2009: Motorcyclist's Perspective

Anteprogression

2009-11-29T14:10:00.003+11:00

Yes, I invented that word because it was easier than thinking up a title.My laptop has gone and died (as mentioned on my primary blog), so this 'summer of cricket' won't be a betting one I don't think - it won't be easy to keep up, let alone ahead. Any motopunting blogs are on the backburner - and this one will be too, I think... or perhaps I'll just remove it from the stove.Bugger!--------@

Possible new blog - MotoPunter

2009-11-12T22:35:00.002+11:00

Hello any hapless readers out there of my irregular contrivances.This blog sort of died with the distinction between 'travelling' and 'motorcycling'. Why did I not realise that earlier?Anyway, I thought you might like to know that I'm thinking quite seriously about starting a serious blog (you know, one for people to read... with stuff like its own URL, advertising, third-party readers...).

I don't owe Stoner a beer. Or a case. I owe him a beer truck.

2009-10-25T20:23:00.004+11:00

As you may be aware, I do punt occasionally on the results of the MotoGP. And, more often than not I win out.Today I had a good day. I had decided, on the way to the net parlour to actually work out my winnings (I only knew them, I thought, +/- $500, which you might have noticed is a fair margin of uncertainty), that I was going to tweet that "the only thing more absurd than the volume of my

FNQ: One hell of a destination

2009-09-05T17:05:00.000+10:00

I got up to the top of Mt Molloy the other afternoon and had to go back for another lap - the second time up the hill there were all these black lines on the road that weren't there the first time around... ; )The road made me reconsider some of my lines which saw an improvement in my adaptability and an upping of the fun factor. I've been straightening out my ess bends a lot more, aiming

Lorenzo: back to his former best

2009-08-18T10:38:00.003+10:00

The 'former best' I speak of is of course the best he could manage last year - fast, but always crashing. Haven't really read the reports yet (I missed the race... poo), but apparently he at least didn't hurt himself.Deficit to Rossi now: 50 points.Points he would have had in the last two races without crashing: 50. (+ at least five that he would have snatched off Rossi)It's sort of sad he

Riding gear: Shifty experiences

2009-08-12T19:59:00.004+10:00

I just wrote an item on my todo list which provided cause to stop and think: haven't I been here before?Working at MCA I came across a broad range of Shift products and was broadly impressed. They seemed to offer good attention to detail, sensible design - and often they look shit hot as well. There were some reservations by some - but given those people were generally suggesting the European

Stoner's mystery illness continues to take its toll

2009-08-11T11:33:00.003+10:00

It appears Stoner's apparently improving competativeness belied a condition far more serious than optimists like myself had expected.http://tiny.cc/YEASfhttp://tiny.cc/AuUaKDucati have confirmed rumours of Stoner sitting out at least three races.It's really sad to see Stoner resorting to sitting out races. His attitude on the track and in front of the press had been extremely negative for a while

'Teq' talk: Beaches Blat

2009-08-07T21:04:00.003+10:00

Doing a little bit of sitting, waiting for departure - so figured I'd at least do some sitting while I'm riding.I wasn't 100% happy with my technique last weekend down Mac Pass, so I wanted to work on a couple of things.Entries are the bottleneck of my technique. I exit well enough, but I generally feel slow mid-corner, and that's because I enter poorly - not because I'm not happy leaning. Even

MotoBlog developments - digression from the mean

2009-08-06T19:09:00.002+10:00

Just a quicky - because I know none of you are crash hot on commitment - I think I have decided the direction for the blogs breakdown. All travel stuff - including the motorcycling aspect - will be posted on 2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com. Only stuff specifically of interest to motorcyclists will be posted here. That means:Discussions on technique, technique introspectives, and other aspects of

Money sinks which aren't too deep

2009-08-05T15:40:00.003+10:00

Just a heads up to the avid consumers among you,Aldi have their motorcycle gear in stock again. Having looked through it all none of it really excites me, EXCEPT the tank bags, which are certifiably awesome and awesomely cheap. It's been about a year now that I've had mine, and it has not fallen apart at all - including the inbuilt rain cover and assorted straps -, has shown no sign of fading

Preparations; Update: GP, home

2009-07-30T12:05:00.000+10:00

Well hello there, strangers. I hope we haven't grown too far apart in the millenia since we last met.My apologies for abandoning the posts on wagering - upon receiving a little feedback I had to consider whether my audience actually had any interest in them... There is no use after all in regularly posting if the posts are regularly unread! So I concluded that frankly, there was little use

Update: moving along; Pre-Mugello and Miller

2009-05-30T12:57:00.003+10:00

Hello avid readers,just quickly.Keyboard has been a little tetchy - I've decided against doing a full article this week.I will however point out that this weekend at Mugello is shaping up to be a great contest: FP1 sees Lorenzo, Rossi, Stoner in fairly close contention, Pedrosa a couple tenths down. Other Ducatis off the pace, good form from De Angelis, Edwards, Dovi.WSBK at Miller (Salt Lake

Getting down and dirty: making racing financial

2009-05-15T21:02:00.005+10:00

Another Friday night, another practice session - another blog post. I will assume that you have all been doing your homework - reading up on all the racing news with the leads I posted before the last round - and are all in the know about the current racing situation. I needn't therefore mention that MotoGP is racing on Sunday at Le Mans (Fox3 10pm AEST), and WSBK at Kayalami (RSA; Fox3 from 11:

Researching, Learning, Procrastinating: MotoRacing Information Sources

2009-05-01T20:30:00.004+10:00

Friday night on the net - tossing up between going out and doing the socially acceptable thing, or staying home to watch live-timing of MotoGP free practice 1 at Jerez. I assume all my readers are in a similar position. Right?If you're reading this in anticipation, having checked out last week's entry and wondering whether I have anything valid to say - I assume you are someone for whom

2009 - a Moto-Racing Junkie's Introduction

2009-04-22T22:02:00.001+10:00

What do you know - the 2009 racing season is well underway and I haven't posted a single entry on it. Well, while I have your attention, I will make grounds rectifying this deficiency.MotoGP - the 'big league', the 'premier class', the 'F1 of motorbikes' - is a bit of a late starter. The first round of the year was a couple of weekends ago in Qatar. A relatively novel calendar entry, the track

Mid-March rainwatching

2009-03-14T13:32:00.004+11:00

As you may have noticed, the blog has gone quiet, quite quiet.Partially, I have been a little busy (thankfully, finally!) here in Melbourne, between work and grad applications. I haven't been blogging much, or otherwise spending heaps of time online without a reason.Mainly, I haven't been riding!I did do WSBK at Phillip Island a couple of weekends ago, which was pretty good - stayed at a place

Courting Phillip Island

2009-02-17T01:22:00.002+11:00

I am rapt not to be in the vast group of riders who have visted the Island - but only seen others ride around. I have ridden the Island! And a fulfilling and interesting day it was.I wasn't sure, at first, how I would go. Having a dedicated racebike, I have enough tracktime, but not for years on the SV. I didn't know how fast I would be able to ride it. But I should have had faith! The SV

Climbing the Back of the Beast: Mt Buffalo

2009-01-25T12:35:00.005+11:00

Short day ride, 4/1/09A little bit of time to myself and I decided to take up one of my listed 'short day' rides: up Mount Buffalo (and a loop over to the Kiewa Valley). A few kms down the highway the sign to Buffalo pops up, and a minute off the main drag it becomes clear where the road is headed: a great granite rockface appears from between the trees.My first glimpses of the mount to be

Lucky Me!

2009-01-21T15:01:00.000+11:00

I realised something out on the road today. I was thinking about how lucky I am to be able to ride the roads that I do. And I realised - I have been thinking this a lot lately! So often, I sit back, I look at the view - perhaps to recover in between focussing intently on the next bend - at the road ahead, the hills to either side, the eucalypts lining the road (I love eucalypts by the way!, in

Ascent and Descent and Ascent and Decent to Heaven: Scaling the Victorian Alps (Falls Creek and Mount Hotham)

2009-01-21T14:57:00.003+11:00

Half day ride through Falls Creek and back over Hotham, with sidetracks. 1/1/09First things first: you're missing out.Second things second: I'm not!After a relatively relaxed getup on New Year's Day I decided to spend my day off on what I had been pining for: riding. I had ridden some of these roads on the way to Phillip Island (Hamish crashed here on one of the best of them), and driven in a

Domestic Bliss

2008-12-27T23:12:00.003+11:00

Yet to leave Sydney, but the masses are breying (right?), so I'll write about the 'domestic scene'.Like everyone, it seems, I don't ride enough, so I've made sure to hit up some of the local tarmac over the last couple of days before I leave. I can't even remember the last time I did any real riding: RNP a few months ago would have been the closest, but I was scrubbing in new tyres.The Mindset:

Christmas 2008: Sydney Toy Run

2008-12-21T15:59:00.000+11:00

Great day!Another good year of the toyrun. The ride went better than last year - now we knew where we were going - and was smoother all round. The raffle was a bit bluh (I won champagne glasses... which seemed to be about the best prize on offer), but the turnout was good, and by my rekoning the donations were too.Sadly I will need to work harder to win the best-dressed bike award next year, but

Deflowering: aka welcome to a Motorcyclist's Perspective

2008-12-09T19:46:00.001+11:00

This is just a first post to introduce the blog, to christen it, so to speak:2009: Motorcyclist's PerspectiveUpcoming will be a post about this Sunday: the Sydney Toy Run.If the post is anything like the run itself it will be worth getting out of bed for!(If you can't be bothered checking back - and I know I wouldn't - subscribe to the RSS!)