bloody rain

[jape]

Thanks felix, no need to worry about me, gnarly old sod. Being an adventurous fool, I decided to go out and get cigars ...



- that is one of six water crossings I made in a 140 km round trip today with many diversions that would usually be 20km! Just to get a smoke and a chocolate bar lol. But I was bored, no power, no internet, no 2 stroke mix for the chainsaw to clear the fallen trees. It isn't advisable to travel most of these roads in floods as they can rise very quickly if it rains again. It is best to keep them clear for the emergency vehicles rushing around rescuing people in 4wds that think they can go anywhere and soon find out they cannot as water rises up over their windows. My excuse is that as a local I know the roads very well and with a dirtbike I can take to the bush. And I had no real idea conditions had deteriorated everywhere so badly and so quickly. We really are going to have to rethink everything with global warming.

I know exactly how deep the water is at any point for miles a round but you still have to be wary and not complacent and watch for road markers and fence heights etc. to be sure, and the flood violence can rip the road underneath into deep potholes and ruts, water pushes up through the tarmac and destroys it, it is easier on the gravel roads where you know it is f***ed anyway - as long as you stick to the crown! Just had to decide whether to stand and get feet wet or sit down and fall off!

Very, very pleased with the Kinlon r/t. No problems at all despite getting very wet and quite deep at times. I'm not a very good rider but even with the new gearing it is happy with slow riding through water (so as not to create a bow wave) and has poke when you need it. This is my own track from the house ...



I don't know what to do about the wet weather gear, purchased as storm proof motorcycle gear. Next time I will wear my fly fishing waders. But it is all fun and what I live for really.

When the power came back on and I checked TV, I saw that while I was having my fun across the ridges and back roads, thousands of people in towns within a hundred km or so were being evacuated and my own local village road was now cut off by a fifty meter wide lake, many meters deep across the main road. And very, very soberingly, although I am being lighthearted about my trip and the floods here, 500 people in Brazil died in the same rain event, a quarter of a million are displaced in Sri Lanka and so on. Don't think I am immune to feelings about that - somehow, 'mucking around' makes it more bearable.

[ChinaV]

Hang in there Jape, hopefully some better weather is on the way. How much beer do you keep on reserve for emergencies like this?

Slabo, I took a very similar picture at about 2000 meters.



And this one, the flash did a good job of highlighting how much particle matter is floating around.



It's always depressing when you're on an airplane and you start your descent into China, the brown layer is so obvious. I'm sure it's also in other places, but I never noticed it until I came to here.

Cheers!
ChinaV

[jape]

Just a bottle of whisky for medicinal purposes mate. Beer in Australia is just gas, and too cold anyway.

I have seen the same brown layer flying into Indonesia. I would not like to breath it as you do. I would wear a low micron mask all the time I think. Would rather breath that than the remnants of Chernobyl. i should stop complaining so much, bad habit, air here in Aus is good and especially so where I am. Just a bit wet at the moment.

[slabo]

Slabo, that picture is terrifying. Thank you for reminding us all what we are breathing everyday in china. Thank god there is nowhere near shanghai to take a picture like that, seeing it might make me rethink my life...

My thoughts exactly. It was just a beatiful autumn day. We were in XingAn, or some near by national park. They didn't want to let me in fearing i would steal some endagered species off the mountain. I saw this when we got to the top. I've read about global warming before, but before that day, I couldn't really put it into perspective.

Sometimes my girlfriend, whom I love very much - I hope she never reads this because I'm not so direct in person- asks me if I want to have kids someday. This scene and similar is all that would comes to my mind then. I'm thirty by the way, and all I do to answer the question is blush and mumble something.

For more depressing such news, the climate and other global issues, head over to http://www.globalresearch.ca/ I've spent almost two years in Shenyang, 9 winter months -25c and 3 hot dirty summer months, I spent most of the time indoors, reading such depressing stuff.

Honestly, nowadays I just want to ride/fly and enjoy what we have now while it lasts.
Coffee to wake up --->> ride to work/play --->> beer to fall asleep... What else could a man want?

I've argued the environmental issue with a Chinese man before. He says, something to the equivalent of: Now is not the time, China must first rise to become the world superpower, the environment can wait. Look how far we have come in 30 years. Anyway, the rich are not really affected by climate change, so nothing will be done. It's business as usual, or actually, better than usual.

[humanbeing]

...And this one, the flash did a good job of highlighting how much particle matter is floating around...

Classical picture shows local wisdom. Used RHD Japanese dump truck w/o proper docs is far better than a 100% legal domestic made.

[euphonius]

Dear Jape,

Time to batten down the hatches, again???

SYDNEY (AP) - A strong tropical cyclone roared toward
Australia's flood-ravaged northeast on Monday, prompting evacuations
and warnings from officials that the storm could be the worst the
already-swamped region has ever seen.
Cyclone Yasi's winds strengthened to 63 mph (102 kph) Monday. It
was expected to hit the Queensland state coast on Wednesday or
Thursday as a fierce Category 4 storm with wind gusts up to 162 mph
(260 kph). The storm could dump up to three feet (one meter) of rain
on some communities already saturated from months of flooding,
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said.

-0-

CANBERRA, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Australia's flood-stricken state
of Queensland closed major coal ports, evacuated tourists from
vulnerable resorts and warned of heavy rain on Monday ahead of a
massive cyclone due to slam into its coast this week.
Forecasters said Cyclone Yasi could be generating gales of more
than 250 kph when it hits the coast on Wednesday or Thursday, which
would put it on a par with Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New
Orleans in 2005.

[jape]

Hi Jeff, poor bloody Queenslanders having a hard time of it again. No-one in the rest of Aus really cares because Qlanders always boast they live in paradise and deserve to catch a bit of shit for hubris!

Sometimes cyclones weaken as they cross the coast, lets hope so! At present I am experiencing a heatwave of 3 to 4 days of 100F weather and a couple of thousand km from that front - but the winds are gusting at 50+ kph here and drying everything out in the bush very fast, so FIRE is my present worry. I could certainly feel the wind gusts on the m' bike this morning blowing me sideways across the tarmac. Hot 100F, 38C winds in black leather, just makes you ride faster.

If it comes hard over land it will of course cause damage and tidal surges and yes, more floods.

The peak of cyclone season is February to May so has just started - with warnings of double the usual number of active cyclones expected and they impact directly from west around north to east from both indian and pacific oceans! There's more than those forecasts stated going on at present, Perth, 4,300 km away on the west is also in line for a few. Although it is a mighty continent and these patterns slow down they still move across inland and southern Aus, hence the floods in my patch a few days after the recent floods in Qland. A lot of places are still under some water from the last round.

Getting biblical eh, as it approaches 2012? I know quite a few people are convinced the end times are upon us, pagan types as well as xtians. I reckon it is a cyclic swing, helped along by global warming. Profiteers are already making money as people suffer, prices are climbing slowly but surely in every commodity and area. Politicians already disputing over the wreckage and the billions of dollars to be spent (and made) fixing it. The normal man in the street is just waiting for Android 3 and increasing his credit cards limit while sitting in air-conditioned comfort. Sold more luxury cars than ever before last year in Aus, especially large 4WD/SUV types.

It is a sick world and I for one wouldn't mind seeing it disappear in flood and fire. Don't fancy the plagues but.

[euphonius]

Biblical indeed! Feels like maybe it's time to head for the hills. Dig in and live off the land. Shoot first, ask questions later.

China is just announcing plans to spend 4 trillion RMB over the next 10 years on water conservancy projects, projecting that without aggressive intervention and strict caps on usage, particularly in agriculture but also urban use, demand will exceed supply by 25% or more within a few years. Already there are places in Gansu where public water supplies are available for only 30 minutes a week.

Despite the heat, I'm glad you are getting out and riding daily. Still too cold here, not to mention this slowly healing clavicle of mine.

My feeling is that all of this weather chaos is our own fault. We've been lousy stewards of this earth.

I'm sure you are well prepared for the worst.

cheers

[jape]

Sorry to hear the bone is so slow in healing. You eating your vitamins?

I've got all the necessary survival tools and skills, but feeling old fast and not sure I can be bothered. Not cut out to be a farmer, more of a hunter/cannibal I think.

I ride the bike a few km at least a couple of days a week around these tracks, usually while it is cool still, early or late. Got chased by the local pigs a couple of days ago but went bush and lost them. They regularly pick on the local youngsters (unlicensed) that all hoon around these roads on their dirt bikes. The locals don't care, we don't pay taxes, registration or licenses any more than we need to and only on vehicles we take into the cities and while the kids on bikes can be a nuisance, hey they are our kids and its better than drugs and booze. Not that they don't do a bit of that as well!

The pigs have 4wd but are are cowards, don't want to scratch their pretty vehicles or go over big bumps. And if the pigs ever got too macho and prideful and went so far as to bring in dirt-bike equipped police against the kids, they would find head-height wire across the tracks ... a bit like the Appalachians up this way!

The biggest idiots are the week-enders and city dwellers that come up on their weekend dirt bikes and go too fast on roads where someone may be riding a horse or walking the dogs. Guess the local chinese would say that about some of us foreigners riding in their quiet back yards and hillsides no?

I like my bike more every day! Looks good with the shiny plastic broken off. Still only a 2000 km bike because my runs are only 20km or so at a time but I do have fun, felt like a teenager being chased by the cops and giving them the finger. Guess they couldn't tell under the leathers I am an old fart and as the out-of-date plate is 'accidentally' covered in a mud and oil mix which sticks .... they won't be calling round here causing me angst any time soon I hope.

ilikemibike.jpg

[euphonius]

Well, Jape, at least it's not just Australia. Following from the Weather Channel, regarding the outlook for the eastern and midwestern US. Yikes.

jkp

Blizzard Could Affect 100 Million

Winter-weary Americans hoping that an unusually snowy January would give way to a mild February are about to be bitterly disappointed. The Weather Channel says a "multi-day, multi-region potentially historic and destructive winter storm" is about to "unleash its fury" on a huge swath of the United States, starting Monday and continuing through Wednesday. "Heavy snow" and "destructive ice" are expected to hit the plains states and the Midwest from Oklahoma City to Chicago, then stretch across the Great Lakes region and New England. Thunderstorms could bring tornadoes and hail to the South, and temperatures will be colder than usual across the country. The Weather Channel estimates that the storm will impact 100 million people, or a third of the U.S. population.
Read original story in The Weather Channel | Monday, Jan. 31, 2011