A Riders Pulse

Hi everyone, I have decided that I am not going to renew my Industry Authority next month and close down A Riders Pulse. It has been an awesome ride and helped me transition from full time military life to retirement. Thanks to everyone who has followed my page and all those amazing people who have used my knowledge to help them become better riders. Stay safe out there and remember that you can never stop learning, I know that becoming a riding instructor improved my riding no end. Thanks to Bernie Hatton for starting me on my instructing career and all those amazing instructors that I cherry picked for instructional techniques along the way.
Cheers Jim.

Say no more

So I was looking to pull the plug on A Riders Pulse this year and retire fully, but I have had a rush of new clients lately that have been such nice people that it has inspired me to renew my licence for another year and continue providing coaching services for those who want help with riding motorcycles. Thanks also Tony Downs and Dan Alwood for your support.

Had a great weekend away at the Ruptured Budgie rally. It is run by the guzzi club of qld and held on a farm in mingoola (between tenterfield and texas). It is a fully catered rally so all you need is a tent,warm clothes and a cradit card. Caught up with some ex raaf mates and had a great weekend. Went down friday, went for a loop ride Saturday and home sunday. If you like camping and are into riding the rallys are awesome. A great way to meet other riders and always a party.

Busy morning this morning, new rubber front and back for the ktm. The rear had 14000km on it and in the last month had picked up a slow leak that was its way of telling me it's time for a change. The rear was an anakee adventure I picked up cheap, had a lot of tar miles planned so a more road orientated tyre was just what I was looking for. I had repaired a couple of holes in it last year and the plugs seemed to be holding ok, i suspect the leak was from the bead somewhere. Anyway I had a set of my favourite tyres in the shed ready to go, so I am now shod with continental tkc70s. With all the rain about some new rubber will be a welcome thing. Cheers and stay safe everyone.

After my last ride I found a little oil puddle on the ground near the front wheel. Didn't take long to work out that both of my forks had started leaking, i do find it odd that both leaked at the same time, not something i have experienced before. So onto the web and ordered the bits I needed to effect a repair, this included a special tool as wp fork caps are different to the norm.
Parts and tools in hand I set to on the bike, 3.5hrs later the job is done, if I have to do it again it will be closer to 2.5hrs, now I know how wp forks are assembled.

Friday morning coffee run.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and prosperous New year, hopefully santa will bring you bike related goodies and your new year many awesome rides.
I was able to get out for a little dirt ride during the week and with my son visiting this week I will no doubt get another ride or 2 in.

Home after 9 days touring. We found limiting our time on the on the bikes on the hot days was necessary, so 500km max days with 6 or 7am starts usually had us finished by lunchtime. The camel backs were essential and we ditched the tents for aircon cabins or rooms with access to a pool.
We got a few fishing opportunities in with my small multi piece fishing rod doing a great job, in bowen fishing off the rockwall was very productive with at least a dozen fish caught and released.
Carrying a puncture repair kit and a small compressor is essential, seems every extended trip I have been on in the last 3 years has resulted in me needing it.

So did a 600km day today,Duaringa to Bowen via Nebo. Great days travelling with about 260km of dirt roads. We got away pretty early this morning, just after 6 and got into bowen at 1pm. The bike didn't feel quite right just as we pulled off the dirt so stopped to see if everything was right, it wasn't, the back tyre was loosing air. After a few minutes with the compressor and a cup of water we discovered a hole, we plugged it and checked our handiwork, the plug had worked but there was a second hole, plugged, pumped up and on our way. The whole process took about 30min.

Road trip, a late start to wait for the rain to clear from home and for most part it was a dry ride. 540km today of mainly tar with about 150km of dirt roads. Camped behind the pub in Duaringa (free camp) so a bonus there. Tomorrow we take more backroads that should take us Bowen for our next overnight camp.

So after 2 months of swanning around europe and asia I have returned home. Spent today connecting bike battries and pumping up tyre pressures ready for some riding. I had planned to rent a scooter in vietnam however the one place we wanted to ride was in the middle of a monsoon period, so we opted out on riding. Think I will take the harley to the friday coffee session in Toogoom, unless the much needed rain arrives as predicted (can't get the chrome wet).