Oct 2010 - Phillip Island

What a trip!
John, Ray, Shane and myself rode from Adelaide to Bendigo on the Thurs and caught up with Garry. It was a sunny day and the riding was easy. That was the last of the good weather as the following day we rode for 6.5hrs in the driving wind and rain along the freeway. A least when we arrived at Phillip Island we knew that we had two days of rest at the race trac watching Casey Stoner win very convincingly. Too easy! For the ride home we went via the Great Ocean Road which took another two days, including crossing on a Ferry.

Weekend in Bundaleer Forrest

Last weekend a number of the 'boys' ..... albeit getting a little older ..... finally got together with their bikes for a couple nights of camping in Bundaleer Forrest (approx 250km from Adelaide). We hired a hut for the weekend and used this as a base for Saturday's ride which went to Quorn and return.
The nights were cold but the red wine, port, Jim Bean and Coopers ale meant plenty of laughs!!!
After sharing a weekend discussing bikes the common thought was 'must do it again' ...........
And the Hayabusa purred! (I did about 600km on Sat and felt reasonable fresh at the end of the day. This was the longest ride on the Hayabusa since purchase so was encouraged that it may be OK to ride around Aust).

The body

Well like the majority of over 50 year olds, there has been a considerable length of time in which little time and priority has been given to the body ...... and it shows.
In an attempt to get the body into shape, have commenced walking in the evenings to loose weight and increase stamina.
At this point in time it normally takes 1hr 10mins to walk 'around the block past the cemetary' with about 15mins in the 130-150 beats per minute. Will be interesting to see if there is any improvement when the trip is commenced.
Of course I could state how fast to dink a bottle of beer etc but we dont need the training in that area!!

The Motorbike

The temptation will be to do 1,000kms per day - but that would mean the trip would only take 14 days - so there needs to be plenty of time to 'smell the roses' or at least taste the local brew .....
The bike is a 2009 Hayabusa 1300cc, so with a top speed of over 300km/hr the trip may actually take a little shorter than planned.
The bike is less than 4 months old and currently only has 1,500km on the clock.
We havent been for a decent long ride yet so time will tell whether it can do the distance and keep up to the other bikes on the trip ie BMW and Suzuki 1400....

Finally Set a Date

John, Ray and I met last Friday night and decided that we are leaving on 1 OCT 2011 for the ride from Adealide to Perth to Darwin then back to Adelaide. Plenty of time to plan!!
The trip is expected to take 6 weeks and will be approx 14,000kms following the coastline as much as possible.
Apart from catching up with the Pete's in Perth not much is planned at this stage.
Richard and I have half joked that it would be great if we could catch up in Darwin to cooincide with Mary's Birthday - as Richard is planning a 'gap' year in 2011.
It would be great if any other of my mates could come with us for all or part of the trip - time will tell.