....

Suiting up, it was time to head down to Nerang and ultimately home. This piece of road is relatively high speed with long sweepers and a few tight sections to catch out the unwary. By now, I had gone from individual riding actions, brake now-move your butt now-lean now-accelerate now all carried out oafishly and seperately, to smoothly doing all at once. Not having to think about each action separately freed up brain space to assess corner speeds and start braking later. Woo Hooo! It was starting to flow sweetly now.

Motoring along the freeway on the way home I also marvelled at how comfortable the bike was. Despite reading reviews on sports bikes for years and previous personal experience, lamenting the fact that they are painfully uncomfortable, I found the seat well padded and quite pleasant. I guess sitting on a narrow, hard bicycle seat for 4-8 hours at a time changes one's point of reference. So all of you that curse sports bike creature comforts, give yourselves an uppercut and "harden the f#*k up"!

 My concerns about the mustiness of my helmet were also a non event. At highway speeds I simply did not notice the smell and the helmet felt like the quality item that it always was, so I will persevere with my old lid and contemplate a replacement at a later date.

At home again, with the bike tucked away the shed, I had a grin on my face that even the thought of impending work couldn't remove.

No doubt, for some of you the content will be blocked in some countries. If you have AD/DC's Shoot to Thrill, play it in sequence with the video and you will have the full picture! If you feel the need to play "Barbie Girl" by Aqua, have a chuckle to yourself, but just don't tell me about it!

Now to plan the next ride and northern New South Wales is beckoning.

I think this is going to be fun!

Attempted Ride

With a slight respite in the weather and a mere day or so at home, I attempted a ride along some of our silky ribbons of tar earlier in the week. This ride resulted in  a rescue mission by the Minister for War after my front appendage developed a bulge about 30km from home.

That tyre is only 23mm (slightly less than 1") wide and shouldn't have that kink in it. Interestingly, once at home in the garage it proceeded to EXPLODE with all the force of a 30-30 gunshot, almost causing the Minister to wet herself. Glad I wasn't riding it at the time and she was standing in a waterproof part of the house!

On another note, my lovely new R1 hasn't been out of the shed except for a brief run to the bike shop to peruse summer jackets and boots.

I am pleased to say that a pair of Sidi Vertigo boots are in the safe hands of the USPS and hopefully winging their way Down Under as I type this.
On a slightly negative note, I have ordered an AlpineStars T-GP Plus Air Jacket from two large North American motorcycle shops, only to have them both reply after several days that they do not, in fact, have them in stock and promptly returned my money. Nor can they get them any time soon. Bugger!

I have just placed an order with www.ridersdiscount.com , who assure me that they do in fact, have the jacket in stock and will whisk it all the way to Down Under for just 25 bucks! I will wait with fingers crossed that there is no "we apologise" email!

As far as I am concerned, this jacket is required equipment here in Queensland as at this time of year as it is bloody humid. I must be getting old, as the thought of sweating my arse off while riding the R1 is not at all appealing. Add to this that my leather jacket is still at the cleaners and it is a no brainer. No protection = no riding.

The other thing keeping me of the motorcycle is my helmet. It smells like an old ladies house with its combination of air freshener and mouldy, musky damp and I cannot see how to fix it, short of hitting it with the pressure cleaner. This may be terminal for the helmet and I am a bit averse to shelling out the $650 it will cost here in Oz for an Arai Vector 2 helmet. Although, the Vector 2 has a completely removable liner, which, if my current helmet had the same, would solve the problem that I currently have (and will no doubt have in the future here in Queensland), so maybe it will be in the my best interests to just "bite the bullet" and shell out for a new lid.

Either way, I am looking forward to my parcels turning up in the post......

What Have I Done Now ?

Waaaay back in 1990 I bought my very first motorcycle. It was a 1984 Honda CBX 750F. It looked all Buck Rodgers (kids, ask your parents) and I was hooked by the two wheel bug.

Over the years I upgraded to bigger and better bikes. Some Honda,

                                                                        some Kawasaki

                                                                   sometimes multiple bikes

Some race bikes

but, my last road bike was a 2000 model Yamaha R1.

Ahhh, the R1. To me, the most perfect sports bike I had ever ridden. It had massive amounts of power. It had huge brakes and you could use them while cranked over, in a corner, without the bike trying to run you wide and spit you off. And you could tour on it. And I loved that bike more than all the others.

Unfortunately circumstance conspired against me and in a fit of logic (be careful about letting your head rule your heart) I decided to stop road riding and get into dirt bikes. The dirt was good fun. No speeding issues, no traffic in the bush, but also no one to find you if you had a close encounter with the shrubbery. This meant always riding with others. The downside to this was that organising a ride partner became mandatory for a ride to happen. Just another hurdle erected in front of a ride.........so the dirt bikes went as well. For the last four years I have been getting my two-wheel-fix riding mountain bikes and reaping the benefit of hugely improved fitness as well.

I look forward to the mountain biking continuing, but the velos needs to be kind to their new stable mate.......

I always liked the blue R1 more..........