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Wing Notes |
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Newsletter
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July 2006 |
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New Members –
Darryl and Suellen Wilson |
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www.auswingriders.com |
Australian Wing Riders Association (Qld) Inc Ashgrove Qld
4060 |
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Wing Notes |
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OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE AUSTRALIAN WING RIDERS ASSOCIATION QLD INCORPORATED |
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EDITOR:.............Bevan Bradford Phone: 07 3822 3512 Mobile 0408 714 000 E-Mail: mail @ auswingriders.com Wing Notes is produced with the
object of keeping members informed about matters of interest to AWRA
members. A electronic copy of each
issue is available to every financial member of the AWRA. Copies are also distributed to selected motorcycle
dealers in the greater |
Submissions for inclusion in Wing Notes should be with the Editor no later than the Friday following the monthly meeting, i.e.: Friday after the 1st Monday of the month. DISCLAIMER: Although Wing Notes will endeavour to reproduce submissions in their original form it reserves the right to edit submissions as it sees fit. Views expressed in contributed articles in Wing Notes are not necessarily those of the AWRA or the Editor. Wing Notes is produced with care, in good faith and from sources believed to be accurate at the time of writing. |
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Management Committee: |
Meetings: |
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President Clint Lovell (07) 3398 3437 E-mail: clinton @ lovell.com.au |
Meetings are held on the 1st Monday
of every month |
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Vice
President Rob (Bear) Harriss 0409 052 218 E-mail: RHMRS @
bigpond.com.au |
Next meeting: |
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Secretary Val Thomas (07) 3848 0498 E-mail: secretary @
auswingriders.com |
Pineapple
Hotel |
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Treasurer Geoff Mead
(07) 5529 5034 E-mail: meady @
auswingriders.com |
Check the web site for a possible August
meeting venue change |
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Thommo’s
turned Sixty! Happy Birthday |
Upcoming activities: |
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16th July Ride to Kin Kin 22nd July Social BBQ at Larry and
Annette’s 20th August Progressive Dam ride 26th August Bowling in Surfers 22nd – 24th Sept Biker’s Dream weekend |
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The President Speaks…. |
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The Secretary’s Desk…. |
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G’day everyone Another
late magazine this month. The pressure
of work with early starts and late finishes resulting in tired nights and
falling asleep, the pleasure of going out and being social, the need to do
things around the house and go car hunting with sons and the waiting for
magazine articles that don’t arrive all add up. The
second-hand car market is a bit like the bike market at the moment. There’s plenty out there but the moment you
start looking for a particular vehicle, it becomes difficult, but at least
once you find it, the market is so slow that prices appear very negotiable. Shame
that service costs are not so negotiable.
As with purchase, it’s a case of supply and demand. There is an overabundance of second hand
cars and bikes following booming markets but the shortage of tradesman for
servicing means that the costs keep going up and up. As society becomes more affluent and new
sales continue to climb, the service intervals for new vehicles lengthen,
reducing ownership running costs. If
the cost of vehicle ownership becomes only the purchase cost, I guess it’s
only a matter of time before vehicles really do become just another
disposable item. With oil becoming
dearer, electric vehicles become more viable and most electrical goods are
already disposable. Buy it, use it for
a few years and throw it away.
Councils really will have a waste problem. Might
have to get a horse, but I suppose the council will have something to say
about the waste products from that as well.
Worse than a dog that’s for sure. Happy
Birthday Thommo! ‘till next month, Bevan |
Hi all, Seems
we all love riding our GoldWings, but maybe for different reasons. Why do you ride? Is it for the sheer joy of riding? The extra joy of riding a GoldWing? They
are different as we know. Maybe it is
just for the camaraderie of like-minded people – the socialisation aspect. Me,
I like it all and given the chance, will ride as far and as often as I
can. Time and money – as always – are
the only constraints. A
short, social day out with other people who enjoy our fine machines? Sure thing. Around After
a recent ride where a few of us just went for a casual 1000km ride for the
day, someone treated me as if I was mad or something. Well, maybe we are, but as we are enjoying
our madness and not hurting others, where is the harm? Riding
long distances is very different from just a short day ride and several
factors come in to play. Care must be
taken to avoid fatigue, the bike should be properly serviced so chances of
breakdown are minimised and you must be of a certain mindset, you must want
to and not be talked in to it. If you
don’t think you can, or just couldn’t be bothered, fair enough. But those of us who want to – let’s go! All
that taken into account, I do not think the monthly ride is the place for a
long ride as those rides must be doable by all members. So if anyone wants to go on a
longer-than-normal ride for a day or weekend, I’m up for it. See
you on the road. Clint |
Hi everyone, Thank
you for all the well wishes, phone calls, cards and flowers I have received since
our accident. It has been overwhelming
and so very much appreciated because your thoughts have really helped when it
really mattered. The
operation went very well, and I am now the proud owner of a titanium fitted
shoulder. According to the specialist,
this is stage one – now comes the hard work.
I have to keep exercising and get mobility back – it hurts! But I have plenty of supporters here
(Annette, Bevan, Jayne, Larry and Wendy) all of whom are not backward in
‘nagging’ me to keep up with the all important movements – I am really
trying! In
the meantime dear Charleen is looking after the secretary duties, another big
thank you and hugs for Charleen who was also very precious looking after me
while I was lying on the road! Also,
Bear whose hand I must have squeezed dry at the same time. Now
most importantly, Thommo is also managing the extra duties very well. He hasn’t grumbled too much. He has mastered the microwave, and he cuts
the food just right for me! He is also
very persistent that I get my arm operating SOON, and he was very pleased to
give the vacuum cleaner to me yesterday!
Thommo hasn’t washed the bike yet, so it still has grass and mud stuck
on it, and I don’t think he has found all the scratches on it yet, but let us
hope there are not too many. Again
– thank you so much for all your kind wishes; you really are very dear
friends. Hopefully
we will still get around with you even if it will be on four wheels for a
while. Safe
riding, and see you all soon. Valerie & Thommo |
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Far Ride #1 – Ride to Eat A
non-AWRA ride. Geoff recently tried to
run a “longer” ride for the monthly ride but it wasn’t well received so he
had to cut it a little shorter. Well, I,
for one, don’t mind going for a long ride so found it a little
disappointing. But “majority rules”
they say. Well, lucky for me someone
else was organising a longer run round about the same time. Davo, who is a Ulyssean from Cooroy and has
the misfortune to ride a Kawasaki GTR has recently been doing some Iron Butt
runs. These include doing 1600km in under 24 hours and things like Cooroy to
Fremantle in only a few days. Mad? Maybe. On a GTR? Certainly. He is attempting to
encourage others to emulate his madness and so organised a relatively short
ride to Moree NSW for lunch. The idea
was for participants to come from wherever they like, but meet in Moree and
make it 1000km for the day. After having ridden 2000km
bringing the new GoldWing back from It was not intended to be
an AWRA ride, but I did mention it to a few and a couple of ears pricked up
from some new members. Peter and |
So, back to the story. On the Morning in
question, Charleen and I saddled up and headed to the Shell Belmont to fuel
up and get our “proof” of starting 500kms away from Moree. Whilst I was paying, in rolled two
identical flame red GL1800 GoldWings.
Paul Jones would have loved it!
The attendant was certainly impressed. Introductions made we set
off. Of course to get to Moree by
lunchtime, we had to leave Out along the Logan
Motorway went our little convoy of red ‘Wings and lo and behold, who should
ride up behind us but Davo on his GTR.
Well not too surprising I guess as we were headed for the same place
at the same time weren’t we? Davo was
having problems as he had accidentally knocked the GTR over in his garage the
night before and broken off the right footpeg. We gave our sympathies and refrained from
commenting. The ride out to
Cunningham’s Gap was eventless except for it kept getting colder as we
went. I occasionally checked the
thermometer and it got down to around minus 20C out through
Willowbank. Then it climbed up to a
tropical 70 up the Gap, but over the top plunged to a
finger-freezing -50 around Gladfield. Here we even stopped to chat to Davo and a
few other riders on various sports bikes.
The GoldWings were the only ones with pillions, albeit pillions with
very cold knees. The other riders were
just cold. I mentioned the two flame
red bikes were identical. Well
almost. Peter had replaced his heated
grips with the flashier Kuryakin ones whilst Jim had kept his in working
order. |
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“Who needs heated grips in
Being on an ’02 model, I
didn’t have that luxury either but I did find that I could reach down and place
my frozen fingers in the outflow of the radiators and that helped a
little. Cruise control is nice! Not needing any fuel at Through |
red light. I was watching in the mirror and saw the
‘Wing roll to a stop, but no foot come out.
Ever so slowly, over it went.
Luckily, that doesn’t do any damage so we picked it up and he hopped
on looking almost the colour of the bike. At
Warialda, we turned west towards Moree and soon caught up to a rider on a
Ducati I had heard was coming from We met up with Davo again
at the local motorcycle dealer for a cuppa and bikkies and waited for several
others to turn up. One rider arrived
having travelled all the way from Rockhampton. He was on an Iron Butt SS1600 run. Next we went into town where we caught up with a few
more riders and all went to a nice café for lunch – the “purpose” of the
ride. Altogether about 10 or 12 bikes
turned up for the event. Not bad for
an |
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internet-organised
run. Davo was happy to have the three
Wing Rider couples there, making up six of the crowd at the lunch table. No one else brought pillions. Lunch over we said our goodbyes
and headed off to complete our thousand kilometre round trip, this time going
up the Newell to Goondiwindi then back to Inverell, Warwick and home. Peter led the way back and
we made pretty good time, stopping only near |
had to return to the Gold
Coast – a very long day for them. I hope Davo organises more
‘longer’ rides and we will definitely be attending. But warmer weather would be nicer. Clint. p.s. Geoff’s ride was the
next day. Charleen decided she needed
to do stuff around the house but I felt quite OK and went on that one as
well. Another 400 or so. No problems on a ‘Wing. But you all know that. |
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The Smartest Dog Ever As a butcher is shooing a dog from his shop, he sees $10 and a note in his mouth, reading: "10 lamb chops, please." Amazed, he takes the money, puts a bag of chops in the dog's mouth, and quickly closes the shop. He follows the dog and watches him wait for a green light, look both ways, and trot across the road to a bus stop. The dog checks the timetable and sits on the bench. When a bus arrives, he walks around to the front and looks at the number, then boards the bus. The butcher follows, dumbstruck. As the bus travels out into the suburbs, the dog takes in the scenery. After awhile he stands on his back paws to push the "stop" button, then the butcher follows him off. The dog runs up to a house and drops his bag on the stoop. He goes back down the path, takes a big run, and throws himself -Whap! - Against the door. He does this again and again. No answer. So he jumps on a wall, walks around the garden, beats his head against a window, jumps off, and waits at the front door. A big guy opens it and starts cursing and pummelling the dog. The butcher runs up screams at the guy: "What the hell are you doing? This dog's a genius!" The owner responds, "Genius, no way! It's the second time this week he's forgotten his key!" |
Which cow? Amy, a blonde city girl, marries a rural rancher. One morning, on his way out to check on the cows, the rancher says to Amy, "The artificial insemination man is coming over to impregnate one of our cows today. I drove a nail into the two-by-four just above the cow's stall in the barn. You show him where the cow is when he gets here, okay?" After a while the artificial insemination man arrives and knocks on the front door. Amy takes him down to the barn. They walk past cow after cow and when she finally sees the nail, she tells him, "This is the one.... right here." Terribly impressed by what he thought just might be another dumb blonde, the man asks, "Tell me little lady, how did you know this is the cow to be bred?" "That's simple: By the nail over its stall," Amy says. Then the man asks, "What's the nail for?" She turns to walk away, and
with complete confidence says, "I guess it's to hang your pants
on." |
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A letter from the pillion seat Dear friend Have been doing the usual things
and some unusual. Saturday
actually! Pete and Jim decided to
participate in a 'iron butt' ride out to Moree via Texas & Goondiwindi ,
a 'first' for Queensland, organised by some nutter (sorry he was very nice
actually) connected to the club (Aust
Wing Riders) we just joined. You apparently do this ride just so you can
say you have done over 1000 klms in a day.....................Men! truly! Well, Wyn & I went along with
this (we must be complete idiots) and we set off from home for a Well, so much for the sun warming
us up. WRONG! It kept getting colder,
and at it's worst, it got down to minus 4 (for goodness sake!!!!!!!!!) as we
headed for |
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holding my mug of hot coffee. Clint & Charlene & the boys & Wyn
had a cuppa outside in the early morning sun, whilst I cowered over the gas
heater. I had packed an overnight bag
'in case' we were too tired to drive back (oh yee of little faith) and
pinched the thick socks out of Pete's bag and put them on over my leggings
and socks pretty much cutting of the circulation in my feet, my boots were so
tight, but I didn't care at this point!
Pete couldn't sign for the petrol, his hands were so numb. At this
stage I was asking him if we were having fun yet? We set off for Moree, it was still
only 1-2 plus degrees, and stopped at some roadworks. Pete put his feet down but his leg was so
cold and numb it simply didn't work, and over we went, onto our
side!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. It happened in
slow motion, Jim was behind us and couldn't stop laughing, he was almost
toppling over from hysterics, plus he was desperate to get his camera out for
the trophy pic!!!!! Clint &
Charlene (bless them) hopped off their bike and came and helped us up and had
the courtesy to not laugh too loud whilst doing so. How embarrassing! Luckily, not a mark on us, and no damage to
the bike either, as it fell on its
roll bar, just Pete's bruised ego, especially in front of the club
President!!!! So, another
'first'. As the day wore on, everything
started to thaw out, and the temp climbed to around 18+ by lunchtime. We met up with all the other crazies, and
the instigator who wanted to do this iron butt ride, at the motorcycle
dealership in Moree who supplied a lovely morning tea. One fellow had ridden in from Rockhampton,
another from Nth NSW etc etc. We then
rode to a local cafe and had a very welcome and tasty lunch, even managed to
sneak in a glass of house red. We all had some great chats a few laughs, some
of them at our expense of course, when the word spread about our 'angle
parking'. I had brought with me a
printed note that So that was it, lunch finished and
we then headed off to do the return journey approx 570k) back home. I wouldn't have minded so much if the
scenery was good, but apart from some cattle drovers and a few emus, it was
pretty dry and ordinary out there, also the first and last 2 hours were in
the dark. We achieved 1100 klms in
one day, 11 hours riding, and got home at 7.30. By some miracle, the four of us still had
enough energy to go out for Indian, (a reward for being tortured), after a
very long hot shower, then home for bed.
I mentioned to Pete the 'iron butt' certificate better be good! I also mentioned that this 'first' was most
definitely my LAST! Kind regards, |
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READING FOOD LABELS I’m going to make this short and sweet. If you are interested in watching your fat and sugars intake, it is quite easy: Always read the 100gms column. If: Total fats are under 10gms OK. If: Saturated fats are under 3gms OK If: Sugars are under 15gms OK Just thought this may be of use to anyone who is trying to eat in a healthy way. Mary J |
The “Gone Bowling” team
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Gone Bowling Saturday 24th June and we were all organised for a bowling night against Redlands Ulysses Group. Thanks again to Ken for organising the gams and the associated trophies. Isn’t it great to have Ken in both groups? When RUG organises the night, Ken does it, when it’s the AWRA’s turn, Ken does it. Works for me… Anyway, turns out Ken couldn’t be there as he was taking a holiday so I landed the job of meeting the hundreds of AWRA members expected to avenge the defeat we suffered at the hands of RUG last time. I headed for the pick up point after checking the correct street access to the Bowling Alley to avoid any embarrassing u-turns, so I was running a little bit late. Unusual for me I know. Therese was feeling unwell and didn’t come so I could not even use her as the excuse for my being late. Not to worry, everyone will be waiting at the servo. I arrived at Mt Gravatt and rode past the servo to turn around and where were all the bikes. Now I knew that Val was out of action so didn’t expect Thommo to be there, and there had been a couple of apologies but that still should have meant there were plenty of members being the fierce competitors that we are. I began thinking they must have decided I wasn’t coming; I wasn’t that late, surely. Wait; there are two or three bikes in the shadows behind a tow truck. |
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I pulled in and sure enough, three bikes. Great, that makes 6 of us but apparently
Paul and Sherrie are on their way so we need to wait. About ten minutes is spent with friendly
harassment of and being harassed by the lady whose car was being towed. She didn’t seem to think we looked tough
enough to be going into a serious bowling battle. We tried to convince her otherwise; I don’t
think it worked. We were now getting seriously late and could not get
Paul on the phone. OK, we will go
anyway as the RUG guys will be waiting.
We arrived at the Bowling Alley to be met by Paul and Sherrie,
apparently they did not see the bikes in the shadows and kept going; no one
saw them go past. Those 1800s must be
fast!!! So, there we were, 8 of us, Phil and Vicky, they
bought their own balls so we had “professionals”, that should have helped,
Paul and Sherrie, Scott and Irene, Well it was a great night. We battled hard, bowled like demons,
stylishly fell on the slippery surface and generally tried every tactic in our
arsenal to distract the opposition but to no avail. The lack of ball skills and match practice,
except from our “professionals”, left us tantalisingly short of being totally
defeated. Were we defeated? No, we just had a good fun night. Ken had arranged trophies so each group won
appropriate prizes for highest scores, lowest scores, and most other
things. I was disappointed not to have
won a prize for the best fall but if trophies are reminders of our greatness
in the past, I certainly had my reminder in the morning with a sore wrist and
hip. I’ve included a few photos to show all what great
bowling styles we have and who our trophy winners were. Thanks to Ken’s contacts there are a few
more photos as well and all these will be available for viewing on the web
site shortly. Next time, we need a practice night first and I
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AUSTRALIAN WING RIDERS ASSOCIATION (QLD) INCORPORATED
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Date |
Destination |
Ride /
Social Event |
Ride
Leaders |
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16 July Ride |
Palmwoods & Kin Kin |
Meet Shell Nudgee at |
Lionel &
Mary Jacobsen |
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22 July Social |
The Fisher home |
Annette will supply
all food and a nominal charge to cover cost will be paid by attendees on the
night. Please notify Annette if you are coming so she knows how many to cater
for. BYO drinks. Address is on the AWRA website. |
Larry & Annette Fisher |
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20 August Ride |
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Bear & Jane’s
PROGRESSIVE DAM RIDE. Meet BP Blacksoil at 8.30 for a |
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