Kurrajong

Last week, I purchased my first Ebay item... a CBR600 F3, 1995 model. About five times the power of my CBR125R. If I'm going to be doing any long distance riding, the 125 is not the machine for it. And I am enjoying going for rides, very much.

I inspected the bike on the Saturday, and watched for the end of the bidding on Monday evening. With 5 minutes to go, and went and got my laptop and wireless internet connection and logged into Ebay, just in case the cable connection dropped out. While moving around I tripped on the ethernet cable, shutting down the cable modem, which I didn't realise until I was trying to put a bid in in the last 60 seconds. When I could see no response, I completed the transaction on the laptop, and won the bid. Phew.

The next evening, I picked up the bike, and two days later, took it into the mechanic to get checked out. The previous owner knew less about bikes than I did, and hadn't maintained it since he bought it in February this year... the chain had rusted, it hadn't been lubed at all. As I'm basically sitting astride a whirling chain of metal, the idea of what would happen if one of the little pins rusted and snapped at 100km/h didn't appeal, so I had that replaced. Apart from that, everything seems to be in order. Good so far!

I took the bike down south on Friday to meet up with a friend, which was the first time I took it up to 110km/h. It did so effortlessly, I hardly even noticed... I'd done the same trip on the CBR125 and it struggled very hard to maintain 100-110km/h. With people whizzing past at 140km/h and faster, I did prefer having a little bit of play to get out of someone's way just in case. Plus, the acceleration the CBR600 can do is so much fun.

This weekend was meticulously planned out. I rode over to Nathan's place at 7:30am, then we'd drive to the mechanic's, I'd ride his bike back to his place (he gets his licence on Monday), then I'd ride to a series of 6 houses I planned to inspect (real estate hunting). The reality was, when I got to Nathan's, I found I'd lost my keys. Including my only key for the fuel tank on the bike. They'd dropped out of my pocket somewhere between my place and his. We got his bike from the mechanic, then went hunting for the keys... despite travelling the 20 minute trip three times, I never saw them again. Unable to ride the bike far because I was unable to refuel it, I had to get a mobile locksmith to come and cut a new fuel tank key... no-one else would do it on a Saturday afternoon.

Saturday evening, San and I went for a ride to the movies, and saw the new Transformers movie. The session we'd arrived in time for was sold out, so we had 90 minutes until the next one. We got on the bike and went for a ride down, taking random roads and getting thoroughly lost. I probably should've done that at a time we didn't have a deadline to be back by... whoops. San knew the area because of navigating it for her work trips, so she guided us back onto roads we knew, and we got back to the cinema with enough time for a hot drink before heading in to watch the movie. We're getting more used to riding together... it's as much a skill as any other aspect of riding, and we're taking it easy, nice and slow. The CBR600 doesn't even notice her on board, whereas the CBR125 definitely noticed the extra passenger. I have a tank bag on order from Ebay that should arrive in a week or so... that'll give her somewhere to stash goodies purchased from small stores discovered in out-of-the-way towns.

Today (Sunday), I met up with my cousin Richard first thing in the morning, and we went for a ride. When I dropped by to visit his family after the trip to Palm Beach, I had found he had a gorgeous Honda Magna VF700, and hadn't ridden it for the past 4 months... I never knew he rode!

Within 2 minutes of leaving home it started raining, so we waited and had a coffee at Richard's place first before heading off, once the rain slackened off.

We headed north along the Pacific Highway, then turned off to Berowra, then down a windy road to the Berowra ferry. We missed the ferry by about a minute, but that just meant we were first in line for the next one. The clouds had cleared up remarkably quickly and the weather was glorious.


Richard had recently completed an epic car trip out to Uluru and back, from Sydney. I spoke with him about my plan for a ride there later in the year, and got some pointers on things to look for and what to expect. Knowing what distance to expect to find fuel stations scattered over, appropriate routes, and surprises when it came to distance, is very useful. Also knowing how much time to budget to stay out there. I know so little about the area, I've a much better idea now of how to plan.

We rode on around through small towns and twisty roads, skirting around the North to Northwestern edge of Sydney, until hitting Windsor. We swapped bikes at Windsor... Richard hadn't ridden a sports bike before, and I hadn't ridden a cruiser, so it was a new experience for both of us. For Richard, the responsiveness and torque were of note. For me, the relaxed riding position and stability of the cruiser were a pleasant change.


We rode up Bells Line of Road to the Kurrajong Heights Hotel, and stopped there for lunch. Fried camembert for me, ribs for Richard. The photo on my little mobile phone camera doesn't do the view justice. It's a panoramic view of Sydney, stretching out to the horizon. I'd been at this hotel for dinner once before, after Jon's buck's party last year, which involved rubber wetsuits. I still get goosebumps at the memory... but I digress. From this spot, the sight of Sydney as the sun sets is spectacular.

I apologise for that last sentence.

We rode back to Sydney after lunch, as we'd taken a fair amount of time reaching Kurrajong. It was a good ride, and it was good to have Richard along. Riding alone is fun in its way, but riding with friends is also a great experience.

Another time, I'd like to do a circuit out to Mt. Victoria, down to Blackheath, then back to Sydney via Katoomba. Another ride for another day!

Talking with Richard about my planned trip, it occurred to me I have the opportunity to go for a yet smaller scale trip. My current thinking is of a scale of rides, from largest to smallest:

1. Round-the-world motorbike trip
2. Six week Round-Australia motorbike trip
3. Two week Round-part-of-Australia motorbike trip (Sydney - Melbourne - Adelaide - Uluru - Sydney)
4. Two or three day trip
5. Overnight trip
6. Day trip
7. Commuting
8. Shopping

I've kind of done rides of the type 5 - 8. So the next thing is to plan for a trip that is more than a day's ride away. I have to make a choice between either camping or staying at pubs / B&B /etc... I may do the latter for the first time, and approach the camping thing, which I haven't done in quite a few years, as a separate vector.

Thinking back on the camping... the last time I can remember camping was on Hachiojima, in 2000. I was there with my boss, we camped overnight on the island and caught the overnight ferry back after a gruelling day of bike riding around the island the next day. We had stayed in a menshuku (Japanese B&B) the previous night on Miakijima, with earthquakes every 5 minutes... a week later, the volcano that was Miakijima erupted, and everyone living there had to be evacuated!

The time before that was in 1998, when I was working in water drilling. I was put in a truck, given $500 and a map, and set off for two weeks into rural NSW. I camped by the roadside, sleeping in the back of the truck, as I travelled around to various farms that needed their water bores inspected. I learnt a lot about myself in that trip, and look back on it as a seminal experience. I learnt I was able to do what appeared impossible, if I just kept at it. It may take longer than if I had help, but when there's no help, you only have yourself to rely on. To learn that I can rely on myself was an extremely valuable lesson. It is also the only time I have been camping by myself... and I had a truck full of equipment and supplies in that case. Doing so with only a small pack of supplies that would fit on a sports bike would be quite another experience I think.

It could be quite an experience. I'm looking forward to it. But first things first.

I have about a month before I go to South Africa. I'll be there pretty much all of August. I highly doubt I'll be able to get time off for a trip before then... work pretty much comes to a head shortly before the culmination of a project, and that's what the trip to South Africa represents. So I have a bit of time to plan a trip as a precursor to the longer trip, and see if there's somewhere within 1.5 - 2 days ride of Sydney that I'd like to visit. I have some map-gazing to do.

Jiujitsu One Blue Stripe Grading

Back a few months ago, I began doing Brazilian Jiujitsu again. A little bit of background... martial arts have been a passion and obsession of mine for a very long time. The development of this passion was a very long and convoluted route, starting from when I was about nine years old. My first exposure to martial arts was when I was ten, and learning Judo in Farnborough, in England, for a few months (it may only have been a few lessons, but I do recall the experience quite vividly).

My next exposure was an eclectic style, Combined Martial Arts Academy, developed by Mark Carey in the Southern Highlands, in 1992. I trained with him until 1996. I was also doing Aikido at UNSW for a while, in 1993-1994. I did a little bit of Aikido in Japan in 2002, but was frustrated because their style was the complete opposite to what I had been taught so far, and I would have had to unlearn many hard-earned habits to develop in their style. In 2003, I did some Aikido training in Moscow, but the instructor did not speak English, and I did not speak Russian, so I was hampered from really getting into that.

In 2004, I did some Brazilian Jiujitsu in Tokyo for a couple of months, before moving house to Ikebukuro and being too far to travel conveniently to classes. In 2007, I did some Karate in Springfield, but the classes mainly catered to children.

That leads to 2009, and looking for a martial art to take up. I tried a few styles in the area, and decide that BJJ was what I was really after. It is hands-on, it is challenging, it is a workout, it is applicable in self defence. The style is a lot less formal than I am used to, which is taking some adjustment. Each time I start over with a martial art, I am effectively starting from scratch. My fitness level, my knowledge, my focus, my discipline, all need to be built all over again. I carry some lessons onwards, but there is a great deal of rework required, because I've let things fall into disrepair over the years, and also because the teachers have such vastly different approaches to their art.

So I have launched myself into this BJJ style, and am enjoying it immensely. I have been attending lessons, twice a week, since February, except when sickness, work or injury prevented me. I come home after each lesson sporting new bruises, earned in the sparring sessions. They don't hurt, and I have definitely put on a lot of upper body strength since starting. I do need to work more on my flexibility, strength and technique, along with various other aspects that are yet lacking, but that will always be the case.

This week I did my first BJJ grading. I haven't attended a martial arts grading since reaching red belt in CMAA, back in 1996. The grading itself was straightforward, but it was followed by a gruelling marathon of back-to-back sparring sessions. Just one of those is exhausting... to do five of them with no rest pushed me to the limits of my endurance. I was unable to move my arms afterwards for a good ten minutes, I just had to sit and rest and wait to regain strength.

So now I have my first blue stripe. It's the first step on the path...

Queen's Birthday Weekend continued

Yesterday, Monday, was the last day of the weekend.

I'm kind of overdoing it with the photos, I feel. But I have cut it down to just a handful of a large number of (admittedly mediocre) photos... it is still too many I feel, but without it, there's a lot missing from the story.

I've lived in Sydney for quite a number of years. First as a child, for 5 years, then as a young adult, for 7 years. Now, as someone approaching middle age, here I am again, 1 year into another stay. And in all that time, I've done precious little of actual exploration of Sydney. Not like I did in Tokyo, where I'd pick a new train station each weekend, go there, and wander around the suburbs until I found another train station. That approach isn't practical in Sydney, with the train stations so far apart outside the CBD, and I don't really enjoy driving much. The train stations in Sydney aren't the same miniature towns that Tokyo has, they're rather desolate affairs. Bus rides tend to leave me nonplussed as well. Now, with the bike, I'm finding myself keen to see more of Sydney, to explore and see what it has to offer, so I'm taking that opportunity while it presents itself.

On Monday, I went to Google maps, called up a map of Sydney, and looked it over for places to go for a ride. I picked Palm Beach as a place I'd never been to, and decided to throw Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park in for good measure. I plotted a path roughly, memorised one or two turns, stuffed the GPS unit into my pocket and set off.

Firstly it was through the city, much the same as any other ride through the city, but before long I was into the park, and along some beautiful windy roads, up and down hills, overlooking the creeks and harbour. Boats forged their way up and down, leaving their mark briefly on the green water, far below.

At the very end of the road was Cottage Point, where there was a marina and a restaurant. The restaurant was full of people, and anyone with a car had a long walk from up the road, as there was little parking to be had. I'd like to go there sometime for lunch... when travelling by myself though, I prefer to eat alone for some reason... I don't enjoy restaurants. This can make travel overseas for work somewhat problematic!

After stretching my legs and snapping a couple of photos, I headed back up the road, and back along the beautiful windy track, just following my nose through the park, taking turns as I felt. I stopped by one spot to grab a photo of a mangrove that was in a secluded bay.


Just as I was snapping that photo, a bike shot past at an incredible rate, doing well over 100. As I turned to watch, a siren started up, and there was a police car in hot pursuit. I listened to them, the siren and the howl of the bike, mentally tracking them back up the road I'd just taken, they gave no sign of stopping. Does this look like a race track? I continued around the road, and eventually started going by dwellings, I must've been out of the park. Sedately following the winding local roads, I tracked the coastline until I got onto Barrenjoey Road, which I followed up north until it ended.
And there was Palm Beach. To the north, in the photo you can see the Barrenjoey lighthouse. According to my uncle Nick, for the longest time there were wild goats living up on the head, though no longer.

I also snapped a photo of my bike as I was taking some photos of the area. It's a lean little thing, compared to most bikes, and I'm really coming to like how narrow and light it is, it is very forgiving of this new rider. It feels perfect for these kind of short distance, low to moderate speed, windy rides around the city. It accelerates as fast as any sedan, which is all you need in the city. I did an intermediate-level rider training course a week ago, and I'm still learning to apply the techniques I was taught.

From Palm Beach, I checked my GPS, and headed back south. If I had enough time I would have gone along the coast and through Manly, but it was starting to get dark and I needed to get back, so I went along the main roads instead, dropping in to see my aunt and uncle in Crows Nest on the way home. It's always good to see them. I lived with them for a year when I was going to University, and they put up with my odd behaviour with a poise I can only aspire to. Their passion for exploration and enjoyment is partially responsible for inspiring me to see more of Sydney. They've lived in Sydney for, as far as I am aware, my entire life, and they're still exploring and finding new places to go every week! Realising that was possible opened my eyes to just how much more of the world there is to see, and how being bored or sick of a place is as much an internal reflection as it is an external experience.

Queen's Birthday Weekend

This weekend past was a long weekend, with the Monday off. Every day of it, I was out riding, the nights were spent indoors.

On Saturday, we went out to Windsor, and had a relaxed lunch out there at the seafood restaurant... the place seems very popular. We shopped, bought some books, and rode back home. It was a very tame ride, which is what we were after.

On Sunday, I went for a bit of a longer ride by myself. I set off in the afternoon, about 1pm, down towards Wollongong, through the Royal National Park, with a detour down to Garie Beach. I stopped there and ate the simple lunch I'd packed and snapped a few photos. There were quite a few people there, the small carpark was full, several people in the surf and a few people fishing off the beach a ways up.

After a brief rest, I continued on south along the coast. I was going through a windy bit of road in a heavily forested area, when I had my first near hit. It was out of the blue... I was riding along, when about 20m in front of me, a bird came fluttering out of a bush, bouncing along the ground. I could tell it was going just fast enough across the road to be a risk, and started to slow down, but didn't swerve... I think if I'd tried to swerve to avoid it I'd likely have dropped the bike or run off the road, or hit a car... there wasn't enough time to react properly, so I just braked. As I drew even with it, it leapt up into the air and struck the mirror of my bike, bounced off and struck me in the chest and flew over my right shoulder. I stopped as quickly as I could and got off and had a look, but I couldn't see it anywhere... I estimated I was doing about 40 km/h when we hit. The mirror was bent down but not broken. Hopefully it just got a fright and took off for the hills and wasn't hurt... there wasn't much I could do if it had been injured other than offer it a clean death. It gave me a bit of a fright... it was good that I wasn't going fast, I had just been pottering along at the speed limit of 60.

After remounting, shaken but not stirred, I continued my ride south. There is a bridge that tracks around the sea cliff on Lawrence Hargrave Dr. It was about 4pm that I took this photo. I dismounted after crossing the bridge and walked back along it a little to get a photo looking back north.

I made it down to just north of Wollongong, and it was starting to get dark. While I don't mind riding in the dark, there are few opportunities for decent photos with a small compact camera, and it starts getting unpleasantly cold. After that ride to Singleton, I've been dressing much warmer to ride and avoiding particularly cold rides. It kind of removes a lot of the fun of the ride when you're shaking violently enough the bike is vibrating from you, not the engine. So I turned around, and rather than take the windy road back along the coast, I shot up the highway and back into Sydney while the sun set.

I was passing Botany Bay, in Brighton le Sands, when I saw something that made me find a parking spot (the place was PACKED) and stop to try to get a decent photo in the dusk. It took me quite a few shots before I managed to hold the camera steady enough.


Out in the middle of Botany Bay there was a large platform, doing some kind of work in the middle of the bay. On the far side of the Bay was Mascot airport, with planes landing and taking off constantly. Residing over it all was the moon, bright and full.

One of my early memories, and one that comes back to me often, was sitting in the car, late at night, watching the moon and wondering how it moved so fast to keep up with us as we drove. The other three kids were all asleep, my parents were quiet, we were driving back from dinner party or something. We were living down in Point Cook. I remember thinking that the moon was travelling with us, keeping watch, keeping company as I travelled. Every time I'm travelling and there is a full moon, I always find myself staring at it, remembering that early feeling of it being there, and then remembering every time I've done that exact same thing, stared at the moon as I've walked, run, ridden, driven, flown... it will always be there when I do these things, always keeping pace... and it'll be there until long after I am no more. It is permanence, when everything in the world changes.