Gone, Again... ( Random Adventures in Oz )

GA, Fairly pissed off with you to be honest. sitting here since october 3rd. with a leg held together with what looks like meccano and screws and i was getting right into your ride, even felt the tail out at times and then your mate dropping it in the mud, felt the pain and then bugger me your off and it's over (really felt the pain then). i realised then you had been sitting at home recuperating while i thought you were still living my dream !
As for the write off situation of the bike i have bought 5 BMW gs cosmetic writeoff's and it always amazed me how so many had such little damage but then again i paid over $600 for a 1200gs h/light .
My leg is in about 6 bits, got crushed sliding back onto the road,6 inch lip of bitumen, the pillion peg hanger is now at right angles and the welds have been nearly torn out, my leg was in a similar spot with similar damage. As for the kangaroo, i ended up in hospital for 9 days, 5 years ago when i was hit by skippy while riding a mountain bike.Broke 4 ribs,punctured a lung and caused sundry other damage. skippy was 0k . So i can relate. all the best mate, norry.

Was looking thru my old subscribed threads and found this one (one of my favs, admittedly!), and am just curious to see how you're doing roughly six months later.. Leg all better? Healed up nicely? Got a new bike?

Just curious

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hey good idea... an update is in order....... let me get onto that....

just got home internet sorted so will get an update together over the next few days or so....


should be....fun

(oh and TLR_Mart,.......thanks for wonderin)


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Awesome! Glad to see you're still alive Can't wait to read the update!

Marty

I'm sorry to read about the wreck......and all the things associated with recovery are a total pain.

The rest of the entire thread is great! What a wonderful read that I had totally missed in the past.

GA, MAN

sorry to hear thats crap i went up the gammon and flinders recentally and did some of the same travels... not as many as you yet tho.... but you have motivated me to get out there more often on my klr.. i wish you all the best with your leg.. mate you're an adventure rider i know your not going to take not adv riding again as an option, you will be drawn to getting out there again by peers and internal motivation.. remeber.... what does not kill you makes you stronger!!!!! (mentally and physically) you will be ready to challenge anything soon.. anyway enough of me telling you what you allready know...

can you give me a tip on you packing methods on your (late) 800... i have a KLR 650 and pack so much more than you... where do you put it all tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, clothes, food, tool kit, maps, air compressor, spare tubes, tyre levers, msr cooker and billy etc, etc you seem to have so little on the bike during your travels HOW?...

thanks

Rob

great report,what kind of tent are you using.
(nvm, just got to page 6)

Wow, cant believe its been over 6 months since the last update... and over 14 months since the stack....

was gonna say ' not much has happened'... but i guess a bit probably has... lets see..


so 6 months ago i'd just dragged the old CB-250 out of the garden and tidied her up a bit.. inc a new headlight...

she's more more affectionately known as "2-Fiddy"

you might remember her from way back at ther start,,,thats her in the background...






i got her going again and after a month or so of some little rides around town, i decided it was time to take her out of town for a short trip, just to see how i felt about it all...


so i packed, (and found the old road helmet with the worn lining that leaves me with a lobotomy scar)..




and headed off for an overnighter down towards Mount Gambier... 400 odd kms there, and, oddly enough, about the same back.......

first stop was up the top of the Adelaide Hills, its a fair old climb and i figured i should pull over and give the bike a bit of a check since its been a few years since she's done 90 km/hr non stop for 30 or so kms......




all good

out about 100kms of freeway to Tailem Bend... and fill er up... thought the 800 got good milage...




then down to the river for a cold drink...




onto the ferry and over the river....




past some dairy cows...




to another ferry...




a bit of a wait for this one..





but finally on and over the Murray River again..



then out onto the highway again and down into the Coorong...

The leg was going ok, but i guess it just really had to sit there, not doing too much on a highway... i'd get the odd cramp, hence a few stops along the way...

maybe an hour on i was feeling a bit bored with highways, and getting a little confident (yeah i can 'sit' real good!) so went for a little detour..



wasnt far, but a little bit of standin on the pegs seemed like a fair thing to try... all seemed ok, nice n slow but i was happy with that...

a bit more highway, and another leg stretch at Salt Creek...




and then another 1 or 2 hunder kms of bitumen....

the ride was good, fair bit of cramping, and a sore back by the end of it...

oh and i learnt that:

- heated grips are good,
- the 800 chews up hills much better than the 250,
- the 800's stock seat aint that bad,
- pig trucks smell just as bad on a 250 or an 800

i slept real good that night

the next day i woke up crook as, and knew i wasnt upto the 400km ride back today... a few days later i was good to go.. so headed off, got to Robe, had a coffee and decided to try out one of my regular detours...





the road tyres sure were interesting over 20kms of beach... oh and also on the sandy exit at the end....






but got thru the sand ok..





a bit of a wait to see 'what the hell that is' coming down the highway......:eek1





and then i was.....



.stooped for a break and a leg stretch at Kingston..




then an uneventfull ride 300km back to Adelaide...


so the ride went ok... the bike shitted me a bit, cramped and underpower...but i guess that is to be expected...other than that she coes well... although a new front tyre was in order...especially if i'm gonna take her to the beach again

Physio continued on, dropping from twice to once a week, lots of electro therapy and untrasonic stuff...

April came aroung, and it was time to finish movin house...

I had pretty much moved the week before going on 'that' grampians ride 14 months ago... when, 4 months later i finally got home, i pretty much just had a campin chair and a matress on the floor....
6 months or so of that and it was time to start 'gettin my shit together'...

figured a quick run down to my 'new' house to tidy up a bit was in order before moving properly down...

front tyre got changed from this...




to this.....



and then it was off on the 400km ride down towards Mount Gambier again...


since its a fairly boring ride, and you've seen enough Coorong pics by now, i wont bore you with any...

I got the house a bit more sorted... well it didnt take much to get 'more' sorted since it had been 8 or so months since i just moved all my stuff, boxes etc in here and buggered off...

anyway, while i was down here and the weather was good, a little sightseeing was in order...


off to the beach...






up to the Coonawarra wine region....



harvest was late this year so there were still grapes on the vines..





thru some pine forests (i like pine forests )




and back to the beach again....





the back road tyre didnt make getting up dunes easy... although, even with a knobby, i suspect i would only stall, rather than get any further...




i came to the quick realisation that not only was my leg piss-weak, but my cardio was shot too





(how cool is this... )




fwaaar, this is taking a while... (ha, and i said at the start of this update...not much has been happening....)

hang on a second while i go get a fresh beer...


ha, how quick was that!... bet you didnt even notice i was gone...!

alright, enough dribble, on with the show...


then it was that dull old bitumen ride back to Adelaide again... no pics...you've seen em all before..

then it was chuck my matress and last few things in the back of the car and ...move... finally i had everything in one place and after nearly a year i could start to build a 'home' again

(oh, when i say 'everything'...i mean...except...2-fiddy...she was left in Adelaide...)

i found a new Pysio, and after a visit to her, she wanted me back 3 days a week in the gym with another physio.....for 3 months!

the paperwork got sent off for approval, then returned, then sent, then returned, then resent...took forever to get the ok to start..

in the meantime, i scored a ride to Adelaide to pick up 2-fiddy...

since the back tyre was fairly useless down here, i got her changed to this...



(got some 'odd' looks when i rocked in to a bike shop and asked for "a 16 inch knobby for the back of my cb-250 please".... )

so back out that bloody highway again..... into some drizzle so a stop to put on the rubber pants...




and on down thru the Coorong...again..

boredom got the better of me... so a trip out to the coast sounded like a plan...and a good way to warm up a bit... and a chance to test the new rear tyre...



made it to the ocean..




the guy with the fishing rods had to do a double take when he saw what i was ridin....

then back out to the highway..



after a bit of paddling




and then on to 'home'.....


so a few weeks later and i was coming up to the 12 month mark... a pretty non eventful day..

i woke up the next morning and switched on by phone...

8 missed calls!

mostly from Phil (Philmeup), all hang-ups, and a couple from Paul... wtf?

so i gave Phil a call... he sounded sleepy...

he wasnt actually sleepy, he was half druged up... and in hospital....:eek1

turns out, last nigh, a year to the day, he was ridding home from his uncles place in eastern melbourne on a busy road, thru some traffic lights, and a car comin the other way turned in front of him.... :huh

broken scapula (shoulder blade) 2 or 3 vertabrae and an ankle........

a few days late i drove over to see him in hospital... he was gonna be ok, 2 screws in the bottom of his fractured tibia, and in a back and neck brace for 3 months....

the bike was a write-off....



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i stayed in Melbourne for a few days, the second day i was just looking for a park near the hospital when i get a phonecall from Phil..

'hey where are you?" he asks me,..

'just got a park on bridge rd outside the hospital' i reply..

'cool' he says... and ' can you come down towards church st?'

'sure, why?' i ask..

turns out he has pinched a wheelchair, and in a back brace, a neck brace, a rocker boot and a sling was got himself out of the hospital and nearly a kilometer down the street to get some fags... and the discovered it was fairly easy....because it was all downhill...! and now couldnt get back up

i wheel him back into the hospital where the nurse in charge of him gives him a bit of a mouthfull for disapearing

anyway, i'll leave Phil upto Phil... except to say that he is still in the bace, is able to hobble aroud a bit now and i think see's the surgeon again in about 4 weeks any is fairly confident he will get out of the brace then (12 weeks)...

we have all decided 29th of June is 'dont ride a bike day'


so now, neither of these bikes exist anymore....



sigh... so what else has happened...? hmmm

yeah not much...

i have finally (about 5 weeks ago) started going to Physio in a gym 3 days a week... that goes for 3 months...... with the aim of building up the strength in the leg... and also get some cardio fitness back... its a fairly painfull process...more muscluar pain though i think, although they have sent me off to get some x-rays next week with the aim of getting me refered back to the orthopaedic surgeons to see it a couple of screws need to come out to releive some preasure... oh and i get some 'gold plated' orthotics (shoe inserts) next week from a podiatrist to help straighted a pronated (colapsed/rolled in) ankle.. so yeah, with 3 150km round trips a week to se a physio, trips to see podiatrists,GP's and get x-rays.... there is not much time for anything else... starting to get a bit over it to be honest... but hey, its better than it could be, and its getting better....


and hey...... i have started making a few phone calls to a few bike dealers in a few different places....but dont tell 2-Fiddy.......







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Hi Rob...

gee, i dunno... i dont really think of myself as a 'packin guru'... but hey, more than happy to tell you what 'i' do...

dunno..

i think over time you just work out what works for you and the stuff you have... i tie my tent and therm-a-rest (in a waterproof bag) to the pillion seat/back rack.... that takes care of 2 bulky things... if i take a stool or a jerry can, that goes on there too...

everthing else goes in the panniers..
sleeping bag fits nice standing up at the back of one,
gas canister fits nice inside aluminium cookin/eatin bowl (i dont bring a plate or cup),
minimal clothes fit in the lid of the panniers...
only take the tools i need (i.e check what sockets/spanners/alan keys you need and just bring those few, not the whole set of allan keys..) i keep em in a pencil case laying flat at the bottom of a pannier,
a 2 litre juice bottle (kinda rectangular fits nice in my panniers to, not wastin much space),
i started with bringing a pair of runners, now i just bring a pair of low cut canvas converse all-stars..you can crush the sides/heel down flat...)or just a pair of thongs-depend where im going. runners used to be my bigest space waster due to the heel issue.......
food...keep it simple... i bring a bag of museli and some mcdonalds sugar sachels...and just put water on it...its not as bad as it sounds...and it means i dont have to carry milk.. lunches i generally bring some cans of tuna and a packet of 'vita-weet' biscuits... they are a lot stronger than cracker type biscuits so dont brake up on rough rides too much. but i kinda work out where i'm going so i know how many cans to carry... i dont want to bring any home with me again...if its a long ride, i might just bring say 3 cans, and 2 days in pick up some more somewhere...
Clothes is an interesting one too... roll em not fold em seems to use less space..and keeps em a bit less wrinkled..(kind of ) oh and when you have packed you clothes, take them all out again... and leave half of them behind..you wont need them!
oh and one of those freaky microfibre high tech super absorbent camp towels are weird..but use maybe 1 fifth of the space of a normal towel...

I think the panniers maybe are a bit misleading...there is a fair bit of room in there... although there is never enough... next task was to find a new smaller compressor... the old one was fairly big (kinda the size or a car compressor)

pakin is really just a 3-D jigsaw puzzle....

I think if each ride you sort out one issue from the last ride, your doing well, and each ride then is in some way better than the last...

think i'm rambling...

hope that helps a bit...



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Good to hear you are back on the road mate. keep smilin'

Really sorry to see Phil's bike so thoroughly trashed. Hope he heals quickly.

Those are great looking tyres for the little rocket. I can see this bike evolving into something special - raised rear shocks, mx bars, dual HID Baja lights, stripped down body, big tank, enduro rear guard....
Great to see you're enjoying it. Your leg still looks like dog food, but that's to be expected. Come borrow my KTM540 any time you feel like it.

Hi GA, I loved your RR up to the point you made out with the kangeroo .
Get better soon, hope you will do another RR.

Glad to see that things are coming around nicely, and that 2 Fitty is giving you some pleasure.. Erf.. That doesn't sound right, does it? :huh Thanks for the update!

This is without doubt the best RR I've read and really sorry to hear about you and your mate and all that hospital stuff, pleased to see you're out and about again and give my best to Phil as well

cheers from an old bloke in Albany Western Australia

he he... no, no it doesnt sound right

but hey, i'm happy for the moment.... and if i can go and do this .....




on 2-fiddy... then why wouldnt i... especially if the alternative is to sit around bangin on about 'this bike' is better than 'that bike.... hell, they all have a front wheel that points you in a general direction, and a back wheel connected to an engine that propells you along... the rest is just upto your idea of what looks good... (and after having seen some of your wive's, its safe to say we dont all have the same taste in wives either! ....)



cheers!


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Awesome pic! Man, I gotta move to Australia someday.. Or at least visit my cousin in Canberra... Or my uncle/aunt in Melbourne!!

That, and get away from snowy winters Ack!

so, um, after a few chats with Physios... (i'm still going 3 times a week ) i went saw a doctor and got sent off for some xrays...

xrays and report came back and mentioned 'healed' brakes

(which kinda figures)

but also mentioned 'lucency' around the tip of the screw holding the tibia and fibula together...
('google' being my friend, tells me this is either a bone infection or a loose screw)

so wednesday chated to the doc about the results... and he wrote out a referal to go back an see the Orthopedic surgeons.... that got sent of wednesday arvo...

today (friday...2 days later) i get a call from the hospital asking if i can get there for an appointment 9am Monday morning.......:eek1... um, arh, ummm..... sure, why not...

not sure if they are just 'not busy' (unlikely...) or a bit 'interested' in whats goin on in there...............:huh

i guess i'll find out...monday i go see a dude with a screwdriver...





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Good luck for Monday GA, you don't want a screw loose at both ends

I'm kinda feeling luckily embarrassed how easy I got off with my roo incident now.

Best wishes.

Cheers

Are you sure the quack didn't mean lunacy? Seems more likely, just saying.

LOL, MB also makes me glad of the outcome I had when I hit the roo as well.

Also glad about the repair/ rod & screws in my leg as well, private hospital & back to work after 3 weeks & back on the bike after 6 months.

Hope they can fix it up ASAP GA