Root, shoot or marry...

This week, in honour of my return from the MotoGP, I have chosen some lads and lasses that you may not be totally familiar with. I know for sure you won't know the chicks. However, when have I ever let that stop me posting a RSM. So, go ahead, base your RSM purely on looks if you have to! I promise next week's will be easier. Oh, and Bertie, I have taken on board your suggestion from last week and will keep that one up my sleeve.

Season 2007 MotoGP Riders and the Paddock Girls. What race day would be complete without the smiling faces of the Paddock Girls. Holding an umbrella and smiling is both a skill and an art.

I've included some basic stats on the racers so that if you are a mystical numbers person you may be able to make your pick based on these figures. I've also included some useless stats.
Ride baby ride...

The Men:

Casey Stoner: Aussie. 21yo. Has won 5 out of 8 rounds so far this season. Rides a Ducati. Race number is 27. Race colours are red and white. Leathers supplied by Alpinestars, helmet by Nolan and boots by Alpinestars. Weighs 58kg!

Marco Melandri: Italian. 24yo. Only one podium finish this season (2nd in France). Rides a Honda. Race number is 33. Race colours are blue and white. Leathers supplied by Spidi, helmet by Nolan and boots by Xpd. Weighs 64kg!

Randy De Puniet: French. 26yo. The new kid on the block in MotoGP terms. Has only raced in 5 rounds this season, and has finally scored a permanent position in the Kawasaki Racing Team. Race number is 14. Race colours are green and black. Leathers supplied by Spidi, helmet by Shark and boots by Puma. Weighs 63kg!

The Ladies:

Team Konica Minolta (Honda) : : Team Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 : : Kawasaki Racing Team.

So this week, which team are you going to happily ride off into the sunset with, which one is going to lube your chain and warm your tyres for one night in heaven and which one will you leave behind eating nothing but your dust.

How disappointed was I...

this morning when I woke up and realised it was not Friday. Damn.

About the past...

I've hit a little patch of oil on the road of life. It’s made me slip into a little bit of a dark hole of melancholy and I’m not really seeing the light. This is due to certain events going on in my life and a timely post I read recently from a blogger and incredibly poor timing on my behalf.

Walking home from work the iPod literally stopped me in my tracks with this line from a song: “Next time I promise we’ll be perfect.” And that’s the crux of it. I’m looking for the perfect relationship – for me. For Muzbot. Now, surely that's not wrong. Oh, I know the "perfect" relationship for me may not exist, but I know people who seem "perfect for each other" and are so very happy together. They seem to feed off each other and challenge each other in a way that only someone who understands and "gets" you completely can. And so, I sit here in my nest in front of my computer and think... Could what I'm looking for really exist? And should I feel bad for wanting such a beast? Huh?

A couple of friends popped in to see me...

What a great race...

One of the best podium finishes this season. Two aussies! Stoner finished first, Edwards followed in second (Not even a close second) and Vermeulen third. The top 3 - No Rossi! This gives Stoner a clear lead on the table. I've been waiting for this all season. It was a great race especially 3 laps from the end when Vermeulen overtook Rossi. I think I jumped right out of the comfort of my lounge at that point. Don't get me wrong, I like Rossi as a rider, but I'm looking forward to seeing who is going to take his crown because he's had such a long run as a world champion.

There was another Aussie in this race too. Anthony West was making his Debut for Kawasaki (Go the green machines!). His bike was actually the fastest in the warm ups over the weekend. He had a great race and was a real contender for the top 5, however, in the wet conditions he made a small mistake and that put him back in 11th position.

And the best result: Out of the top 4 finishing bikes, 2 were Yamaha's. Woohoo!

"If I was" meme:

If I was an animal I'd be:
a Labrador

If I was on holiday I'd be:
Climbing a glacier

If I was in my dream job it would be:
a Vet

If I was dating someone famous it would be:
Uma Thurman

If I was a Superhero I'd be:
Aqua Man - actually, no, Batman. I love that rubber suit.

If I was on a TV show it would be:
Futurama (I'd love to see a Muzbot character)

If I was on a magazine cover it'd be:
I have been and it was "Where" - but if I hadn't been it would probably be "Two Wheels"

If I was a colour I'd be:
What the??? Ummm... Green.

If I was able to time travel I'd go back:
to 120AD in Rome and be an Emperor.

If I was (add your own):
... only able to find what I'm looking for.

Oooo, now I have to tag: Bugger it, anyone who's up for it. Go on...

What a great weekend!

- Had a Japancake for breakfast.
- Bought a new heater. It's been cold here.
- Re-stocked my fish tank with a couple of angel fish and a pepper cat fish.
- Had Sydney's BEST pizza for an early Sat night dinner. Possibly the world's best pizza! Seriously.
- Sat on the cliff at Nth Head and watched the sun set over Sydney with my best mate. (My idea of a top night!)
- Took my sexy new one-piece leathers (souvenir from o/s holiday) for their maiden ride.
- Discovered they are the most comfortable thing to ride fast in.
- Had an enjoyable ride around the northern suburbs, stopping for coffee on the sidewalk of a suburban coffee shop and chatted to the manager about his job and our bikes.
- Dodged the rain by circling the city and heading out to Parramatta for...
- Hooters!
- Yes, I know, I can't help myself. I love Hooters.
- Was disappointed when "Emma" our waitress and friends didn't dance during lunch. I mean really, do you think I went there for the food?
- Stopped off at a bike shop and was questioned about my leathers by the chick who was very impressed by them wondering how I managed to get hold of them.
- Dropped my bike key in a gutter... fast flowing with storm water. I must have looked like such a goof running down the street trying to stop it from getting away from me.
- Then rode to meet a mate at Fox for ten pin bowling, which didn't happen so
- We both went to the movies and lashed out and went "La Premier"
- Over-dosed on coke and lollies
- Went for a beer at a club
- Back to his for the start of tonight's MotoGP race
- Blogged and now getting ready for a good night's sleep.

I love weekends.

Root, shoot or marry...

Sorry this post is a little late today.

We all know that there is a BIG lack of any element of reality in RSM. So today we’re visiting a small town in the USA called Springfield. The town is full of colourful characters and I’d say we know them all reasonably well.

The Ladies:

Helen Lovejoy: A caring woman. “Will someone please think of the children!”
Edna Krabappel: Or Edna K to those who know her closely. Did you know that before she first moved to Springfield she was in a serious relationship with Moe!
Maude Flanders: Ok, so she’s dead, but when has that stopped a good RSM? Very innocent looking, but invite her to a dinner party and she may just let her hair down.

The Men:

Lenny Leonard: He has a master’s degree in nuclear physics and know for getting things stuck in his eye.
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon: The local businessman and singer from the 80’s supergroup “The Be Sharps”
Duff Man: Dark sunnies, a beer utility belt, muscles and talks about himself in the third person.

So this week, which recurring character are you going to feature in your fictional future?

Pink Shirt Thursday...

This would have to be the single most blatantly flirty post that I have ever done. Let's just say that I had a little bit of encouragement last night from fellow blogger Monty. Many beers were had and I made a bit of a promise to post this.

Wednesday Haiku

Rainbow on your chest
You stopped by to say hello
Rain stops in my heart

Just call me Larry...

"Happy as" that is.

I'm back and I have had some amazing times in the past few weeks. Every one of my 7 senses have been stimulated to overload.

Vision: The beautiful facial features of the Spanish.
Hearing: The engines rev sent goose pimples all over my body like nothing else ever has. The sound of a small car sized boulder slide off the side of a glacier as it smashs into smaller pieces and shards of ice explode outwards from where it hit.
Touch: The firm feeling of compressed ice from a glacier between my teeth as I bit into a piece of chipped off ice. The feeling of old cobble stones uneven beneath my feet as I wandered medieval streetscapes.
Taste: Where to start? The flavor of that sauce on my chicken dish in Paris. The olives in Rome, so buttery, so melt in the mouth unlike any olive I have ever tasted. The sweet San Miguel beer in that bar in Florence. The coffee...
Smell: The smell of motorbikes en mass. The alpine wild flowers that smelt like sherbet. The constant smell of Dog Shit in Valencia. The smell of crisp cold mountain air. The smell of food cooking on the streets of Hong Kong.
Balance: The symmetry of old ruins. The feeling of looking over the edge of a vertical cliff thousands of metres high. Trying not to slip on a snowy path.
Kinesthesia: Moving hand and foot together in rhythm to climb down a thin wire ladder where one wrong step or slip would result in falling hundreds of meters onto crumbling boulders.

I'm not the most worldly traveled person around, but I manage to learn more about myself and my surroundings every time I go away. And every time I go away I know how much I love Sydney and how nice it is to come home to my own bed.

So, if you have a few moments spare and want to look at some of my adventures, I have uploaded some pictures to a Flickr set here.

Only a couple of days to go...

and then I'm back.

Paris is still beautiful. I've managed to discover much more about the city and have a lot of fun this trip. I haven't been doing to much touristy stuff this time, just immersing myself in the culture of the streets, eating, drinking and sitting in cool places watching the Parisians wander by. It is my idea of a nice break. I'm now really looking forward to getting home and being in Sydney again... If it hasn't been blown or washed away. (The NSW weather made the BBC news here. Hope everyone hasn't been too effected)

Oh, and WELL DONE QLD!!!

The crowd goes wild...

because their home town boy was so close to knocking off the top two riders. But he didn´t. The little Aussie rider, Casey Stoner, won! It was the best race of the season so far. The weather was el scorchio, the spectators were hot and the atmosphere was better than any carnival or party I´ve been to. It was like Mardi Gras for men with bikes. But sexier and far more entertaining. The bikes here are more sportier than Italy too... Less scooters. I´ve even seen a few lads riding the same bike as mine. My bike is the "pin-up" bike for Yamaha here and I would have loved to get one of the posters, but it wouldn´t have travelled too well.

The city of Barcelona is a great place. I love the accents the locals here have. I could sit and listen to them talk for hours. I´d rate it better then French... Yes, that´s a big call from me as I love the French. I´ve eaten the best paella and have sat on the street corners drinking beers watching the Spaniards walking by. This place is also the cheapest place to eat and drink so far.

Still having fun...

Some things I've been learning:

Sleeping at altitude is not easy. In fact it's damn hard. It saps your energy, you feel very dehydrated and when you manage to grab 15 minutes of sleep you wake up gasping.

Walking through the Alps is a risky business. Today we trecked across a ridge from one glacier to another and when a rock flies by at terminal velocity it whistles and makes a huge "crack" sound when it hits something.

Glaciers are so freakin cool! Hard to get to, but when you've climbed down the valey to it's boulder strewn flume and finally step onto it, it is just a very humbling feeling. The thing is alive. It cracks, boulders tumble without warning and it is a very beautiful colour.

A glacier is hard... Very hard. I was amazed at how solid it was when I stepped onto it. The ice is so compacted it is hard and sharp as glass. Crevisis are deep and blue. When it moves it sounds like thunder. It's a living dinosaur.

This is a very thrilling place. There is an adventure around every corner. I've even had a chance to put some of my climbing skills to actual use. This is my playground!

I've so much to say, but so little time here. I'll have heaps of stories to share when I return home. Tomorrow I leave my Alpine adventure behind and head to Spain for the next race.

I'm in love...

with Switzerland.
Last night I did a small trek around the mountain lake town of Lurgano. It was peaceful, clean and very scenic.
Today I journeyed to the town of Brig. This too is a beautiful Swiss town. From there I boarded the "Glacier Express" and headed to Zermatt. I caught another mountain train from there up to the hotel. It has the most amazing views of the Matterhorn. It is the highest hotel in Europe and well worth the trip here. The temperature today down in the town was a beautiful summer 29. Now, outside, it's snowing and probably close to 0.
The Matterhorn is very close. I feel like I could just wander across the glacier and climb it. But, running accross the glacier is probably not the smartest thing to do when the summer heat is slowly melting the snow away. You can really get an aprecieation for Global Warming here. I passed a glacier today that used to span a valey and now is just a small outcrop of ice way up a hill. It's like seeing something old and ancient slowly passing away. A great loss. It really does make me feel sad.

Holy crap they're fast...

Well, first day of qualifying down at the MotoGP. The bikes are louder and faster than any broadcast can do justice to. I had goose pimples when the engines roared and more goose pimples when the riders entered the track.

I'm in heaven here...

Tuscan sunsets...

are very beautiful. But frankly, Bega is just as nice.

Well, I'm finally in Florence after spending a few days on the Tuscan coast. The weather has been off and on and we've had some very heavy rain this morning on the way here. This arvo the weather is fine. This city is a bit grubby, but very busy. I think there are a lot of people here for the race this weekend. We are going to the track tomorrow to watch some qualifying races then do a bit of sight seeing.

The Italian language is very hard to pick up, but I'm already starting to pick up the accent. It's very easy to do. The people are very polite and patient with my english.

The Italian traffic is mad. The drivers are so confident and the speed limit seems to be just a guide. i.e: if it says 90km/h then it's ok to do 170km/h. The bikers and scooter riders here are the best lane splitters in the world! no wonder they are good riders on the track. Well, not as good as us Aussies!

Ciao