Went down to Donnybrook and back to visit my kids on the bike today. Probably won't do that too often (I'll use a car). Left at 7am, started getting pretty cold, especially when the wind picked up down past Bunbury. The last 30 minutes I was shivering.
It didn't start off too well. I stopped in Joondalup to fill the tank, and as I lowered the nozzle it ejected about a litre of fuel all over the top and front of the tank. Argh! I freaked out. After I filled the tank, I grabbed the watering can of water that they provide, and poured it over. It hissed and steamed as it ran through the engine. Oops. Luckily nobody was around.
Saw several cars full of youngsters heading for this so-called "Groove in the Move" thing. I believe it's a music concert. It was a bit of a double-edged sword -- on the one hand, there were P-plated Commodores full of young men that wanted to do 130kph. On the other hand, there were P-plated Daewoos full of cute young girls that wanted to do 130kph. So you have to take the bitter with the sweet.
Obviously, it's a bit of a strain keeping the little leaf-blower engine opened up, maintaining 110kph when all the bike want's to do is SLOW DOWN. A slight bend? Wind in more throttle. A minor slope? More throttle. Every single tiny gust of wind? You guessed it. Crank it up further.
Fortunately I made several stops so it was OK.
The way back felt better, I guess I was more used to it. Back didn't hurt much at all. But now my two index fingers are kind of cramped up. Also just after the sun went down, I literally started getting bombarded with little bugs on my faceplate. Annoying.
Highlights of the trip:
Had a little chat to some young fella at Settler's Cafe, as he was riding too. Nice chap. Now, I normally avoid Settler's because it's a little dirty for my liking. In Summer, there are more flies inside than outside. I guess they are "house flies", probably born in the filthy kitchen, and live out their entire lives inside the Cafe. No need to ever leave. Anyway, they've improved it quite a bit, including the toilets, so it's not a bad little place to stop now.
Also some toddler in the back of a BMW waved at me as he passed. I gave him an over-enthusiastic, geeky wave back, and of course had to correct my steering straight away. He nearly killed me, God bless the little tyke ...
Now I'm just looking forward to a good night's sleep, and some lower-speed riding tomorrow (Sunday). It's such a pleasure to cruise around at 60 or 80, everything is relaxed, no wind, the engine ticking over nicely, and plenty of torque when I need it. This 80kph+ stuff is a pain in the ass on my bike. Should have saved up for a Ninja. Never mind.
Final tripometer reading is 452km
-Gray
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