Dirty day out

At last a weekend where it was not thunderstorms. About time the weather came good and today it brought everyone out for a ride. Had no real plan and decided to retrace some of my last ride that I had to abort due to rain. Over Currumbin and zig zag around via North Arm to avoid Murwillumbah, then went to see how the view was from Baker Road on such a clear morning.  And I was not disappointed.

Spring colours

I went for a 1/2 day ride over the border ranges today to do some thinking and again noted Saturday to be a more relaxed ride without the usual Sunday distractions. Now is a great time to visit this area as there is still many trees in Spring colours. (as at date of this post) Always a scenic ride it is made even better when all the Jacaranda trees create a purple roadside carpet. The

BMW City Pants 2

My original pair of BMW City pants have proven themselves to be really versatile and I have just grown out of them size wise so when looking around for a new pair of riding pants I decided to go again with the BMW City Pants, this time version 2. I used to ride in Draggin Jeans but after I had the fall on the ice in Japan the idea of not having knee and hip armor seems unacceptable to me. That

A Saturday Ride

I think I may try alternating between riding on Sunday to riding on Saturdays. I went for a Saturday ride for a change and experienced a better ride than I do on most Sundays due to far less traffic.  While tempted to go to my favourite northern NSW area I thought maybe the north might be quieter on a Saturday and worth trying instead. I rarely go north as I find the roads south much better

Jupiter’s Travels

Finally got around to reading this famous motorcycle travel book. I have been going to order it from Amazon for years and then saw it on the shelf the other day of my local book shop. Of course I paid twice the online price as is everything retail in this country but personal travel was happening so timing came into play. Ted Simon rides around the world covering 101,000km over four years through

Riding Cebu

A while back I wrote about riding in the Philippines. I received quite a few emails asking for info and so I want to tempt you with some more off the beaten track riding. Cebu is one of the 7000 islands that make up the Philippines and features narrow coastlines with rugged mountains traversing the island with steep climbs up to 1000m from the sea. In other words some nice riding roads! Cebu

Police state

What to do first weekend back from an epic ride OS. Go for a ride of course! Beautiful spring weather here now, perfect day for riding even though the police of this state tried to ruin it. Lots of police on Advancetown road with some sort of concealed trap targeting motorcycles. Next what appeared at first like a RBT at Canungra was actually a roadblock for only motorcycles. What follows is a

USA and Canada motorcycle tour

I have had a wonderful time touring North America, the roads were superb and the riding exceeded my expectations by a long margin. I started in San Francisco, renting a BMW R1200RT from Eagle Rider. The rental process was smooth and having stayed nearby I simply walked to the shop signed the papers and loaded my gear onto bike and was riding away about 15 minutes later. I left my suitcase with

Another ‘Jackass’

The day started with clear blue sky however by the time I got out of town the weather changed with clouds rolling in to sit above the border ranges. A chance for a small ride and a little bit of photography. I was reading Fuzzy Galore’s blog and her comment of being a ‘reformed jackass’ struck a chord with me. I used to be a jackass on a motorcycle (and in general) and  used to think I needed

North America Tour Preview

After a few false starts I am still heading there this year. Actually I am going next month but for a smaller ride than first planned. Originally I was going to ride around or across North America. Not to say I’d done it but rather because shipping my bike there for an extended ride was appealing cost wise compared to renting and making two or three smaller trips. However after I started

Beautiful Day

What a nice warm winter’s day. Beautiful day for a ride. Numinbah Valley

Old Stomping ground

When I started riding I had a small bike and riding it anywhere was a joy. Every ride was a wonderful experience without any need for speed. I used to always ride then with other guys and thus at some point things became competitive and my focus shifted to riding faster. At that stage I started riding for different reasons,it was a big challenge, I purchased the fastest race replica bike

North of the border

For a change I decided to do a smaller ride sticking to the roads in the Gold Coast hinterland which I have not been riding much lately. Dawn over the saw tooth skyline of the Gold Coast Today was the first proper Winter ride and I noticed more than a few new riders looking a bit cold so I will try think of a half a dozen or so tips for cold weather riding for people who may not have, or want,

A tale of two rides

My last two rides have been opposite temperatures. A couple of weeks ago it was hot and humid inside my helmet on a Sunday that was the last hurrah of warm weather. Today I reluctantly allowed a chilly dry air to demist the visor and closed all other vents as I tried to keep the warmth inside. In reverse order then, today I visited Queen Mary Falls and the south west. I wanted to ride the area

Supersized Southern

What a great day for a ride. A little warm by the time this afternoon rolled around but the morning was near perfect riding weather. As is my usual choice when I want a decent ride I headed off this morning to the border ranges area with no firm route in mind. Lovely quick run down the M1, not much traffic at all. People still tell me they cannot stand to ride down the M1 but to put it quite

Spyder premium shorty gloves

  I picked these up some time ago in South East Asia and was told the brand would be available in Australia soon. A mixture of textile and soft leather, with the usual reinforced areas and small portion of carbon fiber. Generally similar in style and construction to many other shorty style summer gloves. Much more comfortable then my Dainese Guanto X-ILE gloves the stitching does not rub your

Endless Summer

I was starting to think we were having an endless summer this year (albeit a wet one) as today is the first day of April and yet the forecast was for 30 degrees in western suburbs and 28 on the coast. Well time for mother nature to catch me out for 2012, it just reached 26 mid afternoon and all morning was a very Autumn low 20’s. Guess who left home in his summer jacket thinking it was going to

South East Asia

Been thinking for some time if I should write up this ride or not… you see it was on a scooter… I seem to be visiting or passing by parts of Asia every year however with the exception of Japan have not got around to doing much riding. There are 3 rides I have been thinking of in the region. The highly rated riding in the Genting and Cameron Highlands of Malaysia. The Mae Hong Son loop in

Mid week escape

What’s better than a day off work? A day off work and going for a ride! I decided it was time to get new tyres on the CB1100. Actually I have been waiting eagerly for the Dunlops to wear sufficiently that I could replace them as they were rubbish, coud have gotten more miles but decided I had had enough. The CB I rented in Japan wore Bridgestone tyres and when I got mine here I immediately

Two Pub Tour

With all the rain of late I was hopeful of getting a fine Sunday and despite some scattered showers yesterday it turned out to be a classic hot summer day here in the sub tropics.



Old fruit stall Currumbin range

I set off about 7.30am and decided to make the most of it and go large. From the Gold Coast I rode over Currumbin, Burrinbgah range, Coolamon Scenic road to Federal via Mullumbimby

2012

Revised Jan 23.

Just realised I had not posted anything for a month. I guess between my laptop packing it in and holiday season the time just got away. I have been doing some travel as well as changing work so busy times. 
Todays desktop on my new laptop is an inspiration. This is the Troll Road in Norway which I was at the base of a long time ago but unable to ascend as the waterfall you see

More New Zealand motorcycle tour

I have finally had some time to edit all the video footage I was provided of the New Zealand ride I completed last November, but it is no Spielberg.

This was shot with a GoPro HD camera and all these action cams use a wide angle lens which when mounted high on a helmet of a rider has the unfortunate effect of slowing down movement yet remains not wide enough to capture all the scenery the rider