Just Like A Mountain Bike - With A Motor

I was stooging around Perth, West Australia, the other day just minding my business.

My regular Swan River lap on a hired road bike was going according to plan but things were starting to heat up, temperature wise. 

You see, Perth had just endured a record breaking spell of hot weather only normally seen on the sun ward side of Mercury! 

The heatwave was officially over but it was heading for the high 30s again today. I was slurping plenty of water to stay hydrated but my mind was wandering. Wandering back to a blog post I read last week.

 Author of said blog, Mike, (BMW GS1200 owner/rider) had been for a test ride on the new Honda Africa Twin. It is an adventure bike that has been promised for a while now but was short in the actual delivery. Well no more! Honda has finally released it to a public that has until now had to make do with massively overpriced, overweight motorcycles that are purportedly for "on and off highway" use. 

I have been eyeing the BMW 800GS and the Triumph Tiger 800XC for a while but they are too heavy, too expensive and too road oriented for my taste so I have just sat on my hands, despite having a good look at the BMW during our tour of New Zealand in 2014.

Where am I going with all this I hear you ask? Well, I am going to take the bikecycle back to the hire shop - which happens to be right near Dale Britton Honda....

I thought that I might just pop in to see if they had any Africa Twins on the floor. You know, just to see what they look like in the flesh. 

Well, I was pleased to see that they had two in fact. One was the base model in silver and the other an ABS model in Honda Tricolour. There was another scruffy looking bloke sniffing around them, so we took turns at ogling each bike.

Chatting to Dale Britton himself confirmed my suspicions that this bike was generating much interest. Dealers had to beg Honda for demo bikes as the actual release date for the Africa Twin here in Oz isn't until May. The rest of the world has them NOW. The caveat for dealers to get their mitts on an actual bike was that they were under no circumstances to sell the demo bike lest they be shut out of the supply chain for 12 months! Tough stuff for people who earn their crust by selling motorcycles to punters like me......

In spite of this, he insisted I take the nice, shiny ABS model for a test ride. I came up with all sorts of reasons not to but really, I was bursting to throw a leg over it. I just needed to return the treadly and get changed into some motorcycle friendly kit, not the bike gear I had on. I would return!

And return I did! The obligatory paperwork took all of 30 seconds to complete and they pointed me at the Africa Twin, burbling away just outside the front door. I threw a leg over and tried my best not to wobble out into the traffic.

I needn't have worried, I felt at home almost immediately. The throttle was light, but not too light so it was easy to be smooth despite me not having ridden a motorcycle for maybe 4-6 weeks now. Being in a strange city, on a strange bike didn't feel that daunting because this bike was easy to ride. It felt like a big soft mountain bike.....just with a lot more GO than I can provide.

In finding my way down to the Swan River I had plenty of stop/start work at lights and left/right as I flowed through back streets down to the river. The bike felt typical "Honda". 

Smooth, polished and a little bit homogenised. 

The bike has good standover height. At 178cm(5'11") I could touch the ground easily but not quite flat footed both sides though. There is a height adjustable seat option but I am not sure what the demo bike was sporting. Either way, I felt pretty comfortable with the size of the bike and the layout of the cockpit. The bars were comfortable and despite my short 45 minutes on the bike, I am pretty sure that a long day in the saddle would be easily accomplished without needing to be hoisted off by a helicopter at the destination. The seat felt, well actually, I didn't notice it at all, so it must have been ok.

Long, it isn't.

The instrument cluster is pretty basic compared to most new bikes. I didn't have time to sort through the menus, what with trying to take photos in traffic err..controlled conditions....

I mentioned that the bike felt soft earlier. Well, getting on the gas saw the nose rear skyward. Not that the front was lifting off, just the back was squishing down. Backing off and braking firmly sees the nose dive like a football player at the World Cup. To be fair, this may be perfect for off road use, something I didn't get to try being in the centre of Perth. If it IS too soft I am sure it can be set up to suit the road a little better without compromising the off road capability.

I had read good things about the aerodynamics of the screen on various blogs and reviews in that the AT doesn't buffet your head around. I found the BMWs we rode in New Zealand to be terrible in this regard despite there being different screens fitted to the bikes we hired. They were all bad.

The only place to try the Africa Twins aeros was along the Swan River while riding into the Fremantle Doctor. My 70km/h plus the Doctor's 40km/h gave me a virtual 110km/h headwind and I am pleased to say that the result was a quiet, smooth ride.

I negotiated some more city traffic, finding the bike easy to filter at the lights. It was a hot afternoon, maybe 37C (99F) but the engine didn't give off an uncomfortable amount of heat even with the cooling fan cycling on and off.

I thought that I was pushing the friendship by now and made my way back to the dealership. I managed to surprise myself by finding the dealership pretty quickly. Being handed the keys to a brand new bike, in a city on the other side of the country to where I live, with no escort to lead me around was outstanding customer service. I know when test riding bikes here at home they will not let you out of sight, so kudos to Dale Britton Honda for trusting me with their one precious demo bike.

My thoughts? 

I must say I don't get excited by many motorcycles these days. To me they seem to be all about "more". 

More power, more speed, more weight, more cost, more "cred". The Africa Twin represents a bit "less" to me. It isn't uber powerful, it isn't a supertanker, though it isn't a featherweight either. It isn't a pose, it is meant to take on adventure. Sure, it makes compromises in what specification it can have but I must say that I feel that Honda have worked extremely hard on not allowing compromises to affect what it can do.

This is just an initial opinion and just my opinion. I do want to ride the DCT version of the bike which may be easier said than done. Finding a dealer willing to risk sitting an auto on their showroom floor, possibly to be stuck with it might be tough. Also, I need to get some dirt under it's wheels before I go making any rash decisions.....

....but it took a long while to wipe the sh#t-eating grin off my face..............

Cheers.

"Don't Die Wondering" - Mick Eyb Style Inspiration

I am currently working my way through The Cordillera, Volume 7. The Cordillera is a collection of stories by racers who took part in the 2015 Tour Divide Race. The book is pulled together by Christopher Bennett and while started as a collection of rambling stories in the early versions, now serves as the go-to resource for prospective racers. Importantly, all profits from the sale of The Cordillera since 2010 go toward the college fund of  Linnaea Blumenthal, daughter of Dave Blumenthal, who was tragically killed during the 2010 race.

Anyway, I have been enjoying reading about other racers perspectives on the race and nodding (to myself) knowingly as other racer's days intertwine with mine on various days. I have been able to put some names to faces and events that occurred. I also find myself looking for what the faster finishers did to speed themselves along and am finding it blindingly obvious what those who finished slower did wrong.

Then I came to Mick Eyb's account. 

Mick

I met Mick at "The Y" in Banff, in fact he was in the next room and him being a country lad from New South Wales (my home state) we got along really well. Mick is a funny guy and as I said in my Day 1 race post I would have been very happy to ride with Mick throughout the race. Unfortunately, as we exited the Spray River Trail at the Goat Creek trailhead we were suddenly on a smooth gravel road. Mick was on a single speed and was soon spun out while I simply clicked up through the gears and put the power down. I figured I would be seeing him later in the day as the racers ebbed and flowed but it didn't happen. I beat the worst of the rain into Elkford and chased a storm over to Sparwood while most of the field was stuck in the mud and stayed in Elkford, 30 miles back.

The last time I saw Mick during the race. 

Anyway, it was great to finally read Mick's account of his race and I think he very kindly credits me with too much in it.(insert blush here). I near pissed myself laughing as he laid out his race mantras, this mantra in particular.

But he has hit the nail on the head with "Don't die wondering". Being just an ordinary, garden variety working dad myself, I understand how we can let all sorts of excuses stop us from getting out there and having a crack at the world. I was determined (and I guess lucky) enough to make the 2015 Tour Divide happen. 

But what next?

 There are plenty of handy excuses not to do anything else but I find I have a desire to challenge myself again. I don't need the challenge to be perilously life threatening but it needs to be gruelling enough that just anybody isn't going to be able to complete it. Start it yes. Complete it, no.

I am finding that this race keeps popping up as pretty insane, but quite possibly do-able....yeah, it sounds like a challenge....

 
2014 Arizona Trail Race from Aaron Johnson on Vimeo.

Cheers.

One Last Ride To See Out 2015

I had the day off work today so thought I had better put it to good use. No, I didn't mow the lawn. No, I didn't fix one of the two retaining walls that are falling down............Yep, you guessed it, I went for a ride!

I decided that after the year that I have had it needed to be a mini Epic ride and it needed to be on the mighty Muru BNT, the bike that hauled my sorry arse down the length of the US of A with such aplomb.

My go-to ride for something of greater length is to head just a few short kilometres (metric miles) out the back of the city of Brisbane. We are blessed in that the D'Aguilar Forest starts pretty much at Mt Cootha and extends upwards and outwards, covering a huge expanse of land that is riddled with fire roads that make for challenging and fun riding. It was my Tour Divide training ground and served me well, so I decided to start up South Boundary Road out of Gap Creek.

I was running a little behind schedule as I just couldn't get out the door but I managed to get my bum on the seat by 5:42am. I ambled along the bike way toward Gap Creek on the partially loaded Muru. Dozens of roadies whizzed past going the other way. It felt like a Sunday, not a Wednesday.

I was soon in Gap Creek and to the Echidna trail so that I could say that I had done at least one single track. What I noticed while riding Echidna was how much effort the Muru required to get it around the bends and over the step ups. I was already realising that I was really strong earlier this year due to all the Tour Divide training. Now, not so much. I keep despairing at the 12kg (26lb) that I have put on since finishing the Tour Divide in early July. 

I REALLY need a goal to train for next year. Badly...

Anyway, once out of the single track the trail goes up. And up. 1200m(3900ft) over 25km(15mi). This may not look too bad but the climbs are mostly steep pinches which test one's legs at times. 

I always enjoy the last few kilometres to the top as the forest changes from the standard dry Aussie bush to sub tropical rain forest. As I rode into the rainforest today I spied another rider coming the other way. It turned out to be Rients, another Muru BNT owning Brisbanite whom I have been speaking to about all things bike packing for about 18 months now. This was the first time we had actually met and how appropriate that it was on Sth Boundary Rd.

After a short chat Rients rolled on down the hill and I finished up my climb along the Boombana walking trail. Yes, it is a walking trail but I will not ride on the busy, winding main road just above it as I see it as just too dangerous. Every dickhead on a sports bike or sports car are testing their (mostly narrow) limits on the narrow road. No, I will take the verbal abuse about being on the trail from old ladies any day. Plus, it's right purty!

I rolled through Mt Nebo, too early for the shops to be open but it didn't matter. I had all the food and water I would need until I reached Fernvale as the climbing was mostly done now. 

Up and over Hammermeister Rd kept me off the main road for longer and in no time I was at Dundas Rd, the fire road that heads west (and down!) through D'Aguilar Forest.

I saw a couple of dirt bikes near the water tank on Dundas Rd but they were heading down another trail so were no bother. I was soon dropping down "Whoa Boy". This is a very steep section of trail that drops 370m(1213ft) in 3km(1.8mi). Needless to say, the brakes got a great work out down here as the 5000km old front tyre was struggling to do much gripping of the trail!

Rather than drop through the "hippy camp" at the bottom, I wanted to stick to legal trail today and for the first time took the Corbould Pocket trail. It proved to be a mostly pleasant trail...well, apart from the Wall Of Dirt climb. That was a seriously steep push but was over in a few hundred metres.

The ride out to Banks Creek Road was quite steeply downhill and very rutted which necessitated some judicious bouts of hoofing it as well. How embarrassing!

Banks Creek Rd was the usual pleasnat roll. Crossing the Brisbane river I saw many families splashing around in the shallow water. I must say, it did look like an extremely good idea.

I was soon in Fernvale and headed straight into the bakery. No pie for the fat boy today though. A tasty chicken and salad roll washed down with a coffee fit the bill. 

Then it was off down the (unopened) rail trail toward Ipswich. I had ridden this section a few years ago with Deano but it still wasn't officially open and I was worried about what sort of state the surface might be in after 3 years inattention.

A few kilometres down the trail though and I bumped into Peter, the BVRT Ranger! We had a good half hour chat about all things rail-trail and he said I would be fine to ride the closed section. There was one locked section but to just throw my bike over the fence and get on with it.(this section is only closed due to bureaucratic inaction, not any real safety issue) 

So, I did. The trail was very "green" in that there was much grass on it, though, it was slashed and there was quite a bit of loose ballast stone on it. This gave me a bit of a pounding on the rigid Muru but was far better than riding on the roads, even if they were quiet. 

The many gates are mostly locked in the open position which speed things greatly. As I got closer to "the 'swich" the trail "art" became very prolific and sometimes pointed.

I eventually rolled into Ipswich and found the train station but not before crossing a very steep creek snake watering hole.

I was feeling a little worse for wear but I was very happy that all of my contact points were fine after 6 hours in the saddle. 

I have heard stories that many of the Tour Divide racers from this year are still suffering various ailments that limit their riding or enjoyment. I have sort of beat myself  up a bit these past few months, thinking that I could have gone a day or two faster if I had pushed myself a little harder during the race. 

Now, I am not so sure. I have no lasting ill effects (unless you count weight gain) and I am not sure I would be able to say that if I had pushed myself harder....

This ride proved to be a very satisfying way of rounding out what was an amazing year for me. 

2015 started with a huge goal. To train for the Tour Divide and to this end I put my head down and trained hard. It must have been serious as I even abstained from alcohol for the first 7 months of the year and I must admit, I never felt better for it!

Regular readers were no doubt bored with all of the TD related posts but my blog gave me a place to gather my thoughts and lay out a dairy of what I did and when. So thanks for bearing with me on that front. I have been a bit bereft of ideas since then. Well, that isn't strictly correct. Nothing much seems worth blogging about after such a mind blowing year!

My stats for the year were 9,193km (5712mi) ridden with about 133 000m (436 000ft) of climbing. That doesn't count the many hours I sat on a crappy hotel gym bike while away on overnights with work.

So, readers, in the never ending hunt for content (and reigning in my expanding girth) I will be setting a goal for early next year that will give me the structure and thus drive that I seem to have been lacking these last 5 months. Watch this space.....

Happy New Year and see you in 2016!

Cheers and thanks for reading.

Still Alive And Kicking

I have been a bit quiet lately and thought I had better say something lest you all think I have lost interest.

I have been pottering away going on the occasional mountain bike ride, 

helping out with trail building,

 riding with the kids,

even riding the motorcycle,

 but working way too much.

I have to pay a bike and a trip to the US off, don'tcha know!

I've even done some trail running while away on overnights. Rock hopping our way along Cataract Gorge in Tasmania on one recent occasion.

The kids have even tried a bit of trail running for something different.

Yep, keeping busy and moving along. But maybe I need a focus again...?

Cheers