Wanneroo debut

Yesterday I made my debut on Wanneroo Raceway (commonly known as Barbagallo Raceway) for a TrakDayz advanced rider training course.

In the pits
Photo by Julian

The track day was absolutely fantastic. I have learnt so much in the last 24 hours. I’ve really scrubbed my tyres down nicely, a little too far (at first I wasn’t getting enough weight over the side of the bike), but towards the end of the day, you could see that I had bought the scrub line back a little cos Macka (one of the instructors) kept reminding me to keep down and over to the side. I got a poofteenth of a knee down on the only left hander on the track. I LOVE that corner. The basin is pretty cool too, when you get it right.

Lovin' that left hander
Photo by Robin

Best part of the day was knowing that the 1000cc bikes in my beginners group would hurtle past me at Mach 10, then I’d out-corner them around the outside. GO THE 400!

I rode to about 80% of my ability, but nowhere in there did I think "oooh, that’s a bit hairy" etc or feel uncomfortable. I got to a point where I’d nail a corner, have all my weight off my outer thigh (to the point where my grip on the handlebars was like feathers) and think, THAT is how they explained it in the class, and I got it right. Woohoo!

In all, had a great day, it wasn’t too hot and there was a nice breeze all day. I was a little nervous on Friday, but got there and was absolutely fine. After the first session I got “the buzz” and realised I had just done laps of Wanneroo Raceway! YEY!

Julz, Matt, Robin and Ryan were there yesterday for support and they all took a few photos (EDIT: woops, Ryan didn't take photos, but bought me a bottle of water. Thanks waterboy!) I was all like “Did you see me? Did you see me?" :P

I'm looking forward to booking into more courses during the year, not only at Wanneroo but the AHG track too.

Fun in the sun
Photo by Matt

I love you Santa!

What did Santa get you for Christmas? I got chocolates, a white gold ring (fanx Ben!), a leather jewellery box (fanx Mum and Dad) and officially got my Spidi 1-pc race suit and matching gloves.

Yesterday I went for a blat (in my new gloves) with a few peeps (Megs, Robin, Ryan, Matt and Le Hornet) in the evening while it was cool - starting at 7:30pm at Trigg, heading up the coast to Mullaloo where we watched the sun go down, had a beer and a cigar. It proved too much of a good thing and Robin and I were stuck feeling a bit ill. The others headed to Woodvale to check out the Christmas lights and when they came back an hour or so later, we were feeling better.

It was back on the bikes to Scarborough where we grabbed some food and had a yarn. Mmm, Baklava! Back again on the bike and off we went through the more scenic routes of the western suburbs of Perth. We concluded with some tight cornering then an easy cruise up to Northbridge where Efe's was the ONLY place open. Lebbo's must not celebrate anything.

Le Hornet grabbed a pizza with Megs, and Robin and I did "stacks on" to Ryan whilst he was lying in the park across the road. I think I ended up at home around 1:30am - absolutely knackered. So tempted to do it again tonite, but noone is keen. That, or they're pissed.

I had a fairly cruisey Boxing Day in all; spent some time with Mum and Dad, watched a bit of cricket - including Warnies 700th Test wicket, and pondered about fixing the headlights on the bike.

Got work tomorrow until Friday. Then its up to Wanneroo on Saturday for the track day. Aw yeah!!1!

[in best Big Kev voice] "I'm excited!"

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas Eve; Sunday the 24th of December, 2006. It's currently 32.7°C and 16:25pm. The air-conditioning is blaring, forcing the delicious smells from the kitchen below to emanate into my room. Ah, the smell of good Polish cooking.

Mum, Dad and I have been loitering around the house all day generally doing family things. Bothering mum in the kitchen, drinking beer, vacuuming, arguing about who got the most/biggest presents. For the record, I have the most AND the biggest. We were going to have dinner at 6pm, but we're all fungry and we'll be eating in the next half an hour. YEY! Early Christmas presents!

Oh, and there's half an hour of retail trading left today. It truly is the silly season - particularly around shopping centres. More of a reason do all your shopping online (which I did) and have everything packed and delivered weeks in advance. Oh, the joys of online retailers.

Shopping aside, its been wonderful catching up with a lot of mates over the last few days; Haynesey, Ben, Chris, Harry, Trav, Richie, Vicary, Gunz, Robin, Ryan et al - and hopefully some more in the coming week.

Obviously, it's Christmas Day tomorrow, but my family traditionally celebrates Christmas Eve as the "big day" on our Christmas calendar. Regardless of tradition or religion, I hope everyone has a great festive season and a safe one at that.

Okay, time for some good old Polish cheer...!

Whoop Ass Wednesday - Christmas Edition

Oh man, I was so exctied on Wednesday. I posted up the XMAS DRAGS on PSB and PR hoping to get a decent motorbike crowd at the drags. Boy was I impressed. 52 bikes I counted. Brilliant!

I think it was a record number of bikes, but one thing was sure - the Motorplex broke their record for the number of passes during a Whoop Ass Wedesday. 826 runs compared to the last record of 803.

All the rundown here: http://motorplex.com.au/news/2006_12_20.html

I didn't manage a new personal best time (which I was really hoping for after getting the bike tuned) but heaps of people did. There was also a great turnout of riders that had never been to the drags before - many of them are hooked. I ran a few shockers in the 14 second range, then became consistent in the 13.6's which I guess wasn't too bad. Only 0.3 seconds slower than I was expecting.

We got 7 passes down the quarter-mile, then about 25 of us headed down to Chelsea Pizza to grab some food, a beer and exercise bragging rights.

In all, a top night even though I was completely exhausted before, during and after the event.

Seeya at the drags next year!

PS: All Bike Drags are a go for 2007 - Sunday February 11th - mark it in your diary!

Photos courtesy of Troy Coulthard (www.circlework.com.au) and
JB (http://flickr.com/photos/eabod/sets/72157594431611794/)

PSB Christmas Party 2006

Tuesday night was the anuual PSB Christmas Party. This year it was held in Alfred Cove with 200+ members attending the night. Many awards were handed out where members got to vote for their favourite events like the Clowns Shoes, the Section 60 Award, the first Glass Slipper Award (girl's version of Clowns Shoes) and the first dildo award (for the most outright dickhead).

Rooster and Shrike admiring the treeAlmost dinner time...

Clown Shoes two years running. Jacob, you really are a shoe.

More shoes - of the Saf kind

During the presentation

Photos courtesy of TigerLeo - you take awesome pix Steve!

PR Christmas Lights Run 2006

PerthRiders.com got together last night to head out on a Christmas lights run in the northern suburbs of Perth.

We rode through about 8 suburbs and made two stops, then headed over to Rayne and Jap's house to have a drink and some cake. Thanks to all who organised - and those that made the trip!

38 bikes were counted for the ride. Going up West Coast Highway over the hills and seeing all the headlights behind me was an awesome sight.

Meeting up at Scabs

The PR.com crew

The bikes

Me and Megs

Take a photo of my bike!

Second stop point

Frosty the SnowmanChristmas lights

Thanks to Fenris for the photos from Scarborough.

PerthRiders.com XMAS BBQ

Today was the PerthRiders.com first Christmas BBQ at City Beach. It was a nice sunny day (not too hot) with a great crowd. There were three-legged races, sack races, beach cricket till Chookie snapped the bat, ice and water fights, water pistols and general banter.

3 legged race

Blowout

Chookie winning the sack race

The prize? A squid of courseMmm, Santa gets his ho ho ho's.

A good boy this year

Zorst

Dwight gets iced by Jono

Water fights

Chookie's nipple

Gonzo - gey!

Matt and I - with the hoomooo in the background

b SAVI with the busted arm - holding beers in the sling. Top class mate!

The day started with me not even knowing where City Beach was. Lucky I found Lushie and we made some calls - eventually found where we were meant to be - in a carpark up the road a little. I dropped of my (and Matt's) Secret Santa gifts under the tree and said hello to the crew that was already there.

The three-legged race was up first, then the sack race which Chookie is a master of. And boy did he go. He won it fair and square and was presented with a large rubber squid as first prize.

Next it was onto beach cricket, where Jono took a few marvellous catches and Matt was "Mr Cricket". And again, Chookie had to be the star of the show. He snapped the cricket bat 3 balls later.

A few rounds of drinks and the ranger stopping by informing us that our BBQ gas bottles are a big no-no, didn't slow the day down. Frank fired up the BBQ anyway and everyone started to get their food out.

"Hey Leeeeeroy" was my call and I had managed to scam a lift to Subway for lunch (as I didn't bring any food - I didn't have a backpack). We drove to Scarborough Subway and came back with wheels spinning. That car had more poke than my bike. Lots more.

Lunch was served and eaten, then it was more relaxing at the beach along with Secret Santa. I got a belt and a small clutch purse. The kiddies got water pistols which the rest of us then took over and it was game on with the freezing cold water from the eskies.

I remained relatively dry all day until I copped a whole esky full of icy-cold water right at the end of the day - faff off Marcus!

Topped off with a nice ride home, a nap and the last 6 overs of the fourth day of the Third Test match. Ahhh, summer in Australia.

Early morning photography

Early this morning, Julz and I met up in King's Park to take some photographs and get a little bit of artistic license back. He brought his Canon 300D digital SLR and I took my Sony T30 point and shoot digital camera and off we went.

05:26 - car bonnet, Perth city

06:16 - King's Park lookout, pic of Julz

06:30 - over looking the Swan River

06:44 - mozzie

07:44 - water garden

07:58 - burnout in carpark

My gallery is at www.sulk.cc with 36 selected photos from the 342 that I took.
Photos are 100% unedited, only resized digitally to 1024 x 768.

Selected photos by Julz are available at http://picasaweb.google.com.au/julian.boudville

Ferret news flash

Got into work this morning and I found out that the ferret's owner had been found. A lady living in Belmont (not too far from my work) had been at the Belmont Forum shopping centre at the ATM where she had stepped out of the car for a few minutes to get some cash out. Her ferret had then made an escape through the back window and somehow made it down a few kilometers and across all four lanes of Tonkin Highway, then wandered into our office!

Luckily the little critter only went missing on Tuesday, so he was only out on his own for a day and a half. Good news all round that he's back home and safe.

*cue warm and fuzzies*

More fun than a "?" down your pants

Yep. A ferret. Just like the old Nintendo ads. It walked in to the office through the side door where one of the stores guys had picked it up. Hungry, smelly, dirty and a bit wild, we rang the RSPCA and then Ferret Rescue.

After the feed

Sleepy tiger

Hope someone will look after this little guy.

OMGWTFPSBBBQFTMFWLOL

It was the long awaited PSB BBQ on Saturday morning. The PerthStreetBikes crew gathered on a magnificent day on the South Perth foreshore for a BBQ, a beer and a yarn.

Cheers to TigerLeo (Steve) for letting me use his expert pix!

Me, Matt and Robin

BBQ started

Foodz

Oh yeah, hot Peri sauce

Maarken... what ARE you doing?The crew

Me and the lovely Robin

Silky smooth Robin with the cigars we bought earlier in the day

Daise in the 'chair summing up the day

Earlier in the day, Robin and I had gone cigar shopping at Devlins Cigar Divan in both Subiaco and London Court. We bought a decent cutter ($90) and a few small flavoursome cigars (namely Chianti and Irish Cream for $20) then the mother of all tasty smelling cigars for $57!