Thought it wuz time for a CATch up with my feline buddies
Scaredy cat, the youngest is getting bolder within the house but still panics if we have visitors and wants out
I’ve taken to brushing her everyday in order to keep on top of the knots and it seems to be working
She has adapted to being brushed and like Fuzz Bucket [my long hair Ginger Cymric] loves being brushed and getting the attention
Cheeky my secound youngest is still very smoochey and is at this moment hanging around wondering why the computer is getting attention and not her, she’s very affectionate and loves being cuddled and fussed over, she is also the most talkative of my fur friends and makes meowing and purring sounds as you talk to her its almost as though you are having a conversation as she waits for her turn to “say something”
Ginger the top CAT is as usual aloof and above all this playing with younger cats stuff he trys to make out hes superior but deep down he’s a softy and every now and then you find him grooming one of the younger cats, but the moment he spots you watching he gets up and moves away, silly old bugger
So life is good in CATsylvania

Took a weather gamble yesterday and the weather won
I looked at the iso-bar map in the mornings newspaper and convinced myself that if I left early enough I could take the Catlins road down to Invercargil and back before the rain front that was forecast
Then plan went perfectly until 50kms into the return from Invers’
Then it was deluge time
The fun part was that I rode with it as it came up the island[haha sic] I could get ahead of it [just]but if I stopped it caught up
I’ve also discovered that my “dri-rider” pants are only 98% water proof although I’m way impressed that it took over and hour for the water to osmosiss throught the crutch area and we are talking major rain drops not like the “grape” size ones I’ve discussed in other blogs, no, these muthas were the size of “grape fruit”
I stopped in Balclutha and changed my wet long johns for a dry pair of pants from my travel pack
I’ve learnt to do the “scout’ thing and try to always be prepaired so I carry a change of clothes in the pack whenever I go long distance, Ive got a set of clothes that just stay in the pack fulltime for just these occasions
It was hard case I had just enough time to get fuel and change into dryer gear and warm up a bit then the rain caught up with me again and it was race the weather time
I didnt get any wetter as once I could keep ahead of the main deluge the pants kept out the rest of weather from that point
My jacket lived up to its 100% water proof rating
As I’ve said before i just love this new fangled technology in riding gear
My feet also got a little wet from my leather boots and same with my hands as my gloves are also leather
But again taking into consideration the force and volume of the storm front and the legnth of time I had to ride through it my riding clothes have well and truly payed back my investment
The new ferring is working well it looks smart and its functional so again I’m happy with the investment
danger Stock on Road

Now that the title has grab you it’s not what you think
I’ve purchased and fitted a “bikini ferring” for the moto beasty
It looks smart but more importantly it works well
It directs the air up off of the riders chest and displaces it to the shoulders and helmet area
If you “duck” down a little the air goes over you completely but the bars are set a little too high for it to be a comfortable posistion for extended periods
Still its enough that the air blast is no longer full on in the chest
I’ve been riding Harleys for that long that I have forgotten what its like to be on top of the machine
On the style of Harley I had, the seat was right down in the frame so the petrol tank and headlight/bars broke the force of the wind before it hit you
Also and often more importantly it makes my bike that bit more unique than standard
I like to have a different machine than “the other guy” and its wee things like the after market sports exhaust and bikini ferring that set her apart
THE BIGGEST newz is that I’ve [re] discovered an awesome piece of road down through an area called the Catlins
when I was younger it was a small dirt [gravel] road that was the original native trail from Invercargill up into the Otago coastal area
Its been done up to cater for the tourist trade
Its a little over 200kms of motorcycle NIRVANA through that way to Invercargil from Dunedin
Some staights but lotsa corners from advised speeds from 65kmph to 75kmph and a few un posted that you can take at higher speed
With the 65kmph posted corners I’m usualy 5-10kmph above the advised speed but with the 75kmph posted corners I can be anything from 25-35kmph above depending on the road conditions
The extra good bit is that for the 200 odd kms there is only 1 [one] “nice policeman” and he drives a 4WD utility vehicle without a speed radar being that its a rural road with little other than local farmer and tourist traffic
200kms of not having to worry about a speed trap on a well built new road with little or no traffic and more twists and turns than a politicians speech “It must NIRVANA”
I cracked down it yesterday for the secound time in 3 weekends did 460kms round trip in five and a half hours with two stops for gas and one for a snack at Burger King in Invercargill
I go down the Catlins road and come back up state highway one so it literaly is a round trip but I want to take a bit more time and come back up through the Catlins next trip as doing it in reverse of what I used to will be like a whole different route as the views will be different and the uphill sections will become down hill etc
I’m trying to try talking my mate with the 1100cc Suzuki into comeing along
But he has his daughter every second weekend and yesterday he was doing a bit of work on his ferring so couldnt come along
Xmas is just round the corner and I’m hoping to go up to Nelson on the bike but will have to see what if anything is required at work
I’l post some photos of my beasty’s bikini haha

Public holidays rock
Three day weekend so motor cycling was done
Jumped my Moto beasty and took her up to Cromwell to see some friends for the day
The temp was in the 20’s with only one shower of rain on the way home
It was like a tropical storm the drops were the size of grapes and we’re talking the big fat Californian green grapes
The high tech riding gear I wear kept me dry and I’m glad I no longer wear leather riding clothes
The same down pour in leather would have been not nice and then to get dry you have to stop and air everything out or just ride on and let the wind blow you dry but that can get real cold real quick
You just gotta love technology when it benefits you like that
So I pulled 450kms in a day and got some good top end speeds 180 in places
The only time I saw the “nice policeman” I was going slow enough to not be ticketed
A couple of times Ive been “snapped” above the limit and either the cop has had his radar switched off or there’s that little signal rebound because I present a very small profile “head on” that the radar has failed to lock on
still I dont want to go blasting past one at 140 only to find he can “lock on”
My bike is getting “looser” and I’m learning more how she likes to be ridden, so she’s getting more fuel effient, I got 220kms on $20.oo averageing 110-125 with bursts up to 140 passing cars etc with quite a lot of twisting road so she was up and down through the gears as well as the straighter roads out through the Taeri plains where it was steady throttle 6th gear boredom
A great day by all respects
Yesterday was just the usual “putting” around visiting friends and helping a my best mate plant out her vege garden and mow the lawns so she could have a lazy day laying around the house today
And of course today it rained all day wouldn’t you know it the extra day you get is rubbish, its as though the weather man is against you having any fun
Thats why I’m out riding every chance I get
My mate with the 1100 Suzuki had a bummer of a weekend he had his daughter over to stay and she dislikes bikes so wont go out on it
He was stuck at home watching the great weather untill today when it of course pissed down so he was a sad puppy
I told him I had fun for him but that went down like a lead ballon haha
Good times safe [fast] riding getting to see your friends it dont come much better
“Every one above ground is a good one”
Danger Stock on Road

Was cracking the three mile a couple of days ago during a brief respite from shitty spring weather and had a wee heart stopper
Into the third left hand corner going up the hill noticed that the rear brake felt a little spoungy, then again slowing down into the next tight left / immeadiately into a tighter right I again thought “That brake is definately spoungy I’ll stop and check it” [at the top of the hill of course]
So out of the easy left [a kilometer further up the hill] and onto the 400mtr straight and another easy left cracking ’bout 150kmph and what d’ya know – road works and the pointsman with the stop sign so its on with the picks but alas the rear brake was non existant
the reason it had been feeling a little spoungy was that the pivot bolt had started to come undone and by the time I reached the road works it had completely come adrift and the brake lever was hangin by its return spring and all I had was the front brakes
Believe it or not the front brake on a bike is the most important one so it wasn’t a full on panic and because I’d noticed it getting “soft” I wasn’t caught completely by surprise
But 150kmph to zero in 200mtr is a lot of stopping on the front brake
So I have had to do my first stint of running repairs on my Moto Guzzi
I got a long bolt from work and cut the tip off of a nylex hose connector shaped it down to act as the pivot bush, then put a stainless steel dome nut over the protruding thread of the bolt [nice tidy look]
Years of practice at running repairs ment I only had the rear brake issue for about two hours, and the bush that i fabricated is doing such a great job I may just call it “sorted’ as oppossed to a “get you along until the proper part arrives” fix
Why is it that motorcycles have vibration issues? and are constantly in need of having their nuts checked?
Dont get me wrong i like to get my nuts checked as much as the next guy but come on its new machine i shouldn’t have to check its nuts yet
Still not harm done and i’m sure I’ll be able to get the stains out of my pants with nappy san [haha]
Again it brings home the good tyres argument, good rubber means good braking, and the long stroke of the V-twin means you have awesome engine braking again transfered to the road through the tyre
We had another major dumping of snow on the southern alps two days ago and the temperature dropped off accordingly so its a wee reminder that winter is not fully over yet
Danger [frozen] Stock on Road

Yesterday we got caught out in the rain
Nothing too bad but had to ride through three major down pours in a 2 hour period with sunny bits sandwiched between
The perrelli tyres I’ve had fitted are brilliant
no slipping, slidin’, sledgeing or cross ups on the painted lines
Even at 140kmph, I know, I know, “what’ya doing pulling 140 in the rain”?
“Testin’ the rubber of course”!!!
I LUV Perrelli, the guys who designed these tyres are to be commended
They inspire confidence in all weathers but most importantly in the wet
Tracey and Brendon on the 1100 Suzuki and I on my Moto Beasty took a run up to Moeraki boulders [70km north of Dunedin on the main road] and had lunch at “Fleurs” place a restaurant on the beach with great views of the ocean and beach front around the Moeraki bite
The menu is sea food
The produce is purchased fresh from the local fishermen when ever possible, and it shows
The blue cod litteraly melts on your tongue
I had the Sea food platter for $28.00
it consisted of fresh mussels, cooked oysters, deep fried prawns, crab sticks [2] sea run salmon, and two pieces of blue cod on a salad of lettuce , peppers, melon, grapes, tomato, bean sprouts, etc etc
Freaking awesome
We are slowly converting Brendon over to sea food so its expanding his horizons
Tracey and I are off to Thailand again next year [thats the plan so far] and Brendon says he would like to come along aswell if he can save up for it, so we will go hard core on the prawns and deep Sea Bass and lobster etc thats so cheap over there, he will come home with a new apreciation of crustations [haha]
Speaking of crusty things my baby was filthy after yesterdays run, took me about 2 hours to wash and polish her this morning
its wash day every sunday for the bike weather she needs it or not , but today she was the dirtiest I have ever found her
just shows how much dirt is out on the roads, once it gets wet its sticking to every thing
washing my ride every Sunday is a habbit i picked up years ago when I owned several 1970’s era Triumph motorcycles
The old triumph were a great wee machine and I’ve had several
But they tended to vibrate nuts and bolts loose and drip oil
In fact triumph’s dripped so much oil that the joke was “Triumphs don’t leak, they mark their spot”
So in order to keep on top of the maintaince you have to regularly check over the machine
So being a proud biker who likes his bikes to turn heads I would incorporate washing and polishing my ride with a general maintaince schedule
as I got older and I could afford newer machines I have had to do less maintaince but the old habbit of cleaning my ride every Sunday has stuck with me
My bike is always clean and I’m so fussy that I carry wipe cloths around with me to wipe the dead bugs off of my head light when I get to stop at a lay by or at the journeys end
anal i know but thats the way it is
I remember one run up to Mere Mere for the drag racing from Nelson where I didnt get to shave or shower for 6 days but my ride looked like she had just been wheeled off of the show room floor
I’d taken fresh undies and sox along but we never got to a shower proper till we got home, it was the old “whores bath” in hand basins at rest stops
the restarant owners dont like it but what the hell as long as your grotch and arm pits there are fresh sox on your feet you can survive its a part of being on the road
well thats me for today time to cook dinner
Danger Stock on [wet] Road

Oh what a fickle thing the weather can be
Last two weeks its been great weather, not summer I’ll admit but great
Its been that good I’ve even started blogging again [pays to have something to talk about haha]
Today I was intending to ride up to Alexandra in Central Otago [200kms each way] for the annual blossom festival
so of course the last two days have been cold and wet [very]
Its early morning at the moment so the day may break and the sun may shine through yet [fingers x’d] or I’ll take the car
I would like to go for a couple of reasons first and foremost the ride of course but secondly if these events are to continue they have to have patronage, if you dont go along and help make it a success then you may lose another good day out
The event was once a huge thing for the Otago fruit growers who donated the flowers for the floats and other exhibitions but in more recent years the ochards have been cut down to make way for wine production
At one time you could ride up to Alex’ and be surronded by color and the amazing smells of the apple, pear, apricot, peach blossom from the hundred or so orchards that you passed on the way
Now its mostly vineyards and tourist that are the big earners for the region
The double edged sword at play again
The orchards have made way for the vineyards, which in turn brings more revenue to the area and has created more work, however in doing so it has taken away a amazing visual experience at springtime and autum
The good thing about going up to Alex’ is that Cromwell is only 40kms further up the road and I would have a chance to call in on my mates Bex and Jason, with the new baby in the house poor ol’ Bex will be going stir crazy so fresh faces are always welcome
They’ve been in Crommerz for a couple of years now so they are starting to get to know people and make local friends
Its hard moving into a new area but now’days you have to chase the work if you want to get ahead in life
subject change;
I had bit of charge to my ego last Friday, the guys I get the Moto Guzzi serviced through asked if I could drop my “Beasty” into them for the afternoon so they could give a potential buyer for the yellow one they have for sale on their shop floor, a look at and a listen to my baby with her “after market” sports exhaust.
When the bikes are sold new they come “standard” with a huge muffler that contains a catalactic converter that weighs as much as the average small car [with the old lady, poodle and shopping included]
So as any self respecting ageing biker would do I “consined that mutha” to the back of the garage in the I’ll sell it on to the next owner pile, the factory “after market” sports profile exhaust has turned her into a wee beasty, sexy looking too with the single sided swing arm giving the illusion that the rear wheel hangs on nothing, its like a hotty giving you a quick “up skirt” [haha]
So I dropped her off at lunchtime and picked her up after work, the potential buyer was still there, so had a quick chat with him about what I thought of the ‘Guzzi after having riden late model Harleys etc and then left so I’m not sure how the sale went, I gave her throttle a wee squeeze went I left so he would have got a small idea how rapid the machine is, I couldnt let her go to full roar as its a 50km zone and by the time I clicked third gear I was already up over 100kms, but I’m sure he would have gotten the right impression
I know theres bigger and faster machines than mine but its still a quick bike, she’ll take you to 180kmph in about 12 seconds, but then it starts to flatten out as we say, I dont know how much past 205 mine goes but I’m going to find out when the “bikini” ferring gets delivered it will make her more bullet than brick and take the wind away from the chest and put it up over my helmet, well thats the plan for now
Another burst of rain has hit the window so I guess the weather break isn’t coming
I’ll cook some breakfast and take the day as it unfolds from there
every one above ground is a good one
Yahoooo Stock on road

Had a fantastic day riding today
My mate and her boyfriend on his 1100cc Suzuki and I went down south 90kms to Kaka point a small coastal village south of Balclutha
We stop off for awhile at the “Pissed Penguin” motorcycle rally that is on there this weekend
We only stayed for a couple of hours as I have work on tomorow and none of us are drinkers so the attraction was the motorcycles not the party
I got some photos of a few nice bikes
talked to a few owners about their rides it was good value
It’s the first none “Hard Core” Harley riding gang rally that I’ve been to in NZ
I’ve been to a couple of the rally’s that are held in Pataya Thailand where they ride alsorts of japanese bikes, when I’m over there, but they too are gang rally’s its just that the Thai MC’s are a lot more open to the public
So anyway their was a quite a few Harleys at the Pissed Penquin but also some very nice Suzuki and BMW, Kawasaki, Honda, and also three or 4 home made trikes
After the rally we headed back up to Balclutha, then up the inland route to Lawrence and of course seafood chowder at the Coffee Mine
We are getting to be regulars there now and its like going into “Cheers” where everybody knows your name
The weather on the coast was quite cold with a southerly exposure but once we got inland past Balclutha again we had just a light breeze and sunshine
Because we had spent time at the Penquin we took the shortest route through Tuapeka river settlement and up over the hill instead of the usual longer route up to Beaumont, even so we managed 280kms round trip
We were all stiff and creaky by the time we got home to Traceys where she made hot chocolate drinks then I cruized on home
A realy good day lots of fun for us biker types
I purchased a badge from the rally to help support the event even though we didnt have to because we didnt intend to stay for the nights main entertainment
The businesses in the township likes of the local pub would have had a boom day possibly their best for the year aswell as the other businesses and petrol stations along the main routes into the venue so its good alround realy I’m sure that the “nice Policeman” [sic] even got to hand out a couple of tickets, and joy of joys I wasn’t one of his victims haha

WOW the weather is my friend
We had a great couple of days over the weekend
Sunshine and lollipops as I like to say
My best mate and her boyfriend on his 1100cc Suzuki came along for a run down to Balclutha a small town south of here about 80kms then took the river road 80kms further inland to another even smaller town called Beaumount, we then turned coast-ward again and came back to Dunedin through Lawrence with of course the mandatory stop at the Coffee Mine Cafe’ for the [getting world famous in NZ] sea food chowder that Jenny the owner has the closely gaurded reciepe for
its amazing how many people will make a point of stopping for it
And if you bring your own container she has “takeaway’s”
It’s freaking awesome
My mates boyfriend usualy is not a fan of sea food but after some persuasion he tried it the last time we were up there
This time he didnt hesitate to order it so that tells you how good it is when it can impress someone who normaly would not order sea food
The ride was good the day as I have said was sunshine the roads were in good condition and the “nice policeman” drove past when we had stopped for a break so there wasn’t any hassle about going that little bit faster than the traffic around you [haha]
Didnt go too fast as Brendon had Tracey on the back so rode with that in mind
I cracked 180kmph a couple of times in a short burst and Brendon said he pulled 140kmph a couple of times when passing cars so nothing radical at all, what you could call good clean fun
this week the weather has also been good with everyday getting above 20degree celcius
We are supposed to have a couple of rain days coming then with luck the weather will co-operate again for the weekend
I’ll see if a couple of guys want to put a run together and take a blast up to Cromwell to see my friends Bex, Jason and their two little rugrats
Its about 240kms bothways so its a good ride
All main road so you have to be carefull with the throttle but still a good [if some-what slow] ride
There is some great scenery along the way as well so thats a buzz too
I’ll get networking and see if I can get anyone keen to go for a run
“Sounds like a Plan”