Summer blitz on riders
Yeah,
as Ben noted in the mag, I have an embarrassment of
demerit points so I’ve been cutting the great club rides that keep the adrenal
gland in good order. It’s hard not
getting a regular Sunday hit, and missing the camaraderie of the ride.
How’d
it come about? Well, after a Jan. ride I
trailed a slow ute through a
roundabout on the Wandong – Epping road, then
overtook it and came up behind a couple of slow Sunday drivers. Indicated and pulled out, and then the rear one pulled out in front
of me without indicating. Then he
slowed; probably noticed me or felt my angry vibes, and then accelerated
slowly and pulled tightly in front of the guy he was passing. No space to pull in behind, and doing a head
check at speed on the wrong side of the road didn’t appeal, so I cracked on
some throttle and passed him as well.
Well
there was a cop behind us all and half a k down the road I noticed him on my
tail, lights flashing and I pulled over.
He said exceeding the limit and unsafe overtaking. And I was trying to outrun him. I showed him my earplugs, and then explained
what had happened. He reduced the speeding charge to below the license
suspension mark but insisted that the overtaking charge stand. So, 5 points in one hit.
I took
legal advice on the situation; unsafe overtaking means putting people’s lives
at risk, and on this day there was good visibility and
no traffic ahead, so it stank. What
stank more was the $2,200 to $3,200 it would take to contest it. Saving only two points. Advice was to ignore all notices ‘til the sheriff
came to claim. That buys some time in
case I’m naughty again, when spending the money on representation might mean
the difference between riding at all or walking.
Well,
I’ve been out a few times on my pat malone. Sticking to the limit – GPS checked – on the
access routes and then opening her up through the twisties. Get a rhythm going; bit like meditating.
And a couple of times with one of the sons. He rides a GS500 that he got new, ride-away,
for seven grand last year. Bargain. He rides quietly till the twisties tighten up
and then he cracks on some speed. Good
rider; he did a Stay Upright course to rebuild his confidence after his first
off, on the
‘Dad
duties’ followed the mobile call; pick up one pale rider and one mashed ZZR 250
from the scene. Son was broke, so
cobbled repairs followed.
Otherwise, with winter approaching I’ve booked a 5 day
guided backcountry ski trip on the glaciers of
Wide straights
and narrow curves
The
Club Sec is one of the most generous guys I know. (No Ben, no editing here;
curb your modesty). With a tree
down in his backyard he got in touch.
Did I want it for turning? Or
burning? You betcha. So
two trailer and bootloads later there’s a monster
heap of big lumps in the back laneway.
So what kind of gum was it? Dunno. Maybe a Manna. Would fit the timeframe.
But there are 600 – 700 ‘gums’ classified and they get reclassified from
time to time so who knows.
It’s
now burning nicely in the slow combustion heater despite only about six months
of drying. A sod to split but that will
get easier as it dries more and cracks open up.
And how does it turn? Thought it
might be a nice thankyou to knock up a pencil jar or somesuch. It has a
lovely apricot colour but little figure and a sh*tload
of sap lines and pockets. I tried to
find a couple of sound bits when we unloaded it. Put them through the bandsaw
and for my pains every moving surface got covered in resin. Hard resin. Took half a day to clean it
up. Had to chip out gobbets from
each valley in the poly V-belt drive and pick them off the blade with a
fingernail. Sheesh. But there’s two bits drying slowly.
Wood’s
hard to dry for woodworking. Left to airdry, you need to seal the endgrain
and wait one year for each 2.5 cm of thickness.
The big fellers kiln dry but that’s expensive and doesn’t work as well
as the natural way for woodturners. You can woodturn
green timber but that’s another story.
Thumbing a ride
When I
dropped the Trumpy at Polly McQuinn’s
bridge the right thumb got bent back hard.
I was hanging on tight, as you were taught way back when with Brit
bikes. It slowly settled down but
remained swollen and knobbly like a sweet
potato. A year later it got inflamed
after a week of cross-country skiing so it was off to the quack. Hmm, he says, you have a web injury. And gets out the book of
surgeons. Plastic are better than
ortho’s, they get more
experience he opined. Oh no, not that
route was my polite reply. How about I
consult the practice physio? Good idea he says. Anyway, the physio also
works for Cricket Victoria as well as a VFL club and he’s seen a heap of this
kind of problem. Was taught nothing
about it in his Uni degree but has developed a
strategy. Shows me how
to massage the dud joint to loosen it up. It’s not a ball and socket arrangement, more
like a tall TV antenna with the ligaments acting as flexible braces. They got stretched so the thumb moves too far
and irritates the muscles. So it’s all
improved a mile but will never be back to its normal self.
It’s a
pain riding at legal speeds. There’s no
wind planing effect to take the weight off the
wrists. At 120-130 kph
it’s much better (Warning: don’t try this at home! Do only under controlled conditions!
Contents may settle in transit!).
Update:
now wearing a plastic wrap-around splint on the paw. Non stop for 6 weeks. Can’t ride, can’t woodturn,
can’t … err, you can guess the rest.
Result of a visit to a hand physio. Before going I had the obvious question
worked out: ‘and can you make a living out of hand-jobs?’ ;-} ... well, the specialist was young and a she, so
with unusual delicacy I kept my poor wit to myself.
Protective gear
My
daughter fancies a Vespa to ride when she grows
up. She does not fancy head to toe
coverage in yukky black textile or leather. So we’ve dreamed up the idea of brightly coloured Kevlar stockings.
Could make a million. Darn, too late: Draggin
have released 100% Kevlar long johns. Only in black though – their market research
people need a kick up their double bum lining.
Gore-tex lined leathers have hit the market. Gore-tex is a fine
membrane that will allow water vapour to pass through
but not water droplets. The leathers
have to be perforated to allow the vapour to pass
through.
Gore-tex lining on gloves and boots to date have mostly been an
expensive waste of time since the leather breathes far less than the membrane,
and not at all if saturated by rain or treated with a wax based waterproofing. And as well with sweat and dust the membrane
clogs up. You can wash Gore-tex bushwalking jackets to deal with this but dropping your
boots and gloves in the washing machine is another matter.
Water vapour will pass through the membrane providing its cooler
outside the perforated leathers than inside.
Gore-tex is a waste of time in hot or humid
conditions.
Ern Reeders © June 30, 2008