Hi fella's! Thought i'd drop to quickly let you know how things are going for me. As you might have noticed i haven't been around here much of late and i do feel guilty for letting my attendance slide. I drop by once a fortnight or so and make sure that everythings still under control, but other than that don't get a lot of time to contribute at the moment. Some might know i'm on a non-motorcycling break (ok, non road-use break) thanks to my own poor judgement regarding 'appropriate speed' for a particular stretch of road. Being only 1/4 of the way through this break i can assure you that i know value my license significantly more than i did. For those who have full time jobs, i can assure you that losing your license will make your life difficult; VERY difficult. Thankfully i'm working in a very supportive company any they do everything they can for me, which is great! I really do fear for those in my situation who might not have as nice a boss. So in the mean time i've still got my GSXR with a few battle scars after an incident merely days before i lost my license, and am STILL waiting on an insurance outcome. The crux of it all is that i've been deemed definitely not at fault by my insurance company, but the other party is a lying scum and has falsified parts of his version of events. In the end i'm pretty sure it'll all work out, but 3 months of having a scuffed bike that i'm not even allowed to ride is quite tough. Which brings me to my lack of attendance around here. I love motorcycles! I reeeeally do! I also love cars, and pretty much everything with 2 or more wheels and an engine! (Even things with propellors!). So when 'the man' tells me i'm going to be giving that up for 12 months it's not the easiest news to take. So in an attempt to make it easier on myself i try every day to not look when i hear a sportsbike, and not perve on all the shiny sexy new bikes in the showrooms. I've even cancelled my motorbike magazine subscriptions and packed away all the many hundreds of back issues i have lying around my house. The downside to all of this is of course that i've also stopped frequenting motorcycle forums and generally removed myself from everything motorcycle or car related. It's a shame but it's something i needed to do to eliminate or atleast curb the desire to throw a leg over my 1000cc beastie and ride off into the sunset. So what else is out there aside from motorcycles for me? Well for a start this was the necessary kick in the proverbial backside to get me fit again. For the 8 years since finishing school i really haven't done any exercise at all; giving up on most sports i used to play and heavily relying on cars & motorbikes to get me around. These days i still curse public transport, so have bought myself a GT Avalanche 1.0 pushie to get me around. Fantastic piece of kit but it's missing an engine. Also, for some reason i'm better at wheelying my Gixx than i am the pushie. <!-- s:???: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_confused.gif" alt=":???:" title="Confused" /><!-- s:???: --> <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s --> I've also replaced one arguably dangerous hobby (motorcycles) with another arguably dangerous hobby; kitesurfing. If you've ever seen those guys & girls down at the beach flying huge kites and jumping 10-20 metres into the air off flat water, well i'll tell you it's one of the biggest adrenaline rushes you can get without a license! Work is also pretty hectic and dominates the majority of my life at the moment. I've made plans for holidays that don't require a license, but have also been planning a road trip up the east coast a few weeks after i get it back. I've also planned on buying a nice shiny new car toy to give me something to look forward to at the end. So what am i doing with my motorcycle(s)? Well i've decided that i'll hang onto the GSXR for as long as i can bear it. The plan is that once i've got it fixed under insurance i'll hunt down some fibreglass fairings and convert it into a trackbike until i'm road legal again. Although for the time being my 'dont look at bikes' tactic is working fairly well and even in the middle of summer i only get the 'f%ck i wish i could go ride' thoughts maybe twice a week. <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=":wink:" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: --> <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_sad.gif" alt="" title="Sad" /><!-- s --> So there you go. I'm still alive and well, just my freedom's been crippled a bit and i've been forced to find some other ways to get my adrenalin kicks. I will try and hang around the forum a bit more, but for the time being am doing a decent job at moderating my temptation. The lesson from all of this is that if you've become used to having a license and tend to ride flaunting the rules a bit, then you might want to imagine waking up one morning being told that you weren't allowed to do what you love most, and that it was public transport for you. Cheers, Jason. [koma]
Ja! I've been off the bike since Nov 4th (because of Canadian winter <!-- s:???: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_confused.gif" alt=":???:" title="Confused" /><!-- s:???: -->) Good to hear from you, of course. Never formally thanked you for all the good advice you provided when I was starting out (and still starting out). Damn shame to hear about your licence, but glad you are still arond to ride another day, even it is a year from now. Luckily, you can enjoy your track prowess in the interim. Stay strong buddy! From the other side of the planet, Cheers! Andy
oh shite man, that's a rough deal. I remember riding with you and some guys/gals down gippsland way a couple of years back and you were really stoked on bikes, riding way faster than my fizz could deal with! guess i guess in the nanny state we live in its gonna catch up with all of us at one point or another.... So far i'm keeping it on two wheels, fingers crossed! i like your idea of the track bike conversion, i've even been thinking of selling my roadie and just buying a late model supersports to take on the track - it's pretty hard to "legally" have fun on the public roads these days. Keep the philosophical attitude, it'll see you through to the next buzz! (try real surfing one time, it kicks ass on those kite thingos)
Thats a cruel blow KOMA, 12 months. <!-- s:shock: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_eek.gif" alt=":shock:" title="Shocked" /><!-- s:shock: --> I had 3 month spell when I was much younger and it was hard to resist the temptation. I did drive once in that time on a country road but as luck would have it passed a cop car going the other way and we promptly swapped drivers around the next corner. <!-- s:-? --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_Eyecrazy.gif" alt=":-?" title="Eye Crazy" /><!-- s:-? --> It is hard not to speed on the road and I try to restrict it to occasional bursts on little travelled roads. Luckily with the roads here I can get a lot of enjoyment out their winding nature without speeding too much. Good luck with the pushy
Koma!!! <!-- s:cop --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_cop.gif" alt=":cop" title="Cop" /><!-- s:cop --> damn the Powlice! ehhehe Sad to hear about your licence! But be fortunate you still have a job - my mate who lost his licence for a year is most likely goin lose his job too.. That being said, its understandable you dont wanna hear/talk about bikes and I know you have moved on to a bigger bike and yet you still dedicate yourself in moderating/caring this forum. So I think its time if you agree for us to find an additional moderator. To FZR250 members, if your interested please send me a message. We are basically after someone honest and who is a regular of this forum. Technical enough to remove garbage post if it be technical or junk. Also the IT side of the forum I will take care of, which includes updates and errors that may occur. So no need to worry about that So if your interested please let me, Koma or FZR Dude know. With becoming a moderator you get your own TITLE and you get POWER!!! And I can even give you your own email address if you want eg. <!-- e --><a href="mailtoean@fzr250.com">Dean@fzr250.com</a><!-- e --> so you can flash it to the ladies or gents hehehe. <!-- s:biker4: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/th_Biker_4.gif" alt=":biker4:" title="Biker 4" /><!-- s:biker4: --> P.S Koma whenever I get the chance to come to Melb we goin catch up ok man. I owe you a drink! Actually I owe you DRINKS!! If you ever come to Sydney let me know.. that goes for you too Tim in Seattle!!! where it rains 70% of the time! Cheers, Dean <!-- s:alcoholic: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_all_coholic.gif" alt=":alcoholic:" title="Alcoholic" /><!-- s:alcoholic: -->
Thanks for the words of support fella's. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s --> It seems everyone loses their license at one point in time; and the slow learners might lose it more than once. For me, it's been enough of a lesson and as i've said to many people; probably the wake up call i needed. Spook: Yeah that was a fantastic ride! If i recall i was on my FZR1000 at that point so i had a bit of a power advantage. <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=":wink:" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: --> Definitely Dean! I'm planning a road trip up the east coast late in this year after i'm licensed again so might see if i can meet up whilst passing through. If your ever in Melbourne give me a shout. edit: Would happily welcome a new Mod onboard as i think we're a little light on attendance of late. Grendal laughed last time i saw him and told him he was still a moderator!
