Sunday 17 February 2013

Going Backwards


The reason we were going for a ride  ... we need to check out a road ... well we need to check out a couple of roads. So originally we were going for a longish ride, bout 2 hours or so with stops, then we decided to check out another road that's shorter only bout 40 minutes of riding. That suited both of us nicely.

Both of these rides are part of something exciting that's happening in March (oh wow that's not very far away is it?!?), The Shadow Riders Australia are having their first Eastern States Meet in Dubbo in March. Terry and I offered to help out with it any way we could and one of the things we are doing to help is to organise a couple of rides for the guys and gals while they are here.

We have one longer one planned as a Poker Run, stopping at a few of the local pubs in villages surrounding Dubbo, that one is going to be awesome but we need to ride the whole route we have planned out as we've only done some of the roads on bikes, one of the roads is one that we've only done in the car. Not to mention we need to get out to the pubs and make sure they are happy for us to descend on them for a half hour or so.

That was the ride we were going to do today, but it made sense as we are both a bit under the weather lately that we did the shorter ride. This one is just a bit of a trip to one of the outlying villages near town then back in a big loop.

At first Terry said he didn't think he'd go for a ride after all, so I asked him to get my bike out of it's tricky parking spot for me and I'd just go for a quick turn around town. I had an itch.

Hmm I guess he did feel better today after all .. he went and took the cover off his bike and checked his chain .. yay we're going for a ride!!


That wasn't the only reason I wanted to go for a ride, I also had an idea that I wanted to try out with the GoPro. I know you are going to be amazed and astounded when you hear this ... I put it on backwards. Yep you heard me right .. I was hoping to get some backwards pics. Alright not that astounding .. but I was keen anyway. I wanted to try to get some pics of Terry riding towards me and I'd woken up in the middle of the night about a week ago with the bright idea to just turn the GoPro around so that it was taking pics behind me. Seemed so simple it was silly .. I was really keen to try it out.

Of course the first pics I got were of Terry moving Roxy while I sat on a bench under a tree watching. The next photo I got was a series of this ...


Hmm at least it wasn't all just photos of the sun although I got plenty of those too. We headed down the road for petrol first, where I got heaps of pics of the bowser and the driveway .. but when I put my helmet on the backrest just before I turned the camera off I caught this ...


I was starting to see how useful this could be, not only can I get some cool pics of Terry riding, I can check to see if there's any cheekiness happening behind my back.

There are a lot of photos, you have no idea how hard it is just to pick a few favourites, the GoPro was set to take pics every two seconds ... I have nearly 2000 photos to choose from ... ugh too hard to choose!!


Terry taking a roundabout like a pro, my first thought when I saw this pic was 'do I lean that much?' So I asked Terry 'do I lean that much on roundabouts?' 'Nope' he said 'but that's cause your bike handles differently to mine' 'Oh .. OK'

We soon hit the country road and somehow I left Terry behind so I didn't get the shots of him coming over the rises that I wanted. I slowed down and let him catch up cause I knew that there was an interesting little S bend thingy coming up and I knew I wanted to get him on that.


First there's the right hander as the road goes down under a train bridge.





Then there's the left hander coming back up from underneath the bridge.



When I first looked at these photos you couldn't really get a sense of how much Terry was leaning round these bends, cause I was leaning too and the horizon was at a massive angle ... soon fixed that.


Yep it's turning into another photo heavy post, I just loved so many of the photos .. this is the best one I got of Terry coming over a rise .. look closely he's there.





'Oh oops ...' was what I heard over the Sena, just as Terry overtook me looking for a photo opportunity.

I overtook him back when we got over the next rise, but we were under some clouds so you can't see him shaking his fist at me :-D


Yep .. your blinkers working .. how's mine. I still haven't replaced my back blinkers, the new ones should arrive tomorrow hopefully early enough for me to spend the afternoon fitting them. That's another reason I didn't really want to ride too far today, even though I've been riding for months with water and rust in them without knowing it, I still don't like tempt fate. I did check them before we left and there was no condensation in there, we haven't had any rain since I emptied the water out of them last weekend.

The next bit of road was along the highway for maybe 5 km's, not really interesting for photos I thought, until I came across this photo ...


Terry just seemed to be bringing the sun with him.


Back onto the back roads and corners started again ..


Here's one where I didn't correct the angle of the horizon.


When the road is straight it just seems like you can see for miles, I think it's fisheye lens effect but the sky and the fields just seem to go forever in a lot of the shots along this road.


It's a good road, and fun to ride but we only passed one bike along here today .. this guy just kinda amazed me.

Back to the cool pics of Terry ...



Back in town, we headed towards McDonalds for a bite cause it's the only thing open at this time on a Sunday and we didn't really feel like trying to find a pub still serving food.


Last pic of the day ....


Yep that ride will do just fine for the Shadow Riders .. I think they'll enjoy it :)

20 comments:

  1. OMG, Brenda, these photos are so beautiful! Really amazing. I'm happy you got to enjoy such a lovely ride.

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    1. I've sent you an email. I know I'm a hard girl to pin down eh :)

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  3. Yeah great pics Brenda, it is a lot of fun playing with photos and riding, seems to be a thing lots of us like to do, Keep enjoying the riding!

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    1. Thanks Rogey.

      Two of the things I enjoy doing the most!!

      And the GoPro produces more than adequate photos too, I am really happy with these shots ... expect to see more :)

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  4. Looks like Terry caved in when he was getting your bike out as he had the itch too but didn't know it at the time.

    Nice day to be out for a ride. That guy on the GSXR thou is in his best safety kit, shorts, t shirt(half way up his back)and safety joggers. Hahahaha

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    1. It's very rare that I say I'm going for a ride and Terry says no :)

      It's interesting safety gear eh ... I think you can even see a bit of his safety undies peeking above the safety shorts. They are kevlar right ;-D

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  5. What a beautiful set of pictures. All those fluffy clouds. It looks hot though, but I notice you are still geared up. Good for you. That very last artsy shot is my favorite.

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    1. Ta Sonja :)

      One of the things about these pics I noticed was the blue, blue sky with the big white puffy clouds .. I think that is what makes them look so good.

      It actually wasn't that hot, after the run 40 degree days we had a couple of weeks ago the temperatures in the low to mid 30's we are getting feel quite refreshing. I did have to put my visor down while in town though the wind was hot and drying me out.

      My favourite too Sonja that's why I added it :)

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  6. Scouting new roads is always fun and when you are doing it for a later group ride it adds another level to the planning.

    Great pictures. It looks so nice and warm. I like the contrast between the blue sky and beige countryside. And you can't go wrong with puffy clouds.

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    1. Ta Brandy,

      Oh I'm so excited about showing others around my backyard! But it's kinda worrying too, what if they don't like it? All those kinds of things are going around in my head. As long as the weather stays as perfect as it's been lately it still should be great. Just before that ride I'm taking a bunch of them in a Dragon Boat down the river. They'll be ready to relax I reckon :)

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  7. I'm drooling over the ice-free roads and tree lined to boot - lovely.

    ...and that picture of the guy on the sport bike, that seems to be standard riding gear for some of our Canadian riders too...fools.

    Have fun with the planning of the event, you will be making some new friends as they enjoy the route you've laid out for them...

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    1. I did think of all your snow when I posted those pics, I hope you enjoyed them.

      It's interesting, I chat with these guys all the time so I already feel I know them a bit. But I'm still very nervous about meeting so many new people at once, I'm not good with crowds of people and normally stay in the background. Leading them on rides is just putting me in the spotlight eh ... Oh what have I done!?! I know it will be fun though :)

      That guy on the sport bike isn't even the worst I've seen ... Oh don't get me started ... :/

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  8. What a great idea! You may need two of these, one to face forward and one to face backwards. Great pictures!

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    1. Now that's a great idea Dar! And I'll get another one for the handlebars for video ... And one for ... Oooh I need lots of cameras! I will be bristling with em, and never miss a shot!

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  9. Brenda:

    It takes a lot of planning to lead a group ride. You have to know the road inside out, where to stop, where to go fast everything. You may have to ride it a few more times to get to know it better. Also if you are having a snack break you could phone ahead before your ride leaves to let the restaurant know how many are in your group and approx ETA.

    Your GoPro made those skies look very nice with deep, saturated colours. I'll bet Terry feels like someone famous now that you have snapped so many photos of him

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast

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  10. Hi Bob

    Actually, those photos are pretty true to life, the sky really did look that blue!

    Oh the planning ... Yep got a whole weekend already planned, all the cafes and pubs and clubs are all ready for us plus a few BBQ's, there's just one ride I need to confirm with the stops, and I've even organised a fun morning paddling on the river. Now can you see why I haven't had time for a ride :D

    I think Terry secretly loved being the centre of my world :)

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  11. Hi Brenda! I shared some of your pictures today on my blog. Come take a look when you have free time.

    http://shybiker.blogspot.com/2013/02/riding-down-under.html

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    1. Ooo ta Ally .. on my way over there now!!

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