Anniversary-ramblings

NetRider was still some time off..but there was AusMoto on Usenet and rides
were posted occasionally in/ around Sydney.
Lurking for a while I decided to post a local ride, contacting a couple of
people I knew, making sure of a non-turnout being not too embarrassing in
the promised "ride-report".
A small group went into the hills in the East, another ride followed, this
time with Kitzo (Vic), damige (Rupert) and a few others.
Rolling into 2000 and posting another ride, only a single soul turned up in
the pouring rain, on a brandnew Viffer800..Jason!
We skipped the ride and went to our place instead, for a few hours of coffee
and bike-stories.

Mick_G, Mark_Across, Larrikin, Vic, CBC (Jaz) and some earlier faces showed
for the next few rides.Arthur's Seat/ Reefton/ Myers Creek-Chum Creek
Rds/Kinglake/Yea/Flowerdale/ Walhalla/Skyline Rd and many more..
Cat and Dale,Warren_Pegaso, Wayne_TDM and many others came along.
Dave_ Mountainhitter got his name whacking his just-bought GSX750F into the
high bank at Donna Buang.
Warren and I chased each other for 40km up Mt. BawBaw, gravel and all and
through the vacant tollbooth-driveway with 2 feet of distance between the 2
Pegasos.
A solid 30 mins of being close enough to grab the others jacket.whoever was
up front at the time.stupid and dangerous and we agreed to never do it
again..but SHIT, it was a rush !!!
Goodie decked her Pegaso at the same spot (Cockatoo-roundabout) she'd decked
the R80 2 years earlier...
Smee dumped the "ugly duckling" CD250 in a culvert at the Black Spur.and the
"SPUD" was born!! (The clumps of dirt clinging to the bike after the
recovery revealed a spud; God knows how it got there).

Somehow the first multi-day trip came into existence.the original 6_peaks in
2001. It started with a wedding of 2 of the participants (Graham and Joy)
who decided at the last second to rather take the Patrol 4WD and play
backup-vehicle).

There was heavy snow on the way down from Falls Creek. Dave_Mountainhitter
on his NEW GSX750F hit the deck as I watched my mirrors in fear of getting
collected from behind as I was sliding right across the other lane in a
lefthander.. totally forgetting Warren who'd left a few seconds ahead of the
pack and unbeknownst to anyone had dumped his Pegaso in a drainage-ditch 3
bends ahead of us.
People struggled to not hit each other in the ensuing chaos .while trying
frantically to stay upright AND on the road somehow.then the collective
decided to make a run across Mt. Hotham to Omeo 2 hours later, despite the
still black skies.
And Jeez, did we cop it !!!
Icicles growing out of nose and mouth and hanging off the helmet-chin piece.
David Cooper (Latte-Express) didn't have enough hands and fingers to wipe
visor AND glasses, inside AND out, simultaneously. He followed the
tail-lights of the 4WD. Pillion Janet quit her place and sought the warmth
of the cage.
Everyone had 5cm thick ice-caps covering the knees, chests covered in
shields of ice ..and then the rain started.
Clothes/gloves and boots were dried in the oven/ microwaves and any other
available heat source that night.
The next morning we lost the Latte-Express in Omeo on the way out.he didn't
get his coffee/ thermos organized in time .
Mick_G and Danny (Trumpy 600) cracked the shits, Graham in the 4WD had given
them a run-for-the-money up Tawonga Gap

Later in the year it was 8-days of twisties through the Snowies.the
6_peaks#2. Again the embroidery on the tour- T-shirts proclaimed : Survivor
of the 6_peaks.. And snow again, this time up at Lake Mountain. CBC had
finally swapped that rotten SRX 250 for a ZZR250.

The group of 5 bikes following each other like a snake through the twisties
between Mansfield and Whitfield will never leave me.. just like the 2
Acrosses with folded-over/ grown-into-the-frame- figures of Mick_G and Mark
burning rubber up Mt. Buffalo. A later ride saw the pair of 6-ft-skinnies of
Mick_G and Marty_H thrashing the living crap out of those amazing 250s from
dawn to dusk for day after day.never seen a pair like that again.

Who can forget the disastrous GOR weekend when a ZZR lost its chain due to
bad maintenance, another "I'll catch up with you that night" rider (Greg?)
hit the signpost through target-fixation in the dark around Lavers Hill,
then Warren and I coming off the following day on the return trip, Warren
with getting someone's extra-luggage-sleeping-bag caught and jammed in the
rear wheel.6 broken ribs. and myself tired and thoughtless, slow with
picking my line through a gravelly righthander, drifting off the road,
nearly making it back, then the right footpeg digs through the boot as bike
and I go down.8 fractures in the foot.

Another Grampians weekend, stinking hot, Latte-Express and I swapping bikes
and me nearly riding his CBR600 into a wallaby on the way out of Halls Gap.
Another "newbie" on a Zeal decking it at the lookout above town.and
shrugging it off like it didn't happen (works in London now, just clocked
70.000km on his GS1150).

Another T-shirt proclaims the Beef'n Reef 2002.another great ride, this time
introducing Gary_Pegaso and Tim_Hobart, my Pegaso shits itself on the first
day (had to limp back home 350km to get the Bandit), shredded tyres galore
and an incredibly accurate meet up with Nev coming from Melbourne to join
up.
Guided by Ben (BTH, local Canberrean) we swooped through a dropping-off
double-apex leftie, then hit the Cotter Dam Rd. intersection, waiting for
the rest to catch up..3 seconds later Nev's Budgie with full panniers/topbox
appears over the crest to the left, 3 km from the planned/ hoped for meet at
the Cotter Dam Pub. Ben had organized for the "matron" to open the pub just
for us.on her usual day-off.
Well.a dozen steaks later and after some previous ribbing in the newsgroup
<<me: Canberra being the capital of filth>> BTH presents me with a little
"momento".
A nicely wrapped (brown paper-bag) porn-video out of the bargain-bin.
The birth of Papagalli !! Sometimes the name still sticks

Other snapshots are the VFR8 with Staintunes turned towards the entrance of
the looooong tunnel of Tumut2 Power Station in the Snowies, revving the crap
out of it, and then running away from the echo.
Tim and Gary racing each other whenever some dirt is in sight.Tim decking it
close to "the void" up at Charlotte's Pass (Snowies), limping around with a
balloon for a foot for the rest of the days..then Gary throwing the Pegaso
away on the Jamieson-Eildon leg.
Or the dinghy-trip on Lake Jindabyne, getting the shopping and grog for the
night.


Another day-ride a few weeks later with a larger group.to Strathbogie, where
Gary drops his leathers on Main Street for some famous photo-shots of the
"concrete-sheep"-memorial (area used to live of Merinos).. right across from
the bridesmaids and about 25 guests of a local wedding.



Paul (Drizzt) on the Pegaso after hesitantly passing his prized TLR over to
me.after he had that slide between Cassilis and Swifts Creek and wrenched
his knee. Gosh.riding the Peg back to Melbourne must've hurt him far more,
hehe.

By then, the birth of NetRider was long past, Vic roared his heart out on
the "modded" SP1, Larrikin had given up on the Harley and was back to his
usual wheelie-ing self and the then just-released Kilo-Gixxer.
On the Princess Hwy near Trafalgar. still 3ft off the ground at 210, which
was when the GSXR just ran away from the Bandit12.on one wheel, too.

Stef coming across from Adelaide for a long weekend of Bright/Hotham/Dargo,
riding the XT600 for 500km in one stretch, then not walk/stand/sit/lay down
for the next few days due to a sore arse (wife must've wondered what the
hell he'd been up to in Melbourne that weekend, ).
Mike O'Connor staying behind in Bright with a seized top-end on the R100RS
was a sad moment.but it was the last day and we had to get home. (The RACV
truck picking him up was even quicker in the end)

A couple of Tassie trips in between, then the next biggie, the BananaRama.
Shipping the bikes to Brisbane, then flying after them a few days later.for
2 weeks of riding back to Melbourne. Made 5000km out of that one, hardly saw
a straight piece of road.
The cat-sized Quoll at the remote Lookout along the Gwydir Hwy was a gem, so
was the first aid on Guenther's knee using "the one with the wings", that
one of the girls had handy.
He wore it like a trophy.
The road to Jenolan Caves in the thick fog was a challenge.so was the task
of getting mountains of 20c pieces for the clothes-dryer at the Caravan Park
after we copped the thunderstorm in Murwillumbah and the water ran out the
top of the wet-gear.

Watching Nige and Guenther catching eel at the creek beside the CP at
Gloucester.then spoiling the steaks on the BBQ by whacking the eels onto the
hotplate.
The realization that duct-tape can fix just about anything while
on-the-road.
Hold floppy mirrors/ holds fairings together.and combined with sanity-pads
makes a great compression bandage with a free waxing thrown in for zilch.

The stamina of John to ride the R1 packed to the gills with 2-weeks worth of
gear plus camping stuff..and still riding as smoothly and quickly as ever.
The dry and quick wit are also something else.
Sasha doing 5000km on the little ZZR, which was packed to way beyond the
gunwales.
Her laying under the bike with her back wedged against an oil-rack at a
servo on the New England Hwy.oil and water on smooth concrete.

For the first time the tour-T-shirt wasn't black anymore, the light gray was
swapped for the dark-gray of the 6_peaks#3.

Some of the "old hands" were back, plus Tim on the GSXR1000/ Clayton on the
old 900Trumpy, Tim_Hobart now aboard a CapoNord and Tassie_Dave on the Tiger
together with Swoopy (Chris) on the ZX6.

A rather biggish group of 15 went for 8 days of fun through the Snowies.
The whooping and backslapping after the run from Mt. Beauty up Tawonga Gap
to the lookout was something else.what a ride.
3000or so km later and all grins stitched together would've spanned the
Westgate-Bridge.with the bitter pill of Suzie at the Traralgon hospital for
a ruptured spleen after coming off the road in a double-apex-leftie just out
of Buchan on day 2.

She healed fine and the pics of Gary and I sorting through her clothes in
Buchan Main Street deciding on which stuff she'd need in Hospital
are ..classified !!
The ZR7 was totaled though.

Still in mind is also the judicious use of Tim's Latex-gloves ("I wear them
for on-the-road repairs, honest") on Gary for a mock-inspection of the
family's jewels during a night of beers and laughs.the Proctologist struck
again.

There it is.. my 5 years of AusMoto/ NetRider rides.
5 years of the good life of bikes and friends.
5 years of laugh-till-it-hurts.
5 years worth of trips and enough mileage to write-off more than one solid
bike on wear alone.
5 years of adventure, thrills (and spills) that the majority out there
couldn't pack into 25 (years).

To all who were there (and got a wardrobe full of useless, mainly black
T-shirts now):

A BIG THANK YOU
_________________
cheers
pete

 

snip

ask Johnno for a white one

 

Jeez, how the hell could I leave your stunts out of it, shame...

Punting the old CX diagonally across 3 lanes of dense traffic on the Western
Ring, missing cars and 40tonners by meters?
With a VERY small figure on top trying to stay outta the windblast?

Yeaaah! that's AL...love ya too

cheers
pete

 

damige (Rupert) \
He actually rides that thing? :-o

 

he did then...sporadically

 

hes talkin of sellin it now

 

glitch1 wrote:
SNIP excellent story

*sniff*
brought tears to the eyes that did.

 

Thought he'd sold it 2 years ago....

 

Get schtuffed, Nick

 

Its still alive
one day ill be back
damige

 

Sell it and get a chooky.. You know u want to....

 

Five years and you haven't made it to Wintersun yet???

Cheers
Goaty

 

Was there an onion with the spud?

 

could happen dude realy thinkin hard about it.

 

Theres that other XR for $3kish in SA...

 

Disgrace, innit?
There's just too few twisties along the way
cheers
pete

 

After all these years, you still remember! Awww! ;-)
BTH
(I'll bet you didn't even watch it though!)

 

Some things you never forget ))
....for the rest....You sure?
it's become a classic, mate

cheers
pete