??/06/2001

Ausgrass 2001

Rode to Canberra to attend the annual AusGrass Bluegrass weekend. The jeans lasted until Bombala when I just had to change to the leathers as it sure got cold. I found that my backside dictated when I should take a break :)

I had contacted the Ulysses Club in Canberra before I left to recommend a place to stay at and Garry Calder put me on to the Acacia Motor Lodge. They have a security cage to lock up your bike in. Nice place to stay at.

Had an interesting run in with 'The Law' not long after I had arrived. I had parked my bike in a parking lot, bought a ticket to cover an hour and then had to face the dilemma - Where in the hell is the dash that you put the ticket on? I decided on my pocket, which was a bad move as I found a parking infringement envelope tucked neatly under the pillion hand grip when I got back. Great! Welcome to Canberra!
I rang the hot line and heard a recorded message explaining that forget about the weekend, we're not here. I fronted them on Monday morning and found them not bothered at all by my dilemma. "Just fill out this form and include copies of the parking ticket you bought and the infringement ticket and all should be well!" I guess time will tell. $61 isn't exactly Petty Cash.
(Postscript: I received a letter from the Canberra Authorities and they inform me that I have been pardoned!)

I found Canberra an interesting place in that there was a lot of air turbulence and the roads were suffering from lines where the road had been widened. The bike felt a bit unstable traveling over these lines.

Must be something to do with the altitude, the temperature or the petrol, but I found I went about 30km further before the reserve tank cut in.

The hardest part of the trip was the leg from Cann River to Churchill. I found out later on the TV News that there was a Gale warning issued. I'll go along with that, my poor arms were really feeling the strain :)

I had bought a Ritter soft guitar case with shoulder straps from Junction Music in Blackburn to transport my guitar. Because the top of the case was higher than my helmet of course the wind dragged it back. But that was better than strapping the guitar to a rack.
I decided that a strap was missing from the case and used an octopus strap to restrict the movement of the guitar in the case. I

I attached it to the zippers at the top of the case to pull the top down a little and then wrapped the remaining length around where the tops of the shoulder straps attach.

That reduced the windload and secured the guitar so that it couldn't be pushed back or move from side to side.