Author Topic: Just a quiet weekend run.  (Read 991 times)

Online Kev Murphy

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Just a quiet weekend run.
« on: January 05, 2020, 06:54:28 PM »
First of all, I apologise. I have no photos as I was prepared to ride without pausing for frivolous details.

Friday was a warmish day, and started with local bill paying and then to the strawberry farm to hand-pick the berries for Russ and Jd before I hit the road around 10am, heading for a coffee stop at a mates home in Colac. Normally around 2 hours and thirty minutes trip from here.

HA!  Every 5th vehicle heading east towards Melbourne was a camper/caravan, or a car towing a boat. The leading camper of each group of 5 to ten vehicles was invariably tailgated by a semi or a double B who was unable to overtake because of continuous oncoming traffic from the east.
Invariably, the lead vehicle was cruising at a nominal 85kph, which must have frustrated the truckers immensely.
I know that I was annoyed, sitting at the rear of each packet of vehicles. Eventually, I managed to overtake the slowpoke lead driver, only to join another convoy within just a few minutes. There were around ten instances of this type of behaviour, and consequently it took an extra hour of travel to reach Colac.

Still have a minor electrical problem to sort out where I lost power again to my ciggy sockets which feed the GPS and phone charger. Had to fly by memory and Hwy signs to reach my destinations.

Approaching Colac the visibility slowly deteriorated with smoke haze from the north and east. I took a short coffee break with my buddy before moving on at around 1.45, heading towards Russ at Korumburra. The visibility worsened from having smoke where the horizon was still visible, to the freeway run from Geelong north where visibility was reduced to about 1 or 2 Km along the freeway. When I reached the city, it had reduced to barely 1 km.

A slow trip across the Westgate Bridge with some lanes closed, and then a nightmare congested traffic run to reach the South Gippsland freeway. The bike suffered overheating problems again, and the clutch was again dodgy, requiring me to turn off the engine at traffic lights and then restart again in-gear to progress. This problem ceased as soon as I could get an unrestricted run of 5 minutes or more when the engine cooled again. The smell of smoke in the air was heavy. Was fairly warm when I passed through Melbourne and I got a bit sweaty in the leather jacket.

I phoned Russ at around 5.15pm to let him know that I was about 30 minutes away. Should have been a 3 hour trip from Colac, but because of traffic and low visibility, it actually took 3 and a half hours.

Discovered that there had been a hiccup with transporting a jar of Strawberry jam to Russ, where the damn lid unscrewed, and there was jam all through my tools in the top box, but the strawberry packs were wrapped securely inside a towel, and arrived safely. Was only a small amount of jam left in the jar.

Had a great time with Russ and Sue, was adopted by their cat, and gained a sleeping partner for the night.
Russ apologised for the cats behaviour, but I informed him that I have TWO cats that do the same thing to me at home, so all is good.

Slept well, then we chatted until almost lunchtime when I wheeled the bike out for the hour run back to visit Jd and Chippy.
Was a lot cooler, and smoke had cleared with the arrival of south westerly wind overnight.
Arrived around 1.30pm Saturday ... with their strawberries, which hibernated overnight in the fridge at Russ'

Had our usual chat and then we went outside where Jd was working on the sidecar outfit. I never before realised how much detail is involved in aligning a chair to a bike!

Seems everywhere I go, friends are always pressing me to eat, but I have a very small appetite and rarely eat when on the road. Thanks anyway people, much appreciated but not necessary.

I think it was around 3.30pm when I left Jd on the run home. Relatively easy run with little traffic back through Melbourne and onto the Geelong road, weather was great, not overly hot and no more smoke, altho I did have a couple of rest stops to breathe a little of the filtered variety...

Was a little perturbed as I crossed the Westgate Bridge, as I had not put any fuel in since leaving home and the tripmeter indicated 600 km covered. Obviously, the slower trip to Colac the previous day resulted in good economy, because when I filled the tank there was still a tad more than a litre in there. Some of my previous trips I have ridden as many as 628 km to the tankful. But on this trip, I didn't pack any spare fuel.

Arrived home in daylight at around 8.45 to a pair of cats who demanded "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?"
My buddy must have overfed the cats while I was away, as they had plenty in their bowls, or maybe they missed me, and lost their appetite? Had a shower and went to bed early for a change, lol.


Didn't unpack the bike until this morning, and had some fun washing the jam clagged tools and towels, so that at least the bike no longer reeks of sun-cooked strawberry jam.

Enjoyed myself immensely, you have no idea how good it feels to just jump on the bike and GO, after being cooped up without wheels for two and a half years.  A modest 985 Km for the two day trip.

Many thanks to Russ and Sue, and Jonathan and Vera for the hospitality and friendship. Vera posted some photos and a video at

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2350780481835229&id=100007098993595

https://www.facebook.com/100007098993595/videos/pcb.2350780481835229/2350875818492362/?type=3&theater
« Last Edit: January 05, 2020, 07:03:36 PM by Kev Murphy »
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Re: Just a quiet weekend run.
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2020, 10:29:42 PM »
Glad you had an enjoyable trip. Try 3+years of not being able to ride and still trying to sort the bike out and get it running right maybe I should just take it out bush and torch the heap of garbage.By the way links don't work keep getting sorry this content is unavailable.
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Online Kev Murphy

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Re: Just a quiet weekend run.
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2020, 11:01:30 PM »
Thanks Paul. Sorry links don't work, maybe they are private?
I am not familiar with FaceAche protocol.

Ten seconds of YouTube vid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paqxh0LIqM0&feature=youtu.be
« Last Edit: January 05, 2020, 11:20:13 PM by Kev Murphy »
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Re: Just a quiet weekend run.
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2020, 11:58:28 PM »
Glad you had a good time here, Kev!

I think Shelley is missing you...

I still reckon she could've travelled home with you in the topbox...  :whistle

Oh, and thanks again for the strawberries....and whats left of the strawberry jam... :thumbsup  :rofl


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Online Kev Murphy

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Re: Just a quiet weekend run.
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2020, 12:01:40 AM »
 :thumb Thanks mate.
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