Trail Bike Adventure Magazine

TBAM #29 Deadline

Sunday, 12 July 2009 16:48

It's "first" deadline for issue #29 this Wednesday, so the real pressure starts this week.

In a sad, annoying way, it's kind of happened at the right time. The motocross cancelled this weekend, so I spent a bit of time running a spanner over the KTM, fitting an hour meter, replacing some missing nuts and bolts and so forth, and changing the gearbox oil. The frigging oil drain is stripped. Stripped threads are always a problem with old bikes, so I can accept that, but it's a pain when I'm loving the bike so much.

In any case, I'll drop the bike into the shop tomorrow and have it helicoiled. I don't know how busy they are, but I expect I'll be without the bike for a week. I've been getting two or three rides a week, and bragging to my son about it, but I guess I'll just have to stay at my desk and work.

Spewin'!

And after that, the forks badly need attention. The guys at the KTM race team have offered to help out there (the forks are bloody awful), but who knows how long I'll be without the bike?

Meanwhile, Ralphie took our bucket racer out to a North Coast round today and just sent a text to say he finished second and needs more horsepower. I don't know if I've shown you guys the bucket. We bought it while messing about on the web at the Blayney round of the AORCs, and it's a right little rocket. Ralphie and I went halves. I took a chance on a set of leathers off E-bay, and they were way too skinny for me, but fitted Ralphie perfectly, so he's raging. Here's a pic before Dan had it painted and so forth...

But back to the mag.

I've pleaded with Suzuki for a chance to ride the 2010 RMZ450 for issue #29. ADB and Dirt Action both rode it last week. As usual, Suzuki is as helpful as can be, and it looks as though we'll have that bike to run alongside the ride on the 2010 YZ250F in issue #29. I have my fingers crossed. The word on the RMZ is it's a major grunt weapon with big horsepower. Awesome.

The two reader rides are ticking over nicely. Seven Hills is tentatively sold out, with some big names sigining up (I'm starting to think I should send someone else to cover that ride. Some of those guys are seriously fast), and a few starters for Longest Day.

So that's really where I'm up to right now. This week is the start of the serious end of the production cycle, and that's about all there is to it.

The clip at the top is just one of those ones I do from time to time. I was appalled at how much of me was on the last DVD, so now I'll just put the clips on the web and let people who know what they're doing handle the DVDs.

The KTM690E is an interesting bike. I rode it up over the mountains and down to the Gold Coast, freezing my cods off in the process, and the first two or three seconds of the clip is gold. For anyone who's interested, I scored a Steinberger Spirit guitar, and it arrived on the day I was doing the edit. I did a quick one-take solo on a backing track I had ready, and that's the little headless wonder you can hear on there. (The riff is my Kinman Strat).

Finally, before I forget, youse seemed to like the live blog from Murray Bridge - judging by the hits - so, assuming I have internet coverage at the tracks, I'll blog live from the AORCs at Warwick in Queensland on August 15 and 16, AND I'll blog live from the final round of the Aussie MX Champs at Coolum on August 1 and 2. I'm not going to miss any more laps to blog, but I'll do what I can within that restriction. My son's racing the Coolum MX round, so I'll be there to support him and, hopefully, bag a heap of pics. So blogging that one should be easy.

More next week.

TF

PS: A huge thanks to Sophie Jennison for the pic at the start of the blog. Spohie caught me in my tighty-whitey riding gear at the Murray Bridge AORC. Cheers, Sophie! TF