Trying Out Some New Stuff

Thursday was Anzac Day, yet again I thought I really should try to get up early and go to the dawn service, and yet again I couldn't drag my sorry carcass out of bed before 9. So no dawn service this year, hopefully it will happen next year. So Terry and I decided we were going for a ride that day anyway. I had half an idea that we would catch a march in a little town somewhere but really both of us just wanted to ride.

I had a couple of other motives to go riding too, I hadn't been on the bike in a while since my neck started playing up (it's all better now) so I was starting to get a bit antsy. I had my seat modified last week too and I wanted to try that out.

It wasn't a huge modification, I found a bloke in Dubbo who does motorbike seats in his back yard. All I wanted was a bit of foam shaved off the top of the seat and the sides a touch so that I could get my feet more squarely on the ground when I'm moving the bike around to park, especially when I'm backing her. I told him what I wanted and also that I found the seat very comfortable at the moment and I didn't want to lose that. He fixed it up a treat!

When I got on the bike in the morning I immediately noticed the difference. While I'm backing her I still use mostly my toes but I can get more foot on the ground and more leverage to push, which made everything I did that day so much easier. I backed the bike out by myself that morning which is something I have never done without Terry standing by to catch me. I was pretty chuffed with that! Then every time I had to back into a park I found it easier and easier, oh why didn't I do this ages ago! The one thing I did notice was that it effected was my centre of gravity. I felt a little off balance at first and the first round about I went around I kinda jigged around it like I used to when I first started riding, I felt so much closer to the road. But I soon got used to that and my dodgey cornering got smother by the end of the day too. I love the seat as it is, it's still comfy enough for me even though I think I lost about an inch of foam, and the leg position for me while riding is so much better. That's something I didn't think I needed to change but I found that I can now reach the pegs without stretching out so much and that's a whole lot better.

So the first new thing I tested out that day was fantastic!! I was also trying out a bit more with the GoPro mounted in the new position on my highway bar. I love this perspective and got some great shots of Terry.

Another reason for this ride was to see if we could find some Autumn. The competition on the SRA Forums is themed Autumn, I figured I should be able to find some Autumn leaves outback style.

But alas the only shot that had anything like Autumn colours was this one, and it's not as good as I'd like it to be.

We crossed from Mendoran to Gilgandra using a road that neither of us has been on before.

It was a pretty country road, with a few bridges, some bush ...

And even some cows in fields who watched us go past .. I waved :-D

They didn't wave back.

The shots from the GoPro make it look like we were riding into the sun all day, but actually it wasn't that bad, it was about midday. I think it must be because of the low perspective that the sun looks so low to the horizon.

One  more shot that I really like ...

Then the interesting shot ...

I'm calling these the Wobbly Boot shots. I got a bunch of photos like this and think it must have been caused by the vibration of the GoPro, I did notice early in the day that the whole thing vibrates like crazy just while I was sitting idling. I'm not sure why all of the photos didn't turn out like this though.

We got to Gilgandra and were going to go down the main street to check it out but decided not to as it was a public holiday so there wouldn't have been anywhere open to grab lunch and it was too late to try to catch a march. So we headed straight for the truck stop just outside of town to get coffee and sandwiches. We did spot a young girl and her boyfriend fuelling up their very loaded bikes while were there. What's so exciting about that I hear you ask, well the girl was tiny, and they were obviously touring .. her touring bike was .. a posty bike! Sorry I didn't get pics but that loaded 100cc Honda in posty red loaded up with camping gear in a milk crate tied to the back rack just made my day ... what fun she must have had!! We had fun too.

Oh and the other thing I tested out ... contact lenses. I've used them in the past but they started irritating my eyes after about a month of use. After a bit of a chat with my optometrist a few weeks ago he said I should try just using daily ones for when I go riding as my glasses are just a pain under my helmet .. almost literally sometimes. So I tried them and they worked great .. yay. What a wonderful success that day out was.