Busting out

Well, sort of...

Unlike Geoff and his Jaffa mates, most of the country has been let of jail and can now do more important things like ride motorbicycles.  So how to celebrate this?  A decent hoon on the Connie, covering as much as the free North Island as possible?  Flipping stones far and wide on the Tenere.  Or, rarking it up on a trail ride on the 450?

Yeah, there's one option missing there - puttering around the valley on the mightiest of mouses.

I dunno why, but on Sunday I wasn't really hankering for a big ride and really missed the little bike, so after a quick visit to the olds and a top up with some ridiculously expensive fuel (you should not be able to fit $27 worth of fuel in a 250!), I went for a little meander out behind Colyton.

After nearly heading up Finnis Road, I did a quick U-turn to go and explore the top end of Taonui Road and then onto Pollock Road.  Pollock Road was nice and fast (well, I was on the WR) gravel which ran up a valley before climbing out of the valley and ending up on Ridge Road.

Turning right, I followed Ridge Road until it actually became Finnis Road and rode a wee bit of Finnis until it became Zig Zag Road.  And then I needed a rest.  Warning mega WR250 porn below:

After a short section of seal on Valley Road the next gravel was Midlands Road.  The fast climb up the small rise was a lot of fun before dropping down a little into some more windier stuff on Watershed Road.  And then it was all over...probably just under 100km for the whole ride...

About 75km of very expensive fuel missing from the tank.

So, an itch was scratched but that itch ain't going away...

Covid strikes back

 Day 4 of another lockdown so what's a poor motor-bicyclist to do?

Chevvy says

Captivity Day 51

Sick of these posts yet?  I know I am...

Well, while we're not quite back to normal and I'll still be mostly working from home:

Tomorrow we Ride!

So less boring posts and some actual ride reports!

I wonder if I'll sleep tonight 😉

Captivity Day 50

So the first day where I could have cut loose but nope, working from home still.  But, serious plans are afoot...

I did sneak out in the ute and visit a motorcycle shop (forgot to take a pic) where I could at lease see and smell some motorcycles and talk to other humans about motorcycles.  I also committed myself to some essential purchases...

One more day WFH before what will be the first proper weekend in an age...

Captivity Day 49

So tomorrow we can get haircuts.  Too late...

I feel much better though - less Shrek like...

Captivity Day 48

Thanks to the Tenere I confirmed that the Concours battery is definitely toast!

Apologies for holding the phone the wrong way...

Captivity Day 47

So today didn't quite suck as bad.  I even went into work for a little while - and rode the Ten!

Parking was at a premium...

And then got a little lost (all within city limits).

And even rode some gravel (complete with potholes, puddles and mud).

And it gets better - looks like we'll be riding this weekend...

Captivity Day 46

The virus that keeps on giving...

But the internet came to my aid (along with a lot of complaints about multiple Sony models having this problem) and soon I was an electrician...

Checking out all the little connectors that connect all the doo-dads to one another (apologies for the technical talk).

And so after some messing around - vola!

😡

Captivity Day 45

So it appears that a battery has died :(

There was some life left in it which produced an interesting display (frozen once power died):

Of course one of the others fired up with no dramas:

Captivity Day 44

It's the weekend, I might go riding...

Captivity Day 43

Not a lot to report.  How about some music?

For Geoff (I know he likes this sort of music):

For Colin:

For Chillertek:

Captivity Day 42

So my fuel bill arrived...

So disappointment comes with some savings...

But, all three bikes have required some rego becuase it's dangerous to me for them to be parked in the shed.  What chances do I have on a refund - zero, zip, nada...assume the position...

(Princess picture stolen from web)

Captivity Day 41

Missing the little mouse...

It didn't help that Colin and I had a chat on the phone last night and relived a few Dusty (and TT) moments...

Captivity Day 40

40 Days!

Holy crap, no wonder I'm going crazy!

The gloss has well and truly worn off this enforced isolation and it's safe to say it wears you down some. 

Personally, working from home is proving a lot more tiring.  I'm nailed to the desk in front of my laptop and online meetings do seem to require more concentration and wear you out more.  There's also less breaks - at work I have to go have meetings in other rooms/offices and going to get a cuppa involves stairs and a bit of a wander.  At home there's less excuses to get up and go for a wander and after making a drink you find yourself back in front of a screen pretty quickly. 

I really think that it's the decrease in physical activity is the worse.  Sure it would be nice to see the odd other human being but at least technology is helping us communicate fairly effectively.

I really think I need some therapy!

Captivity Day 39

I had to got for a little essential trip today.  Unfortunately I got a little lost...

I had my co-pilot with me so I forced to take the ute, but it was nice just to not be stuck at home!

Back to working from home tomorrow 😣

Captivity Day 38

It seems that I've got plenty of time at the moment for farting around on computers, so, I decided to try and grab some data from my TT2000 rides and do geeky stuff with it.

You can see that I am missing some data but the rest is reasonably accurate and been drawn from official results, speedo or GPS photos and my initial planning stuff.  My record keeping hasn't been superb...

Apart from the distance ones, the graphs aren't that great at comparing the rides to each other.  Over the years the way the ride has been scored and how it has been run (number of CP's etc) has changed quite a lot.  

2019 and 2020 were run very similarly (except for the island they were in) and you can see this in the points and checkpoints graphs.

One huge anomaly is 2012 with a massive amount of checkpoints on offer.  I didn't keep enough info but the points scoring was really interesting too.  If you're interested the score sheet is here and it shows there was some radical stuff going on here.  Mike had made the ride so that you could simply ride a standard 2,000km in 48 hours with just a few checkpoints or pick from a whole lot (including a side trip to Stewart Island and some "Compass Point" checkpoints) to allow you to claim bronze, silver, gold and diamond trophies.  

For me the changing targets and the addition of adventure checkpoints have really kept the ride interesting and I really love the current format.  As with a lot of the riders, the planning is a big part that adds to the enjoyment, challenge and feeling of accomplishment.

Hurry up with next year's challenge Wayne!

Captivity Day 37

Last day of the working from home week and some welcome mail arrived.

That badge on the right is the one I've really been waiting on.  Only 20 badges exist and I've been lucky enough to get one by completing 10 TT2000's.  For a while I was worried I'd miss out but I guess there's only so many of us that have kept coming back.

Thanks Wayne for keeping the best endurance ride of the year going and of course, Mike (who all the TT regulars miss) for dreaming up and continually evolving the ride.  Put me down for #11 next year!

Captivity Day 36

Spent some petrol money the other day.  Unfortunately, still not on petrol...

On a lark, and courtesy of some Adv Rider posts on phones as GPS devices and a Samsung special (phew, the stars were aligning to get me to spend some hard earned!), I bought a tablet.

Just like a phone, only even bigger and not a phone!

I then installed an app called OsmAnd which allows you to download open sourced maps and will also understand .gpx files from Mapsource/Basecamp.

I then copied over one of my TT2000 maps and went out to the shed to compare the tablet to the GPS.

Screen is just slightly bigger...

You'll note that I've stuck the tablet inside my tankbag.  Great place for it and I could get power to it if necessary but I'd probably smash it or it would get cooked in the sun.  If I do use it for navigation it will only be as a backup so will probably be stashed away somewhere a bit safer.

The software seems to work quite well, but I've yet to try to use it in anger.  Theoretically, it should also be able to send directions to my Sena as well.

There's a fair bit more detail available from the larger screen too:

Another thing it will be useful will to store our TT plan and the checkpoint pictures.  I can see me arranging the pictures in order and just flicking through to the next one at each checkpoint so I know what to look for with other information like distances and next fuel stop etc.

Very geeky...

Captivity Day 35

This about sums it up - cheers Glen!

I Feel I need to... from Motorcycle-Diaries on Vimeo.