A year that wasn't all bad

 

From home - first light 2021

My first inclinations were not to write anything about 2020 for obvious reasons.  I also felt a bit of guilt because NZ dodged a bullet compared with most of the world, thanks to prompt and decisive action by our authorities following good science advice which allowed us to resume a pretty much normal life from mid-year.  Nonetheless, there was much to be quietly thankful for and in hindsight, it did provide an opportunity for a mental re-set with respect to the things which are truly important in one's life.  There were actually a surprising number of positive things which make for good memories.

Thinking back, our story started in mid-2019 as we found ourselves in Wuhan to start a boat trip up the Yangtze river as part of travelling through China (HERE).  No hint of things to come of course although we both developed head colds shortly afterwards.  

Moving through to February, 3 mates and I did a 2100 km "Green Badge" tour of the north island, combining it with attending the Institute of Advanced Motorists  annual conference  (Part 1).  What a grand trip that was, sticking to the back roads as much as possible with minimal other traffic about.  The Duke 790 proved to be a competent tourer with minimalist luggage and its light weight and razor-sharp steering really reduced riding fatigue.

The Forgotten World Highway - Moki Tunnel with Tony, Lloyd and Rex

It wasn't long after the tour when all hell broke loose.  Jennie had just flown halfway round the world to visit her sister in the UK when NZ announced the intention to close its borders, then go into lockdown.  A couple of days of panic ensued to get her home.  It was extremely close but thanks to our travel agent, she got home with no dramas, apart from it being a very expensive 6 days away from home! 

Lockdown itself wasn't particularly difficult as I behaved myself and Jennie didn't end up sticking a knife in my vital organs!  The main project was to digitize 35mm slides, negatives and old photos that we've had sitting about in boxes for multiple decades.  We bought a high quality scanner and some imaging software and have digitized about 2000 images to date.  It's been great fun although some of the fashions were cringe-worthy and have provided endless merriment for our kids.  The only consolation was that we all looked fairly similar in those days!  

1976 - Jennie expecting our first child.  Least said about the fashions the better!

1971 - me (right) at a mate's wedding in Wales.  Oh dear.....

There are still undiscovered slides lurking somewhere in the house which I'm very keen to find. One set is from the 1969 Isle of Man TT and the other is from the 1970 UK-USA Transatlantic Match racing series with legendary names like Cal Rayborn, Gary Nixon and Paul Smart taking part.  Those photos really will be a blast from the past!

Post-lockdown, it was back into fishing from our runabout with Jennie still catching more than me!  Motorcycling also resumed but interestingly during lockdown, I wasn't jumping up and down waiting to get on the road again which was slightly worrying.  However, when the time came, the first long solo ride in sunny winter conditions was absolutely wonderful and great for the soul.

Jennie waiting for the big one just outside Coromandel harbour

Unfortunately, a cataract in one eye had developed, arising from emergency surgery I had at the end of 2019 for a retinal tear.  It wasn't bad but was distracting when riding the motorcycle.  Further surgery to replace the lens was necessary.  It took just 20 minutes with no discomfort at all and I now have great vision again.

Part of our garden was in dire need of attention and we took to the foliage with saws and slashers.  That part sloped quite steeply and was also pretty slippery so we decided to get a tradesperson in to build steps.  That plan backfired big time as it was impossible to get one so we did it ourselves.  The downside was that took a solid month of hard work to do all the landscaping and put in new plants, plus being completely stuffed every evening!  The upside was that we saved money by doing it ourselves and it was really satisfying to learn new skills!

The first photo below is before we started the rebuild, having just cleared some of the foliage.  The second photo is how it is now.

Before the landscaping

How it is now

Back into regular riding, the slightly "snatchy" KTM front brakes which had manifested themselves from almost new had got worse and made slow speed handling rather tricky.  Some measurements were taken and both disc rotors had warped.  Fortunately, both my dealer and the KTM importer supported them being replaced under warranty and they're now as they should be. Actually, better than they've ever been because the EBC HH pads fitted in lockdown really give them some bite!

Brand new rotors being bedded in

Taking out a couple of serving police officers for their advanced assessments was a personal riding highlight.  One was a car-based Highway Patrol officer who was an ex-UK Class 1 bike cop.  Following him "making progress" on his big Honda ST1300 down tight country lanes was an utter privilege.  He'd lost none of his skills and made riding at pace look easy, which it certainly wasn't.

Officer Trevor having sailed through his Advanced Test

Another delight was that our 15 year old Jacaranda tree has flowered for the first time.  Patience had worn a bit thin and the bloody thing was edging closer to the chainsaw every year.  Perhaps trees can pick up the vibes as one morning, there it was covered in blue blossom - amazing.  A new gardening technique - waving a chainsaw at plants that aren't living up to expectations!

Jacaranda in full bloom

With Christmas having come and gone, it's worth mentioning a "Santa" present I got from Jennie which typifies her wicked (warped?) sense of humour.  I spent much of my working life as a professional engineer.  Jennie thinks that all engineers are socially awkward, bordering on AS or OCD.  Indeed, in her more exasperated moments, she has remarked more than once that it's like living with a 5 year old.  Personally, I think that says more about her school ma'am background than about me but however....

Anyway, unwrapping one of the Santa presents, this is what appeared:

The Engineers Activity Book for Children

It's from a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics series encouraging young people to follow one of the sciences as a career.  She clearly thought that it was pitched at my level and that's why I love her to bits - she doesn't take prisoners!

Overall and despite the horrors that Covid has inflicted on the world, there has been a good amount of normality and high points for us.  Hopefully, a travel bubble will soon open between NZ and Australia, allowing us to catch up with our daughter and her husband.  They moved to Melbourne at the start of 2020 and she now holds a senior psychologist position in the Department of Justice.  Not bad in less than 12 months.

Wishing everyone everything that you'd wish for yourselves and may 2021 be a whole lot better for all of us!

Jennie, granddaughter Molly and me, Christmas 2020

A nice winter outing and other stuff

Yesterday was the first get-together for the Central North Island region of the Institute of Advanced Motorists since life returned to pretty much normal after lockdown ended a few weeks back.  It's mid-winter in NZ so we're always at the mercy of the elements.  The forecast said heavy showers with bright patches in between and single digit temperatures on the Celsius scale.  I live over 2 hours away from where we were due to meet and the prospect of leaving home before dawn in the cold and dark on wet roads wasn't too appealing!

On with the Gore-Tex and merino under layers plus heated gloves and away we went.  I put the Duke 790 traction control in rain mode and didn't have a single worrying moment in the dark.  The Michelin Road 5's behaved impeccably and I'm glad that I gave them a second chance after the string of punctures on my GSX-S 1000.  I'm now convinced that it was pure bad luck as opposed any tyre design weakness.  The soft compound out towards the edges of the tyre really work and even in the wet, a good pace and decent angles of lean could be safely maintained.  The photo below clearly shows the soft compound bands.

Darker soft compound on Road 5

I've had heated gloves for about 4 winters now and they really have added another dimension to my winter riding.  Heated grips on previous unfaired bikes still left me with cold fingers which were a distraction and the whole hand warmth from heated gloves leads to much better control and confidence in cold conditions. 

A few hardy souls met at a cafe in Hamilton and as is the normal way of things, a lot of the more local members elected to stay in bed!  Prize for biggest distance travelled to take part in the ride was Bruce on his Triumph Explorer 1200.  He left the family holiday home at 0600 and travelled over 3 hours to join everyone - that's dedication!  Can't really blame anyone for skipping the ride though but getting out in a mix of heavy showers, patches of sunshine and variable road conditions was good for keeping the skills tidy.

A nice mix of bikes

As only one trainee turned up, we turned it into a social outing with a mix of city, open highway and twisty country road riding to knock off any rust from lockdown and had a most enjoyable time.

 At the lunch stop - yours truly second from left

The biggest surprise was yet to come.  I retired as Chair of the Central North Island branch of IAM in February to help long-term continuity and let me concentrate on my other role as an Examiner.  The team presented me with a lovely KTM Race Team fleece and a snow dome with a photo of me and the KTM inside it.  It was an overwhelming moment but we've all built up strong friendships over the last few years and I've mentored most of them or taken them for their advanced riding and Observer (instructor) tests.  A wonderful conclusion to the ride and thanks a million guys, it says an awful lot about the bond we all have .

Seriously nice (and warm) KTM Race Team fleece

Trapped inside a snow dome!

Onto other stuff,  I'm still working my way through digitizing all our old slides, negatives and photos.  I came across a negative which I had no memory of but exceedingly pleased as it's the only photo I have of my Yamaha IT 175 Enduro bike taken in the early 1990's.  Our eldest son Lyndon wanted to learn to ride bikes and we thought the safest way was for him to initially learn on dirt away from traffic.  The company I worked for owned huge plantation forests near home and riding in the forests and fire breaks was perfect.

We bought him a Suzuki TS100 from a friend, the bike having a rather colourful history!  For a drunken bet, it had been ridden Evel Knievel-style by the previous owner at full tilt off a jetty into a harbour on the coast, then unceremoniously dumped in his shed.  I bought it for $50 with no great expectations but it only required a relatively small amount of tender loving care.  It was a lovely bike to ride with a surprisingly wide power band for a 2 stroke.  Perfect for riding in the forest or climbing steep banks etc.

The IT175 on the other hand was a complete bastard (a technical term) and tried to kill me on numerous occasions.  A motorcycle version of Stephen King's Christine!  I bought it from a company apprentice  and its real environment is where the throttle is pinned to the stop - a whole world away from pootling along in a forest environment.  With its narrow powerband, it would highside me if I was too ham-fisted with the throttle.  Lot's of eye-rolling from the CEO when I'd arrive home covered in crap and walking like an old man.  Nonetheless, it was also a lot of fun and I had it for about 3 years before deciding that middle-aged bodies didn't bounce too well.

The early 90's: off-roading with a Suzuki TS100 and a Yamaha IT175 Enduro

The final piece is really a shout-out to fellow blogger Warren Mallett of Motorcycle Paradise fame.  In a reply to a past post on scanning photos etc, Warren mentioned a piece of software called Gigapixel AI which he uses.  Essentially, it's used to enlarge photos without the normal blurring or pixellation you get from conventional optical enlarging.  There are a couple of algorithms in the program which allow you to choose whether to enhance the human form/nature or man-made objects with straight lines or predictable curves.  I like to crop irrelevant material from photos and enlarge the main subject matter so thought that Gigapixel might be of help.  Delighted to find that the website offered a 30 day free trial which was perfect to try it out on a few photos.  I was so impressed that I ended up buying it.  Thanks so much for the heads-up Warren!

The photo below is a screen shot of Gigapixel with the left hand photo being an optical enlargement of the original.  In real terms, it represents an area of about 3.5 cm square on the original photo.  On the right is the same area after it has been processed.  Look how much sharper the engine detail is, meaning it can be enlarged or printed even bigger.

Fantastic clarity on the right hand photo

It also does a remarkable job on the human form.  I used it to enlarge one of those school photos where all the students are photographed at the same time and every head is about 5mm square.  I was able to enlarge it to the point where everyone was instantly recognisable without any effort at all - tremendous.  Obviously, the better quality of photo, the better the result but the face recognition algorithm does a pretty good job.  Some black and white photos from the late 1800's belonging to the local mining museum came up a treat.  For anyone who is interested, this is the link to the vendor's website: https://topazlabs.com/gigapixel-ai/ .  There are lots of examples on the site and it is exceedingly easy to use.