Cindy's Ankle

Been a while hasn’t it!! I have been riding a bit, just nothing that I have found exciting enough to write about. The daily commute and a few short stints on the odd weekend have been the extent of my riding since getting my license back. That changed a little over the weekend.

I recently changed jobs – at my previous job I worked with Cindy, a lady whom owns a Triumph Daytona 675. She really didn’t seem to ride it that much and I was always on at her about coming out for a day on the road. After much harassment on my part, we finally arranged to do so last Saturday.

I was up early and headed cross-town to Cindy’s place at Springfield. The morning was overcast but the forecast was for a warm sunny day. I got there in just over 45 minutes and shared a coffee with her before heading off for a trip up to Tamborine and Eagle Heights for lunch. Always find it refreshing riding up in the mountains on a warm day.

We took the road from Springfield to the Mt Lindsay Hwy at a steady pace, allowing Cindy to find her feet again. Was a bit slow, but didn't really worry me that much. Onto the highway and then turning off not too far down to head towards Tamborine. Was great to get away from the traffic. The roads were good, the day was nice - not much more you could ask for. We reached the Logan to Tamborine strip and picked the pace up a little, finally pulling up for a break out the front of the Bearded Dragon. I let Cindy know that I would probably take off a bit from here but meet her at the top again.

If you haven't ridden it lately, the road up the mountain is currently being resurfaced. Up to about the half way mark the black stuff is new and smooth as, but then reverts back to the original crap that used to cover this climb all the way from the bottom - filled potholes and really bad camber in a lot of spots have long been it's weakness. It will be a fantastic bit of road once they finish the resurfacing and you pick your times to ride it. Traffic was quite heavy when we rode it so I was forced to use all of the road, but gees, the new bit is good.

I reached the top, pulled up and waited for a short while until Cindy was in my mirrors again. We then continued through Tamborine Village and pulled into the Eagle Heights pub for a few drinks. After a couple of hours we headed off again, this time heading towards the St Bernards pub to check out that huge dog!! We stopped at the info centre so Cindy could grab a few brochures about accomodation up on top of the mountain. Once done we mounted up and were about to hit the road when Cindy dropped her Daytona!

We had parked the bikes on a bit of a hill and as she was just about to take off she went to put her foot down but picked the wrong side. She overbalanaced and the bike went down, trapping her right leg underneath. I got off mine and lifted the bike off her but she was in pain, serious pain. An older couple who witnessed the fall rang an ambulance and stayed with us until it arrived - we sat and waited, watching a lot of other bikes just ride on past. I was pissed off that no other biker pulled up to see if all was ok - I would have for sure. Anyway, the ambos arrived and had a look at what had happened. They decided to cut her boot off and man, I was amazed at how swollen her ankle had become. She had obviously broken it after taking the full weight of her bike as it fell.

The ambos carted Cindy off to Logan Hospital and I found a place to store her bike. I then headed down (whoa, it was a great ride down!!!) to see how things turned out. On arriving at the hospital I was amazed to see how big her ankle had become. I didn't stay too long as she had a friend with her, but rang her later on and she confirmed that it was smashed. She is still in hospital and has already had one operation, with another on the cards once the swelling goes down.

Her bike was not damaged too much with just a couple of scratches on the fairing. Her ankle actually saved the bike, however, it bore the full weight. I felt so bad afterwards, but I do understand I wasn't responsible for what happened. It is just such a pity that we parked on that hill. Fortunately it was a zero speed accident and she will recover eventually, although with some inconvenience.

Take it easy out there people - something this simple can be very painful and very inconvenient.

Under (re)construction!!

We Are Not Bugs....

Being Prepared...

Was out on the roads south of Brisbane again yesterday after spending the previous weekend down there to celebrate my license return. Rode with a mate of mine and we put quite a few more miles on the bikes. Over Tamborine, down the Numinbah, Burringbar to Brunwick Heads for a fantastic feed, then headed back via Tomewin Road and up the drag strip they call the M1. Weather was perfect with not too much traffic and not one candy car in sight all day. Dropped into my mates place for him to unload some gear and we then both headed back to my place.

We were on the downhill stretch coming up to a set of traffic lights, and then IT happened. A young girl driving a Hyundai decides to turn across in front of me. My first thought was 'Oh shit, I AM GONE'. I deliberately kept away from the front brakes as there were too many white lines and I would prefer to go into rather than under her car, if I had a choice. Locked up the rear brake - it slowed me just enough and as the rear end started to fishtail it pointed the bike in the right direction and I somehow managed to clear the rear of her car by no more than six inches. Scared the crap out of me. I pulled up a little further down the road with my mate and he told me that I did a good job - I really didn't care if I did a shit job, as long as I missed her. I was doing the speed limit, it was starting to get dark and I thought I was visible, but some people just seem to have no speed/distance perception. I was really pissed off at this young chick, but after thinking about it, I am just glad that she didn't decide to yank the brakes on in the middle of the intersection, otherwise I would either be in a hospital bed or the morgue now. I really don't know how I didn't hit her.

After further reflection today, I realised that I was more at fault. I was very, very lucky and I reckon when you are forced into survival mode, you do what comes naturally. Doesn't matter how good you think you are or what you have been taught, the brain just takes over - instinct kicks in. The bottom line is I was not riding defensively, not even thinking this kind of thing would happen to me, when in reality, that is what we should all be doing - my own fault more so than hers. The one thing I have learnt is that when coming up to lights just be prepared for this kind action from the car waiting to turn.

A very good lesson for me, and one I will not forget in a hurry.

Vision From New Zealand

One of the fellas from NZ on the GSX1400.org posted this video a day or two ago. Does a great job of capturing the feeling of what it is like to ride. Great example of using different camera angles too.

A Handy Website To Bookmark...

I stumbled across this website the other day and thought it may be of use to other riders. Scott Cooper offers some interesting advice should you ever be pulled over for an alleged speeding offence as well as quoting some of the police forces own guidelines regarding the use of speed detection devices, and how they ignore these at times.

Have a read - Speeding Fine Consultants - this kind of info my be useful to you some day!!

Club Rides

At the recent Poker Run on the Gold Coast a friend of mine was stopped by police and booked for speeding and unsafe overtaking. The police had their siren on for almost 2km and a few bikes stopped but then took off again; other than my friend who stayed to face the music. He was shown a video and told that he was lucky he stopped as all the others would be receiving summons's in the mail to appear in court on a very serious charge of failing to stop, together with the speeding and overtaking offenses. (Time will tell if this eventuates).

We used to get lectured by the police about how unsafe it was to speed and overtake dangerously, but now when you ride with a patch club it seems the lecture is not about your safety; you are drilled as to why you choose to ride with a patch club and told you will take the consequences. It appears that the police are no longer booking motorcyclists because they speed or disobey the laws, but merely using any excuse to deter motorcyclists from riding with outlaw clubs. It is well known that police are currently targeting outlaw motorcycle clubs due to a lot of very public feuding between clubs and suspicion of serious criminal activities.

Is it worth the risk now to go on a club ride? Well you'll have to make that decision for yourself, but I know I won't be riding down the tail end to be picked off by the police.
Stay Safe, Cheers DONNA

Upcoming Road Trip

I have always harbored a desire to ride the roads of Tasmania, our southern most state. - a trip that a few of us had planned for early last year was canned due to an opportunity for me to spend 8 months working in Kazakhstan. Due to the current state of the economy, work have requested that we use as much of our leave as possible, and so I now have 12 weeks of annual leave that I am taking commencing on the 23rd of November.

I plan to ride down to Tassie and experience as much as possible of it before heading to Adelaide and spend some time with my family and friends for the Christmas/New Year period. After that.....who knows!! Would love to ride to Perth, but it will probably be way too hot for that - will make that decision come the new year. At this stage, I am planning to travel alone so that I can do what I want and see what I want to see. I plan to carry a swag on the back of the bike so I can stop where ever and not have to spend a lot on accommodation. I have already started buying a few things that I will be needing and the swag is next on the list!!

Because I have not been able to ride for the last couple of months due to loosing my licence, I really feel the need to make up for lost time and spend a fair bit of time on the bike. And what could be better than experiencing a fair whack of my own country??

Obviously it is still a fair way off, so some things may change, however, I have booked my leave and it has been approved, so I will definitely be riding a lot of miles and maybe do a trip Donna-style!! Stay tuned for more on this in the near future.

Found an interesting link of what I can expect on the ride from Melbourne to Perth here.

Should I confess??? I've been test driving cars!!!

Hi everyone, Yep it's true! I've been checking out cars not bikes lately and I have to admit it has been fun. Mind you these were not just ordinary old cars, I went for the fast hot variety and I think I now have to admit to being a bit of a rev head.

So what did I drive? I started off in this lovely red Honda Accord Euro Luxury Navigation model with a sports pack, where I discovered the paddle shift gear change on the automatics, that was a bit of fun. Next I moved onto the Nissan Maxima - more gadgets and a six cylinder, so more power.....hmmm.

Speaking of Gadgets what about the VW Passatt CC, that dammed thing can do a reverse park by itself, you've just got to give that a try. Ok so gadgets are fun, but power would be nice....The BMW 135i Coupé 3 litre 6 cylinder twin turbo put a smile on my face for about a week. Wow that car was awesome! Zero to 100 kms per hour in 5.3 seconds. I was in my eliment.

I also tried the 330i Steptronic which they let me have much more freedom to drive and found myself testing it's overtaking power and turning circle capability - in laymans terms that would be going fast and doing donuts. No I haven't bought anything yet, I'm having way too much fun trying them out. So if you have any suggestions on other cars they will let me test drive, please let me know!

I have managed to get out on my bikes just a bit in between these test drives too. I went to the Wintersun Festival on the Gold Coast last weekend which is all about pre 1974 cars only, but I'm pretty sure they didn't mind seeing me getting around the streets of Coolangatta on my bike. There were lots of bands playing and partying, cool old cars, a few hot bodies to perv at and basically a great time for everyone. I can't say I have come back with a camera full of pictures of old cars but I did get a couple of some great people I met at the coffee shop on my last day there. They were on bikes of course :)

Tomorrow I'm off for a ride around the Boonah Beaudesert area. The weather is perfect as long as you get home before dusk when it starts getting a little cold. For those of you basking in the summer sun over there in the States, it's cold here right now at -4 degrees celcius which is approx. 25 degrees Fahrenheit and for me that is time to be sitting in front of a fireplace with a nice red. Enjoy! Cheers Donna

Sorry I took this with my mobile - not the best pic.

From a ride 2 weekends ago where we ended up at the GlamorganVale Hotel again.

Packed up and heading off down the coast.

Hello World!!

Yep, I am still alive - just a little hard to post much when you haven't been able to ride. Only 55 days till I get my license back - woohoo!!

Gotta admit that it is hard visiting all the forums and reading about rides that all have been doing, but my time will come. Have been spending a little bit of time in the garage working on the 2 x GS's - trying to pick the best parts off both to combine into one. Is starting to take a little bit of shape so hopefully it will be on the road come the end of July.

Hopefully Donna will have some more stories from the road soon, so stay tuned.

Anzac Day Wobble

I haven't been out and about as much as usual, but I did enjoy a ride with friends on Saturday 25th April which for those international visitors is the day we remember our Anzacs. The majority of the Anzac day activities are over by midday and that is when the pubs are allowed to open, so a great time to meet up for a ride.

I met with a group of riders organised by the No Hopers Motorcycle Group at the Grand Hotel at Esk where we found it quite enjoyable sitting in the bar catching up, but eventually we did saddle up and get moving. The ride was only a short one, but absolutely enjoyable as they all are around that area.

We went around the Split Yard Creek Road at varying speeds, two of the No Hopers even stopping for a smoke while some of the others caught up. My adventure was memorable bought on by the fact that the Dunlop Harley tyres have a special method of letting you know when they need to be replaced. It seems one ride they are fine, then the next they cause the bike to shake and wobble just to let you know they are past their peek. The centre of the tire still looks new, but with the edges so worn it causes a ridge to form, hence the wobble affect.

I took off from the pub somewhere about three quarters of the way through the pack, but didn't realise that a smaller group would hang back with a new rider. That left me at the end which is definitely a place I am not used to riding. I sat there quite a while trying to convince myself that I could just ride along quietly and enjoy a slower ride. Before too long I could only see 2 bikes up in front, a lady rider friend of mine who was shaking her hand obviously not going to keep up that day and a Jap bike rider (no offence meant) who also was just cruising.

Realisation set in that I would not catch up with the main riders if I didn't get into it now, so off I went. I had left my run a bit late and for a while there couldn't see any bikes in front or behind which meant I got to just ride at whatever precarious speed I chose! That's when it happened. I was going around a left hander when my bike (the Lowrider) got up a bit of a wobble. Now my old Lowrider did this on a regular basis and back then I used to think that was just how it was and learnt to ride with it, but this bike didn't have that same trait so when she got a wobble up I touched the breaks wondering what the problem was.

Big mistake! Going around a bend at about 120 kms an hour touching the front brake when your bike has a bit of a wobble up is definitely not recommended. The bike went into an even bigger spasm with the back end joining in. I have to admit for a split second there I did wonder if I was going to get out of trouble, but realised my mistake quickly enough and hit the power which pulled it out of its dance pattern. From that point on you would think I would slow down, but I decided that now that I knew what the problem was (the front tyre needed replacing) I would just ride hard and manage it. I still hadn't caught up!

I didn't take long then to come up behind the rest of the group and one of the two guys who had stopped came up behind me just as I went around another bend. Off she went again all over the place and I slowed down this time knowing that the guy behind me would not know I had it under control. I let him past and powered back on, keeping up with him until we reached the next pub where he jumped off his bike and rushed over to tell me I should do something about my bike, put a steering damper on it or something as it was out of control. The poor guy was quite alarmed! I told him a new front tyre would fix it and went on to describe how that was nothing, that he should have seen the first wobble it got up in comparison.

We were stopped at the Fernvale Hotel and just as we were about to go in for a drink, the Odin's Warriors Poker Run group pulled up. We found out that they had already been in the direction we were going and were heading back to their clubhouse from there, so we decided to keep going and stop off at Lowood for a while instead. We were heading to the Glamorgan Vale Hotel Anzac Day celebrations where Skip (a friend of ours) had a hangi down and an excellent band, the Wasabi's, was playing that night.

What a great night. Not many of the crew who had been on the ride stayed into the night, but the attendance was good enough that even Skip was overwhelmed by numbers when dinner time came around, and the hotel had to contribute to dinner with a great steak dinner alternative. The Aussies won the events 2 out of 3 by winning the tug of war and (inflatable) sheep tackling contest, with the Kiwi's wining the thong (jandal) throwing competition.

Wasabi did not disappoint us. What a great band they are, if you see them advertised to play anywhere you should catch them, you're sure to have a great night. Hopefully they will play at the Glamorgan Vale more often because it certainly gets the place rocking.

It's a long weekend in Queensland this weekend and I am going for a ride out through Boonah, Dugandan, Rathdownie way, but also taking some time out to do some gardening and just relax at home. I hope you all have a great weekend. Catch you on the road.

I didn't get my camera out on Anzac Day, so I added a few old pics. Funny how many pics I have at pubs! Cheers Donna

Ettamoogah Pub on the way up to the Sunshine Coast

Jandowie Hotel with the American Motorcycle Club

Landsborough Hotel with the Black Uhlans a few years ago.