Two Wheel Warehouse Blog

Back in the saddle. Team MOTO GoP rides again.

After 5 days of riding and being regaled by great story telling from intelligent gents 10 and 20 years my senior, today we headed home.

Both Jim and Mike seem to know an enormous amount of information about Tasmania with Jim having been here so many times and Mike’s great grandfather being the Governor of Tasmania long ago. There is a lot of history to share over a red or 3. It has been fascinating.

My favourite story however is the one about Mike in the 70s riding an original Triumph Bonneville with his but-less cigarettes, black coffee and tassled brown leather jacket impressing the ladies in London. Steve McQueen eat your heart out.

The ride to St Helens is 160kms from Launceston. So we ride this and the four amigos split up. Mike and Jim continue on to Hobart as they are staying till Friday and Rex and I return back past Launceston do a quick run to the great lake and back (adding 85kms) which is the same road I videoed and then on to Devonport which is another 100kms. So a nearly 450km + day leaves us having travelled 2000 kms for the trip (including Jim’s lonesome ride cause this is a team).
Today I was pretty tired and worn out I don’t how I did 6 days non stop in Italy. Maybe I need to buy a Ducati.

There was something I found really amazing in Tassie was the extraordinary amount of road kill. The beautiful roads and sensational views were a given. I had to dodge more splattered guts than Tom Jones does undies.

So after 5 days of sticking to the speed limit ………….. sorry I couldn’t even type that with a straight face ……. So after 5 days of great riding this trip ends for me. I had a great time, I learnt a lot about Tassie and my riding has improved. A very satisfactory result.

As we got on the boat we got a message from Mike saying his rear hub in the MV Augusta had failed 20kms outside Hobart after they had sailed down the east coast in stunning weather. The most beautiful of Italians must have some psychological issues cause surely it can’t be an engineering problem on a modern day bike, especially an Italian steed of this calibre. In fact I had a ride of this exact bike 2 days ago and it is nicest bike I have ever ridden. Oh well not everybody can date a supermodel and then get the personality you want as well.

The boat left Devonport at approx 8pm to arrive early in the am in Port Melbourne. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on this trip and will calendar permitting enjoy next years trip.

Day 5 view from boat - home time

Thanks to the guys for a great trip and many thanks to Rex who organised it all. Safe riding Mike and Jim. See on the next Team MOTO GoP Trip.

So we waive good bye to Devonport and attached is a pic from the boat leaving the port. See you next time I say ……….

Stop the press!!! A zero km GoP ride day. It would be unheard of ……… well not for one individual but the entire team?!?!?!?!

The day started with Rex arising with a head cold. This meant he was a little clogged up and felt it would compromise his ability to lead the MOTO GoP Team out to St Helens and back so decided to stay in to rest. A trip to get to the Elephants Pass was not going to go well when the elephant had already stuffed himself into Rex’s sinuses.

Well the chequered flag was dropped on the day by the remaining 3 motorcyclists quicker than a Valentino Rossi lap of Phillip Island. And thus we were looking at a zero km day for the team for the first time in GoP history. I personally jumped on the zero kms bikewagon to rest my neck and wrist both of which have been put through more stress than the ride day at Eastern Creek in January with Braddy G. The 1400kms has been hard work. But I am also not one to object to the label of being soft, as many of you can attest to. At least the terrible physical affliction of a blister on the throttle hand has not again reared its ugly head since I returned from Italy.

A 30 minute stroll through the centre of Lonnie for breakfast (including the best croissants this side of Paris according to Rex) was taken as an option then a nap or a read of favourite bike mags till mid afternoon.

Thankfully Jim decided to put 100kms on his beast sighting cabin fever and something about lesser men to save us from this terrible blight on the history of this great club.

So with no view to write home about today, even if the garbage bin drummer from the Brisbane Street Mall is quite a sight, I have included a couple of photos from yesterday of the steads ridden by my MOTO GoP Team Members.

They are the Caterpillar Sponsored Honda Blackbird of Jim our Chief of Engineering, the Aprilia RSV Factory with all its gold trimming (Swedish and otherwise) that belongs to Rex our Crew Chief and of course the federally funded MV Augusta F4-312R Italian thoroughbred ridden by our elder statesman of the team and Team Principal Mike.

Mike's MV Augusta F4 312

The RSV Factory of Rex and Jim's CBR1100XX

We did go for a walk to Roman baths where Mike and Rex had a spa and a sauna. I was assured it very hetrosexual. I wasn’t sure after last night hearing from the bathroom Mike saying to Jim in the lounge room “just one finger please”. But on walking out to the lounge discovered Jim serving up some Macallums Scotch Whiskey…… phew…….

All in all a good day. I rested and read then walked around for about an hour and a half to get some excercise. Rex slept and bathed with Mike (you know what I mean) and Jim saved the club from great embarrassment with a lazy 150kms (thanks Jim).

I am going to put forward the suggestion we change the name from the summer run because somebody forgot to tell Tasmania that it the first day of Autumn. It is very cold, it has been less than 10 degrees each morning starting out so it makes it hard to warm up.

Although I am very happy that I borrowed a new over jacket to keep the wind from getting in (see photo from yesterday). Thanks Ian.

We were up earlier this morning to get on the road by 9am. We head back out the same 30kms, past Lake Plimsol and to Roseberry for a coffee and to thaw out. Halfway through the 30 kms was a little bit of gravel that I am sure wasn’t there yesterday. A little slide, the sphincter puckers but we keep going, fortunately still up right. The heart was then started for the day!

We did meet a rather colourful local in Roseberry while having our coffee. A Buddhist monk who didn’t think it was cold here even in winter. He had only been living in Tasmania for 3 years but he has been beaten up twice. Another very memorable characteristic of this religious gent was that he dropped the c-bomb and the f-bomb at the drop of a hat ……………….. I think I alsomight be a Buddhist.

The next 2 nights in Launceston we are staying at a very nice art deco place with a decent TV and 3 bedrooms. I have to share with Jim as we had the good rooms in Strahan. Little did I know that the snoring on the boat over was Jim and not Rex as I suspected at the time. I won’t be able to take advantage the wondering hands of Mike that Ian is so fond of but maybe next time. The place also has a nice view of the hills outside the CBD and a cricket oval.

I stayed in tonight to rest cause 1400kms in 3 days is hard work. So a very light dinner and some couch time while the others went to arguably the best restaurant on the apple isle.

Today I took a video on the bike of the road from Deloraine up to the lookout over the great lake.

Check out the link on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrNkNn_h8oM

A funny feeling when you are filming something like that as there a weird self consciousness making sure that you do not film your own demise by completely stuffing a turn and ending up in the trees. When we got to the top the view up there was so very nice I took a picture.

Day 3 View from the top

At the end of today’s 550kms we are now nearly at 1400kms for the 3 days. Therefore my bum is tender, my neck is stiff and my wrist is developing RSI but this is what it is all about, there are two days to go and I am loving my new jacket.

Day 2: Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Up at 8 and gone by 9. The morning run was the same great 30kms out of Strahan to Queenstown but I am still struggling. This 30kms out of Strahan is the type of road that you would ride for hours to get to. So we get about 45kms out of town and it starts to rain, we pull over to put on the wet weather gear and I propose the question as to why we might be riding away from the best road for 150kms into clouds and rain. I am told the the Governers way is to ride when we can because we can, and that it is about the journey not the destination. All this pontificating did nothing but provide simple peer pressure so I fell into line and rode for the next few hours and over 250kms in the rain with the others.

Well it was a terrible day cause riding the rain it terrible, tedious and generally less safe. But we get back to the great road back into Strahan – it was dry, it was bliss and I had only myself to blame for not just staying on this road in the morning. Oh hang on, no I don’t I can 100% blame the others cause i wanted to go back. But I would not have seen The Wall.

We stopped at this place called “The Wall” in Derwent Bridge Forest. It was a building / art gallery of wood carving. Each panel in the attached photo is about 3m tall and there approximately 40 of them. It has taken 5 years so far for the guy to be half way. I would have taken more photos but photos were not allowed. Permission or not the place was impressive including a cap and a coat hanging on a hook that looked like they was a real hat but they were made of wood. To get an idea about the detail have a look at the muscle definition on the horse in the attached photo, awesome!

Having found my mojo I am riding better than our last trip because of a great tip from Mike and some old advice from Simon that has finally registered in my feeble brain. I decided that this improvement was not due to the new gold bits but even they don’t make the bike go faster they look damn good!!

CB1000R with Gold Trimmings

We buy some crayfish from a local fish seller and make a salad to go with wine, cheese and biscuits for dinner. A few wines, some more good stories including talk of Governers not present who are missed, specific mentions of Steve, Mark Ian and Simon but all are missed and a good night is had by all present.

It was not until the afternoon that I found my mojo. I am not sure where it was or why I had to wait for it to be pissing down rain, soaking wet and 8 degrees to find it but I am happy I did. Let’s hope its still in there tomorrow morning.

After the success of the Italy Tour Diary last year I am repeating the exercise for this year’s Governors of Pleasure Touring Motorcycle Club Summer Run to Tasmania. Tassie 2010 was a great trip. Only 4 governors made the journey as some have business commitments, some decided the save a few coins and others are in love. But here is the story of those 4 keen motorcyclists.

Day 1 – Saturday, February 27th 2010 and the birthday of yours truly.

Day 1 had us awakening on the Spirit of Tasmania 2 hours later than is normal for this trip after spending 3 hours longer than normal getting onto the boat the night before in Port Melbourne. This to me was a good thing because the 6am wake call the entire boat gets is not part of my planning whilst on holidays, especially on a day that coincides with my birthday.

We disembark the boat nearly first (a great stroke of luck) and head 30 mins west to Somerset for an egg and bacon pie with coffee for breakfast.

The morning was hard as I found myself with a high level of the fear factors, which is just my head toying with me. The afternoon however a little more faith develops as I see more roads and realize the roads that look like they have gravel but they do not.

With a 30km flowing and fast windy road we finish up in Strahan where we are spending 2 nights.

This is a fantastic road and we will talk a lot more about it over the next 2 days.

GOP 2010 Tassie Map 1 - 30kms out of Strahan

The birthday dinner was a very nice meal at a local Strahan restaurant with a few beers and then a couple of scotches at the pub afterwards. But the restaurant had a good view out over Macquarie Harbour (see photo of me and Mike at dinner).

We head to bed about midnight after sharing all our stories from the day some talk about bikes and a plan to rise about 8.