Well That Was a Surprise...

[DaveNZ]

Ill be watching Bathurst Dave, with 2 kiwi boys up front in the points championship, this race will probably determine the winner. Hoping for Shell Ford win. Just watching the ABs verse the South Africans, great game so far, very nerve racking.

[Aussie Dave]

Commiserations to you Dave'o....... Lowndse'y got the Bradbury award for fatigue management over the lightning fast Dave Reynolds (who I thought was going to blitz it for a superb win....... but that mountain is merciless on driver's and machine's ).

Can you believe how fast they can lap ..... 2min 03's........ shit, just a few years ago 2min 06 was considered the all time unbeatable lap record (set by a Kiwi of course ).

I had a virus so I had to take it easy and there was nothing else I could do but watch the entire telecast....... ....... that's my excuse..... (and then there was the MotoGP of Thailand.....yesss.. ).

[DaveNZ]

^^^^Couch Potato.............was great viewing day in front of the box, Rugby, V8's racing Bathurst, and the GP, and also Formula 1. i did venture out into the ultra violet for awhile.

[mick shere]

Great to hear you are progressing towards your old life, must have been a bit surreal moving amongst all those crowds after so long

[Aussie Dave]

That's a good word for it....... I enjoyed the morning but did feel out of it until I drank my coffee..... then I was in the groove . Hectic places those central city shopping mall's - people milling about, noises, smells, pidgeon's scrounging scraps....... was great to get back home and relax tho.

Oh, and my accountant got me a tax refund...... ...... about time something went my way

[Aussie Dave]

Bugger ...... struggled in for my checkup with the doc's at the big hospital (woke up with a slight virus making me feel unwell.......) and the registrar advised me that I have to wait until mid November before they can authorize me to drive again...... at least I have a date now rather than the months of wondering/hoping/asking about when I might be allowed back out into the turmoil on our Aussie roads .

read a news report in our local paper recently, where a driver was assaulted by a push bike cyclist while reversing his boat down a boat ramp....... seems the cyclist felt the boatie came too close to him so he knocked him down and kicked the guy 3 times (I have to wonder what a cyclist was doing on a busy boat ramp ).......oh, that's right, the punch line........ the newspaper reported the victim as a 61yo 'ELDERLY' man...

I've just turned 61 today and this just adds insult to injury.... elderly..... be Fkd.... that's for when I'm in a nursing home...

[jjscsix]

Sorry to hear of another delay. Here in the U.S. they don't have a mechanism for taking away a drivers license for a medical procedure. I'm pretty sure we do for pilots, but not a ground based drivers license. If we do I have never heard of it, and I could have driven whenever I wanted from a legal standpoint.

[Aussie Dave]

Cheers mate, it's standard procedure here - 6months in the sin-bin if you have any VF/VT attacks after heart surgery........ most are ok to resume normal life within 6-8 weeks, but I just had to be difficult eh

Roll on 15 November........


Ps Had a spurt of enthusiasm and fitted my C-Tek "comfort" charging harness to the GT and the CBR. Now all I need do is plug in and switch on, instead of doing it the KTM way and disconnecting the -ve terminal and losing the time setting. I had been expecting to resume riding each month and didn't realize it was so late in the year..... well it's done now.....

PPs We don't actually lose our licences either - a condition is endorsed (prob like 'must wear glasses for driving') but in effect my licence is suspended because if I drive without the authority to do so, and have a crash, my insurance company will dump me like a stone....... I've read that a pilot's licence (and heavy vehicle/machinery licences) is cancelled once you've had heart issues - for obvious reasons , but I haven't got a truck/pilot's licence and haven't driven a fork lift for many years anyway so not an issue... . I just hope I'm going to be fit enough to be as competent as I was on my GT - I don't want to have an 'off' just because I got a bit light headed or faint ....... so far so good...... so here's hoping it continues.......

[Aussie Dave]

Aaaaah....... that's better......... gave the GT (and the CBR) their monthly run up to operating temp......

Both sounded great with zorst's reverberating inside my brick garage (door open of course....). Fuel getting a bit old now...... but they both fired up quickly........ just another few weeks and I will be legally able to ride 100mtrs to a gas station and refresh with nice non Ethanol 95 octane fuel...

The GT thinks it's overdue for a service when it has only travelled 1,230kms since my Oct 1st 2017 oil and filter change - so it must be programmed to show the service icon at 12 months if the kms don't trigger it first.

Soon (I hope) I will be able to book in for my fuel pump, Brembo piston & fuse box (inspection) recall and I'll ask if I can leave the oil in for another few months to clock up some kms before the schedued 15k kms warranty service........... the oil won't be off yet - it is semi syn, has not gone black, and I want more kms on the GT before I swap to Mx Top Speed 15w50 full syn..... also can't wait to get the K&N airfilter installed

I wish this was me..........

[DaveNZ]

This Pic should cheer you up Dave, i took the little MV to the Track (Taupo) today with a couple of mates, great day flogging the little triple.

[Aussie Dave]

Wot Tha..... NO TYRE WARMERS ....... were you the fastest and didn't need to heat tyres between sessions?

That floppy hat reminds me of way back when Ken Wootton was editor of AMCN...... all those 'spot the Wus' photo comps..... but he wore a blue one........ .

I read that MV spent money to upgrade their engines after inflicting rattly crap on their loyal supporters for a decade or so....... now they run quietly and actually make horsepower...... . My old buddy who succumbed to prostate cancer had a fleet of MV's....... and was a bit one eyed about them....... but we all saw how terrible they were to own & ride back then - he had the 4cyl 4pipes under seat 1000cc F4 thing and a Brutale 750(and 900..?) as well as Ducati MS1000 & 1200s and the first Pikes Peak 1200model (lots of bikes to choose from for a ride ). He was an ex racer back when they still raced pommie crap. He was kind enough to share the keys when we rode together. Amazingly he also owned an LC8 which was so harsh on our roads that it blurred my vision...... KTM sure has come a long way from those early days eh

Ps 36DegC forecast for toooday.......and humid after last nights storm......... ..... here comes summer

[DaveNZ]

I brought that floppy red hat from Brisbane classic bike show put on br the Laverda club last year when i was over. Its a Queensland Ducati Riders Club hat. I don't have tire warmers, those guys spend big on their track day stuff, man you want to see their bike trailer, they would give me 1/4 lap head start then pass me after 4-5 laps, I'm still getting used to the little MV, i got it thinking it would be easier to track than the Multi or the GT, its so light and easy to get in and out of the van, I've removed the rear shock to get it revalved, its brutal on tires.

[Aussie Dave]

Struth...... it's nearly Movember already........ ......... what happened to Rocktober......

Cheers DaveNZ....... i always went to the lavender club's annual bike show (until I started feeling ill last year).

It used to be a huge event held under our look-a-likeish harbour bridge (our's is the Story Bridge over the Brisbane river at errrr, this is true....... Kangaroo Point...... ....... gotta love Aussie humour eh , the other one is the famous one on postcards = Sydney Harbour Bridge).

The bike show got too big for the beautiful shaded park grounds under the Story Bridge and was moved to the stark school like show grounds at Cleveland......... has been dwindling ever since, but still attracts some eye candy........ gets bloody hot out in the sun though .

I probably know the Ducati Club of Qld person who sold you the hat........ small world eh .

Mower man is due today - but it rained last night! - shitbuggerbumpisscockfart.........wish I was up to speed and could mow when I choose/weather is right.......

Oh yeah, nearly fergot..... ...... super excellent racing at Philip Is on Sunday ......... yeharrr, didn't Maverick make a statement....... and luckily no one got killed or crippled when MM moved over onto Zarco

[mick shere]

Just watched Malaysian motogp... an interesting watch
Saying no more in case someone hasn't seen it..

Must be getting nice and toasty in Aus and NZ about now

[DaveNZ]

Its starting to warm up Mick, pretty much 20C everyday, but we are still getting a couple of days of off and on again rain coming through each week, i hear the forcast for Nov-Dec is for dry weather, I'm looking forward to that. It has been a good spring here tho, plenty of riding (mainly the MV) just got the shock revalved, and holy shit, what a difference, have this guy who works privately from home work on the Sach shock, he said it was really well made, but the valving was a total fukup, there was so little Comp Dampning, it was blowing past the shim stack and bottoming out. Brilliant now tho.

[Aussie Dave]

G'day Mick & the other Dave

GP was a thriller...... pity the senior citizen had a little slip..... but that's racing.

I'll have to emigrate to NZ I think...... we've hit 30degC where I live (on the coast with sea breeze's) but other mates living a bit further inland have had 36 C hot and humid........ yuck. Out west - our cattle grazing farmer cousins have been enduring near 40 C temps........ now that's hot! Luckily this morning (Thurs 8nov 7.33am) is overcast and cool due to a cool change that floated through around 4am......... aaaaaahhhh.....nice.......

Ps Hah, as if I haven't had enough bad karma this year, I've been struggling with shoulder pain (it's called Bursitis) for the last month or so...... gotta get an ultrasound guided cortisone injection on Friday which should help reduce the inflamation around the tendons in my left shoulder....... buggered if I know how/why this has occurred after all the crap I've survived so far...... but I must be due for some good luck soon.....eh?.....

Pps Dave..... funny how the Italians get damping rates wrong...... maybe their roads are tooo smooth

[jjscsix]

Dave, are you riding yet?

[Aussie Dave]

Cheers jj..... not yet ....... but my six months sin-bin ends next week. I'm seeing my local GP on Friday 16th. Hoping he has the letter from the specialists at the hospital with a good pass mark for me to begin driving again.

I've not had any issues like dizzyness or chest pains etc but I still can't claim to be feeling 100% bullet proof (oh sorry, bad choice of words.... another mass shooting on the news headlines ) .

It might be quite normal and just part of the process....... but I sure wish it would pass and let me get on with living ....... and riding

[jjscsix]

Cheers jj..... not yet ....... but my six months sin-bin ends next week. I'm seeing my local GP on Friday 16th. Hoping he has the letter from the specialists at the hospital with a good pass mark for me to begin driving again.

I've not had any issues like dizzyness or chest pains etc but I still can't claim to be feeling 100% bullet proof (oh sorry, bad choice of words.... another mass shooting on the news headlines ) .

It might be quite normal and just part of the process....... but I sure wish it would pass and let me get on with living ....... and riding

Thanks for the update Dave. Good luck

[Aussie Dave]

...... After a disappointing visit to my local GP (not Dr Rock ) - no letter of authority to drive - I phoned the big hospital to ask what was happening....... and they were surprised I was waiting for a letter .

So they don't write/email advising when/if a patient is able/not to drive....... weird or what

Anyway, the nice pacemaker tech Dr guy said my 6 month period had ended the day before and that I was 'good to go' ....... and reminded me that if my little friend (the implanted defibrillator) ever fired up, I would be off the road again for another 6 months....... which I took to mean - be careful and go steady...... little steps......

So, my first little step went well - I drove 100mtrs to my local fuel station and filled up with fresh petrol at (luckily) the low end of the price cycle (today $1.25/Ltr vs recent weeks $1.69/Ltr ) and then a 1km backstreet drive home to the calm of my driveway and garage........

One small step for me after 9 months of being sidelined as a passenger in daily life..... I felt like I had just done my first solo drive after passing my licence test way back when I was a 17yo......

It Felt Good........ but until I get my head back up to speed (eg blocking distractions, doing stuff automatically like we do without realizing, etc etc), it might be a while before I am tempted to do an early morning quiet ride on my GT........ did I say quiet..... the Gt puts out a bark in stock trim..... oh well, the roads are quiet at 5am (no traffic).... ....... and the school holiday period has just started so there should be less traffic soon.

Cheers from the 'invalid'