2007 MotoGP Ride Report

Wednesday 10 Oct
I rode my pushie to work, and came home a little earlier than usual.
Betty arrived at about 5pm. I was about to head off to the shops when
Clem, Leon and Howard called in from Tuggeranong. I met them at the
local petrol station and directed them to the house, then purchased
some BBQ essentials. Clem was duly nominated to be the Tongmaster.
We ate, drank and were merry until about 10pm, at which point even a
screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail wasn't sufficient to keep
Clem and Leon out of bed.


Thursday 11 Oct
Betty arrived at 7am (too excited to sleep, she said) and we headed
off at 7:30. We managed to ride together as a group for about 1km, at
which point Leon apparently decided that the 4 people ahead of him
turning right at a roundabout were all wrong, so he went left. We met
up again at Williamsdale about 20 minutes later, and managed to stay
together until Cooma. The boys wanted to head over the mountains, so
Betty and I parted company from them and headed off via the Cann River
route.

The ride was uneventful, although we were probably dallying a little
to long at each hourly stop, and so we had to hurry things up from
Bairnsdale onwards to try to make Frankston before dark. There was a
bit of crosswind and a rainy patch around Pakenham, enough to justify
putting on a rainsuit.

I'd given away my large-scale map of Melbourne (Melways page 512) to
some ill-prepared rider at Bairnsdale, and as a result we ended up on
Springvale Rd before I realised that I'd missed the turn. Once we
regained our bearings, we were about 1km from Marty & Sasha's house
when the lads turned up behind us once again.


Friday 12 Oct
Faffed about in camping supplies stores shopping for tent poles and
torches in the morning, before retrieving Minx from the bus stop in
Frankston (she'd flown down and taken the airport bus). Headed off to
the island following Marty's bike, which seemed to suffer more in the
crosswinds (probably due to being taller and lighter than my GPZ900).
Drank far too many poofter drinks, and got my feet wet in the tent
overnight from rain leaking through the zipper.


Saturday 13 Oct
Went for a walk into town, took a pushbike ride up to San Remo with
Moike. Set up the annexe on Jody's caravan, since it had been so
bloody miserable the night before. Cooked up a mighty evening feast
on a tiny BBQ.


Sunday 14 Oct
Headed back to Frankston at about 2:30pm, there didn't seem much point
in trying to go out to the track after GS's 6:30am crowd report. Easy
ride back to our digs in Frankston, following Sasha and Minx who were
in a car. Watched Life of Brian on Marty's impressive home theatre.


Monday 15 Oct
Headed for home at 7am. Still a nasty crosswind, causing me to weave
about 18 inches either way in my lane. By Bairnsdale I was sick of
all the once-a-year numpty sportsbike riders trying to overtake me
without leaving my lane despite the weaving, so I went to Buchan and
thence to Jindabyne via Barry way. The dirt surface was in very good
to excellent condition, the scenery was magnificent, and I'm sure I'll
enjoy it even more on a pushie in 6 weeks time. It would have been a
little more fun if I hadn't been muscling 250kg of machinery around
the bends, and having to be so cautious on the throttle. I might
rectify those problems by riding my postie bike that way sometime in
the new year. ;-)

Arrived home at around 7pm, feeling wretchedly ill from hayfever but
otherwise quite pleased with myself.


BTH

 

he has a wife you know

 

And Theo, and everyone else who turned up for a stint at the caravan
park.

Nice new bike you've got there, by the way.


BTH

 

With respect (?), I'll just add a bit on a Crowd Report under this heading.
During Sun. at the track the official attendance was reported to be in the
high 50k's, don't remember it exactly.
It puzzles me to compare that with say 90k attending the MCG, and accounting
for the different circumferences of the areas. Along with the stands, where
there was a reasonable viewing incline, the crowds stood many rows deep.
As well as the usual mass exodus after the race and into Sun. night, the
traffic flow off the Island was clearly audible at 5.30am on Mon. morning,
and when we got finished and left the house at 10am, the traffic flow off
was b to b. and travelling very slowly. We had to travel a considerable
distance up the wrong side of the road in order to break into it and get
across into the inside line - which wasn't officially operating then, but
most cars drivers understood; even then I felt about 50kph was fast enough
under the circumstances.
Perhaps there were a lot of freebies or counterfeits floating about?
Rockit

 

I was there in '89 and I didn't think '07 was as full. '89 was supposed to
be 90,000 so I'd put '07 at about 70,000 if I was made to guess.
Mind you; the Friday crowd was huuuge! (for a Friday)
I wonder how many took a look at how big Friday was and decided to watch the
rest on TV......

 

I came up behind them and I thought "that bum looks familiar"....
Then I recognised Biker-Betty riding with him too!

 

Eh? It must be bigger than I thought, if you could see it past that
mountain of camping gear on the pillion seat!

Which way did you lot go? If you went via Barry Way and still caught
up with us at Frankston I'm suitably impressed!


BTH

 

Yes johno i get picture as soon as i can
Wont be to hard seeing Brooke went past him on way home this evening and
said he was as slow as, she was going to beep horn but thought he might have
a accident
Although i am puzzled as to why he rushed out today and brought a
pushbike.....been trying to get him to do something like that for a while
......
Jacobs theory is Geoff wants another motorbike and he wants one that cant
have a great beer gut....so is there something else GS not telling me ????
I am so sure you lot would know if he was getting a newbike before i did
....heheh

jodz

 

The day you catch me ogling YOUR arse will be a rare day BT!

No; we went Jindabyne, Corryong, Wodonga, Benalla, Whitfield, Mansfield,
Alexandra, Healesville, Lilydale and then down Springvale Rd to Frankston.
Fun but not TOO adventurous.

 

Well I'll be... I always thought she was called "Incontinentia
Buckets". (Which would have been funnier).


BTH

 

Maybe he's planning to get all trim and fit so that he can impress all
the young chickie babes?

If that's the case, you should be safe until xmas or so. ;-)


BTH

 

Good for you, lad! Hopefully you, me and Moike can form our own
peloton on next year's GVBR!

That's just because you haven't fitted lights or a speedo to it
then. ;-)

You might find this bloke's blog interesting:

http://istanbultea.typepad.com/largefellaonabike/

He says that he currently weighs 260 pounds (118kg), but that's 240
pounds (109kg) less than when he started.

I especially liked this, from his 20 Nov 2006 entry:

"I regularly pass by this very old Italian guy who 'Speed-Walks'
around our 'hood in sweats & a parka. Nice guy, and he always has a
huge smile, hearty wave, and loud, "Heeeeeey!!! Lovely Night
RIGHT?!?!?" for me when I go by. I dig him. Tonight I rode by him
and he screeched out, "Son of a Bitch!! You sure do like THAT bike,
don't you?? Good for you... keep ridin' son, you're shrinking right
before my eyes!" I greeted him, thanked him... and smiled for at
least 10 miles."


BTH

 

I was being polite(ish)!


BTH

 

Yeah, but WHICH xmas?

SteveB