Yes, for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, the heat is on. Despite all the shock-horror headlines in the news about record temperatures (they’re not – it’s been nowhere near as hot as some summers of recent years) the facts are that it is presently very uncomfortable with temperatures in the high 30’s (Celsius) accompanied by very unpleasant humidity here on the coast. The fact that the overnight temperatures are remaining stubbornly in the 20’s means that the day starts out hot and just gets hotter. The only solution is to keep the house locked up during the day, close the shutters to keep the direct rays of the sun off the windows and rely on the air-con when it all becomes a bit much.
As expected, I haven’t been riding much as riding in the heat is not pleasant regardless of how “cool” it looks. It amazes me when I pull up to a servo and some car driver says, “It must be so much better on the bike than it is in a car.” Well, no, it isn’t. For a start, the bike doesn’t have aircon and that’s pretty much the sum of it. So, if I do ride during hot spells like this I tend to ride in the evening or at night and just be extra careful with the wildlife.
One aspect of riding on which I will not compromise is riding gear and I’m sure that you all know that I’m an ATGATT guy. And, because I won’t ride without protective gear, I don’t get to ride as much as some do. It scares the living daylights out of me to see the many riders who roll the dice every time they go out riding but, as much as I value my freedom of choice, I value my skin more. 🙂 The graphic above makes this all very clear.
There are a few less intense days coming up next week so I may get a chance to venture out. In the mean time, the bike stays in the garage and I enjoy the relative comfort of the house. These hot spells always end and, when this one does, I’ll be out there again.
And I have the looming prospect of the International Island Classic coming up at the end of the month (after next Saturday night’s speedway meeting) and yesterday I received my media credentials in the email meaning that I will again be covering the meeting for MotoPod so listen out in February for some more interviews. My accommodation is sorted courtesy of a good mate in Melbourne and my brother and I will be sharing the driving for the trip which always makes it go faster. I am desperately looking forward to seeing so many of my friends who I only get to see once a year but especially I am looking forward to seeing many of my American friends who are returning to have another tilt at the Island. Paulie Schaeffer from Texas will be travelling here with my good mate, Ottis Lance, it will be so great to see them. They are building an XR69 replica for the IC 2018 so this will be a fact-finding mission as well as some well-deserved R&R. Ralph Hudson who was inducted into the Dry Lake Racers Hall of Fame yesterday following his latest efforts at El Mirage (266 MILE per hour on his home-built Suzuki) will be back and it was confirmed late last week, right out of left field, that my sidecar buddies, Wade Boyd and Christine Blunck will be coming after all, racing Doug Chivas’s “spare” Windle/TZ750 outfit. Am I looking forward to PI? Hell, yes, I am!
I still haven’t used my motion camera (see above for reasons) but I think I might need some tutorials, the “manual” is remarkable unhelpful.
Catch you next time.