Search CR Directly from your Browsers Search Bar

CR is happy to provide to the community this handy little Search Plugin for all OpenSearch compliant browsers.

It has been tested with FireFox 3.5 and 3.6, IE8, Chrome and should work on any Mozilla Engine based browser (chrome, etc).

Firefox

Click the Down Arrow to the left of the Google SearchBox next to the address bar. Choose “Add CanberraRIDERS”

Chrome

Right click the Address Bar, and select “Edit Search Engines”. Choose “CanberraRIDERS” from the Other Search Engines area and click “Add”

IE8 (Not sure if IE7 as well?)

Select the down arrow to the right of the Search Box. Choose “Add Search Providers” then select “CanberraRIDERS”

Opera Search

The following has been graciously contributed by “bobthetomato” – which prompted me to dig out and dust off the FFox Search Plugin I wrote last year above…

Hi all,

I’ve been sitting on this for a while but seeing as we’re talking about enhancing the forum – see http://canberrariders.org.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6632 – I thought I’d throw this up now..

I really wanted to call this thread “Add a CanberraRIDERS search function to your web browser!” but I had a look at the Firefox search bar and it requires actual plug-ins to make it work and I have no idea how IE does things these days, but this little mod works really well in Opera. :smile

Opera has a really cool search function by default which allows you to type your search in the address bar, similar to Google Chrome (you type anything and it will search Google for you), but preceded by a keyword. For example I could type “g canberra riders” and lo-and-behold, Google appears in the current tab with the search results for ‘canberra riders’

Opera also has default search options for Wikipedia, Amazon, Ask and a few more all with their own keyword. It also has a “Manage Search Engines” option which started me on my task. My first modification was to the Google option to make it show up as an Australian page, not the US one and then it dawned on me that I could add a cR search option! I have since added ones for YouTube, Torrentz, Google Images and one that searches the Google definitions.

But more to the point – I can now type “c yamaha zeal” in my address bar and it will load the cR site with the search results for any threads mentioning the words ‘yamaha zeal’. Its changed my life forever.. ::P

“How do I do this? I want to search cR quickly as well!” I hear you say. Just follow these 10 easy steps!  :up

1. Download, install and open Opera.
2. Load CanberraRIDERS and navigate to the Search page.
3. Enter a random search term (it doesn’t matter what – I chose ‘test’) and customize your search preferences (I chose to have topics displayed and no characters of the post). These preferences will be your defaults.
4. Copy the address in the address bar to the clipboard. It will be something like [code]http://canberrariders.org.au/forum/search.php?keywords=test&terms=all&author=&sv=0&sc=1&sf=all&sr=topics&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=0&t=0&submit=Search[/code]
5. Open a new tab and right click on the search bar on the Speed Dial and click “Manage Search Engines” or go Tools > Preferences, and click on the Search tab.

6. Click the ‘Add’ button and fill in a name (I chose CanberraRIDERS) and a keyword (I’m using ‘c’).
7. If the ‘Address’ field isn’t showing, click the ‘Details >>’ button, if not, continue..
8. Paste the copied address line in to the ‘Address field’.

9. Locate your random search term which should be something like “keyworks=test” and replace the your test search term with “%s”.
Mine now looks like this
[code]http://canberrariders.org.au/forum/search.php?keywords=%s&terms=all&author=&sv=0&sc=1&sf=all&sr=topics&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=0&t=0&submit=Search[/code]
10. Click ‘OK’ and ‘OK’ again and you are good to go!

Ok, now I hope very much that I have got all the steps right and that it works for you as well as it does for me!

Enjoy ..oh, and let me know how you go..  :up
:smile

Jess and I were scheduled to head up with Gos on Sunday morning. However Jess woke up with a chronic headache, but was happy to send me off on my own.
I rocked up at Gos’s only a little late and we climbed aboard the mighty Prado and headed north.
We found our tickets (thanks Craig) waiting at the gate and after a quick lap of the pits to say g’day to a few KSRC boys we found the famous garage 27.
The boys were still getting ready and had a good 2 hours before their first session. They had also picked up a ring-in, Lachlan on an FZR400.
About 40mins before their scheduled start there was a pretty decent oil spill out on the track and at the same time it started spitting rain.
So the track was shut down for 20mins while they cleared the track, however the rain started getting heavier.
Jono decided it was time to switch tyres. So we quickly whipped of his rims that had the slicks on them and threw on the wets.
The boys then got read to head out into the rain. The previous day Craig had pulled something in his back and was struggling to move around on the bike, let alone get into his leathers and wet weather gear. But managed it ok with some help and was ready with plenty of time.
Race time came and the boys headed out. The poor buggers stuck out like dogs balls with their high-vis vests, but I guess that was the point and the other racers seemed to give them plenty of space to get used to it.
It was a pretty slow race and everyone hobbled around the track in the very greasy conditions. The grid was down only 12 racers as I assume a lot had bought tyres suitable for the rain.
After 4 laps, both boys returned to the shed. Craig had turned an interesting colour of scared-shittless white as his bike had dome nothing but slide all over the place. Jono’s tyres had seemed to do the job for the most part, but the main thing was that neither crashed and both had made it home unscaved.

By this time the rain had started to bugger off and it was time for lunch and a chin wag.

The rain eventually nicked off and the track started to dry out. By the time the boys were ready for their second session we were back to a dry track and Jono had his slicks back on. I went for wonder during the preceding race and made my home up near the 9th turn to get some photos. (It’s a hell of a walk around to there, but managed to score a lift back)
The boys had a great time out there during this one. Both were holding good lines and although not the fastest out there, were consistent and solid.

Once back at the shed, we waited for the lap times. Jono ended up running a 1:15 and Craig a 1:23, tho Craig was still having some pretty chronic fuelling issues and had problems powering out of turns.

By this time it was pushing 3pm and was time for Gos and I to head back to Canberra. The boys still had a 3rd session to do, but both Gos and I still had stuff to do at home. We bid farewell and headed off.

All in all, a great day. And even I might have gotten the racing bug a little. Being right down in pit lane was sensational. Having the bike rip past you literally only a couple of feet away was amazing.

A big congrats to Jono and Craig from TGR for a successful day out and am looking forward to the next one!

Photo’s and video’s to come.

The long version;

Azza, Alex and I met up at the Dickson macca’s at roughly ten to 7 this morning. Food was bought, greetings exchanged and then after stopping for some fuel and bakery treats, we met up on the highway and headed out.

We drove past the servo in Bungendore, and saw no southsiders waiting for us. We continued the drive out, nothing exciting happened that i can remember.
Pulling up at the house out at Larbert, we met Michael, who was a friend of Grants. (Something about Grant being to soft to come out)

We each paid our $10 and headed off to find somewhere to park.
At that time of morning, the place was relatively empty. There was one or two cars parked further into the scrub fro us, and a small bloke getting round on a little 150.

We suited up, and talked about where to go and what to do. Azza, Micael and myself had been there before, but it was Alex’s cherry on the block.
We did a loop of single trail, up the main road, then along to the river side and back around to near where the cars were parked. At this time i managed to fit myself into the elusive “mojo” and i was just starting to wake up and give it a bit.

We made for the boundary fence out the back by way of some more single tail, and crossed a log to get out the back or Larbert. The log was crossed with varying degree’s of success. I helped Alex and Michael across. Michael did a good job of spearing his YZ (i think it was a YZ?) into a tree but made it across, then came me and off we went.

We followed a trail further into the bush, enjoying some fast and fun spoon drains. We came out in a bit of a flat spot between some hills, hooked a right up the center and pulled up behind Azza at the foot of a rather steep, gnarly climb.

After discussing it, Azza showed me the way round to the top, and i got the camera out and ready to get some footage. Azza rolled his bike back down, and after going off the edge of the track, did a very stylish, slow motion superman over the bars into a tree. Laughs were had.

After that, Azza lined up the hill and hit it, and failed. I think he made it up on his third or fourth attempt in a brilliant display of arms and legs all over the place.
After Azza came Michael, and the poor bloke just couldn’t make a go of it. After five or six, possibly a few more attempts, he left it at that and took the easy way around to the top.
Then it was my turn. I handed the camera over to Azza and rolled down. I hit it twice, making it about half way up each time before stopping. The third time came with just a bit more speed and i made with up in yet another display of arms and legs everywhere.
Alex was last, and took some coaxing to give it a go, we had to threaten him with a photoshopped picture in this report of a ballet trophy with his name on it.
He lost out a fair bit of momentum the first fun and didnt make it, but made it the second run without a problem.

After a brief rest, Azza led us through some tight single trail out the back of the hill we had just come up. There were a couple of sketchy down hills and a boggy up hill as well, but it went without incident. There were a couple of times someone got stuck at a log, while the others found a different way round, as the track we were on seemed like it was hardly, if at all used.

After taking some photo’s at a gully we pulled up at, we got back onto a trail and headed back into Larbert, over the same log we came over previously.

We took in some more single, taking us from the back to the front of larbert. We then made for the cars for a quick stop. After some Gatorade, and half a servo sandwich, we headed back out, and went up the main road to the gravel dump/old quarry at the end.

We messed around in there for a while, took some video and pictures, did some artwork…and generally had a good time. I had fun attempting a bit of a drop off from a down hill section, i leveled the bike out alright in the air but came undone, as my landing was off camber, and the bike slid out from underneath me. No major damage was done, and fun continued to be had.

From there a little more single took us around the other side of Larbert, where we messed around in the sand dunes. Azza and I had abit of a race going on one circuit. He couldn’t catch me thanks to the 530’s torque up the sandy hill. (if it was a race matched on skill he would of had me easily)
Azza and I swapped bikes for a short period of time. Azza seemed impressed with my bikes torque, but i couldn’t get off the husky two stroke fast enough

After swapping back, we made for some more single trail through the center and then back to camp for some lunch. (my lunch consisting of the 2nd half of the servo sandwich, and a can of baked beans..)

After lunch we pretty much repeated the mornings routes to begin with. We went back out via some single to the hill out the back, along the way we picked up two tagger along’ers. Barley geared blokes upon a YZ of some form, and an old xr250 (or was it a 400?) that sounded like it was begging for death.

They followed us to the hill, and i was first up. Made it first go
after me came Azza, who i believe also made it first go. Alex came next and also made it on the first attempt, but the battery on my camera had just gone flat and Azza didn’t have his out yet, so we didn’t get footage of that.

The bloke on the xr was next. while he lacked a well running bike or safety gear, he did have some determination. he made it up second or third attempt i believe are revving the poor old Honda’s tits off.

The second new comer was next, and had some trouble, but also had the determination to make it up and paddled his way up after a few runs.

But poor Michael was last up, and still couldn’t make it up. It just wasn’t working out for him. After a few attempts, he came around tp the top the easy way.

After some rest we headed back along the same barley used single trail Azza had taken us on earlier. Azza came undone down a hill when his front end washed out. I laughed. We moved on.

After getting back through the single track to the gully’s mentioned earlier, we stopped briefly and decided to do it again in reverse this time. Just towards the start of this section was a pretty nasty little hill with an off camber log right at the base, so no run up was possible. Azza went up first and stacked it. then the unknown bloke on the YZ did the same without giving Azza much breathing room at all (i dont think these two knew much about general trail etiquette?)
Then i managed to take the 530 half way up before getting stuck and stalling on a tree route. While i did stop, i manged to keep her upright, and re start and walk the bike the rest of the way up.
Alex had a go, but didn’t get far. He put his Husky down just after the log at the base of the hill, and then he and Michael, both a little worse for wear, decided to go back the easy way and wait for us at the log crossing.

So Azza and i led the other two blokes along the way we had came. at one hill climb Azza hit neutral and stalled just before the peak, thinking he was already up and over i had set up the hill and almost ran over him

We wound our way back through the single trail and then pulled up in the flat spot between the two hills. Azza was talking about his hands cramping up, although at that point, i wasn’t having any trouble.

We went to set off again, the last part before meeting up with Alex and Michael was a nice, sandy bit of trail with lots of fun spoon drains. Not wanting to get stuck behind Azza’s slow little 250 I took off out front and soon had the 530 wound out to about 80kmph in fourth. And then wouldn’t you know it, suddenly my hands were cramping like bitches and i couldn’t reach out to either my clutch or my front brake. That section of trail then was quite fun..I almost lost it in a big way when i went over one drain and crossed up, and landed in all sorts on the edge of the trail in all the loose rock/sand/shrubs. I managed to hang on though, and found enough use in my fingers to make it over the log crossing before pulling up in the shade next to Alex and Michael. Azza and the other two blokes came along shortly after, and at that point the two strangers said their goodbye’s and thanks and headed off.

While we rested in the shade. We talked of cramps, and all of us were reasonably sure we weren’t drinking enough water. Both alex and Michael were pretty done in, Azza was cramping up and i was also a bit worried, as that was the first time I’d never gotten cramps before, let alone on a ride.

So at that, we decided to head back, via a quick twenty minutes at the quarry for some more fun and photo’s/video.

And with that, we made our way back. Trev (the son of the old folks that own the place) was there, talking with a young blond chick, who i then realized to be an old friend from high school. We talked for a while, before she set off with a friend on a quad bike (after stalling about ten times) Many laughs were had at their expense.

We packed up while enjoying a cold refreshment, before deciding that a stop at the Shoelhaven river on the way back for a swim would be a swell idea.

So away we went. We all pulled up at the rest area next to Warri bridge, and made are way down to the river. Azza, Michael and i all jumped in (more so, waded in slowly complaining about the cold like bitches) and Alex washed his face and returned to the cars.
The three of us mellowed out for a while, before something down stream caught our eye. Both Azza and I are certain of what we saw, Michael wasn’t so sure, but it was enough to make us casually float downstream…

However we were a bit late, Azza went in for a closer look but was a bit slow, and by the time was were down there any items of clothing that may or may not have been worn had been refitted by their attractive female owners.

The three of us then made our way up to the cars, before deciding to spend some more time soaking in the river. And so we did, while Alex chose to remain up at the cars for some reason.

Then at last the cold was a bit much, we made our way back up, and moved on. We stopped briefly at Bungendore. Michael then went back into Quangers and after discussing stopping for food in Bungendore, Azza, Alex and myself ended up pressing on and meeting up for macca’s in Dickson. I think it was about half past four when we rolled back into Canberra.

From there we went our separate ways. It was an awesome day, no doubt. a few spills, but no major problems or accidents. Thanks allot for the ride guys! I may have some of what happened around the wrong order and i probably missed a few details so feel free to add your corrections

Some shots (got two video’s uploading to youtube, one more to edit)

So on Friday, 22nd Jan, Riicho and myself met up for lunch at eCibo. We were originally going to head down to Batemans Bay, then up the coast. But seeing as we were leaving later than planned, we set sail for Goulburn, via Tarago.

Once we hit Goulburn, we quickly refuelled and jumped on the Hume to just north of Marulan and took the Highland Way road through to Tallong, Wingello, and Penrose. We got hit with a few sun showers, but we really werent complaining as the day was an absolute stinker and the rain did wonders to cool us down.

Once we got to Bundanoon, it was a simple route through a couple of back roads that bypass Exeter, then on to Nowra Road, through Fitzroy Falls, Kanagroo Valley and into Nowra. We took a quick detour via Cambewarra so I could drop in at a mates place, but then we got to cross the little causeway on Hockeys Lane which was a little bit of fun.

Once we got to the Motel, Riicho and I had our plan set. Check In. Empty bags, Straight to the bottle-o, and then back to the motel and straight into the pool. And it was a sensational plan! We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing by the pool. Eventually those who couldnt get Friday off work arrived (Bec, Stu, and Taco (Glen)), more drinks were poured and Pizza was ordered (which wasnt quite enough, so Riicho took off to Maccas for a round of Big Macs).

The night was… average. We all discovered pretty quickly that the shitty air conditioners in the rooms were too freaking loud to sleep with. But to turn them off left the rooms *so* hot you couldnt sleep either. Yay.

So come morning, we were all fairly bleary-eyed, we grabbed a quick breakfast at the motel (International Roast – *yuck*) and headed out for fuel etc.

From Nowra, we headed through the very cute little town of Berry and through the shitty weekend traffic to Kiama. I managed to get really lucky and had a clear run through the Kiama Bends. I haven’t had a chance to really carve it up along there in years, and the road didnt disappoint (and the 109 loved it). We re-grouped at the turn-off to Jamberoo and once we were past a few annoying caravans etc we had a great run to Jamberoo. We stopped for a quick break (we were really starting to feel the lack of sleep from the night before, and the day was shaping up to be another stinker). Much water was drunk and we made way along the back road to Albion Park.

At Albion Park we turned onto the freeway and headed north, turning off at Fairy Meadow. From Fairy Meadow, we made slow progress through the weekend traffic. This section of the Princes Hwy and Lawrence Hargrave Drive takes you through all the very picturesque northern suburbs of Wollongong. It follows the coast very closely, but on weekends it gets very busy.

Eventually we got to what we came for; the Sea Cliff Bridge. Follow the link to get more details, but its a very impressive structure that takes you right out over the water and back again. Very impressive.

We would have liked to stay longer, but due to the hold up getting there, we had to get going as we were meeting some mates of mine back at Fairy Meadow.

At Fairy Meadow Pom, HCPunk, and Dellard found us and we stopped and had a feed at Red Rooster. It was very good to stop and enjoy some air conditioning (it was 36 degrees by this stage).

However you can only kick around Red Rooster for so long and it was time to get moving again. We headed back down the Freeway to Albion Park. But this time we were heading to one of God’s Gifts of Roadworks. Macquarie Pass! Ive done it before (many times) But for Riicho, Taco, and Stu they got to Robertson Pie Shop, did a U-Turn, and headed back down again, just to come back up! I guess the liked it

After a breather at Robertson, we took the back road of Pearson Lane through to Fitzroy Falls and then made out way back down into Kangaroo Valley. We stopped for a Pie (which are much better that Robertson) and Riicho got an ice-cream. By this sage though we were getting pretty worn out, and the night before’s lack of sleep had well and truely caught up with us. We headed off to take on our last little bit of fun – Canbewarra Mountain! I’m not sure what happened to the others, but Riicho, Stu, and myself managed to get a clear run the whole way up, and it was sensational! I personally reckon that Camby Mnt is as good as Mac Pass!

We all made it back to the Motel in one piece. I completely crashed out on the bed, so I’m not sure what the others got up to.

At about 6:30 or so, we caught a cab into town and had dinner at the Postmans Tavern. The food as very good, and is highly recommended! I couldnt even finish my Fishermansd Basket, it was HUGE!

After dinner and a couple of drinks we headed down to a new Bar that has opened up in Nowra, called BottleRocket. Its a very modern, over 21’s bar with a wonderful atmosphere. Big leather couches and good music playing. So we spent the rest of the night talking shit (or at least listening to Stu talk shit for the majority ) and knocking down cocktails! Such a hard life.

Sunday morning didnt start well. We came out to find that it had rained over night, and was still very overcast and threatening to rain.

We packed, dried off our bikes and headed to Maccas for breakfast. After breakfast we got about 10 mins out of Nowra and it started raining. And didnt really stop until just before Braidwood. You couldnt seem 20 meters in front of you on the Clyde. We got to Braidwood and we were all cold and damp. Poor Bec was soaked right through. So the hot Chocolates from the Bakery went down very well.

The rest of the run home was pretty uneventful, other than having to stop a few times because of tiredness. Spending the better half of two hours navigating through cold rain just knocked the hell out of me, so by the time we were getting to Bungendore I could barely keep my eyes open

All in all – we had an awesome trip! It was great to get away in just a small group. The roads we covered were some of the best on the south coast. We managed to tick off the Kiama Bends, Sea Cliff Bridge, and Macquarie Pass (twice for some!). We got to carve up Kangeroo Valley a couple of times and really had a top time.

Thanks heaps to the guys that came along, and I hope you had as much fun as I did.

Lurch

On Friday 8th of January over 40 CR riders (and some ring-in’s) made the trek to Corryong for our annual pilgrimage that is know as the Swim Ride.

The first group to set off from our home-away-from-home, Caffe eCibo at 10:30 for a very leisurely cruise down. Once the boring bit from here to Cooma was covered we took the back road to Dalgehty for lunch, then through Berridale to Adaminaby and on to Kiandra. From there we made our way to Cabrumurra for a drink (and a puncture repair) then took the Tumut Ponds route through to Corryong. It was a good ride right until we hit the ‘wall of heat’ as we popped out from the trees at eh Khancoban end of the power lines. Yuck.

By the time we got to Corryong the car convoy had made it and a few of the other riders and so it was straight to the bar for a few cold drinks! Dinner was had at the bistro and then we proceeded to blatantly ignore out pre-set rule of not drinking too much on the Friday night – oh well.

Just after midnight Jess and Alys made it to town in their car, having to spend the last 100k’s doing 30k/h trying to dodge all the suicidal wildlife. But they made it like troopers and we all settled in for the night.

Saturday morning started with a few groggy heads. The bike formed up and headed out, while the cars got ready and left to meet us at the first swim hole.

The run up Granya was terrific. The only downfall was MickC’s Surfer which didn’t quite make it after loosing the front sprocket nut. They were rescued by the intrepid Karl and would meet us at the first swim hole with the cars. Everyone else managed to navigate Granya gap without incident and then headed down to just before Walwa for a breather, a swim, and a cold drink and food. The water was awesome and the current no where near as bad as last year.

After a while though it was time to head off to the next swim hole at Jingelic. Only a few got lost at the turn off and eventually all made it safe and sound (via Tumbarumba for some). This place was great. The local council had done some great work to the rivers edge with steps and a ramp (although out beloved swing rope was missing). It made a for a *very* relaxing afternoon. So much so that we all decided to skip the 3rd swim hole and just relax there for the afternoon. An awesome lunch was cook by Whickle, MStevo and Co and we settled in for an afternoon of doing as little as humanly possible.

Eventually though, it was time to head back to Corryong. For those that were staying at the Motel down the road we were greeted with a nice cool pool to help while away the rest of the day. It did come to the point tho where is was time to head up for dinner at the Pub. A good feed was had on either Chicken or Veal (unless you cracked a tooth like I did) and then the rest of the night was spent drinking, chatting, and just generally socialising. Many a game of pool was had the the Juke box got a good work out.

As the night rolled on a few of us found our way back down at the Motel to finish of the evening lazing around in the pool, finishing off our last few drinks (its a tough life!). But eventually the day caught up with us and knowing we still had to get back to Canberra, we all eventually called it quits.

By the time The last few were waking up in the morning, the vast majority had already headed off to try and beat the heat on the way home. The half a dozen that were left enjoyed a nice breakfast at a local Cafe. From there most headed back via Khancoban and Jindybine, while Ike, Jess, Alys and myself headed for Gundegai via Tumut due to the painkiller I had now found myself on from the tooth.

By the time we got back to Canberra through a blistering 40-odd degree day we were wrecked – but pleased we had spent a great weekend away with good friends.

A big cheers to Leen for organising it.

They were: Bevan (Elmo), Jono and Mike.

Basically Team Ghetto Racing (TGR) is just a group of mates who have decided that we’re going to go racing. It is believed the decision was made at the top of the sacred Brindabella road, when Mike declared to Jono, “Fark talking about it, lets just DO IT!!!” Or so the legend goes. Mike and Jono will be racing in the PCRA and St George motorcycle racing series. Bevan will be racing his Hyundai Lantra 2.0L Super Touring Car.

The name ‘Ghetto’ has been associated with many of the team members bikes, well before the thought of racing together became a serious one. Many moons ago, Mike rode an immaculate CBR250ArghArgh. On the cusp of a new lap record at Eastern Creek, with only a few corners left Mike lost control of the bike and it cartwheeled off the track. This great master piece of modern mechanical engineering, was so badly damaged not even Ghetto Racing’s engineering department could revive it. From that day forth, the name Ghetto Blade was used to refer to the once mighty CBR. And so the legendary ‘Ghetto’ name was born.

Since that day Mike has moved onto bigger and not quite better things. He purchased a tidy R1 which he quickly proceeded to ‘Ghetto up’ by crashing. He also needed a bike to race. The hunt was on. Rumors of a Ninja bike for sale were circulating within the CR community. Mike knew he had to find this mysterious Ninja bike. Across the Lake and into the dangerous ‘South Side’, Mike ventured. Not quite sure the bike he was hunting was worth the risk he was taking by entering the dark side of the Territory, he finally found the supposed residence of the Ninja bike. As he entered the ‘South Side’ fortress he noticed someone towering over the Ninja bike, a great engineer stood working in perfect serenity….. Ocky Jnr.

Filled with confidence, knowing such a esteemed and wise engineer had been taking care of the beast, Mike agreed to take the Ninja bike. Since that fateful day in the summer of 2008, the Ninja bike has had pretty much a full strip down and rebuild, albeit a poor one. Keeping to tradition*, the brakes don’t work and probably never will. The new body work is what many would consider a modern work of art. The engineering departments ability to use parts from various motorcycles and an 1969 MG have astounded many onlookers.

Jono was introduced to the track on the most ghetto steed of all, the mighty RGV250L. Its armour was decorated in house paint, and the thunderous two-stroke roar from its exhausts struck fear into the hearts of even the most hardened trackday warriors. The RGV was indestructible, and after teaching the trade to Jono it was passed on to a new generation of ghetto warrior.

Jono then tried to ride a battle-scarred GSX-R750. Results varied between awesome exhaust-scraping powerslides and moronic crashes on the second lap of the first session. A brief attempt was made to ride a ZRX1200R on the track, but it was just too nice to crash… not really consistent with the Team Ghetto philosophy.

Now, the second-most ghetto bike of all has been added the stable – a 1989 VFR400R. These are the cracked fairings which will propel Jono to D-grade racing glory… or hilarious failure  :thumbsup:

Bevan started out going to the track when only 2, excited by the sounds of the cars and their speed he took interest in motorsport… He started karting at a young age

….before stopping later on in life to persue a career in IT ( bad career move after being told chicks digged IT guys – this is sooo not true) Once settled Bev was determined to get back on the track with his fooooly sick excel.

(The choice of the excel was after being informed chicks dig excels. this was found to be untrue.. you need frangipani stickers for them to dig it.) Around the same time Bev took up Motorcycling (after he heard chicks dig motorcycling) he was never to find out if this were true after it sadly got cut short following an accident.

What had happend was, going through left hand sweeper, he came round only to find an epic dance off taking place right in the middle of the road between the latvian shuffle dancers and tecktonik dancers. Choosing not to break it up and face another war (fought out on youtube) he rather aimed for the soil embankment instead. The end result was his legs stopped working.. top engineers reckon the lithium batteries are dead and need replacing but Bevs too cheapskate to replace them. Unfazed by this Bev was determined to get back on track, originally still building the excel. Around this time he was approached by Mike to join TGR, and during this time he purchased an ex Supertouring car to compete with instead, as the excel would never be as fast and Bev was under pressure to keep up the TGR name. The reason Bev decided on the Supertourer was cos he heard chicks dig Super Touring Cars………

He was so fkin right. 

:up  :up  :up

TGR has expanded since it’s humble beginnings. We now feature push bike riders, naked Ducati riders, Pit Bitch’s, Personal Assistance’s, Engineers, Groupie’s, Support Truck Drivers and many fans. The team can also regularly be found at the clubs unofficial club house, Civic Pub.

The team’s official website can be found on Facebook. I’d like to invite everyone to join, that way you can stay up to date with all the latest TGR news and events. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=123573308404

Yes, we do have matching leathers. I’d like to point out that I bought them first.

Bevan has his own thread here with all the pics and updates on his Super Touring Car preparation.

* Mike’s bikes never have working brakes. ‘Cause they only slow you down…

This trackday is always a big one and we had over 40 riders across the 4 different groups. The weather was perfect in the morning, although it warmed up a bit later in the day. Gos was fired up with a new set of slicks to run on the Barge, PC had the Gronk running well, poor old Mike had endless problems trying to get his 6 running so he ended up bringing the R1 instead. The Crim had a fairly stuffed rear tyre on it from 2 days at Phillip Island, but I had a new one that I though I would put on after a couple of sessions.

Well it became obvious in the first session that the rear was actually completely stuffed with it spinning up and sliding everywhere, especially on turn 5 and turn 12. I’d already decided to just go around for the rest of the session at a comfortable pace and change the tyre when I got back in.

That was the plan anyway, but it didn’t work out that way. On my third lap, just coming out of the sharp right hander that is turn 9, I get on the gas and the bike instantly goes into a highside. I got launched into the air for quite some distance as I watched the blue sky and tried to spread myself flat waiting for the ground to hit me….and kept waiting and waiting

The longer it took, the more I knew it was going to hurt when I did hit, but finally I came down and tumbled a little bit. As soon as I stopped I was up on my feet and making sure that I wasn’t in anyone’s way, then over to the bike to get it out of the way too. After picking it up (always easier when fired up with adrenaline) and wheeling it off the track, I couldn’t seem to get it to kick over, so I took a little break and sat on the wall for while to catch my breath.

The rest did my brain some good and let it catch up with everything, enough to realise why the bike wouldn’t start. I flicked the side stand up and down, made sure it was in neutral and it fired up first time. Everything still seemed to be attached to both me and the bike, so I hopped on and rode it back around to the pits.

When I got back and hopped off was when I realised I’d knocked myself around a bit more than I thought. In particular, my left heel was getting pretty sore, so before I knew it I was in sitting in my chair with my foot in a bag of ice. Next thing I knew Mike and Whickle had the cable ties and gaffa tape out and were setting to work patching the bike up. Highside’s are renowned for causing a lot of damage to both the bike and the rider, but somehow the Crim had come out with relatively minor damage. The leftside crash knob was 1/3 worn away, as was the footpeg which also had a bent bracket. The bellpan also had a hole worn in it and there were some scrapes on some of the panels and bar end on the leftside….and that was it

So the boys got to work and also organised for the rear tyre to get swapped over as well, all the while telling me to stay put and keep my foot in the ice. Before I knew it they’d taken it down to be rescrutineered and it was ready to go back out. Farking nice work fella’s and greatly, greatly appreciated :cool1!:  :up

I’d noticed some swelling starting on the foot, so I jammed it back into my boot while I could still get it on. The heel wouldn’t take any weight but I could walk on the ball of my foot with some slight pain in my toes. On the bike it didn’t feel too bad until towards the end of the sessions where the toes started to ache. I sat the second session out but then went out for the next four. It didn’t take long to get back onto pace again, although some sessions felt better than others. I managed to get my fastest lap at Eastern Creek in the last session of 1.52.6 which wasn’t too bad considering I was still a bit nervous about traction. Nothing like Gos on his slicks though, but he can tell that story :ridgy

So not the best day for me, but not all bad either, and the bike is still rideable. Later that night I was brave enough to take my shoe and sock off to have a look and and it wasn’t real pretty (not that it ever is), but funnily enough the bourbon seemed to be making the pain go away. It’s still pretty bruised today and I still can’t take too much weight on the heel but it’s improving.

I’ll leave it up to the other to put up how their days went, in the meantime here’s a couple of pictures of the Crim in action later in the day.

(Article by Mick C)

In a typical display of his natural leadership skills, Lurch decided to delegate the responsibility of organising the event; however, he made a potentially fatal error by handing the reins to the most disorganised and unreliable member of all… me!  As expected, by the time the day rolled around I had not organised anything.  Mick C decided to head out early in the morning and scope out some corners, and I tagged along to identify safe places to park at after the photo corners.  We also cleared some gravel off one of the corners just to make sure there weren’t any mishaps.

Soon it was time to head back to Tharwa, so I trundled along nice and slowly in my car so Mick C could keep up – I didn’t want him to get lost out there in the wilderness.  Riders and photographers were already arriving by the time we got back to Tharwa, and thankfully bobthetomato showed up with a set of walkie-talkies.  The turnout was fantastic – by my count we had 22 riders in the carpark!

We had a quick rider briefing to make sure everyone stayed safe, and then we were off on our way to the Namadgi National Park for a big group shot.  Everyone stopped at the cattle grid, and the photographers headed down to the bottom of the hill to get set up in a lovely spot next to a rotting kangaroo carcass.  Once they had finished pretending to adjust camera settings Mick gave the ‘ready’ call over the radio, and the first round of wanking commenced!  Unfortunately I was a little premature, and accidentally drove my filthy car into the background of the photo… oops!  I managed to last a little longer on the second attempt, and the photographers got some great group shots.

Now that the group stimulation was out of the way we headed up into the mountains for some solo action – the mainstay of a good WFR.  The photographers staked out two consecutive corners, and the riders got their pose on!  We also bumped into another two riders who did a few photo runs, and will hopefully join the forum soon.  Highlights of the solo session included Kip rolling his jeans up and then trying to get his knee down, and Michael engaging in mid-corner battles with ninjas and deranged scooter riders.  The only real downer was when I was unfortunate enough to see Mick C running – think Forest Gump crossed with a slightly less coordinated Steve Urkel!

Later, an incident occurred.  I’m not exactly sure how to describe it, so I’ll let this picture tell the story (and assault your innocent, unsuspecting eyeballs).

This disturbing scene caused irreversible damage to lenses and SD cards, so the photographers decided to call it a day.  Some of the riders headed over to Moonrock for an iced coffee and a chinwag, and the others made their way home.  It was a great day with only a couple of minor mishaps, and it was all made possible by the wonderful photographers and a great group of riders who maximised their pose factor whilst still riding within their limits.

I don’t know how long I can last without some more relief – bring on the next WFR before the weather gets too cold!

But in this case the reality was far from the dream (but still a bloody awesome party ). Lurch and Jess had gone to an amazing amount of trouble to ensure that their abode was fit to house a 40 person biker party – a mean feat, especially when you consider you lot!

When I arrived I could do nothing more than (after getting myself a bourbon) marvelling at all the work that they had done to transform their abode into a Hawaiian delight, there were leaves and a mirage of sandpits which, thankfully, did hold ice and alcohol!, decked out tables and chairs, dinner cooking on the spit and a couple of Hawaiian shirts had already turned up to lend its weight to the festive scene. And then I was told I needed to be laid (yes, well, insert varies puns here) and had a string of beautiful flowers laid around my neck. I was even given a coconut to drink from which came in handy as I saw Mumma Leen come hurtling around the corner with the CR punch bucket and various other assorted bags underarm.

Mumma Leen began cooking up her concoctions as her arms began flailing wildly and muttering could be heard from miles away. Finally, the punch was ready for sampling. Leen had outdone herself, there was a choice of berries, mixed fruits or watermelon (in the watermelon) all of which were sampled by moi, which is why after a few coconuts my head was feeling rather lighter then when it had arrived.

I was saved when the food bell rang, there was a marvellous choice of dishes (including for those vegetable*insert Yedi* inclined). An array of salads, chicken, beef and the list went on, oh and there was Punch! :) , but I think I already told you that.  After dinner and bon bons (and the most meaningful experience of my life, Seph and I became engaged. Honey if you’re reading this I will treasure my little plastic ring for eternity:) desert was served hmmmm apple strudel hmmmmm.

After dinner it was time to see who had and had not been good girls and boys this year and yet amazingly, the table was full of gifts :O One after the other they came out: Seph got a pair of beer goggles, hopefully it will help him see and stay out of gutters; Ant got a spelling poster, which I hope will help him to finally read his Triumph manual; Supamodel got a childrens book entitled ‘I want to be Famous’, he may need to borrow Ant’s poster though; Ricecooker got a Chickenstrip Inspection Squad Kit, very apt; Adr1an got a pink scooter, just in case he comes to the realisation of how linear the R1 is; Gypsy got glow in the dark shot glasses, which should be reserved for home and not weekend rides, right gyps??; Craig got a booby torchlight hehehe and I got a HTFU long ride g-Banger. I was disappointed it didn’t come in a larger size with floral print – RIICHO!!! Can’t believe you chickened, very very disappointed in your lack of commitment. I hear MIZ RX3 is especially heart broken

As the evening progressed and the buckets of punch slowly drained the dancing began and there was dadadadida mess

And naturally the clothes swapping began.

But thankfully the CR Bouncers stepped in to save the rest of us from public indecency….

Oh wait

Well CR’ers I won’t dwell on the rest of the nights shananigans because you should have been there to see them yourselves (and ok, so maybe my memory is a little fuzzy). Needless to say everyone had an appalling time, and I doubt anyone will bother showing up next year (pst Lurch, reserve me a ticket)

Thanks to all those who lent a hand putting the night together and pulling it apart again, honourable mentions go to Lurch and Jess, Mumma Leen and Garm for the tables. Thanks guys for a truly great CR Christmas in Hawaii!

Well it was a very long ride (for me anyway.)

Here’s the route I took roughly. I ended up with 1100k’s on my odo at the end of the weekend due to getting lost alot on my way from the royal forest to kellyville, yes I suck at navigating but I still had fun for the most of it. :thumbsup

google map link

Started with a nice early cruise out towards the highway. can’t say the start was too interesting cause I took the federal highway. took about half of the old federal highway to make it a bit more interesting but missed about half of it due to missing a turn off.

fast forward a bit and I’ve made it to robertson, home of the giant turd…I mean potato (POINT B ON MAP). I was feeling a bit tired and lost at this point so figured I’d eat half of lunch here.

moving onwards again I’m lost and hoping I’m going in the right direction, must have been cause I stumble upon the awesomeness of Macquarie’s pass. To say this road was awesome is an understatement, would have been my fave bit of the road cept maybe another bit later on that was ruined due to terrible weather.

Some more riding and I end up at Bulli. A nice look out and another great spot to eat the other half of lunch at, the weather was pretty hot so strip out of everything cept pants and t-shirt. get a couple of odd looks from having my gear sprawled out all over the floor but it was very relaxing.

A couple more snaps at Bulli and I’m off again but not far, stop off at the southern gateway to check it out, totally not worth going into cept it has air con.

Finally at the pinnacle of my trip. I make it to sea cliff bridge (in daylight so I can see stuff this time). Ride back and forth about 5 times then continue onwards. was a bit disappointed that there aren’t really any good photo spots without walking and stuff walking in full leathers in this heat.

A night of sleep and it’s off to the Sydney motorcycle show.

The amount of bikes parked out front was outstanding. Was defiantly the largest collection of bikes I’d seen in one place.

A very nice looking b-king.

mmm, Buell

Very clean looking gixxer

Ewww, I know it’s for the pink ribbon ride but what did this poor bike do to deserve such a colour scheme.

Triumph rocket III eat your heart out, each had a really good custom paint job, pity I don’t’ like em. But I know a couple of people here have soft spots for em.

I want it!

Another Buell, damn I love those under slung exhausts.

One of the first busa’s I’ve actually liked, normally I just recon that they look a bit fat and blobby but this one looked really nice even with the extended swing arm. Had a nice yoshi on it too.

The trials guys were really good at this, a lot better than the Canberra guys but their fun box is actually solid and apparently one of the best trails guys is from Canberra.

This bike was pretty crazy, no suspension and the dude jumped it up from one box onto another like a sidestep.

Red bull gives you sidecar?

One of the best cruisers I’ve seen. Really nice and a simple, looked very clean.

The mini version of the bike was a nice touch.

This was the most comfortable bike I sat on at the show, looks pretty awesome too. It’s the Chris Pfeiffer edition. YouTube him if you haven’t seen his stuff. He’s really good at stunts. But being a beemer I guess I better start saving now.


Rossi’s bike in the flesh. Had to resist the urge to jump up and sit on it.

A bike done by one of Australia’s best air brushers, this guys work was flawless.

One for you Patrick!

Lukey Luke’s stunt bike.

It was a great show well worth going. It was only cut short by the fact that I could not walk due to wearing bloody thongs. Both my toes had blisters between then from the stupid cord. They had then popped and it was very painful to walk. I shall never wear thongs again, I hate them. I had walked out with a full one piece suit for $225 made by rivet. It was slashed down from 600$. I also got 9 issues of rapid for $25 including the latest one that hasn’t even come out yet.

Finally it was time for the trip home and rather than doing the sensible thing I stay up talking to friends and planning my route home. My mind doesn’t feel like sleeping so I pack at 3am and leave at 3:30am.

The weather crossing to Lithgow from Kellyville was horrible. I’m pretty sure I was in the Blue mountains but I just could not see more than about 8m in front of me even with my high beams on and my visor open. There was heavy fog and the rain was blasting down so hard that it was stinging my face. I dropped back to about 50k/hr but was worried about being collected by a truck in this 100k zone. It was about 4 am and was pitch black so I told myself to HTFU and keep moving. A ute came round me at what seemed like warp speed so I gunned it and followed it’s taillight fro about 70k’s till I made it into Lithgow. When I saw the sign to Lithgow I had massive target fixation on the sign and almost went into a barrier. Never have I had a worse ride than that. I was soooooo happy to see light again and the Chi Chong bakery. A hot pie and coffee with caffeine (the stuff mum had was decaf, wtf!) and I was feeling awesome. The weather had picked up a lot and I was happy to be out riding again.

When at Bathurst one must go on the track. I did it one in the reverse then once in the normal direction. Just as fun as ever.


At this point I was heading to either Canowindra or Cowra. I could feel I was getting micro sleeps really badly. Best way I could describe the sensation was like real life lag. Was kinnda cool but at the same time I realized it was really bad so I stopped and just shut my eyes for a min or two to get my head back in check. Took a couple of pics and got some more water into me.

Made it into Cowra and saw there was a Japanese Garden. I had actually been planning a trip here a while ago but totally forgot about it. Was happy to go there and relax for a bit. I was making good time so I hung around there for about an hour. The garden was a tad small and the native aussie plants in the back wrecked the experience a bit but still not too bad of a place to go. Entry was $9.50.

The last 100k’s into Canberra was horrible, it was riddled with road works. I was tired but I made it back in one piece.

It’s pretty satisfying to see all the places I’ve been in such a short space of time and it makes me want to travel and see other parts of Australia I haven’t seen before. Well that’s it for the ride. Seeya on the road!