Boys and their Toys...

Well, there's something for you!  I hadn't even typed anything other than the title when I was complimented about publishing my latest post!

Microsoft and Internet issues aside, here goes what I actually wanted to say...

Before I continue, however, let me mention that this article started it's life somewhere in March of this year and has now (finally?) seen the light of day about 8 months later!  Sorry for that, but there have been quite a number of events taking place in my life in the last couple of months......

We'll get around to that a little later.

The Pretoria Bikers Council were treated to some time on a race track on a sunny Sunday morning in March.  The track in question is Red Star Raceway.  In a newsletter I wrote earleir today, I mention that the racetrack is found in the middle of nowhere...

But this is a little nasty, because you can actually find the spot where the track is on Google Maps, even though Google Maps only shows the spot and not the track!  The problem, of course, is when the Google images were taken, the racetrack was not there yet!

We left Midas in Silverton with about 40 bikes and some cars and backup vehicles in tow.  The trip there was a little slow for some of us, but that's because we were sweeping for the group and had to make sure we got everyone to each of the turn-offs and assembly points along the route.

We arrived just after 8 and the registration process was in progress already.  Everyone that wanted to go onto the track had to sign an indemnity form (for legal reasons, of course) and the the bikes were scrutineered.  This process is to make sure that only "good condition" bikes ride on the track and it is, of course, all about safety.

I noticed the scrutineering team telling one guy that they would not allow him on the track until a team of mechanics had a look at his bike's front brakes, because the pads were a little worn.  Credit to the organisers for having a van on hand with some of the more popular bike's spares, because within 25 minutes the guy was back with brand new brake pads fitted and his bike passed scrutineering and he could join the rest fo the guys on the track.

Although the day is not a race day, boys will be boys and we ended up chasing eachother around the track anyway.  More for pride's sake than for any other specific reason, because there was no trophy at stake here!  (As one of the Marshalls kept on reminding us, all the MotoGP and World Superbike contracts had already been settled, so we had nobody to impress, except ourselves and our spectators.)

Needless to say, I enjoyed the day immensely, but by the time I started lap three of the second session, the fuel light started blinking its warning at me, which meant I had about 2 litres of fuel left!  Fortunately, there's a fuel station just 3 km down the road from the race track, so I exited the track, rode straight through the pits, out the gate and got onto the highway.

Filled up the bike and made a very (il)legal cross-over onto the other side of the highway and headed back to the track.  It was at this moment that I remembered...One of my friends, Willie, had put his GPS into my jacket pocket, because he wanted to compare his top speed of 174km/h, reached down the back straight of the circuit on his F800 GS BMW, with mine.


Of course, I used the opportunity of an open highway and whacked the throttle as wide as it would go and reached the turn-off to the track in virtually no time at all. By the time I got back, though, the session for my group was over and I was just in time to pull into the pits with the rest of the group coming off the track.

As I walked over to Willie I, nonchalantly, took the GPS out of my pocket and showed him the top speed of 209km/h. Once he caught his breath and stammered through a miriad of excuses, I couldn't hold it any more and burst out laughing...which is when you find out whether your friend has a sense of humour, or not!

Fortunately Willie has a very good sense of humour, but he insisted that I do it for real the next time round, which I did during the next session. The result? I'd rather not talk about it, since I only managed a little faster than his top speed. My excuse? Willie is a track instructor and I'm not.

Moving on...

By the time we headed home I had some time to reflect on the fact that boys will be boys and that some mature adults will be boys too. This was when I was reminded of a beautiful saying: "Growing Old is non-negotiable.  Growing UP, however, is optional!"

May I never grow up!

Working behind the scenes...

Recently I watched a rerun of an episode of Top Gear on SABC 3.  They had a challenge between Jeremy, driving the (then) new Audi RS4, and a speed climber, who's name escapes me right now.  Essentially, the speed climber had to climb a 1200ft vertical rock face, while Jeremy had to drive the RS4 60 miles around a twisty mountain pass to the finish line and the winner would be the one to reach the top first...of course.

Most people thought the car wold be a definite winner, but the speed climber ended up beating the car to the top by approximately 8 minutes.

However, even though the speed climber managed to scramble up the rock face using only his fingers and toes to find the most improbable hand and foot holds in the seeming sheer rock face, what really struck me was the guy following and supporting him.

He would follow a couple of meters behind, providing moral support all the way, while making sure he never let go of the safety rope he had in his hands.  The support climber was doing everything the main dude was doing, except that he was never in the limelight.  You heard him shouting encouragement in the background and you occasionally got a glimpse of him when the camera angle was right.  Other than that, the only guy who got the credit was the guy in front.

Made me think of a number of different situations in life where people are "slaving" away in the background to make something work, but they never get the credit for this.  As an example, I was thinking of the recent Impala Rally where many people were working behind the scenes, while only Simon gets the credit for organising a great event.

I know.  I know.  It's the way the cookie crumbles and all that, but there needs to be some spokesperson for the "little guys" (and ladies, of course!) backstage.

A word that popped into my head, was "Dedication".  The Free Dictionary (www.thefreedictionary.com) defines dedication as: "Selfless devotion", which really describes all these "behind-the-scenes" people, who spend their time and energy making sure everyone else gets the enjoyment and success out of events, even though they seem to be getting no credit or thanks themselves.

Now, before you go off about how some people get paid to do this job and it is their choice to be in the background and all that...I know that too.  Just thought about it and thought I'd let you know that I thought about it.  Ok?

Then I also thought of a book I read a while ago called "The five Love Languages" (by Gary R Chapkin, or Chapman) and I realised that there are people out there who actually enjoy doing things for others.  Me?  Of course I'm not like that 100% of the day!

I enjoy being in the limelight...as you no doubt realise by the fact that I've got a blog and a newsletter and participate in a number of other activities which require my presence in the light of lime...However, there are times when I enjoy helping people too...These times are just few and far between and they generally require some form of recognition at the end, otherwise I feel like nobody noticed!  :-)


Additional to all these thoughts, I was also thinking of all the times in my life when I've had a team of people around me to help me look good...and I realised that my success is owed to a number of people that have been diligently working behind the scenes to support me and help make me who I am today.

Quite a sobering thought.  Specially when you start thinking YOU are the main man/woman/person...

Making up for lost time

My blog has been inactive for some time now and I am willing to bet that most of the (3?) people who used to follow will not remember the existence thereof...Unless I very carefully tell them about it, of course!

I realised that one needs to find time to blog if you want to ensure that it remains successful and "followed".  I also realised that I can't sit still long enough to collect my thoughts, thus allowing them to run around unchecked in the confines of this baggage claims department called my head.

So.....To try and get back into the swing of things...let me tell you a little about what's been happening for the last year, or so.

Work-related issues:

As of January 2010 I was still looking for some form of fixed employment.  I was doing "piece-work" in the form of Consulting jobs here and there, as well as some soft skills training for an FET (Further Education and Training) College.

This all started drying up a little towards the end of the first quarter, but God was good and provided me an opportunity when I heard of a Factory Manager's position open at a small-ish business in Pretoria North.  Went for the interview and was offered a three month contract, even though it was a little out of my "normal" field of expertise.

During the last month of my contract, I started getting worried about that thing called "unemployment" again, since there was no indication that this position would become permanent, or that the contract would be extended.  In fact, it seemed that the honeymoon was over at the end of the second month of the contract.

One morning I get a phone call from a Personnel Agency and they ask me whether I would be available to go for an interview with a Client that found my CV on a website.  I had forgotten that I'd put my CV on any website, but decided it would not be a bad idea to go and hear what this new offer was all about.  Long and the short of it is that I got employed by a Certification Body in July last year and I'm still there as of the date of this post.

Bike-related issues:

My Yamaha XJR 1200, which I've been riding since somewhere in 2003, started giving me trouble about two years ago.  About a year before I had the accident with Thereza's bike in 2008, I'd rebuilt the top part of the motor on my 1200.  After the accident I didn't have the opportunity to ride any bikes for about 7-8 months and when I did ride the Yamaha it started smoking every now and then.

I never had the guts or the time to actually strip the motor myself again and eventually got around to taking it to a workshop to try and find the source of the problem late in 2009 and the workshop owner got around to fixing it for me early in 2010.  Turns out that one of the valve stem seals had disintegrated and they had to replace them all along with the associated "gasketry".

Had the bike back for exactly a week and I was on my way to a training "gig" in Kempton Park (Johannesburg) when it started making a "funny" noise.  I originally thought it may be a loose timing chain and kept on riding, even though it was at a much more sedate pace.  I was about 5km from the client when the motor locked up solid as I was pulling away from a traffic light and that was the end of that. Fortunately I have some good friends who were willing to fetch their trailers, pick up my bike, drop me off at the Client AND still come fetch me afterwards to take me home.

It took me about 3 weeks to get the courage together to start stripping the bike and when I finally got around to it I was stuck with a blown crank and an engine in pieces...a state in which it remains to this day, because I just have not had the guts to find out how much it'll cost to repair, or replace, the motor.

Here in SA we have something called the Road Accident Fund (RAF) which all road users (The legal ones, of course) contribute to through various levies and taxes paid on fuel and license fees.  Anybody that has been involved in an accident can claim from this Fund, specifically where there has been loss of income, etc.  Most of the locals know that these claims can drag on for years and I know of some people who have been waiting for more than 5 years for their cases to be heard.

My case was heard and finalised in less than three years!  AND...the money was paid out less than two months after that.  Wow!  (By the way.  If you wanted to know how much I was paid out...Sorry.  Won't be happening!)

This leads me to the best news of the year...in my opinion, anyway.  After nearly three years I was FINALLY able to buy Thereza a new ER6-F!  AND...Thereza "forced" me, she was quite adamant actually, that I should first get myself something to ride, or else I may feel tempted to ride her bike again.  AND...she was very kind and polite and told me to make sure it would be something that I would really like so that I would feel less tempted to ride her bike even when I've had mine for a while.

People that know me well, would tell you that I've always been a Yamaha-fan.  All my bikes that I've owned...Uhmmm...All four of them...have been Yamaha's, so they would have thought I'd go out and buy myself the Yamaha Fazer 1000, which has been on my wish list since I rode the first one in 2001.

When I worked as a Salesman for a Kawasaki Dealership in 2009 I had the opportunity to ride a couple of the demonstration models and I soon realised there were more bikes out there to consider.  I got the opportunity to ride both Kawasaki and Aprilia motorcycles and it was during this time that I realised I quite fancied (and have for a long time) the Kawasaki Z-1000.  This was reinforced when I had the opportunity to ride the demo bike for a couple of weeks.  The 2009 model I rode was the white and silver one, which was such a pleasure to ride.  The fact that it virtually wheelied itself, of course, had nothing to do with my like for the bike!

At some stage I saw the white ER6-F (2010 model) on the showroom floor and next to it was a white Z1000 (2010 model) and the two bikes just looked so "right" next to each other that the dream started taking shape.  The only problem I had in the end, was that the white Z1000 had been sold by the time I got the money together to buy the bikes and I had to settle for the last black and silver one available in the country.

Turns out to be better for me in the long run, since I realised I would have become frustrated with the white one and keeping it clean!  As it is the black one is difficult to keep clean, but at least it has black seats all around and not like the white one that has a white pillion seat!

I got the bikes in early October and mine already has more than 9300km on the clock, which seems to indicate that I am actually enjoying it a little. :-)

OK...That's about it for now.  Watch this space for some more later.