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Post by colinjay on Feb 1, 2007 22:38:59 GMT -5
Hi all, I have been prompted to put fingers to keyboard because of my ride into work this morning. A couple of km after leaving home on the SR to come into work this morning, I came a round a bend to find two kangaroos in the middle of the road. This is not that unusual an occurance around here, I normally see one or two on or beside the road every week or so. It got me thinking about my ride to work now that I am living in the country. My normal ride into work is about 15km, it could be shorter if I just went down the main road, but whats the fun in that, when I can ride a few km further on a nice twist road that runs along beside some of the great vinyard in the area. I have several alternative fun routes in to work. The normal route of about 15km is bitumen all the way. The second route is about the same distance, but has about 4 - 5km of good dirt road. The third route of about 20km is bitumen to the first 10km then about 8km of twisty dirt road before hitting the tar a couple of km from town. On the bitumen sections I might see a couple of car of a morning (7:30am ish) and a few more on the ride home at 5pm. On the occasions that I take to the dirt roads, I have rarely seen another car. As we are now coming into "vintage", the grape picking season, my normal route will become a bit more dangerous because of the tractors and trucks carting grapes from the vinyards to the winneries. Since the SR I ride to work is basically stock, std footpegs and 2 1/2" rise touring handle bars, the dirt sections are great fun, getting a bit sideways in a few of the corners and even the odd two wheeled drift just make you apprieciate how much fun a SR can be to ride. My point in this rambling? Not much really, as I dodged the kangaroos, I just thought of all you people who live in cities, and have to put up with traffic lights, manic car drivers, suicidal pedestrians, etc, etc. It made me think of my ride to work every morning V's what you must have to put up with. I actually look forward to riding into work, I don't nessesarily look forward to getting to work, but the riding in and back home in the arvo is great. I would far prefer to have to dodge the odd kangaroo that to spend my ride dodging blind VOLVO drivers! Ride on All, CJ
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Post by milkman on Feb 1, 2007 23:29:59 GMT -5
Nice one.
Its friday, so I'm dodging sydney taxis that charge three lanes without notice and slam the brakes to look for a suspect fare, that is usally drunk, and jumps out in front of me.
But i'll be home on the weekend, chasing cows in the hills instead.
No 'roos thankfully, our beloved national emblem, and one of natures most traffic suicidal. But plenty of mental black angus that are hard to see in the dark.
Ride on indeed.
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Post by tradrockrat on Feb 2, 2007 14:24:46 GMT -5
I wish I had pics to show you all the roads I grew up on (beautiful hardwoods, twisty blacktop, and nary a traffic light around for miles) before moving into the cities, but the nice thing about Austin isn't the commute, it's everything around it. I have to wait until "free time" to ride the good stuff now...
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Post by robomod on Feb 2, 2007 15:21:28 GMT -5
When I lived in the Downtown area of San Jose - my ride home was lane-splitting through heavy traffic for about 3 miles. Not much of a ride. I'd prefer the kangaroos and two-wheeled drifts any day.
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Post by medic09 on Feb 4, 2007 1:01:35 GMT -5
I wish I had pics to show you all the roads I grew up on (beautiful hardwoods, twisty blacktop, and nary a traffic light around for miles) before moving into the cities, but the nice thing about Austin isn't the commute, it's everything around it. I have to wait until "free time" to ride the good stuff now... Hey trad, Keep your eyes open. Quite a few times in the Hill Country I'd round a bend a bit fast and find myself all-too-close to deer or (far worse!) a whole squad of cattle blocking the road. Enjoy the ride. The street in front of my house is snow and ice covered for now...
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Post by StewRoss on Feb 4, 2007 5:20:08 GMT -5
Hi, Not sure about dodging kangaroos and wallabies for fun...I dodged a roo and ended up destroying my SP1 and then I hit a wallaby on one of the SR's and end-over-ended the bike...not fun...not to mention the pain! Solid little creatures wallabies...some of the grey roos around the ACT are nudging 5 or 6 foot...these would not be good to collide with. There are always large dead ones on the road side around here in the suburbs... Still I wouldn't like to run into a Moose either! SR
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Post by fenz on Feb 4, 2007 6:18:51 GMT -5
Yes the ride to wok in the morning is allways interesting . Had a old guy in a B-double fuel tanker pull out in front of me the other morning, certainly wakes you right up. Showed him my respect with the one fingered salute while ridding on the wrong side of the road to avoid the old goat.
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Post by davedunsboro on Feb 4, 2007 7:36:02 GMT -5
Ah yes the kangaroos alas I know them well. They have no predators just cars,trucks & the occasional poor sod on his motorcycle. I live in the souwest of west oz and the buggers are everywhere , the eyes are always peeled and alert . we did a 250k ride today . musta seen 20-30 dead ones on the trip (reminders). Saw plenty of live ones in the fields too! But the ride was awesome , about 10 guys . Sure glad I don't live in no stinkin city ! Davo
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Post by milkman on Feb 8, 2007 22:53:56 GMT -5
I have just found out a dumber road-crossing species than Kangaroos or deer.
Its the Sydney CBD Friday arvo pedestrian.
I think I nearly hit six today. I was on my R65 BMW so it didn't have the loud pipe, and my kangaroo and cattle spotting skills were in full affect as people consumed by the weekend jump out in front of you, or half jump, then pull back, then run.
And teh worst thing: Have you noticed how many Mum's stick a pram right out in traffic to have a look from behind a car?
At least with my SR, when I approach an intersection, I drop a gear, rev it out, and sound like I'm coming through at 100, when I'm really doing 50k's. Watch them scatter........
I'm not being anti-social, its for everyones good.
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Post by tradrockrat on Feb 12, 2007 16:54:19 GMT -5
I wish I had pics to show you all the roads I grew up on (beautiful hardwoods, twisty blacktop, and nary a traffic light around for miles) before moving into the cities, but the nice thing about Austin isn't the commute, it's everything around it. I have to wait until "free time" to ride the good stuff now... Hey trad, Keep your eyes open. Quite a few times in the Hill Country I'd round a bend a bit fast and find myself all-too-close to deer or (far worse!) a whole squad of cattle blocking the road. Enjoy the ride. The street in front of my house is snow and ice covered for now... oh yeah - I grew up next to a state park full of every deer left in Howard County Maryland (it seemed). Deer are a nemisis of mine. I am always looking out for those buggers...
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dnns
New Member
Posts: 3
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Post by dnns on Feb 20, 2007 4:38:11 GMT -5
Had to smile when I read this. I spent a number of years working in the UK and in Europe. The tube to work in London is not too much fun, especially in winter. Out in the dark and home in the dark.
Now I am back in Sydney I appreciate the freedom - yeah go for it and dodge the kangaroos, 'cos it can get worse!
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Post by wotavidone on Feb 20, 2007 19:22:36 GMT -5
Drove my brother's road train into Alice Springs one night. "What do I do if one of these big black bulls steps out in front of me?" I asked. (I'm sure you'll understand that pulling up 120 tons/30-odd meters of truck and trailers with bendy bits all the way through it is no mean feat). " Don't even try to miss 'em. Just make sure you get 'em dead centre. Its just like hitting a roo but harder," he said.
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Post by colinjay on Feb 20, 2007 21:24:23 GMT -5
I know what he meant, back in 1978 while returning from a 2 day enduro in Bathurst, I hit a fully grown stear at about 100kph in my old man's Valiant station wagon about 20 km east of Wilcania. We had 3 enduro bike on the trailer and the road was up on a bit of a levey so there was no oportuinty to swerve an go around the beast. It didn't do the car much good, total'd the front end and pushed the engine off it's mounts and back into the firewall. It took three of us, plus one guy riding an IT400 yamaha to drag the dead stear off of the road.
CJ
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Post by thumperbill on Feb 22, 2007 22:46:34 GMT -5
I just try anymore to squeeze in a ride between our NW wet weather. Been a bit too cold for no fairing lately so I have been out on the FJ1200. Cant wait for spring to come and get some real riding weather. Here is a link to one of my favorite roads to ride. oregonmotorcyclist.com/ridepage.php?page=quartzville Been over this with everything from a XT200 to a Goldwing. Great ride with very little traffic. Just need to wait for the snow to melt as there is probably 10 feet up there now. Looking foreward to a trip on the SR when I am finished. Oh yeah steer clear of those animals, they hurt! Bill
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Post by StewRoss on Feb 23, 2007 2:11:33 GMT -5
Hi, Sure is beautiful countryside there. Canberra in the hills used to be similar in a way. Then we had the fires a few years ago and now it's all gone. The gum trees grow back more of less but all of the pine trees have gone. For a couple of years it looked like the surface of the moon... They've planted more trees now so it will hopefully go back...but not for a good few years. The roads are still there though... SR
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