All posts by Craig Lemon

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First Aid for Motorcyclists

Victorian SR500 Club members Ryan and Tony Jones recently attended a ‘First Aid for Motorcyclists’ course, the cost of which is subsidised 50% ($42.50) by the Club for all financial members (see Noticeboard for details).

The course is very professionally run with two instructors and around ten course participants at our session. The lead instructor, Paul Ellis, is an Intensive Care Nurse at the Alfred Emergency & Trauma Centre in Melbourne and a Kawasaki Versys-riding motorcyclist. The course is well structured with a preamble covering their sponsors Maurice and Blackburn Lawyers, and the website motorbikewriter.com. The nitty gritty starts with an overview of motorcycle road trauma statistics around Australia covering when, why and where motorcyclists come to grief on the road. This is followed by brief presentation from a Maurice and Blackburn lawyer explaining the process involved in seeking compensation for accidental injury both within the TAC system and beyond in civil cases where further compensation is sought. 

The actual First Aid component of the course takes up the majority of the class and focuses on the real world situation where, as a rider, you have witnessed or perhaps come across an accident, and then it steps you through what you need to do to assist the injured people at the scene. This involved detailed sessions on:

  • First Aid responder action plan
  • Casualty management
  • Accident scene management
  • Emergency helmet removal

This was all really good information and we had plenty of ‘hands-on’ time learning how to approach and deal with injured riders, moving them to safety, getting them into the ‘recovery’ position, the correct method of full face helmet removal, CPR, and basic First Aid for bleeding, fractures, and burns. Participants are given some handy course material for future reference which includes a small card for your wallet which outlines what you have been taught. It was recommended that all motorcyclists should download onto their smartphone the free application ‘Emergency +‘ which has the emergency numbers you need, and very importantly, your exact GPS coordinates so you can tell the  emergency services exactly where you are located.

All things considered, the ‘First Aid for Motorcyclists’ course is thorough, well run, and highly recommended for all motorcyclists. It is not a comprehensive St Johns Ambulance-type course, but more of a ‘first responder’ program where you understand how to make the accident scene safe, call for help, make the injured comfortable, and where required, administer some basic First Aid, which may well save a life.

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New postal address!

Ever since it’s inception, the Club’s PO Box has been located in The Patch in the Yarra Ranges (which is where Club co-founder, Chris Manhal, happened to be living at the time).

The Club hasn’t had any members who live in The Patch for several years now (Chris included!), and we’ve had to rely on having mail redirected to the Club (the Treasurer lives 40-50 km away from The Patch!). This meant that there were often delays in the Club receiving mail from members (i.e. membership applications, renewals, merchandise requests, etc.).

The Club has decided to change the location of the PO Box to a location which is much more accessible to the Committee. So with immediate effect, our new address is:

PO Box 500, Braeside, VIC 3195

We will keep the PO Box at The Patch open until the end of the year, but please start using our new Braeside address from now on.

 

Noticeboard, Rides

Camp at Clunes report

On Saturday, 25 Feb 2017, a half dozen or so members of the Club enjoyed the hospitality of Russell & Christine at their home in Clunes (VIC).

Paul, Jeff, Tony & Craig met at the BP Truckstop at Rockbank at 9:30am as planned, and after coffee, proceeded at a leisurely pace up the Western Freeway to the Ballarat Swap Meet. There we found Andy, Colin, and Darren selling their wares! There were not too many bargains to be had (although Paul managed to pick up a Ford Mustang petrol cap as a memento for $5!). From the swap meet, it was only a short ride to Clunes.

At Russell’s & Christine’s house, we met up with Nick & J’nel, Manny, Chris Phillips, and Denver, and were taken on a tour of the expansive shed/workshop/man-cave which houses Russell’s & Christine’s motorbike collection, bar, table football, and pool table.

A plentiful & scrumptious dinner was provided by Russell & Christine and their neighbourhood friends, and we all had a very pleasant evening.

Paul, Jeff & Tony chose to ride back to Melbourne after dinner, whereas the rest of us stayed the night – sleeping in either the house, the caravan, or the campervan.

Sunday morning, after a yummy cooked breakfast, we all went our separate ways.

Unfortunately, Craig only made it about 35 km before getting a flat tyre near Bungaree. Valiant attempts by Manny to fix the puncture were unsuccessful, so Russell was kind enough to pick up Craig and return to Clunes (and subsequently organise a replacement tyre the following day).

Thank you Russell & Christine for your generous hospitality over the weekend!

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MEMBER OFFER: First aid for motorcyclists

The SR500 Club is offering a 50% subsidy to any Club members who wish to attend a ‘First Aid for Motorcyclists’ course. Courses are run year round in most States & Territories (see website for details). Simply book a course with ‘First Aid for Motorcyclists’ at a location near you (date of your choice), pay the $85 course fee, and then send a request to the Club Treasurer for reimbursement of $42.50 (proof of attendance/payment must be provided).

Course details:

First Aid for Motorcyclists is a half day training course developed specifically for riders. Learn the vital skills needed to provide effective accident scene management and immediate roadside first aid until emergency services arrive.

Content is practical and tailored for riders. Training is delivered by highly qualified and experienced first aid instructors who ride.

By the end of the course, you’ll have learned how to safely manage an accident scene, when and how to move a casualty in danger, or perform emergency helmet removal, provide effective CPR, treat a rider with serious traumatic injuries, and steps to prevent accidents occurring in the first place.

Topics covered include:

  • Emergency action plan
  • Accident scene management
  • Moving a casualty in danger
  • Emergency helmet removal
  • CPR practice
  • Wounds, bleeding & bandaging
  • Fractures & crush injuries
  • Burns & shock
  • Head, neck & spinal injuries
  • Common accident scenarios
  • Fatigue & accident prevention

Course duration: 4 hrs

Cost: $85 per person (or $42.50 following reimbursement)

Check out the First Aid for Motorcyclists website for course dates & locations.

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TT500 Salt Lake Racer

Mike from YouTube channel, Mike’s Machines, speaks to Brian Fullard about his TT500 salt lake racer.

Brian will be at Lake Gairdner in South Australia for Speed Week 2017 (27 Feb to 3 Mar) to have a crack at breaking the two Australian speed records he currently holds in the 500cc class.

Good luck, Brian!

 

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Blue Print Adventures

If you attended the Club Rally in 2012, you may have met Sam & Clara Rogers, who rolled into Bethanga with their ‘Caffeine Racer’ SR500 to make us delicious coffee over the weekend!

Sam & Clara sold the Crank Coffee business (to Sharlene and Phil Gordon) in 2015, and since then, have been busy converting a Toyota Landcruiser to run on vegetable oil to tour the country in.

To find out more about their adventures, check out their website or Facebook.

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Club Ride report (5 Feb 2017)

Tony Jones reports on the Club ride he organised for 5 Feb 2017:

Originally, the ride was to have covered about 320 km through the scenic rolling hills north of Melbourne before stopping for lunch in Alexandra before returning home via Yea, Flowerdale (stopping at the famous pub for refreshments, of course!) and finishing up at Whittlesea. This was changed when I realised the Herald Sun Tour and their support crews would be jamming up the roads in the area… bloody cyclists!  Then there was a bushfire that closed the Bulla-Diggers Rest Road, which was on the revised route, and of course, Melbourne’s infamous weather which had forecast for torrential downpours and severe thunderstorms!  Perfect day for a ride, you say?!

Not surprisingly, given the forecast, the turn up for the ride was minimal.

Jeff Gillman and myself waited at BP AA Calder Hwy Outbound until 9:00am before making our way across to Bulla (via the re-opened Bulla-Diggers Rest Road). Passing through Oaklands Junction, we headed for the Whittlesea coffee stop on twisty backroads via Konagaderra Road, Darraweit Guim, Wallan, and Eden Park on the superb Janna & Glenburnie Roads.

Ugo had just arrived at the coffee stop, so the timing was perfect! While we were enjoying our coffee, there was a very brief shower, which barely wet the road, but it did prompt us to check the weather radar! The plan was to ride to Flowerdale for a counter lunch at the pub via Strath Creek / Kerrisdale / Yea; however, this was scrapped when the radar indicated heavy rain to the north of us, smashing the intended route.  To the south was clear and dry, so we headed for the Coach & Horses Inn, Clarkefield, on some outstanding roads that took us back through Wallan, Romsey, Kerrie Valley, and Riddells Creek.

After a nice pub lunch and an enjoyable ride, we headed back towards Melbourne Airport via Wildwood Road to Oakland Junction, where Jeff and Ugo turned towards the city, while I headed home to Sunbury.

All things considered, and despite dire predictions about the weather, it was a great ride of some 220 km or so on DRY roads under cloudy skies, which kept the temperature down to a very pleasant 27°C. Good roads, great scenery, good company and lots of laughs, and we didn’t get wet! Everything you need for an enjoyable day out on the bikes!

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TT XT 500 Muster 2016

The annual TT XT 500 Muster took place in South Australia on 29-30 October 2016, and by all accounts, it was a great success.

Our very own Club Merchandise Manager, Peter Taylor, went along with his XT, and took out the ‘Best 40th Anniversary XT 500’ award. Congratulations, Peter!

The SR500 Club were proud to sponsor the Muster – helping with the cost of metal enamel badges, and donating SR500 Club merchandise for the raffle.

For details and photos of the event, click here.

And if, after seeing the photos, you like the look of the official Muster cap, we believe there may still be some available if you wish to purchase one! Please e-mail Muster Committee member, Kevin Steinert, to check.

Members, Noticeboard

The ‘Nam Files

Usually, what goes on tour stays on tour – until now! Groff spills the beans on an adventure in Aug/Sep 2016 by a group of SR500 Club members.

Five Honda XR125s, five SR500 Club members and a map of Vietnam – what could possibly go wrong? President Gillman, Paul Newbold, Peter Hickey and Dave Moss joined me in Vietnam recently to ride from Ho Chi Minh City up to Sa Pa and then back to Ha Noi – a distance of around 3500 km. The bikes were hired from OffRoad Vietnam in Ha Noi and sent by train down to Ho Chi Minh City where we picked them up. In Vietnam, a 125 is considered a ‘big’ bike and they were, in fact, just the right size for the trip. Dodging water buffalos, kids, dogs and other road users means anything more than 80 km/h is reckless.

The plan was to follow the little-used Ho Chi Minh Road up the west of the country, rather than the busy and dull Highway One route made famous by the Top Gear trio in 2008. The Ho Chi Minh Road follows large sections of what used to the famous Ho Chi Minh Trail – the route used during the war with America to take supplies from the north to the south. The Vietnamese made the road using the shelter of jungle canopy to hide its presence, which led to the Americans defoliating large sections of the country searching for the ‘enemy’. One story we heard on the trip was that when the Vietnamese road builders came to sections of the rocky mountains too difficult to pass, they’d light flares there at night and the Americans would bomb the area, breaking up the rocks and allowing the road to continue.

We visited Dalat (home of Vietnam’s only vineyards, and producer of the legendary Dalat Red) and the resort town of Nha Trang, before joining Ho Chi Minh Road proper, where it twists and turns for hundreds of kilometres through mountains and jungles. The roads and scenery were spectacular. Highlights of the trip included a night in Khe Sanh, which was also a lowlight, in that it took a couple of days for all of us to stop singing the Cold Chisel song inside our helmets. Gillman, in particular, suffered terribly.

We left the Ho Chi Minh Road when we got into the deep north and headed to Sa Pa, a village in the mountain range that separates Vietnam from China. While it’s hard to pick the best riding in Vietnam, the climb here was memorable, taxing even the reserve power of the 125s. From Sa Pa, the road winds back to the nation’s capital, Ha Noi, where the Australian crew enjoyed some ‘rest and recreation’ before heading home.

There were two crashes (Hickey, twice), the first of which snapped the end off the gearchange shaft. It was welded back together by a local bike shop which refused to charge for the service. Newbold broke a chain when he was attempting to cheat during an engine-off race down a mountain, but apart from this, the trip was incident-free. Oh, Hickey ran over a puppy which had gone to extraordinary lengths to manoeuver itself under his bike’s wheels. The coroner’s report suggested suicide.

What did it cost? Airfares excluded (tip: AirAsia is currently selling flights from Australia to Vietnam for May 2017 for $180!), a holiday like this is pretty cheap. The total cost for each bike rental for three weeks was $350 and that included training them down to Ho Chi Minh City. With three meals a day, drinks (beer is between 70 cents and one buck a can), fuel and accommodation in hotels each night, we were lucky to spend $50 a day, and some days were considerably cheaper than that. Admittedly, we got the bikes at ‘mates rates’, but full price isn’t that much more expensive.

Did we get lost? Yes, mostly due to Newbold’s slavish devotion to SatNav which regularly took us in completely the wrong direction or detoured us through major city industrial estates. My map-reading also occasionally got us into trouble as the writing on the goddamn maps is so small. It seemed to be bigger when I was younger. Did we fight? Of course, but fortunately, having the Club President on the trip helped. He regularly used his supreme diplomacy skills to separate the combatants. Would we do it again? In a heartbeat…!