Bathurst and Back on a Bike, Episode II

As promised...

After fueling up on the way out of town, we were to head off towards Rylstone via a scenic route through some of the state forest. I guess for the staff in the fuel station, it might have been a familiar sight to see all his pumps taken up by bikes as he sure seemed none to fussed as we lined up to pay him our measly dollars! I don't think there was anyone paying much over 10 dollars a fill!

On our way out of Bathurst, we passed a few cars heading in the same direction. At the time, I sat behind a couple of the older Ducatis. I knew when the rider in front accelerated as his old bike would let out a cloud of smoke as it was burning a bit rich and it certainly smelt like it too! However, as old as it was, the old Duke could still keep up with the rest of them!

It was good to get off the main highway a little further up the road. I think we must have startled a few drivers. Ducati's are known for their noise and if you thought that a group of Harley riders were loud, then you've never heard Ducati's when they're in a group! Along with engine noise, most also have the loud clacka clacka sound of their dry clutches rattling away on their bikes as well. In fact, some are even louder as they have open clutch covers. Even I turned my head once or twice when I heard a bike come towards me, as I wondered at first what the noise was. It didn't take me long to work it out!

We took a left turn to head towards a tiny village called Sunny Corner. Here as we headed into the forest, the road was wide and smooth, the beginning of bike nirvana! You could almost see everyone wanting to go faster but not wanting to as they had been warned that just around the corner we'd have to pull up and slow down because of the road surface as we turned right. The excitement of the group was beginning to mount I think!

The route took us back towards Cullen Bullen and onto the main road between Mudgee and Rylstone via a small town called Portland. It was here that I recall seeing some kids on the side of the road, waving at all the bikes as we went through town. The houses were tiny weatherboard and fibro places, I guess the town had sprung up for the logging and mining that was going on nearby. I thought it would have been great to be those kids on the side of the road, hearing all these bikes ride past and nearly regretted being part of the ride as that was one aspect that we were missing out on! But that thought only lasted a moment of time as we got back onto the main road and headed towards Capertree. It was there that we had a quick stop to get the group back together again before the next leg.

We pulled into Rylstone for morning tea. It would have been nice to have spent a little more time there but we were already running a bit late I think and so we were encouraged to be quick about getting food and drink. A shame really as it was a place I'd not been to before and was interesting enough to warrant a bit of a better look, I thought. Could be a good excuse to go back there, though the Bylong road into Rylstone wasn't all that great a surface. I know I slowed down on it a bit as I found it jarring and rough on the bikes suspension.

After being hustled to saddle up again, I took the bike for a quick drink at the local servo and then headed out for Sofala. We came out onto the highway for a short time and it included a stretch through some road works. Unfortunately, the road had just been wet down again by the water tanker and it was a tip toe through slimey lime base. It also made many of our bikes very dirty and on my bike, it completely obscured the number plate and rear tail light! Some people didn't think that that was all such a bad thing though!

When we arrived at Sofala and found that there were some bikes that were clean, everyone wondered which direction those bikes had taken! As it turned out, a group had gone the wrong way but as it turned out, they'd probably really gone the right way!

Lunch at Sofala was a lamb roast with baked veges. Everyone ate together in the local hall, at least those who didn't want to drink at the pub. It was great to sit around the table with people who were willing to share information and have information shared. Everyone had something to offer in the way of information and opinions on riding. It went a long way to making me feel welcome in a group of people that I'd not had anything to do with. Even the NSW club president, who had been the organiser of the event, was more than delighted to meet me it seemed. I couldn't fault anyone's hospitality.

After lunch, I was invited to head back with a couple from Canberra, as it was a make your own way to Bathurst affair. This was a great time as Alex and his wife, Helanna had given me some very useful advice in regards to my riding into corners. As they rode ahead, I got the chance to be behind, working on my techniques. We even pulled over after a particularly twisty bit of road and discussed how I'd ridden it and if I was feeling like I was going into corners better. Which I certainly was. Left hand cornering had up until that point been a slightly unnerving affair for me, I was not feeling confident with it and struggled to do left corners as well as I could do a right one. After being told to drop my shoulder into the corner more, I found it made a huge amount of difference and was impressed that I was cornering left as well as I could corner right.

Well, looks like again I will continue this story...

Stay tuned folks!

A very busy week this week, one that has been touched by tragedy...

Last weekend, I spent riding the Duke to Armidale. As part of my trip there, I had been challenged on a forum to take a photo of the bike in front of a local landmark which is big! I chose the big golden guitar at Tamworth.

Actually, come to think of it, I think I became the tourist attraction at the golden guitar as when I was saddling up to leave, a group of people had gathered to watch! So, you can believe me when I say that I was extremely careful and cautious as I was going as I didn't want to do anything stupid like fall over or leave my stand down!

As there was a function on at the school for my son's boarding house, I made the effort to get there. Thankfully the weather was great and so I had a terrific ride up the hill! Once there, I was to meet another parent who had lost her husband last year to a heart attack. Her son is in the same dorm room as mine and it seems that they've hit it off.

One thing about going to boarding school functions is the awkwardness of being a single parent and especially a single female parent. Even the married women tend to hang around with their own husbands and so the couples tend to stick together. So, it's times like these that you definitely don't want to have any name tag and all you really want to do is be somewhere else!

However, I think that really, all my son wants is for me to be there and that being the case, I will do my best to do so!

On Tuesday, 26th of February, the town was rocked by the news of yet another aircraft tragedy in the district. This time, unbelievably, two aircraft were involved. One pilot managed to miraculously survive the impact with the ground and got away from his aircraft which had caught on fire. The second pilot unfortunately did not survive his crash.

It seems inconceivable that seemingly so soon after Mark's accident, here we are facing another one. It is more inconceivable that this one involves not only our bosses plane but his brother in law is the pilot who has survived. Once again, our boss is going through investigation from ATSB and insurance people. We haven't even had Mark's accident finalised yet. It is hard to say at this stage if this will make it all harder or easier.

On Thursday, I travelled to Melbourne. This was a trip planned months ago, way back in December last year. I would not hesitate to say that it was part of God's plan to have me away from home at this time. As the trip plans had fallen so easily in place when I had made them a couple of months ago, it can only have been His influence. I seriously don't know how I would have coped being at home this weekend, as there is another memorial service being held out at the same hangar that Mark's was held in. Either way, I don't think I would have gone to that service this weekend.

I know that this tragedy has affected me, as on the flight down, I spent quite some time quietly weeping. There was no point holding it back, it actually felt like a great relief to be able to do so.

So, I'm now in Melbourne. Today I had a great day with my girlfriend, we took her husband's M series BMW for a blat down to the Peninsula to check out their newly purchased holiday house. It was a fun day of two friends having a laugh, remembering some good times, talking about some bad and wondering why the blokes were having a look at them in the car! (We remembered that what we were driving was bright blue and stood out like a sore thumb!)

But good times and a great way to try and put the tragedy of the week behind me.

My Other Ride is a...

Scooter! A 125cc Aprilia Habana to be precise.

I thought it time to talk about my daily driver. He should get an honourable mention at least as he's nearly as famous as me around town!

At least, most people here in my town know who rides the little blue scoot! Its always funny to see people do a double take when you go zipping past as they certainly don't expect to see a scooter, which is more of an icon of the city, being ridden around a small country town.

Kids love the scooter the most, they stare at it in fascination, stopping whatever they're doing to watch or wave at me as I ride past. I don't know what it is about it. Is it its sexy looks, its bright blue colour or just its smallness? I'm not sure, they could just think I'm weird for riding one!

Its pretty quiet being a four stroke and I'd be the envy of most people who have to currently fork out nearly a hundred bucks to fill up their fuel tanks. It only costs me nine dollars! And of course, with just using the scooter around town, it lasts forever on one tank of fuel!

I've ridden the scooter long distance. A few years ago there was a National Scooter Rally in a larger country town about three and a half hours from here, known as Dubbo to Australians. I rode from here to another town where I met up with some other riders who had come from Brisbane and we rode on together to Dubbo. Yes! They had ridden all the way from Brisbane and some were on scooters no bigger than mine. The rally was a fun few days of riding around with like minded people. And seeing as I only ever see other scooters when I'm in the city, it was a real novelty for me to see so many scooters buzzing around the big town of Dubbo and to be riding one myself!

Most people used to get a real laugh when they saw Mark riding the scooter. He used to take it out to work if I wasn't needing it. Mark seriously had no shame, riding out with his bright yellow helmet on, that everyone knew was for the big yellow bike! He didn't care that people thought he was funny zipping around on the scooter. I mean, we're talking about big country boys who drive utes and four wheel drives! None of them would even dream about riding a scooter! But Mark rode it because he loved how zippy it was and thought it was fun. He'd brag to me how low he could get it into corners!

This month actually heralds Scoots fourth year in the family. I've managed to clock up over 13 thousand kilometres on the scooter over the past four years. Not a whole lot compared to city commuters, some would clock that up in six months. But for me, that is 13 thousand kilometres that are not on my car. Plus all the savings in fuel!

Ah, I love my scooter!

To Ride A Bike is to Ride the Sky...

Well, I've kind of plagarised that saying. It should say to Ride A Horse is to Ride the Sky! But, a bike is up there with riding horses and I've done both!

Putting some photo's away the other day, I happened across one very tiny photo of myself that my mother had passed onto me. I was photographed sitting up on a dirt bike, gripping the handle bars, my feet barely touching the pegs at all of about 5 years of age. Great photo! I can actually remember riding that same bike a few years later all by myself after dad taught me. It wasn't real fast and wasn't all that big a bike but I had fun roaring around on it out at a friends farm near Sofala in NSW.

Now, I am riding that big bike in the above photo. Who'd have thought!? For those of you not in the know, that is a Ducati 900ss. A 1998 model to be precise. The newly reinvented fuel injected model as opposed to carburetted. I could go on but I'd bore the non bike folk out there!

I went out riding again the other day and took that picture. The picture was taken on my crappy camera phone but it speaks volumes to me about riding and the country we live in. It's an awesome photo that speaks of the power and majesty of the bike and the majesty of the beautiful country we live in, even if it is gripped by the worst drought on record. Just look at that sky! It's not called "Big Sky Country" out here for nothing!

I hadn't been out for ages. What with work, school holidays, a trip to Sydney, not to mention a broken part on the bike (how typical for a Duke!) that needed fixing, stopping me from doing it. When I finally got a chance to go, I took my time and enjoyed the experience.

On a Ducati forum, there was a thread started about How Can You Explain Why You Ride A Ducati. Some of the replys were ones that had me nodding my own head in agreeance. There are many reasons why but one of the good ones was because the Ducati chose you not the other way round!

The reason I liked the best however was "Because you ride with your soul and not the throttle." That is what riding a Ducati is. You riding with your soul...

If anyone has in their mind a desire to learn to ride...go and do it. Do it well and do it properly. Learn to ride because you want to ride with your soul...