Here's a good one from Australia. Our Ms Bikernet of the 2009 is, Nicole Brosing, a tattoo artist, who rides and just opened her first Tattoo Shop. She was assigned the coverage of the first Burt Munroe tribute beach race in New Zealand. But her report is sketchy.”Sorry been so busy,” Nicole told the Bikernet editorial staff during a board meeting. “I haven't had a chance to put anything down.”
Renegade slammed his fist on the massive glass and prison cell door conference room table. “She's got to make it or pull her Ms Bikernet patch. Does she know who Burt Munroe is? He's the New Zealand racer they made the World's Fastest Indian movie after. He's a Bonneville and New Zealand legend.”
Nicole immediately closed the tattoo shop for the duration. “I packed one train case and headed off to Brisbane airport, boarded a plane in the afternoon, then headed back in time by three hours, and landed in Christchurch at midnight. I was on assignment.”
“Mate Stu picked us up, off to bed pretty much straight away, early start in the morning.” The team rented bikes for the run. “Typically, south island weather, started to drizzle rain on the way over to pick up the hire bikes,” Nicole said. “I got a triumph speed master (hated it), and John picked out a sprint with solid paniers.”
“All the guys arrived to head off from Stu's place. He is so the organizer. What a guy, I could spend a whole page just on him. You really want to have this guy on a run with you. He is the “king ” of the organization. He makes a great road captain too, if you like to check out the scenery at 100 miles an hour. He rides a bloody fast good-handling Ducati Monster.”
“So we headed out in the drizzling rain for the 500 mile ride to Invercargil for the Burt Munro rally. We blasted as far as Ashburton, when the rain stopped and the sun came out. We were cold for the windchill factor, but for christ sakes, now we're getting sunburned.”
“This place, New Zealand, is awesome, talk about the scenery. Oh and the roads to die for. Don't know if you're into nature, but coming form drought plagued Australia, it was so good to see green, green, and more green, rolling hills, snow covered mountains, wild flowers and trees, lakes, and rivers. Man, this place looks so clean and fresh, plus lots of sheep.
“We pulled up about 20 miles north of Invercargil and stayed at some country pub for the last night of comfort before we started camping. Great old time pub,lots of character, but the rooms were more like cells, but cheap and comfortable. (Stu had pre-organized the rooms too).
“The next morning, we rose our weary heads and head into Invercargil for the start of the rally.Man, this place really got behind its local hero. Burt Munro is mentioned everywhere, plus they welcome bikers and rally goers.The town was extremely friendly and welcoming. Lots of cops around, but they all just waved and smiled, no shit. (They have to be, they don't carry guns here).
“The camp ground is great, clean facilities, great security for the bikes and all the food and entertainment is laid on. The rally cost $55 for the whole weekend, including camping, all events, and shuttles to the events. You can pay a little extra for buffet breakfast each day also.Even the booze was cheap on site.”
They had bands turned on every night, good quality local stuff, free tea and coffee, showers and cheap, good food.We caught the shuttle to the beach for the beach racing. There was over 6,000 people on the beach to watch, I mean parked on the beach, people all over the dunes, lining the fences, everywhere. Remember, this beach is as close as you can get to the antarctic without actually being, in the antarctic.”
“So there we were at Burt's historic tuning and testing location, sitting on the beach at 8.30 pm, watching beach racing and getting sunburnt. The sun doesn't go down till after 10 p.m., no need for lighting.
“Next day, off to the track for circuit racing. Lots of cool old shit racing there. I mean we were two feet from the bikes. New Zealand doesn't have all that hassle with insurance etc., so you can still get up- close and right amongst it.”
Lots of cool old dudes with shit they'd pulled out of the shed the week before, some of this stuff looked like it had been in a barn for the last 20 yrs. Star of the day was this guy on a Norton, run his first race, won it, lined straight back up, ran the next race, won it, then straight back around for the next race. He came in third against a whole heap of more modern and powerful bikes. What a champion.
Back to camp for a rest, then off to the track for the speed way. In between time, we rode into the town of Invecargill, to check out the original Burt Munro bike. It was displayed in the local hardware shop that was owned by his old time mate, and has now been passed on to family. This town was all about history.”
“Next day, we broke camp and saddled-up, headed north 20 miles for the street racing in Wyndum. Once again, we stood right by the track. They had the streets cordened off with hay bales, just like in the old days. Hey and there was the guy with the Norton, back again and winning races. From there we rode north towards Queenstown, along more scenic roads, mountains, rivers, sheep, lakes. etc. It was great looking at this stuff at 100 miles an hour, no really Stu, it's just like a tour bus.”
“We stayed the night at a ski resort, pretty place too. Oh shit, more winding roads. I'm talking 5 mph corners on this range.Back to Christchurch, a night, then Stu's, and off on the plane at 4 a.m. the next morning.
“I open the tattoo shop at 10a.m., and back to work as normal. Wow five days never seemed so long, ha ha. I hope I'm still Ms. Bikernet.”
“I say we take a vote,” Renegade, the dismal Dan of the bunch shouted.
“Sure,” Snake said, “But let me grab a Corona.” Snake slithered into the kitchen to play grab-ass with Sin Wu and avoid the politics. We took a vote, five for Nicole, one against and he was pissed. That's okay he doesn't like anyone. We'll look forward to Nicole's next report. She's supposed to send us a feature on her new shop in the near future.
Nicole's Shop:
Studio 64
on the corner of Logan road and Fergurson street at Underwood
Queensland, Australia.
ph +617 3341 5764
web site is www.tattoostudio64.com
