Saturday 29 March 2014

Black Dog RIde - 2014

It's on again - the Annual Black Dog ride to raise money and awareness for Mental Health and Depression........and what better way to help out..........with a motorcycle rally - of course!

On the back of the Chocolate Mill run, some two weeks earlier, the day had come to put that fundraiser moola to good use - and what a cracker ride it was. Approximately 5,000 riders nation wide participated in the Black Dog one-dayer.....with approximately 400 riders on the Victoria leg.....a leg I rode and corner marked for.

Corner marking is a great way to get involved in a large ride such as this - essentially you are in a fast bunch of riders ahead of the main pack - in this case ride leader plus ~10 corner markers ahead of  ~390 participants + TEC.

As the route plays out, large group rides tend to get spaced out quite significantly due to the different skill levels, riding styles, type of bikes involved - this is where corner markers become critically important.

The ride leader will "drop" a corner marker at an intersection or key turn-off of the ride.....your job is to do a funky chicken dance and direct the main bunch through the corner......fair enough........the FUN part is when you are swept up by TEC (tail-end-Charlie).......as a corner marker this means.......GTFO - hammer time back to the group!



The first leg of the ride started in Pakenham - some 60 kms from home......another boring slab was in order.

A riding mate of mine arrived at my place at 8am - we hit the black stuff immediately, engaging "cracking on mode"...........
done and done.

This leg took us out through East Gippsland - it was getting very cold - but the scenery was amazing.......that said, I was happy to be dropped on a corner just before the Inverloch turn-off.....I was frozen, my hands were like blocks of wood - time for a corner marking chicken dance........









The second leg tracked along the coast near Cape Patterson, thankfully the temperature started to rise.



In defrost mode - and having been dropped on a corner I applied liberal use of throttle to catch the main bunch.....fun times..






All said and done - another great run this year. A great turn out for a fantastic cause.
We pulled into Warragul and the ride is over - now I've just got another 120kms to get through before I'm home......

I wrangle up a crew of 3 other experienced riders who are of the same mind, fuel, helmet, GO! We convoy home, making good time.

By 5pm I've got my head out of the lid, I'm on the couch with a beer and some ~400kms complete......and all for charity.......not a bad way to give something back I should think.

The main bunch at the regroup point between leg1 and leg2



Well done to all riders who participated.....see you again next year.....I'll be the one doing the chicken dance on the corners.....

\BitSar
----brakkkkarrrk

Chocolate Run - 2014

Sooooooooo!

It's been ages since I've posted - this is not due to a lack of riding, this is due to a lack of anything resembling free time......bah!

But alas, it's Saturday morning and I have a small window of time to smash out some blog pieces - so here goes.

Sunday 9th of March 2014 was the annual Chocolate Run to the Mt. Franklin Chocolate Mill. This ride is traditionally a fundraiser ride for someone/something within the community.

In the past we've raised money to send an Athlete to the Para Commonwealth Games, donated to families who've had rider down, rider out situations and needed all the help they can get, to this year's run - raising money for the Black Dog Ride for mental health......... a worthy cause indeed and a great excuse to hit the hills with some old riding friends........woot woot.....

We had a good turn-out this year with approximately 40 riders - no larger than last year, in fact maybe slightly smaller......no matter - just ensures the tempo is kept a little higher and ample throttle is the name of the game.




We met off the freeway out west of Melbourne and pointed the bikes north.......get that first boring slab out of the way.



The first regroup at Woodend - take on some fuel, get some lunch, empty the bladder.....continue.....pretty standard issue.





Heading out of Woodend on the way into Daylesford, Hepburn Springs I am near the front of the bunch - Suddenly a frantic sequence of tail-lights flicker from the riders ahead......something's up.....they're all on the anchors......I immediately back off.

As I hit the crest I see the culprit - one very scared, very skittish, juvenile skippy (eastern grey Kangaroo for the international readers).......as EVERY Aussie rider knows, skippys are a dangerous prospect, not only are they a heavy and powerful animal, they also have ZERO road sense or spatial awareness, making them extremely unpredictable.....

This little fella crossed the road through the bunch no less than 3 times before finally somersaulting itself over a wire fence and back off into the bush. Poor little skippy - no Riders or Roos were harmed.

NB** This is not my footage or my bike - this footage belongs to a rider who participated in the Chocolate Run - original link here: youtube
                  This was the first pass the Roo made through the group, you can see it on the left as this rider avoids it. It was closer than it looks - trust me on that one.

Continuing out to the Chocolate Mill the ride played out as expected on our familiar route......we arrive, park the bikes and take a load off.....


A lovely KTM SuperDuke 1290R came along this year.........damn.....I need a towel

The Ape made an appearance

The bikes parked in the shade at the Chocolate Mill


Another good run this year - we raised enough money for the soon to follow Black Dog Ride - but who needs and excuse eh?

\BitSar
--easy now skippy

Saturday 8 March 2014

Mini me......

Couldn't help myself.....

Came across this:




Nice little scale replica to sit on my desk.......

I've been quiet for a while - busy times.....alas - I have some posts almost ready to go...

New boots are being broken it, I have a fund raiser ride tomorrow and the subsequent charity ride in 2 weeks time.....

\Bitsar
**Slack (again) but for good reason.