LIFE : Of Rotorua and dead bikes
Wonderful weekend started with an enourmously wet Friday. I drove home, the motorcycle being even worse than the car in wet weather, but still felt unsafe as the torrential ran made anything more than a few meters away impossible to see.
I approached my turn off the motorway as the water ran down my legs from the gap between my bonnet and windscreen. I travelled up Church street and drove through a 5 meter long river of water across the street... the water sprayed up a good 4 meters into the air off my tires - it looked cool!! Then I hit another one. A slightly deeper one. In fact, I would surmise that it was about as deep as my car is low, because as passed through the water two great fountains of water sprayed up through the 'drain' holes in my buggy and completely soaked the interior of the car; me, my bag, the dashboard and the alarm.
The alarm goes off, as it always does when it gets wet. Thank god I got Kev to fix a switch so I can just turn the fucker off. Not very safe, but better than ripping the wire out!
Finally I get home, and reverse the car up the drive way. Into the fence. It being bloody dark I couldn't see a damn thing, so I now have a nice scratch in the back left fender. Damn.
Saturday I had my pre-test driving lesson - the guy seemed to think I did OK, but I have to say that I wasn't quite so impressed with my performance. That finished at 12, so I was too late to make it to Capoeira, so I wrecked myself in 40 minutes doing it in the living room. I then decided that I would ride to Rotorua to meet up with Jenn and the guys. I really wanted to see Ling's place on Lake Terawara, and I wanted to do a big bike ride (on my little bike - 125cc :) because I haven't done that before.
I left at 3, and was in Hamilton at 4:50, and finally made it to R. at 6:30. The last hour was all pretty much in pitch black night, which was a little scary, but not too bad. The only crappy thing was that travelling at 90 on 100km/h roads means you hold up the traffic - so you are constantly having to slow down even more to let them past.
Caught up with Jenn at 7 - she'd had an awesome final paddle before leaving NZ, finished off with a dip in a hot spring - and we rode to "Hamish's" place (I don't know Hamish at all) to watch the rugby. I mainly talked with Ol in the second half as it was incredibly boring as England go trounced.
4 hours later and we all headed off to Ling's place. Fortunately it was dry, so not too hazardous going around all those curving roads.
At Lings we all had a sit and chat and drink before going to bed. Ling had a mountain bike competition at 9 the next morning so he didn't want to go to bed too late.
During the night it started to piss down, which woke me up as I contemplated riding home in the rain. For 3.5 hours. Yeah.
Finally we got up, had yummy porridge with raisins, and headed off. I was going to stay with Oli and Cintia for lunch, but because of the weather thought I should probably get going - might get worse.
Jumped on the bike, rode off. About 400 meters on it bike fired a few times, which was a little worrying, and then i came to a give way sign. I put the clutch in to change down a gear, and let it out to find the engine had stopped. I thought it was just because the poor thing was cold, so I tried to start it again but got no response; the electrics were completely gone - no lights on the 'dashboard', no turning over of the engine, nothing.
Jenn and James (who is cool) caught up. James suggested roll starting the bike, so I did that and it started to turn the engine, but no sound of ignition, and there was no reaction to using the throttle - yep, the electrics were completely gone. (As Kev pointed out yesterday, it's probably just a fuse, but I wasn't really thinking straight).
So i left my bike there in a big huff figuring that there wasn't a lot of use paying lots of money to some guy to come out on a Sunday when it would probably take a few days for him to fix it anyway (my bike always seems to take a few days to get fixed - getting parts in etc). I found out this morning that I have of course locked the bike, so the mechanic couldn't actually pick it up last night... I have couriered it to them.
Got a lift back with the generous Jenn and James, but I don't think I was good company considering my mood. I did lighten up by the end though, and kept Jenn entertained while James slept.
Home finally by 2, then I lazed about until 6 when I went off to Maestro. it was a surprisingly good show considering we only had 6 or so people to play to, but I was really lacking in energy and, while I made it to the second round, wasn't really holding up my end.
Monday morning I walked to the Vinyl fixing place with the vinyl from my buggy, and then to the train station. SMSd Aaron to tell him where I was on the off chance he was close - which he was, so he came to pick me up. This was a little more complex than it sounds as we got the train stations mixed up and my phone refused to make any audible noise when he rang - so I had to keep ringing him back when I noticed that he'd left me a message!
Enough drivel. Hope you had as eventful a weekend, though not necessarily as damaging to your pocket :(
I approached my turn off the motorway as the water ran down my legs from the gap between my bonnet and windscreen. I travelled up Church street and drove through a 5 meter long river of water across the street... the water sprayed up a good 4 meters into the air off my tires - it looked cool!! Then I hit another one. A slightly deeper one. In fact, I would surmise that it was about as deep as my car is low, because as passed through the water two great fountains of water sprayed up through the 'drain' holes in my buggy and completely soaked the interior of the car; me, my bag, the dashboard and the alarm.
The alarm goes off, as it always does when it gets wet. Thank god I got Kev to fix a switch so I can just turn the fucker off. Not very safe, but better than ripping the wire out!
Finally I get home, and reverse the car up the drive way. Into the fence. It being bloody dark I couldn't see a damn thing, so I now have a nice scratch in the back left fender. Damn.
Saturday I had my pre-test driving lesson - the guy seemed to think I did OK, but I have to say that I wasn't quite so impressed with my performance. That finished at 12, so I was too late to make it to Capoeira, so I wrecked myself in 40 minutes doing it in the living room. I then decided that I would ride to Rotorua to meet up with Jenn and the guys. I really wanted to see Ling's place on Lake Terawara, and I wanted to do a big bike ride (on my little bike - 125cc :) because I haven't done that before.
I left at 3, and was in Hamilton at 4:50, and finally made it to R. at 6:30. The last hour was all pretty much in pitch black night, which was a little scary, but not too bad. The only crappy thing was that travelling at 90 on 100km/h roads means you hold up the traffic - so you are constantly having to slow down even more to let them past.
Caught up with Jenn at 7 - she'd had an awesome final paddle before leaving NZ, finished off with a dip in a hot spring - and we rode to "Hamish's" place (I don't know Hamish at all) to watch the rugby. I mainly talked with Ol in the second half as it was incredibly boring as England go trounced.
4 hours later and we all headed off to Ling's place. Fortunately it was dry, so not too hazardous going around all those curving roads.
At Lings we all had a sit and chat and drink before going to bed. Ling had a mountain bike competition at 9 the next morning so he didn't want to go to bed too late.
During the night it started to piss down, which woke me up as I contemplated riding home in the rain. For 3.5 hours. Yeah.
Finally we got up, had yummy porridge with raisins, and headed off. I was going to stay with Oli and Cintia for lunch, but because of the weather thought I should probably get going - might get worse.
Jumped on the bike, rode off. About 400 meters on it bike fired a few times, which was a little worrying, and then i came to a give way sign. I put the clutch in to change down a gear, and let it out to find the engine had stopped. I thought it was just because the poor thing was cold, so I tried to start it again but got no response; the electrics were completely gone - no lights on the 'dashboard', no turning over of the engine, nothing.
Jenn and James (who is cool) caught up. James suggested roll starting the bike, so I did that and it started to turn the engine, but no sound of ignition, and there was no reaction to using the throttle - yep, the electrics were completely gone. (As Kev pointed out yesterday, it's probably just a fuse, but I wasn't really thinking straight).
So i left my bike there in a big huff figuring that there wasn't a lot of use paying lots of money to some guy to come out on a Sunday when it would probably take a few days for him to fix it anyway (my bike always seems to take a few days to get fixed - getting parts in etc). I found out this morning that I have of course locked the bike, so the mechanic couldn't actually pick it up last night... I have couriered it to them.
Got a lift back with the generous Jenn and James, but I don't think I was good company considering my mood. I did lighten up by the end though, and kept Jenn entertained while James slept.
Home finally by 2, then I lazed about until 6 when I went off to Maestro. it was a surprisingly good show considering we only had 6 or so people to play to, but I was really lacking in energy and, while I made it to the second round, wasn't really holding up my end.
Monday morning I walked to the Vinyl fixing place with the vinyl from my buggy, and then to the train station. SMSd Aaron to tell him where I was on the off chance he was close - which he was, so he came to pick me up. This was a little more complex than it sounds as we got the train stations mixed up and my phone refused to make any audible noise when he rang - so I had to keep ringing him back when I noticed that he'd left me a message!
Enough drivel. Hope you had as eventful a weekend, though not necessarily as damaging to your pocket :(
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