bikesbabesbytes

Back on the Giants

A couple of weeks back I broke out the mountain bike and headed down a (boring flat) local dirt road, just to make sure it’s all working. I think I might have had the idea to get a few rides in over the, then upcoming holiday period.

And I got a flat and had to walk back the 5kms.

Repaired that. A few days later I headed out again. This time it went flat after I got home. I had a new tube, so swapped that in. A short way down the road on the next ride and ANOTHER flat. This was getting weird.

Each time, I had checked the tube, checked inside the tyre in case there was something in the tyre. The third time I looked at the whole wheel, and tyre. I noticed that the puncture happened at the same point on the inside of the tube. The rim side. I checked spokes, looked for something stuck there.

The only thing I could find was a fold in the rim tape inside the wheel.

About the same time I became tired of the shifting on the Cross City (commuter) playing up and discovered that the shifter on the Trance had been broken (it functioned, but the covers were smashed). I booked the Trance in, and then the Cross City.

I toyed with the idea of replacing the Trance. Giant was having a sale and my dad offered to pay half of a new bike. But even with that, I couldn’t really justify spending a couple of thousand on a bike that I rode about once a year, when a few hundred would see it all back in shape.

So that took up a week or so of the break. But I did get out on the Trance. I went to Wylde twice. It seems I haven’t been there since January 2022. That’s the last time the Trance went anywhere that wasn’t the local dirt road in more than 2 years. And shows why I really couldn’t justify a new one.

Wylde was nice, and I started to warm up to riding again. It’s smooth and flows well. Most of the trails have B-Lines, though there were a couple of places where I chickened out outside of these obstacles. Once I let myself roll up a great big berm that the last lap I had chickened out. Only halfway up I freaked out and stopped. Up the top in the middle of the curve. I’m lucky it wasn’t busy!

I also tried another place that I found, called Kentlyn. I didn’t like this as much. The trails are very rocky, and I struggled with several of the steps up the rocks. It reminded me of Glenbrook. I’m not sure I’ll be back there.

Kentlyn, ok, this part of the trail was nice

But it’s the last Friday of the holidays and work is on again on Monday. So it might be 10 weeks before my next ride on Wylde.

I Forgot!

I had a sudden ghastly thought that I don’t think the Ninja was serviced AT ALL last year. By the book, it’s 6k or 12 months. I had in my head that all the work done last year when it was knocked over basically covered the service. So I had in my head that it was soon, but not immediate.

The chain and sprockets were pretty new and the tyres as well. These were all replaced after the MotoGP trip. As they had to replace the radiator later and the engine case when it was knocked over, that’s the oil and coolant changed too. That all happened in late 2022 and early 2023.

I was in the middle of running my pushbikes through servicings, when I thought, hold on, when was the last one.

And I panicked. It looked like I’d missed a major. Then after I booked it in, I realised that it appeared my last service was just after 43K and there is a major at 48K. THEN I discovered (because I’ve only been doing short trips it has snuck up) that the bike had 53K on it. I’d almost missed the next service. This has never happened or even close across 4 bikes and several cars and more than 20 years of ownership.

After all this anxiety, the servicing went well. I got another Z900 as a loaner. It’s a shame I had no where to go that day. But I did see how much fun a playful and slim naked is for traffic. And other rides on the Z900 have shown it to be a fun ride.

Since then I was looking at some info to update my records (I have a spreadsheet that tracks kms and time on various parts – like tyres, chain, etc of my bike)(really, are you surprised that I would do that?) when it looks like my rear pads seem to have decreased in wear over the past few services (was 40%, then 20% and now 10%).

BUT

THEN I DISCOVERED

that back in November of 2022 I already did the 48K service.

Soooo, now I’ve done an extra one (can’t see that as a bad thing for my bike, but my wallet doesn’t agree). And I get the relief of the “no, I didn’t miss a servicing feeling”.

I might get a little check over just before MotoGP, but with pretty fresh tyres, chain/sprockets maybe about 30% worn and everything else fresh I don’t think it will really need it. As long as I ride it to keep the battery charged etc, mechanically it should be set for the trip.

MotoGP – Small Replan

I watched a few YouTube videos to try to see what the road between Wee Jasper and Tumut is like. I decided that I didn’t really want to take the Ninja along that way.

But I still wanted to try the more northerly route through Tumut and then across to Tumbarumba. I’ve not been that way before.

I did look at a couple of options. I considered going West from Sydney, out to Oberon and then down through to Goulburn. I am still considering that, but it looks like an epic 9 hour day with camping at the end. Not really ideal, especially as I’ve not been to Tumut since 1992 and that time I never left the airfield (It was a fly in to join in an aero club competition day). Anyway, so that was the first idea.

The second began as the idea to ride down Kangaroo Valley, then up towards Bungendore via Nerriga. Then ride across to Murrumbateman to link up with the Highway, before turning down to Tumut. Again, the hours seem quite long.

So at this stage I will take my long practiced route to Canberra, at least as far as Bungendore before turning to Murrumbateman and the rest.

That looks like the only replan before I leave.

Of course weather may play a part as it did two years ago.

And this means I have a few more options that I have thought through.

LEGO Technic Audi RS-Q e-tron

I had been eyeing this for a while. I’m a fan of Dakar, and I have been intrigued by the Audi effort with their hybrid car. It’s electric drive, but has a petrol motor to charge the battery. This year, in the last year of their 3 year program, they won the Dakar. Congratulations to Carlos Sainz, Sr, who I remember watching back when he was racing for Toyota in WRC.

Apart from being just a model, it’s also a Bluetooth controlled RC car, with 4WD and full suspension. And, as I found out, proper working differentials.

It’s not as big a build as the M1000RR, especially as internally there is the control box and three electric motors, rather than the full engine and gearbox modelled in the bike. It’s a smaller scale too as the model ends up a bit shorter than the bike too. But it’s still a good size model. It’s more like a replica shell on the chassis around the drive and control units.

Overall, the build took about 5 hours. It would have been a little faster, but when I got to the end of stage 2 and tried driving it, I discovered that I had managed to get the front wheels driving backwards and the rear wheels driving forwards, so the car went nowhere.

Even though I’m not a mechanic, I quickly figured out that I needed to drop out the diff and swap it around. So I decided to drop out the rear differential (go back and read the last paragraph again). When I switched it all around and rebuilt the LEGO around it, I tried again.

This time the car went…… backwards.

So I had to drop both diffs out this time and swap them over and then rebuild the LEGO again. Success. I don’t know how I mixed them up the first time I tried to fix it. Just not paying attention I suppose.

Then it was done and I like the build. It’s neat to drive it around too.

Check out who’s on screen in the background.

Planning a MotoGP Trip

I was watching a video about lessons learnt (remember, it’s only a lesson learnt when you actually apply the lesson – until then, it’s just a lesson observed) from their trips. Some involved planning. So I thought I might share some of the steps I take. And you know I love to plan.

So each of my trips has really been to something. There was a destination (usually work or MotoGP), a scheduled time to be there and a limitation (as many of us have) on how long I could be away from work and family. This has to be kept in mind of course. EDIT: These are also planned as solo trips, so are more cautious because of that.

Some of the things I think you need to figure out are

How far, but more importantly, how many hours you are comfortable to ride for in a day. Are you happy to ride past dusk? Remember, in summer days are long, winter, not so. And in Australia, riding past (or even close to) dusk means the chances of hitting wildlife increases dramatically.

What kind of accommodation you plan on using? Hotel, friends, motel, campground, freecamp etc. It’s mostly important when you decide to camp as it’s better to arrive with at least an hour or so of daylight so you can get set up, maybe start dinner before it gets dark. Not so critical when using the other forms, but you may need to worry about getting meals in small towns if it’s late. This also may change how long you can ride for each day.

I find it easiest to look at a paper map, but zooming out from your online map is almost as effective. Roughly judge some routes, broken up by days. Pick out some likely places for fuel, food, accommodation, and if there are things you want to see/do. I usually skip the last one as most of my trips, the road and the destination are the reason I’m there, not to drop into a museum or visit a particular cafe.

Next I’ll make a big list of places and do some (usually Google Maps) work to calculate distances and times between these towns. If there looks to be a few options, I’ll write some of them down too. I keep this as it lets me change my plans while I’m riding in case there is road closures, or to go around weather. I’ll also check that they are sealed roads at this point. The little Google man is great for this, but so is satellite view. A good rule of thumb is that if it is sealed in even a 10 year old picture it’s almost certainly still sealed. The reverse isn’t true.

And I’ll pick my route from that, fitting it together into each day I have. For my riding, I use the Google Maps time, and then add a bit. This bit accounts for fuel stops, rest stops, mealtime, stopping for photos etc etc. If it’s less than an hour, I won’t add anything. I’ll add 30 mins for each hour up to 2, then a full hour on top of anything else. So if Maps says 1.5hrs, I’ll say 2hrs. If it says 3, I’ll say 4. 4 I might say 5 or 6. Especially if it’s later in the day when you’re tired and might stop more often, or if it goes over lunchtime.

Add this all together. I don’t like it to be more than 8 hours a day and my preference is more like 6 hours. That’s my choice and yours can be different. I’ll go longer if I’m expecting a hotel with a nice bed and shops where I am sure I can get food. If I’m setting up camp and then trying to find some dinner in a small country town, mid week in the off season, I’ll try to arrive early.

You can prebook your accommodation at this point, if you like. I usually do, but I’m going to try not to for some of them this year. I’m headed to MotoGP, so I will prebook my weekend hotel accommodation. I am thinking I might extend my riding on a couple of my days this time as it makes the next day easier, so I want the flexibility. I don’t want to arrive somewhere at 3pm and then sit around, when I could ride to the next stop an hour down the road.

You can also check that the towns have fuel or food. Some towns in country Australia don’t have fuel, so you may need to make sure to fill up earlier in the day to get over the gap between fuel stops.

Basically now my plan is done. I know it seems like a lot, but this works for me. I’ve said before, I do enjoy this prep work and it’s a mindset that was reinforced by 20+ years in my first career. As for results, in 2022, on day one, I planned to leave at 8am and arrive at 5pm. I actually left at 7:30 and arrived at 4:30.

Pretty much the whole 2022 plan. (I use OneNote for this and a lot of stuff)

This is a days ride plan. See the time and the duration are different.

I’ll take map screen shots and scribble on them

So this is a list of places and distance/time between them. I keep this in case I change my route.

MotoGP24 Trip

I guess for the frequent visitor here, it is not a surprise when I say I’ve started planning my MotoGP24 trip. The dates were released last year and work has recently approved my leave. The usual Wednesday to Wednesday schedule, but this time I have to be at the Island early on both Saturday and Sunday as they are both basically race days now.

Even after returning successfully last time I did have some doubt about camping on this next trip. However, due to changes in where friends live and admittedly, budget I am looking to camp along the way. Not over the weekend though and not in Canberra. So in reality, its only 1 extra night that last time (total of 3 camps). With the obvious option, if the weather really packs it in, I find a motel or pub somewhere to wait it out.

There are a couple of favourite roads I’d like to keep in, a couple of favourites I would like to see return, but also some new ideas for this trip.

So here goes some of the plan.

Day one – looks like a dash to the Canberra region, most likely my old favourite way past Bungonia. There is an alternate plan to head down Kangaroo Valley and up through Nerriga, across to Tarago and then Canberra. I will likely save that for the return trip when I’m leaving from Canberra though.

So once I’ve hit Canberra I am looking at heading North and East, rather than my usual South to Cooma. Most of these options have some dirt, which from current reports is in good shape. Slow going on road bikes, but a couple of these roads are frequently used by road bikes (I’m talking VFRs and K series BMWs, very similar to my Z1000SX). One option is to Wee Jasper (sealed) to Tumut (mostly sealed), Brindabella Rd (partly sealed) or around the Hume to Tumut (sealed but some interstate). Maybe pushing to Tumbarumba on day 1. Maybe not. Camp in either Tumut or Tumbarumba. (for those outside Australia, yes these are real place names!). These are almost all new choices (I’ve done the highway to Tumut but it was 2007).

Day two. Get through the mountains via Tumbarumba to the Murray Valley. This is another new road for me, but another popular route over the Snowy Mountains. Head along River Rd (rather than the Valley Hwy) and through Granya Gap. From there, head to Whitfield and hopefully Mansfield for the evening.

Attack the Eildon-Jamieson Rd after breakfast on day three. Then down the Spur to Healesville. South from there to my weekend accommodation. Looking at perhaps Warragul, Wonthaggi or possibly Inverloch. The location gives me a head start for the return trip and should be even closer to the island than last time when I stayed in Narre Warren. This will be a hotel/motel stay and is a big chunk of the budget.

Race days – Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully set myself up with some food on Friday evening so I don’t have to buy ALL my food at the track.

Planning for the return is less advanced. But equally, I don’t plan to change much from last time. Something like wherever I’m staying to Khancoban/Corryong. Almost certainly through Mitta Mitta. From there I will head to Jindabyne then a little detour to Dalgety and Maffra before Cooma and the looooong slog to Canberra. Stay there one night. Or over the Snowy’s on my other road to Kiandra and Adaminaby and then through the dirt to Canberra.

The final day, as suggested above, out through Nerriga to the coast and probably up Kangaroo Valley to home.

With the route roughly in mind, I can check out campgrounds and fuel locations. Not everywhere has fuel, Wee Jasper for example, has none. But that section, from Canberra to Tumut, is only 140km or so, easily completed on a single tank, even if I get to Wee Jasper and change my mind.

I’m excited.

The mouse tale continues…

Back in 2021 I was in the midst of trying to replace the Razer Naga Molten that I’ve been using on this Mac for years. After lots of money I ended up with a Logitech G604. It was ok. The main drawback was that the Bluetooth seemed a bit flaky, so I was using the supplied dongle. You can read all about this in the posts linked here and here, oh and here.

A long while later I realised that the only problem with the Naga Molten was that the smooth plastic slippery pads underneath had worn down so that they no longer protruded from the plastic base. Hence, it wouldn’t move about. Several years of use took its toll.

I wondered if anyone made replacements.

They did, and even on Amazon for about $26. I put it in my buy later list in the cart. Where it sat for months.

I received a few Amazon vouchers and the pads ended up on the list and arrived.

This is when I discovered I had no idea where the mouse was. I had a haunting suspicion that I had decided to toss it out. That didn’t sound like me, but I had a memory of tossing out a mouse recently. The pack of pads (it was a twin pack) were stashed in the electronics cupboard.

A month or so later I found the mouse. I quickly swapped the old pads for the new and it fit well. Didn’t seem to slide too well which was a disappointment.

So I unplugged the 604 and swapped the wireless dongle over with the USB from the Molten. A day or so later I happened to flip it over to discover that I had left a plastic covering on the new pads. Ripped that off and WOW, what a nice slick movement.

So have a second hand G604 sitting here now…. Maybe I could use that with my iPad.

Oh and to add to the can’t find stuff theme of this story, I am not sure where the second set of replacement pads went. I might need them in 10 years time. I’m sure they are in the electronics cupboard….

2023 – Well that went by fast!

About Bikes

A garage queen. That’s what she was this year. I didn’t even put enough on her to get her to a servicing. She suffered in a knock over at the start of the year. Then later the battery finally called it quits. 2024 should see a MotoGP trip again. I might camp more, I’ve lost some of the accommodation options I had last time and I will be much tighter on funds I think.

I think my pushbikes sat in the garage the entire year almost. I certainly didn’t take them anywhere to ride.

About Babes

Another year of high school. One has friends dramas, one doesn’t. But they are doing well, they’re just not sure what it is they want to do yet. The eldest has started learning to DRIVE!

About Bytes

Not really a lot here this year, tech wise. I didn’t pick up any new tech. The tech I had trundled along well. Not much spare cash this year to be honest. And mistakes were made in other areas.

It was a bigger year in my other hobbies. Running a D&D campaign with some other school teachers that gets along ok. Next year, I think I will be more flexible and so the game should be more consistent. Beyond that group, my other group finished off Strahd. That was a fun adventure and my character was integral in his final defeat! Then continued as player in the follow on campaign, Spelljammer, which is all new to me. This and the existing Dungeon of the Mad Mage, are moving a little slower and seem a little less dramatic. But I am enjoying the games.

Mistakes were made and I spent way too much on the Battletech Kickstarter, which I hope to see in the new year. That will give me way too many minis…

I also threw a little bit of money (I felt a bit burnt by my eyes being bigger than my credit card in the Battletech one) at the TMNT Kickstarter. I just bought the books (in the plain, original colours) and the dice tray.

Baldur’s Gate released and I’ve been enjoying it. It’s challenging, massive, and keeps me engaged. Well done to Larian Studios.

About Me

So my year on class wasn’t the greatest. My class (by all accounts) was a very tough bunch of kids, that all the other teachers on the same stage (and supported me throughout) all say that they would have struggled with. However, I also think I made some mistakes early on, which a more experienced teacher might have avoided, that were a factor in the struggle with my class. It was a very busy year and in the end I was very happy to see it end.

I will not be on class next year, and part of me worries that it means that the executives think that I have failed. I’ve not had any feedback from them on the topic, so I’m kind of in the dark about it. I did say in my “what do you want to do next year” that I would like a class, but was happy to not be on class and I know the teacher that they swapped me over with was super keen to have a class. I will be working across all stages next year and while it will be complicated, it should also be less stressful. And certainly less administration!

The two pay rises this year will certainly help in the coming year too. Now I just need to finalise my accreditation to get the next one.

Reviews – New Gloves, New Jacket

After my trip to MotoGP in 2022, and a few rides since, it is clear that some of my gear is a bit tired. The soles of my boots actually came apart on the last wet day of the trip down. So they will need to be replaced. The Dainese jacket that had been through rain, hail and shine since 2014 was struggling to stay waterproof, zips falling apart, pockets starting to come apart. Then more recently my Dainese Carbon 3 Short gloves have started to wear through along one of the fingers. So it was time for some replacements. So far here is what I have picked up

Jacket

After much hand wringing and such, I decided that I really wanted to stick with Dainese, mostly because my Travelguard pants are still fine. That would save me some money. I really wanted to get gore-tex, I know it’s expensive, but I’ve happily used it for years. I also prefer the waterproof layer built into the jacket. Saves you having to get off when there is just a little bit of water.

Touring jackets now come with layers. Layers that you can also wear off the bike, which sounds like a great idea, if you don’t already have a rack full of gear you’ve put together over many seasons (seriously, I’ve been riding in all sorts of weather for twenty years). I already have a quilted jacket, that fits under a riding jacket and is better off the bike. I already have a plastic over jacket for when it’s really wet. Because when it suddenly starts to rain, the last thing you want to do is stop, take off your jacket, spend a few minutes “putting it together” and then put it all back on. Much easier to stop, no need to take off gloves, helmet or jacket, and just throw the over jacket on. So I’m not super happy with this trend.

There are a few jackets that have the Gore-Tex incorporated into the outer layer which was exactly what I was looking for, but they were out of my price range. After lots more pondering, I ended up with the Dainese Ladakh jacket. Not Gore-tex, not built-in waterproof. But inside my price range.

I’m not overjoyed at the jacket, but it is fine. Apart from the comments above, the other thing that has me nervous are the two pockets on the hips. They are just folded over with a small velcro pouch near the main zipper and some elastic to keep stuff in the pocket. I am worried that won’t be secure enough (I’ve had items fall from equivalent pockets on my old jacket when I left them unzipped). I might add an extra strip of velcro under each flap. Further, it only has one upper front pocket (instead of two as per my old Gator Evo). It does also have an inner one that is waterproof.

It does have much better venting, which I have already tested and works well. This is more a four season jacket than my last one which suffered in warm weather. I still wouldn’t want to wear it on super hot days. (40C+). And the bunny pouch at the back fits either the D-Dry liner, or my RJays plastic over jacket. Until watching some reviews looking at options, I never knew what to put in that pocket.

So I’m okay with my purchase. It will do. I am planning to also spray it with the waterproofing chemical that is used to refresh Gore-Tex as a boost to what I think may be a water resistant outer layer.

Gloves

Well I did plan to get more of the same. I checked through my shelf. I actually have two pairs of leather race style gauntlets as well as a worn, but still ok pair of A-Stars shorty leather gloves. So this time I thought, why not some of these textile, light, but still well armoured shorty gloves.

I ended up with RJays Swift gloves. These are textile with extra protection on the palm. They also have knuckle armour as well as extra “armour” at the heel (of the palm) and along the fingers. I will admit that price was a big factor. I figured I can use these, see how long they last and I won’t have lost much.

These I am happy with. I’ve always worn leather, so these were a bit of a revelation in the warm, humid summer weather Sydney has had for the last couple of years. I imagine they will be even better in the hot, dry summers.

BG3- Got him.

As I thought, I just needed to spend a bit of time on the problem and I would be able to work my way around the roadblock of Ketherich and Myrkul. And with some blessed rolls from the random numbers gods, I did. Also, getting back up to speed after weeks away from the game.

First up, I used my normal party – Lae’zel, Elodie (my Bard), Shadowheart and Gale. I am used to using these guys. I stuck to my basic idea which I was already using; release Nightsong as soon as possible to let her get in Ketheric’s face; have my party get rid of the mind flayer as a priority and then smash down Ketheric to initiate Myrkul.

Second, I did read through the stuff in my bags a bit to see what I might use that I had been missing. Like a Barkskin Elixir for Gale, so he has better odds on holding Concentration (doesn’t get hit as much, doesn’t need to save). It also meant I knew what I could use to cause damage or heal, without using spell slots, for the first part of the fight. I also read a bit more about Myrkul’s abilities (using the Examine option, I really should use that more). So I made sure none of the minions could sacrifice themselves to him. This means he can’t use his “Finger of Death”.

Killing Ketheric went well, and my team were at about 75% health with the mind flayer already defeated when we put Ketheric to the point of summoning Myrkul. Some of the minions were gone and the others well out of position. I had 3 characters on the platform, with Gale on a higher one, out of reach. Great positions.

With a Cloud of Daggers, a Guardian of Faith and Spirit Guardians, along with at least one Fireball, and some solid hits from Lae’zel, Myrkul was down!

Nightsong, who’s name is Dame Aylin, got to crush Ketheric’s head with extreme prejudice.

There was a few odds and ends around to clean up, then it was off to save Baldur’s Gate and I moved on to Act 3.

And immediately found myself in trouble again! But more on that next time.