Its time to be a man. In fact its time to be so manly I’m going to ride a sports bike on a 4000km round trip to Philip Island for the Moto GP. Let us bask in my manliness for a time, because 5 hours in I will be writing to you whining like a 5-year-old girl who’s had their lollipop stolen about how sore my wrists and back are. But God forbid I drive a car to the island so bring it on! Besides, when it’s time to rail those corners the ZX10’s misgivings will be forgotten…hopefully.
So, I’ve taken 2 weeks leave in October and I’m making the sojourn to Phillip Island to immerse myself in motorcycle nirvana. I’ve gone all out and booked 3 day grandstand tickets in the Mick Doohan Pavilion including camping. This is also my first proper motorcycle adventure (and hopefully the first of many). Keep an eye out over the next few weeks as I’ll be blogging all my shenanigans from the trip!
My brother, a fellow biker from the Aussiestreetbikes forum and myself are planning to the do the trip over 4 days, leaving on the Monday and arriving on Thursday. This makes it roughly 6 hours of riding a day on the scenic route (aka the way with lots of corners). This should give us plenty of time to make regular stops and stop at places that tickle our fancy. The way back? Who knows!
For the trip I’m going to attach a set of Oxford soft panniers that I’ve had in the shed waiting for this day. To my surprise, they fit perfectly. Those zany Japanese obviously knew I was going to attach rear luggage when they designed the ZX10 as there are a couple of hooks under the rear fairing :). A couple of ockie straps and away we go. All going according to plan the panniers are going to hold all my clothing (a.k.a 2 pairs of jocks & a shirt) plus extras.
From the camping side of things, I’m going to purchase a bike swag. I don’t have a rear rack so space and tie down points are limited. By taking a swag I’m able to put it straight on the pillion seat and ockie strap it down to those handy lil hooks. If I was to pack a tent I would then need a sleeping mat and sleeping bag on top of this. While doable, it would take for some ingenious packing methods indeed. Besides, tents are for pussies. Real Australian men use swags. Speaking of which, my brother is taking a tent…which I may or may not use at the Island. OK, I’m a pussy too. But they have so much space!
I am undecided whether or not I’ll take my Ogio back pack. It’s extremely comfortable and gives me a lot more space but I’m not sure about having the added weight on my back over such a long distance. I guess I’ll just have to see how much space I have once I do a trial pack.
I also purchased a nifty cigarette lighter for the bike. It comes with a dual USB charger so I’ll be to be charge my phone and another device on the go, beauty. This will be worth its weight in gold when we are camping and don’t have access to power. Hopefully that Chinese quality holds up!
Look for regular blogs about my preparation in the very near future, in the mean time keep it OnTheBackWheel braaapppp!
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