Charlie's WorldTicket to crashville – admit one.
Posted on December 6, 2015
2 weeks ago I was out on the bike, minding my own business, having a great day in the hills, as one does.
Sundays are meant for this and the dirt roads of the Perth hills are generally peaceful and riding is good for the soul.
Well, that’s how it was supposed to be, anyway… Read More
First signs of spring
Posted on July 19, 2015
Seasons are a bit vague here in Perth.
If you judged Perth climate by UK summer – we have summer all year round.
Autumn is a week of changing leaves between 35 degree summer days and the start of rain and a cool change
Winter comes and goes, but only exerts itself hard enough to warrant a jacket for a few weeks. It can be wet though – much wetter than a UK winter.
Which leaves Spring. Spring is hard to pin down – it can be wet and cold but also hot and dry like summer. If viewed by the calendar Spring definition, Perth has 2 or 3 seasons during that time.
The Aboriginal Noongar people that inhabited the Perth area before colonisation had defined 6 seasons. We should use these really, they make a great deal more sense here than the English seasons the settlers brought with them. Read More
The mighty DR650 gets a new shoe (and other farkles)
Posted on June 21, 2015
The sheer power of the mighty DR650 means that tyres don’t last long..
Ok, thats a total lie, it only has 40bhp, but after a year and maybe 10,000km on and off road, the rear tyre was shot and it was time for a new one.
One of the things I need to be able to do is fix a flat when I’m off on one of my adventures, so I thought I’d kill 2 birds with one stone – change the tyre myself so I could practice the procedure for getting the wheel off and fixing a puncture.
Now in theory, a motorbike is exactly the same as my mountain bike.
Disk brake, chain, knobbly tyres, inner tube. So it was going to be easy, right?
Ha!
Day trip to Boyagin Rock
Posted on March 2, 2015
As you may remember, I’ve got this foolhardy romantic notion of doing crazy motorcycle adventures.
Well, to do this, I need practice (and fitness – it’s very tiring riding motorbikes off-road) and also to get my bike setup. So what better way to find out how unfit both myself and my bike are for this than to go on a marathon day ride out into the big empty yonder.
I’d spent a little while planning this out, pouring over Google Earth trying to piece together dirt roads and tracks to get to this place. I’d made a track and exported to my phone’s GPS app (OsmAnd+ on Android). The bike was ready, I was ready.
It 6am, Sunday morning, my alarm went and it was time to go.
Firing up the mighty DR650, Boyagin Rock and Brookton here we come. Read More
Mt Solus (again)
Posted on December 29, 2014
Christmas holidays – gotta love ’em. I found myself with a totally free day so got up early to beat the heat (it’s starting to crank up here now) and set off to go back to Mt Solus.
You may remember that I went there before with a group of friends – clicky here for the post – but this time I thought (a little unwisely as it urned out – keep reading) I’d go on my own.
Ride out to Lake Clifton
Posted on November 16, 2014
It’s heating up here at last. This year the temperatures have been stubbornly slow to get going, with only a fews days so far over 30C. I’d even go as far as saying that a few days last week were actually chilly.
But the last couple of weekends have been just about perfect. Perfect for a few photos with the new X100T too.
Last weekend, I went out on the motorbike to see the thrombolites at Lake Clifton Read More
Off road ride to Mt Dale
Posted on September 13, 2014
I’ve been off the bike for serious rides for a bit due to winter being crappy (see radar pic!) and very wet and the fact that I’m a big wuss and also I was back in England (as you may have gathered)
But there was a serendipitous break in the weather, I didn’t have any commitments and my family were all stuck into art or TV shows or other stuff.
So I fired up the mighty DR and went out on another adventure off road. Read More
Pics from the daily commute – 2
Posted on March 2, 2014
Twas a lovely morning for it, but then it usually in in Perth in the summer to be fair. You really have to be on the road early before the sun has had too much time to crank up the heat, but as I’m in work before 8, thats not usually a problem 🙂
Of planets, comets and motorbikes
Posted on March 10, 2013
No, I haven’t been riding to the stars, taking mind altering hallucinogenic drugs or doing the Sunday crossword!
My week (or rather slightly more than a week, I’m cheating slightly here, I needed to save a few pics from a couple of weeks back to make this work…) has been pretty full of cool things.
But most especially its been full of planets, comets and motorbikes. Read More
Sunday blast
Posted on December 16, 2012
My friend Pete had been planning a Sunday ride out on the bike with his Dad and I was invited along. The plan was to ride up to the hills through Serpentine and Jarrahdale and then into Pinjarra and onto Mandurah for a late breakfast.
The sun was shining, it was already warm out, Jay was still in bed and little ‘un was fast asleep when I set out at 8:30am on the little red Ninja 250 to meet up at Pete’s house. Read More
Charlie's World 