On the up and up
Stuff just keeps on getting better. :D I've been waiting for the almighty fall, but it just doesn't seem to be coming so I'm not going to worry about it anymore. Just live in the moment, and I must say the moments have been GREAT of late...
The "of late" started on Thursday last week when I went to donate blood. I only keep one set of scales in the house (well not even really in the house, in the garage to be precise) and it's used for weighing non-person type things. Mostly I just find out how much I weigh every 3 months or so when I go to donate blood. I was thinking I'd get some good news last week, but it ended up being even better. Since I donated blood in December I've lost a whole 6kgs. :D I'm only 1.5 kgs of my goal of being less than 70kg. The last time I was that weight was more than 10 years ago. The really great thing is that even though I lost about 2/3 of that weight when I didn't eat much for 2 weeks whilst suffering badly from jetlag as well as having my heart mangled, I've managed not only to keep that weight off, but to drop another 2kgs. Score 1 for me. :) When I went to donate blood I also found that my haemoglobin was up by 9. Now I know what's behind all this extra energy! :D
On Friday night when I went to the gym I thanked my boxing instructor for his part in my weight loss. It's been his motivation to go 2 or 3 times a week to his classes that has partly helped me to drop the kilos, up my general fitness and strengthen my upper body - things that he seemed really happy to hear. The increased upper body strength has helped me no end with riding my bike. I went on a trip to Bowral and back in October last year and I have to admit it really was a pretty pathetic attempt on my part. I was done before I even got to Bowral. The return trip was just terrible. I reckon I could do that whole trip and hardly even feel it now. It's great! :D
Saturday saw the usual SnB at Queanbeyan - I don't think I could go without my fix each week. :) I was going to help a mate out with his bike on Saturday afternoon but he didn't have all the stuff he needed to work on it so that idea ended up going out the window. I spent the afternoon trying madly to finish a sock (which is now just waiting to be kitchenered) and finding someone who was interested in the spare ticket to see Suckerpunch that I had for Saturday night. The mate who I was going to help with his bike earlier in the day ended up having nothing to do, so he came along with my friends and I for Zambreros for dinner and then to see the movie afterwards. I gotta say, if you like a little weirdness and chicks kicking butt then Suckerpunch is the movie for you. I loved it! Definitely one I'm going to get on Bluray when it comes out. :)
It was a bit late to be doing anything after the movie, so we all decided to head home. I ended up having a bit of a chat with my mate about a bunch of different stuff and completely accidentally stumbled over a few home truths which have really had me rethinking the last 15 months or so. Sometimes I think I must go through my life with my eyes barely open. Or maybe it is that I want to think well of everybody, so much so that I ignore the sometimes blatant truth of a situation. *shrugs* Live and learn I guess. After chatting for a little while I headed home to get some rest before heading out again today on my bike. I'm sitting here still smiling about today. It had it's good bits and bad bits, but the good bits are so much better than the bad bits are bad, it's like I can't even remember the bad bits. Like that part of my brain has been overwritten with the good. :D I reckon I'm still going to be smiling tomorrow. Hehehe...
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Last Chance Snowy Loop 17 April 2011
I started making preparations for today’s Snowy Loop yesterday afternoon… I made a batch of cookie dough, eating about 1/5 of it as I made it, and dividing the rest in half; some for last night (at the movies) and the rest for today. :D
I didn’t sleep so great last night, so I slept in a little this morning then having to hurriedly pack a few provisions (teletubbie suit, water, cookie dough - all the essentials) into my backpack before setting off for Hume. After heeding dazzab’s advice, I wore my thermals, neckwarmer and winter jacket, but opted for my summer gloves. Even though I didn’t don the neckwarmer until Hume, I was still toasty warm inside my jacket. I thought that was a good sign. :)
Cos of the mini sleep-in I got to the meet point at about 0835 to find I was the first one there; not such a good sign. It wasn’t long before people started turning up though, thank god. I didn’t want to be doing a loop of the Snowys by myself! In the end there was Barconian, Yedi, Ricketyclick, dazzab, Steampunk, Rob, Robotjebus and myself. A nice sized group to be heading off into the twisty wilderness. We headed off from Hume a few minutes late, but considering what we had in front of us 10 minutes seemed neither here nor there.
The ride to Cooma was just the same as lat weekend i.e. pretty boring. Lucky thing it seemed to pass a lot more quickly this time, or at least it did for me anyway. We headed straight through Cooma to the Adaminaby turn-off where we waited for everyone to catch up. Then it was on for young and old. I had a hell of a time in the sweepers on the way to Adaminaby. Maybe a little too much fun… I had to reel myself (and the bike) in a few times when I realised I was going north of 150kph. I tell you what, those sweepers were calling out to me, their siren song all but irresistible. :)
Yedi had kept going when we got to the Adaminaby turn-off, and we found him again at the servo at Adaminaby along with Rider1 who had taken a far more dirt-y route on his bike. Dude, I don’t know how you do it, even if your bike DOES like it! You’re crazy! :) We refuelled our bikes in Adaminaby and then ducked just up the road to refuel ourselves as well. A hot chocolate and meat pie went down a treat! I got the cookie dough out at that point, but only a couple of the guys were game to try some. :)
We warmed ourselves in the sun a little before deciding that we’d be refuelling again in Khancoban and heading off into the real twisties. This is where I think a few things came into play for me… I was doing fine until we hit a downhill section and then things went awry in my head which flowed through to my riding. Shit just wasn’t sitting right with me, the corners weren’t flowing anymore. There were no markings on the road, limited visibility around a lot of corners, traffic coming in the other direction taking up more than their fair share of the road, I wasn’t taking the right line through the corners, I was second guessing myself, I wasn’t in the right gear part of the time and there was at least one time when I grabbed a half a handful of front brake coming round a right hander… Joy. Barconian had been riding behind me for at least part of the way and when everyone pulled up for a break and to regroup just after the bridge thingy at the Tumut Pond Reservoir he had a little sage advice for me. “You were riding like you had a cucumber shoved up your arse.” I had to laugh, partly cos it was just fkn funny and partly because he was oh so right. I had been shitting myself and making mistakes almost all the way since Adaminaby. I needed to loosen up a bit, to stop pushing quite so hard and focus on getting my shot flowing a little more.
Once we’d stretched our legs a bit we saddled up and made our way to Khancoban. Barconian stayed behind me for a little bit, and I must say that the twisties started to feel a lot better than they had, but I was still a long way from the groove that I wanted to be in. We stopped a little further along to give me the thumbs up before taking off to chase Rider1 and Rob who were up ahead somewhere. I decided to slow it down just a little the rest of the way to Khancoban and enjoy the scenery and the day a little more. I don’t think I recall seeing a cloud in the sky all day - we really couldn’t have asked for better weather. We were at Khancoban soon enough and we all refuelled again and stretched our legs a little more. It was really quite warm in the sun and I considered taking thermals off, but was glad I didn’t as it ended up getting a fair bit cooler again when we got back on the road.
Even though it felt like we were making pretty good time, we set off again after a short while. I think mostly it was just people getting itchy feet (or throttle-hands) from sitting around - we all wanted to be back on the road and riding the twisties we knew there were more of up ahead. This is really when the day came into it’s own for me. I had a blast between Khancoban and where our next break-point was somewhere just after Murray Gorge I think. Second gear and I were now BFFs, my bike was responding well to being ridden properly, I was itching for the next corner after the last had past… Everything just really came together. This is what riding is all about for me. I could have cared less about the disappointing section of the ride earlier in the day, that stretch between Khancoban and where we next stopped had a grin on my face, ear to ear. :D
We waited for everyone to arrive as peoples departure from Khancoban had been a little staggered. We all knew it when dazzab arrived - not only was his bike screaming with joy but so was he, even after he got off his bike! Hahaha! :D We didn’t stop long because the day was getting on, so we made provisionary plans to stop at a café in Jindabyne and got on our way. I had a massive time in the sweepers between where we’d stopped and Jindy. The bike felt solid through all the corners and even though most of the road was downhill I didn’t seem to be having the problems I’d had earlier in the day. Score! We pulled in to refuel in Jindy and decided that maybe pushing through to Cooma was the way to go. So we headed off again without much of a break and were at Cooma in no time - certainly only about 2/3 of the time it usually takes me to make that trip in the car. :o Oh MacDonalds how I love thee towards the end of a long day of riding. :D
Ricketyclick kept going through Cooma cos he’d had a break and a coffee in Jindy and we hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Yedi since Adaminaby, so the 7 of us that were left pulled into Maccas in Cooma for a bit of a rest and some sustenance. We had a bit to eat and a gasbag while the light drained out of the day, but I really didn’t care. It was fantastic just being there with a bunch of mates at the end of a good day of riding. Along with getting into a groove in the twisties, this is the other thing that I absolutely love about riding. :)
When we were all done eating and talking it seemed like a natural progression to get back on the bikes for the last (boring) stretch home. I lost a little more of my visibility than I was really comfortable with by the time we hit Bredbo. This was the point I started wishing for my clear visor and praying to the motorcycling gods that someone figured out how to make an affordable “Transitions” visor in the near future. :) We all pushed through and waved goodbye as each of us peeled off the Monaro Hwy to head home. I reckon I must have been one of the furthest away from home living in south Yass like I do. I was thanking god I left all my gear on (including my neckwarmer) for the last 15 minutes of the ride where I near froze in riding position.
600km and 9 hours 45 mins worth of fkn fantastic day riding. Thanks guys, I had an absolute blast. :D
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Stick a fork in me, I'm done. I'm tired, sore, still a little cold and my fingers aren't working 100% but I really don't care. I've got a grin on my face that I reckon I'm going to wake up with tomorrow morning and stuff is just good. It really feels great to be enjoying almost everything I do again. It's been a damn long time since I've felt this good, like 7 years. Better make the most of it, huh? :)
The "of late" started on Thursday last week when I went to donate blood. I only keep one set of scales in the house (well not even really in the house, in the garage to be precise) and it's used for weighing non-person type things. Mostly I just find out how much I weigh every 3 months or so when I go to donate blood. I was thinking I'd get some good news last week, but it ended up being even better. Since I donated blood in December I've lost a whole 6kgs. :D I'm only 1.5 kgs of my goal of being less than 70kg. The last time I was that weight was more than 10 years ago. The really great thing is that even though I lost about 2/3 of that weight when I didn't eat much for 2 weeks whilst suffering badly from jetlag as well as having my heart mangled, I've managed not only to keep that weight off, but to drop another 2kgs. Score 1 for me. :) When I went to donate blood I also found that my haemoglobin was up by 9. Now I know what's behind all this extra energy! :D
On Friday night when I went to the gym I thanked my boxing instructor for his part in my weight loss. It's been his motivation to go 2 or 3 times a week to his classes that has partly helped me to drop the kilos, up my general fitness and strengthen my upper body - things that he seemed really happy to hear. The increased upper body strength has helped me no end with riding my bike. I went on a trip to Bowral and back in October last year and I have to admit it really was a pretty pathetic attempt on my part. I was done before I even got to Bowral. The return trip was just terrible. I reckon I could do that whole trip and hardly even feel it now. It's great! :D
Saturday saw the usual SnB at Queanbeyan - I don't think I could go without my fix each week. :) I was going to help a mate out with his bike on Saturday afternoon but he didn't have all the stuff he needed to work on it so that idea ended up going out the window. I spent the afternoon trying madly to finish a sock (which is now just waiting to be kitchenered) and finding someone who was interested in the spare ticket to see Suckerpunch that I had for Saturday night. The mate who I was going to help with his bike earlier in the day ended up having nothing to do, so he came along with my friends and I for Zambreros for dinner and then to see the movie afterwards. I gotta say, if you like a little weirdness and chicks kicking butt then Suckerpunch is the movie for you. I loved it! Definitely one I'm going to get on Bluray when it comes out. :)
It was a bit late to be doing anything after the movie, so we all decided to head home. I ended up having a bit of a chat with my mate about a bunch of different stuff and completely accidentally stumbled over a few home truths which have really had me rethinking the last 15 months or so. Sometimes I think I must go through my life with my eyes barely open. Or maybe it is that I want to think well of everybody, so much so that I ignore the sometimes blatant truth of a situation. *shrugs* Live and learn I guess. After chatting for a little while I headed home to get some rest before heading out again today on my bike. I'm sitting here still smiling about today. It had it's good bits and bad bits, but the good bits are so much better than the bad bits are bad, it's like I can't even remember the bad bits. Like that part of my brain has been overwritten with the good. :D I reckon I'm still going to be smiling tomorrow. Hehehe...
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Last Chance Snowy Loop 17 April 2011
I started making preparations for today’s Snowy Loop yesterday afternoon… I made a batch of cookie dough, eating about 1/5 of it as I made it, and dividing the rest in half; some for last night (at the movies) and the rest for today. :D
I didn’t sleep so great last night, so I slept in a little this morning then having to hurriedly pack a few provisions (teletubbie suit, water, cookie dough - all the essentials) into my backpack before setting off for Hume. After heeding dazzab’s advice, I wore my thermals, neckwarmer and winter jacket, but opted for my summer gloves. Even though I didn’t don the neckwarmer until Hume, I was still toasty warm inside my jacket. I thought that was a good sign. :)
Cos of the mini sleep-in I got to the meet point at about 0835 to find I was the first one there; not such a good sign. It wasn’t long before people started turning up though, thank god. I didn’t want to be doing a loop of the Snowys by myself! In the end there was Barconian, Yedi, Ricketyclick, dazzab, Steampunk, Rob, Robotjebus and myself. A nice sized group to be heading off into the twisty wilderness. We headed off from Hume a few minutes late, but considering what we had in front of us 10 minutes seemed neither here nor there.
The ride to Cooma was just the same as lat weekend i.e. pretty boring. Lucky thing it seemed to pass a lot more quickly this time, or at least it did for me anyway. We headed straight through Cooma to the Adaminaby turn-off where we waited for everyone to catch up. Then it was on for young and old. I had a hell of a time in the sweepers on the way to Adaminaby. Maybe a little too much fun… I had to reel myself (and the bike) in a few times when I realised I was going north of 150kph. I tell you what, those sweepers were calling out to me, their siren song all but irresistible. :)
Yedi had kept going when we got to the Adaminaby turn-off, and we found him again at the servo at Adaminaby along with Rider1 who had taken a far more dirt-y route on his bike. Dude, I don’t know how you do it, even if your bike DOES like it! You’re crazy! :) We refuelled our bikes in Adaminaby and then ducked just up the road to refuel ourselves as well. A hot chocolate and meat pie went down a treat! I got the cookie dough out at that point, but only a couple of the guys were game to try some. :)
We warmed ourselves in the sun a little before deciding that we’d be refuelling again in Khancoban and heading off into the real twisties. This is where I think a few things came into play for me… I was doing fine until we hit a downhill section and then things went awry in my head which flowed through to my riding. Shit just wasn’t sitting right with me, the corners weren’t flowing anymore. There were no markings on the road, limited visibility around a lot of corners, traffic coming in the other direction taking up more than their fair share of the road, I wasn’t taking the right line through the corners, I was second guessing myself, I wasn’t in the right gear part of the time and there was at least one time when I grabbed a half a handful of front brake coming round a right hander… Joy. Barconian had been riding behind me for at least part of the way and when everyone pulled up for a break and to regroup just after the bridge thingy at the Tumut Pond Reservoir he had a little sage advice for me. “You were riding like you had a cucumber shoved up your arse.” I had to laugh, partly cos it was just fkn funny and partly because he was oh so right. I had been shitting myself and making mistakes almost all the way since Adaminaby. I needed to loosen up a bit, to stop pushing quite so hard and focus on getting my shot flowing a little more.
Once we’d stretched our legs a bit we saddled up and made our way to Khancoban. Barconian stayed behind me for a little bit, and I must say that the twisties started to feel a lot better than they had, but I was still a long way from the groove that I wanted to be in. We stopped a little further along to give me the thumbs up before taking off to chase Rider1 and Rob who were up ahead somewhere. I decided to slow it down just a little the rest of the way to Khancoban and enjoy the scenery and the day a little more. I don’t think I recall seeing a cloud in the sky all day - we really couldn’t have asked for better weather. We were at Khancoban soon enough and we all refuelled again and stretched our legs a little more. It was really quite warm in the sun and I considered taking thermals off, but was glad I didn’t as it ended up getting a fair bit cooler again when we got back on the road.
Even though it felt like we were making pretty good time, we set off again after a short while. I think mostly it was just people getting itchy feet (or throttle-hands) from sitting around - we all wanted to be back on the road and riding the twisties we knew there were more of up ahead. This is really when the day came into it’s own for me. I had a blast between Khancoban and where our next break-point was somewhere just after Murray Gorge I think. Second gear and I were now BFFs, my bike was responding well to being ridden properly, I was itching for the next corner after the last had past… Everything just really came together. This is what riding is all about for me. I could have cared less about the disappointing section of the ride earlier in the day, that stretch between Khancoban and where we next stopped had a grin on my face, ear to ear. :D
We waited for everyone to arrive as peoples departure from Khancoban had been a little staggered. We all knew it when dazzab arrived - not only was his bike screaming with joy but so was he, even after he got off his bike! Hahaha! :D We didn’t stop long because the day was getting on, so we made provisionary plans to stop at a café in Jindabyne and got on our way. I had a massive time in the sweepers between where we’d stopped and Jindy. The bike felt solid through all the corners and even though most of the road was downhill I didn’t seem to be having the problems I’d had earlier in the day. Score! We pulled in to refuel in Jindy and decided that maybe pushing through to Cooma was the way to go. So we headed off again without much of a break and were at Cooma in no time - certainly only about 2/3 of the time it usually takes me to make that trip in the car. :o Oh MacDonalds how I love thee towards the end of a long day of riding. :D
Ricketyclick kept going through Cooma cos he’d had a break and a coffee in Jindy and we hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Yedi since Adaminaby, so the 7 of us that were left pulled into Maccas in Cooma for a bit of a rest and some sustenance. We had a bit to eat and a gasbag while the light drained out of the day, but I really didn’t care. It was fantastic just being there with a bunch of mates at the end of a good day of riding. Along with getting into a groove in the twisties, this is the other thing that I absolutely love about riding. :)
When we were all done eating and talking it seemed like a natural progression to get back on the bikes for the last (boring) stretch home. I lost a little more of my visibility than I was really comfortable with by the time we hit Bredbo. This was the point I started wishing for my clear visor and praying to the motorcycling gods that someone figured out how to make an affordable “Transitions” visor in the near future. :) We all pushed through and waved goodbye as each of us peeled off the Monaro Hwy to head home. I reckon I must have been one of the furthest away from home living in south Yass like I do. I was thanking god I left all my gear on (including my neckwarmer) for the last 15 minutes of the ride where I near froze in riding position.
600km and 9 hours 45 mins worth of fkn fantastic day riding. Thanks guys, I had an absolute blast. :D
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Stick a fork in me, I'm done. I'm tired, sore, still a little cold and my fingers aren't working 100% but I really don't care. I've got a grin on my face that I reckon I'm going to wake up with tomorrow morning and stuff is just good. It really feels great to be enjoying almost everything I do again. It's been a damn long time since I've felt this good, like 7 years. Better make the most of it, huh? :)