Ive heard about the Sydney Mardi Gras for the last 20 years or so. The circles I used to travel in it was considered a big deal and one of the best parties in the world. Having now seen and experienced the Mardi Gras I have to say, Aucklands Hero Parade was better.
Sydneys party is definitely bigger, involves more floats and more people both in the crowd and involved in the parade. However it seemed to me that the Sydney parade handed out the right to join the parade if a GLTG person had walked past your offices in the street. What the fuck does the RTA have to do with Mardi Gras or gay rights?. No idea, but they had a float.
Hero was LOUD, I mean really seriously fucking loud. You couldn't have a conversation with someone standing next to you at any level below a shout. The music and light shows on each float were awesome. Because there were a lot less floats they tended to be of better quality both in presentation and enthusiasm. The Hero parade was a lot less political than Mardi Gras seemed to be and the participation of those in the parade a lot more enthusiastic.
Hero was a lot more sexual. Lets face it, the various Gay parades around the world are at the end of the day about a choice which involves the loins. Celebrate that fact, flaunt it in the citizens face, get RUDE!.
Maybe if I was circling the parade on pills it would have been a lot better. Maybe if I had any gay friends in Sydney and had been invited to a party it would have been more enjoyable, I don't know. I just wasn't that impressed.
PS: Bobby Goldsmith Foundation I am not paying you 130$ for a seat again. The seats were bloody uncomfortable, too small and didn't at all feel safe. Charging 7$ for what was effectively a 1/2 glass of beer and 10$ for a sausage roll was also well on the nose.
Guys I understand it all goes to charity, but that doesn't give you the right to rip people off.
Monday, March 01, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Uralla SOO 19.02.10
Once again we headed up to the beautiful region of New England for a long ride and a drunken weekend. It all started off with everyone trying to figure out where we were going to leave from. Initially I posted a route suggestion which was Sydney, Twin Servo's, Gloucester, Walcha, Uralla. In my experience, which isn't vast, those are some of the best roads in that area of NSW. Mannie, who is usually our ride captain, replied to my post and said "we will see what its like on the day".
Well on the day it was raining and we still went headed along exactly that path. Woot one right for me!.
The ride out of NSW was supposed to meet up at Berowra Mobil at 9:00am for a 9:30am departure. I got there about 20 past 8 as its only about 30 minutes from my place. At 9:30am with no one having arrived I was beginning to wonder if I had the time wrong or the meeting place had been changed without my knowledge. While I was hanging out drinking coffee and smoking I got talking to two guys in a pickup truck. Turns out one of them was the ex president of the Mountain Men. We chatted for about half an hour about my bike, his bike, riding in general until him and his mate took off for work.
I love that no matter whether you are a Ulysses member, a 1%'r, a weekend casual rider there is always something to talk about when you love bikes and people are always willing to be nice and chat.
Finally everyone started to show up, we all fueled up, sorted out our coffee and chocolate fixes and headed up to the Twin Servos to pick up Gazz and Wazza. By this time it was past 10 so we were running well and truly late.
Finally we were on the road and heading north. We took the F3 all the way up past Raymond's Terrace and turned left heading up to Gloucester. By this time the rain had which had been threatening all morning had started to come down in a mix of thick haze and pelting rain.
Gazza going home
The rain got worse and my visibility went past terrible and into downright dangerous. You see I have to ride wearing my glasses and if I ride with the helmet fully closed up either my glasses or the helmet fog up or both.
This time it was both, so after giving up on the idea of riding with my helmet closed I ended up doing 120 through to Gloucester in the driving rain with my helmet open. I can tell you that rain at that speed fucking hurts.
Petrol stop
The guys all got to Gloucester well ahead of us and had happily had lunch before we got there
Well on the day it was raining and we still went headed along exactly that path. Woot one right for me!.
The ride out of NSW was supposed to meet up at Berowra Mobil at 9:00am for a 9:30am departure. I got there about 20 past 8 as its only about 30 minutes from my place. At 9:30am with no one having arrived I was beginning to wonder if I had the time wrong or the meeting place had been changed without my knowledge. While I was hanging out drinking coffee and smoking I got talking to two guys in a pickup truck. Turns out one of them was the ex president of the Mountain Men. We chatted for about half an hour about my bike, his bike, riding in general until him and his mate took off for work.
I love that no matter whether you are a Ulysses member, a 1%'r, a weekend casual rider there is always something to talk about when you love bikes and people are always willing to be nice and chat.
Finally everyone started to show up, we all fueled up, sorted out our coffee and chocolate fixes and headed up to the Twin Servos to pick up Gazz and Wazza. By this time it was past 10 so we were running well and truly late.
Finally we were on the road and heading north. We took the F3 all the way up past Raymond's Terrace and turned left heading up to Gloucester. By this time the rain had which had been threatening all morning had started to come down in a mix of thick haze and pelting rain.
Gazza going home
The rain got worse and my visibility went past terrible and into downright dangerous. You see I have to ride wearing my glasses and if I ride with the helmet fully closed up either my glasses or the helmet fog up or both.
This time it was both, so after giving up on the idea of riding with my helmet closed I ended up doing 120 through to Gloucester in the driving rain with my helmet open. I can tell you that rain at that speed fucking hurts.
Petrol stop
The guys all got to Gloucester well ahead of us and had happily had lunch before we got there
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Southern Armada Raid blogs
I am still slowly doing them, I have fixed the text in the weeks up to week 32 and now just have to hand paste the images across. I will get a few more done now as I can do this while playing EVE.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
General Custard
Its been a hell of a long journey but she is pretty much complete. As soon as I posted the pics she was dubbed "General Custard" on the M109 forum. So here she is, the day after Rocket and I put her back together from paint.
Having now been riding her for a couple of months since these were taken, and having scratched the tank and taken in some suggestions from a few people, the tank is going to get a re-paint at some point with true flame in black.
I am also purchasing an Air Ride as the bike is just too low to have the wife on the back and ride safely.
After
Having now been riding her for a couple of months since these were taken, and having scratched the tank and taken in some suggestions from a few people, the tank is going to get a re-paint at some point with true flame in black.
I am also purchasing an Air Ride as the bike is just too low to have the wife on the back and ride safely.
Before
After
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
A new direction
Its been a while since I have updated this blog, I used to keep it to describe my adventures in Massively Multiplayer Games. However a hell of a lot has happened in the last 3 years and my focus has changed from the computer MMO gaming which has really dominated my spare time for the last decade to Motorcycling.
I got into Motorcycling almost by accident. Like most guys I had always wanted a bike but had just never gotten around to getting my license. About 9 years ago, on a whim, I bought a 200cc scooter off a mate who needed the cash. I rode that little beast through the traffic of Auckland city for 2 years. It was on that scooter I had my first road accident when I was knocked off because a taxi decided he wanted to run a red light and took me at right angles as I was turning into work. The impact threw the bike about 20 meters up a hill and I rolled off his bonnet into the road.
I had just gotten it fixed and back on the road when it was stolen out of my garage one night. I had a bike cover worth about 400$, they left that behind and took the 2000$ scooter, go figure. I reported the theft to the cops but I knew I was never going to get it back, I figured it was already down a bank in the bush somewhere, or in pieces and being shipped to Hamilton.
I didn't ride again for a year or so until I decided I wanted to go back to school. The class I wanted to do was night school and was in the city. It also managed to fall outside of the public transport hours to where I lived. The perfect storm of you cant get there and back. So after much thought, I decided I wanted to buy a little commuter to get me to and from class. After looking around and a little research I found a Hyosung GV250. Hyosung is a Korean manufacturer and are very new to the scene of motorcycle making. They have been the primary parts suppliers to Suzuki, Kawasaki et al for many years, they have just never made bikes under their own brand till about 2004.
Lots of people give Hyosung shit, as the first year or two, the quality of manufacture was less than stellar. However they have consistently improved year on year and they now make a motorcycle to match any of the big 4. The GV250 is affectionately known by its riders as a "Hyobag" or a "Hoglet", the little bastards have tons of torque and like the advert says they just keep on going. I loved my Hyosung and rode everywhere on it for about 18 months. Too and from school and work, weekends up into the hills around Titirangi, off to parties etc.
When I bought the Hyosung a mate of mine decided he was going to buy a bike as well. He had previously ridden Suzuki Marauders and was determined to get another one. At the time I wasn't a big Suzuki fan and was considering my next bike to be a Hyosung GV650. So we took off one lunch time to go up to the local Suzie dealer and he took out a 10 year old Marauder and I wandered around the shop having a look.
First thing I saw was a C50. The 50 is a sexy little bike and fell exactly into the Cruiser style of bike I love. It looks a lot bigger than its engine rating, I sat on it a bit and chatted with a sales guy. Then I saw it, at the back of the shop was this giant yellow monster of a bike. The nose cowl looked down right evil, the paint shone, the gigantic rear wheel taunted me, the engine just looked like it wanted to howl. I walked over to it absolutely entranced and quickly attracted the attention of a sales guy who told me that was the new Suzuki Boulevard M109R. I was utterly in love. Unfortunately at that time in my life in NZ there was next to no chance I was ever going to be able to buy the 9 so I put it in the back of my head and decided my next bike was going to be a C50.
A little while later everything changed. My wife was offered a new job and to cut a long story short (told in more detail elsewhere) we ended up in Australia, in Sydney. I had sold the Hyobag in NZ when we left, but it only got me enough to basically pay off the existing debt. But by mnow I had the biking bug, I wanted another bike to get around Sydney. I did lots of reading on the web about NSW licenses, road rules etc and prepared myself as much as possible for riding in another country. I was still on a 'P' license thanks to a dick head in the first RTA office I went to to get my NZ license swapped over, so I couldn't jump to a big bike. However I couldn't bring myself to ride a bike on the LAM's list which I knew I was only going to have for a bit more than a year till the full license came through.
The other bonus to working in Australia was that I could now afford a bigger bike, so I walked into a Hornsby Suzuki dealer and bought myself a C50. The C50 was a nice bike and a lot of fun. I quickly realized it was going to be a nice commuter, but when I took it out on the freeway and wanted to give it some go, it topped out really fast at about 130KPH. I took it out for a few rides up to Newcastle and once or twice along the Old Road up to the Pie in the Sky.
Whille I had the 50 I had been debating and researching the 109. I had been reading and dreaming about it from the first time I had seen it in that shop in Auckland. I read all about its weight (315kg dry) its size (1800cc Vtwin), I debated with myself whether its power was too much, was it too big a bike for me?, could I control it, was it just too powerful?. I went back and forth like this for months. I looked at a M90 when they were released but it just didn't have the same soul as the M109 for me.
A year went by and my full Australian bike license came through. I continued to ride the C50 for another 6 months or so until I saw an advert for an M109 at 16,995+ORC. I wont go into all the details but essentially, I walked in with cash at exactly the right moment in that salesman's life. I walked out with a brand new black M109R for 16,000 flat.
I think I was terrified the day I picked up my 9. I had never been on anything remotely as powerful as this beast, I hit 100kph in second coming down the Pacific Highway back to home, I cornered like an old lady because I had no idea how to lean the damn thing. But I rode it every day, to and from work, up to the shops, out to PITS and up to Newcastle. Every time I got on it, I was a little bit better and every time I headed up a new road it was a little bit more fun. Even now 9 months after purchase, every time I look at it, I can't help grinning, I want to get on it and go for a ride every day.
While I was looking around and learning about the 9 I had come across a website in the USA which seemed to have been built around a community of 9 riders from around the world. They even had a sub forum for Aussies!. The day I bought the bike I posted there proudly proclaiming I had joined the owners club. About a day later I got an email telling me about a website for 9 owners specifically built for Aussies. I was invited to sign up and come along and have a look. That was the first time I met Big Bad Baz and found the Oz M109 riders site.
Through the site I have met up with a whole lot of fellow enthusiasts through the OzM109 riders forum. I have found some awesome people with fantastic knowledge of the 9 and a real passion for the bike. I have developed an itch to mod, an addiction you might call it. I have started going out on a number of weekend as well as longer runs. I have been off to Uralla and Urunga and I am planning to head down to the Snowies for a big charity run on the weekend of the 7th of November.
The biggest ride I have been on was the Big 109 ride to Victor Harbor South Australia. That has its own blog entry and is going to take me a while to write as its huge and was an awesome experience. I also have some piccies lying around of the Urunga and Uralla rides. I will put them up as a single post at some point.
Will I play MMO's again? I still do now and again but I just haven't found one that has gripped me in the same way that EQ did. I might go back to EVE for a bit. Who knows.
I got into Motorcycling almost by accident. Like most guys I had always wanted a bike but had just never gotten around to getting my license. About 9 years ago, on a whim, I bought a 200cc scooter off a mate who needed the cash. I rode that little beast through the traffic of Auckland city for 2 years. It was on that scooter I had my first road accident when I was knocked off because a taxi decided he wanted to run a red light and took me at right angles as I was turning into work. The impact threw the bike about 20 meters up a hill and I rolled off his bonnet into the road.
I had just gotten it fixed and back on the road when it was stolen out of my garage one night. I had a bike cover worth about 400$, they left that behind and took the 2000$ scooter, go figure. I reported the theft to the cops but I knew I was never going to get it back, I figured it was already down a bank in the bush somewhere, or in pieces and being shipped to Hamilton.
I didn't ride again for a year or so until I decided I wanted to go back to school. The class I wanted to do was night school and was in the city. It also managed to fall outside of the public transport hours to where I lived. The perfect storm of you cant get there and back. So after much thought, I decided I wanted to buy a little commuter to get me to and from class. After looking around and a little research I found a Hyosung GV250. Hyosung is a Korean manufacturer and are very new to the scene of motorcycle making. They have been the primary parts suppliers to Suzuki, Kawasaki et al for many years, they have just never made bikes under their own brand till about 2004.
Lots of people give Hyosung shit, as the first year or two, the quality of manufacture was less than stellar. However they have consistently improved year on year and they now make a motorcycle to match any of the big 4. The GV250 is affectionately known by its riders as a "Hyobag" or a "Hoglet", the little bastards have tons of torque and like the advert says they just keep on going. I loved my Hyosung and rode everywhere on it for about 18 months. Too and from school and work, weekends up into the hills around Titirangi, off to parties etc.
When I bought the Hyosung a mate of mine decided he was going to buy a bike as well. He had previously ridden Suzuki Marauders and was determined to get another one. At the time I wasn't a big Suzuki fan and was considering my next bike to be a Hyosung GV650. So we took off one lunch time to go up to the local Suzie dealer and he took out a 10 year old Marauder and I wandered around the shop having a look.
First thing I saw was a C50. The 50 is a sexy little bike and fell exactly into the Cruiser style of bike I love. It looks a lot bigger than its engine rating, I sat on it a bit and chatted with a sales guy. Then I saw it, at the back of the shop was this giant yellow monster of a bike. The nose cowl looked down right evil, the paint shone, the gigantic rear wheel taunted me, the engine just looked like it wanted to howl. I walked over to it absolutely entranced and quickly attracted the attention of a sales guy who told me that was the new Suzuki Boulevard M109R. I was utterly in love. Unfortunately at that time in my life in NZ there was next to no chance I was ever going to be able to buy the 9 so I put it in the back of my head and decided my next bike was going to be a C50.
A little while later everything changed. My wife was offered a new job and to cut a long story short (told in more detail elsewhere) we ended up in Australia, in Sydney. I had sold the Hyobag in NZ when we left, but it only got me enough to basically pay off the existing debt. But by mnow I had the biking bug, I wanted another bike to get around Sydney. I did lots of reading on the web about NSW licenses, road rules etc and prepared myself as much as possible for riding in another country. I was still on a 'P' license thanks to a dick head in the first RTA office I went to to get my NZ license swapped over, so I couldn't jump to a big bike. However I couldn't bring myself to ride a bike on the LAM's list which I knew I was only going to have for a bit more than a year till the full license came through.
The other bonus to working in Australia was that I could now afford a bigger bike, so I walked into a Hornsby Suzuki dealer and bought myself a C50. The C50 was a nice bike and a lot of fun. I quickly realized it was going to be a nice commuter, but when I took it out on the freeway and wanted to give it some go, it topped out really fast at about 130KPH. I took it out for a few rides up to Newcastle and once or twice along the Old Road up to the Pie in the Sky.
Whille I had the 50 I had been debating and researching the 109. I had been reading and dreaming about it from the first time I had seen it in that shop in Auckland. I read all about its weight (315kg dry) its size (1800cc Vtwin), I debated with myself whether its power was too much, was it too big a bike for me?, could I control it, was it just too powerful?. I went back and forth like this for months. I looked at a M90 when they were released but it just didn't have the same soul as the M109 for me.
A year went by and my full Australian bike license came through. I continued to ride the C50 for another 6 months or so until I saw an advert for an M109 at 16,995+ORC. I wont go into all the details but essentially, I walked in with cash at exactly the right moment in that salesman's life. I walked out with a brand new black M109R for 16,000 flat.
I think I was terrified the day I picked up my 9. I had never been on anything remotely as powerful as this beast, I hit 100kph in second coming down the Pacific Highway back to home, I cornered like an old lady because I had no idea how to lean the damn thing. But I rode it every day, to and from work, up to the shops, out to PITS and up to Newcastle. Every time I got on it, I was a little bit better and every time I headed up a new road it was a little bit more fun. Even now 9 months after purchase, every time I look at it, I can't help grinning, I want to get on it and go for a ride every day.
While I was looking around and learning about the 9 I had come across a website in the USA which seemed to have been built around a community of 9 riders from around the world. They even had a sub forum for Aussies!. The day I bought the bike I posted there proudly proclaiming I had joined the owners club. About a day later I got an email telling me about a website for 9 owners specifically built for Aussies. I was invited to sign up and come along and have a look. That was the first time I met Big Bad Baz and found the Oz M109 riders site.
Through the site I have met up with a whole lot of fellow enthusiasts through the OzM109 riders forum. I have found some awesome people with fantastic knowledge of the 9 and a real passion for the bike. I have developed an itch to mod, an addiction you might call it. I have started going out on a number of weekend as well as longer runs. I have been off to Uralla and Urunga and I am planning to head down to the Snowies for a big charity run on the weekend of the 7th of November.
The biggest ride I have been on was the Big 109 ride to Victor Harbor South Australia. That has its own blog entry and is going to take me a while to write as its huge and was an awesome experience. I also have some piccies lying around of the Urunga and Uralla rides. I will put them up as a single post at some point.
Will I play MMO's again? I still do now and again but I just haven't found one that has gripped me in the same way that EQ did. I might go back to EVE for a bit. Who knows.
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