Yes, I invented that word because it was easier than thinking up a title.
My laptop has gone and died (as mentioned on my primary blog), so this 'summer of cricket' won't be a betting one I don't think - it won't be easy to keep up, let alone ahead. Any motopunting blogs are on the backburner - and this one will be too, I think... or perhaps I'll just remove it from the stove.
Bugger!
--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Possible new blog - MotoPunter
Hello any hapless readers out there of my irregular contrivances.
This blog sort of died with the distinction between 'travelling' and 'motorcycling'. Why did I not realise that earlier?
Anyway, I thought you might like to know that I'm thinking quite seriously about starting a serious blog (you know, one for people to read... with stuff like its own URL, advertising, third-party readers...). About, as the title suggests, punting on the MotoGP (and, possibly, cricket in the off season - but I really don't know whether I can keep up with cricket, too much going on there....).
I got all inspired last weekend. There's nothing like losing a whole lot of money to make you want to do something else. And I've been filled with sadness at not having a MotoGP season to follow.
Anyway, I know this blog is a lonely voice in a noisy ocean. Maybe the next one won't be?
--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
This blog sort of died with the distinction between 'travelling' and 'motorcycling'. Why did I not realise that earlier?
Anyway, I thought you might like to know that I'm thinking quite seriously about starting a serious blog (you know, one for people to read... with stuff like its own URL, advertising, third-party readers...). About, as the title suggests, punting on the MotoGP (and, possibly, cricket in the off season - but I really don't know whether I can keep up with cricket, too much going on there....).
I got all inspired last weekend. There's nothing like losing a whole lot of money to make you want to do something else. And I've been filled with sadness at not having a MotoGP season to follow.
Anyway, I know this blog is a lonely voice in a noisy ocean. Maybe the next one won't be?
--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
Sunday, October 25, 2009
I don't owe Stoner a beer. Or a case. I owe him a beer truck.
As you may be aware, I do punt occasionally on the results of the MotoGP. And, more often than not I win out.
Today I had a good day. I had decided, on the way to the net parlour to actually work out my winnings (I only knew them, I thought, +/- $500, which you might have noticed is a fair margin of uncertainty), that I was going to tweet that "the only thing more absurd than the volume of my winnings is the consistency."
And the latter certainly is absurd. One sad night in Darwin I lost $450 on qualifying - since then, there has been one race and two race weekends, making five sessions all up, and I've come up positive in every one of them. No single win is really worthy of going to town over. Wagering is 'investment' after all, and what counts is long-term average returns. (Or, at least that's what I try to tell myself when I lose.) But having a run of five sessions in the black is impressive indeed, and well worthy of celebration!
The tweet isn't going to happen, however, because I didn't realise exactly what my position was... see with Betfair you can either match offered bets, or offer your own to match - a lot of uncertainty often hinges on the unmatched bets you have offered. So I am dropped in to check... - on four markets (winner w/o 'top four', podium, top 6 and overall win), I had four positive results! And on the major one - the overall win - I... well, lets not hark on about my richness, but I had more money behind Stoner than I realised (and at better odds!).
So, now that I have vented (it still doesn't feel real, and I still don't know how to celebrate), I will make a point. I've won, and done so surprisingly consistently, with a fair bit of luck, but even more with hard work. Or 'hard', I should say - really, it's easy to read timesheets.
Today I made about the most comprehensive readings of times of my punting history, and I think it is a good system - well worth repeating. For the sake of illustration, the notes I made thismorning:
FP1:
Stoner fastest partial
Rossi fastest early - first outing (tyre work)
Elias, Dovi good pace
(Capi, Kallio, Hayden okay)
Edwards, Verm not hot
FP2:
Stoner again fastest partial - possibly also best pace
Pedrosa no good runs
Rossi good pace (not as good as Stoner's)
Lorenzo okay late run
Edwards, Kallio (good part), de Pun, de Ang, Mel good pace
Elias, Dovi, Capi okay
Hayden, Verm poor
Esp improving
QP:
Stoner again good partial (3rd)
- can't guage pace (only did short runs) - but could be excellent (Qtime was really early)
Ros: 1.8
Lor: 2.3
Ped: 1.9
Dovi good part - pace? appears hot (long runs: 2.3/5/7)
Cap 2.5
El 2.8
H 2.9
dP 3.2
Ed? 2.4?/3.5
deA 2.8
Kal 2.4 ?? - superhot
Of course, the most decisive information was the times from the morning warmup - I didn't take notes on that because I bet in real time. But, if I had had more money with the bookies (as opposed to Betfair - an exchange), I might have made notes on that too. (Long story short - with bookies you don't make money on the frontrunners.)
So, rather than jest that you should give me your money to multiply, you should give it a go.
Go on!
--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
Today I had a good day. I had decided, on the way to the net parlour to actually work out my winnings (I only knew them, I thought, +/- $500, which you might have noticed is a fair margin of uncertainty), that I was going to tweet that "the only thing more absurd than the volume of my winnings is the consistency."
And the latter certainly is absurd. One sad night in Darwin I lost $450 on qualifying - since then, there has been one race and two race weekends, making five sessions all up, and I've come up positive in every one of them. No single win is really worthy of going to town over. Wagering is 'investment' after all, and what counts is long-term average returns. (Or, at least that's what I try to tell myself when I lose.) But having a run of five sessions in the black is impressive indeed, and well worthy of celebration!
The tweet isn't going to happen, however, because I didn't realise exactly what my position was... see with Betfair you can either match offered bets, or offer your own to match - a lot of uncertainty often hinges on the unmatched bets you have offered. So I am dropped in to check... - on four markets (winner w/o 'top four', podium, top 6 and overall win), I had four positive results! And on the major one - the overall win - I... well, lets not hark on about my richness, but I had more money behind Stoner than I realised (and at better odds!).
So, now that I have vented (it still doesn't feel real, and I still don't know how to celebrate), I will make a point. I've won, and done so surprisingly consistently, with a fair bit of luck, but even more with hard work. Or 'hard', I should say - really, it's easy to read timesheets.
Today I made about the most comprehensive readings of times of my punting history, and I think it is a good system - well worth repeating. For the sake of illustration, the notes I made thismorning:
FP1:
Stoner fastest partial
Rossi fastest early - first outing (tyre work)
Elias, Dovi good pace
(Capi, Kallio, Hayden okay)
Edwards, Verm not hot
FP2:
Stoner again fastest partial - possibly also best pace
Pedrosa no good runs
Rossi good pace (not as good as Stoner's)
Lorenzo okay late run
Edwards, Kallio (good part), de Pun, de Ang, Mel good pace
Elias, Dovi, Capi okay
Hayden, Verm poor
Esp improving
QP:
Stoner again good partial (3rd)
- can't guage pace (only did short runs) - but could be excellent (Qtime was really early)
Ros: 1.8
Lor: 2.3
Ped: 1.9
Dovi good part - pace? appears hot (long runs: 2.3/5/7)
Cap 2.5
El 2.8
H 2.9
dP 3.2
Ed? 2.4?/3.5
deA 2.8
Kal 2.4 ?? - superhot
Of course, the most decisive information was the times from the morning warmup - I didn't take notes on that because I bet in real time. But, if I had had more money with the bookies (as opposed to Betfair - an exchange), I might have made notes on that too. (Long story short - with bookies you don't make money on the frontrunners.)
So, rather than jest that you should give me your money to multiply, you should give it a go.
Go on!
--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
Saturday, September 5, 2009
FNQ: One hell of a destination
I got up to the top of Mt Molloy the other afternoon and had to go back for another lap - the second time up the hill there were all these black lines on the road that weren't there the first time around... ; )
The road made me reconsider some of my lines which saw an improvement in my adaptability and an upping of the fun factor. I've been straightening out my ess bends a lot more, aiming straight for the apex of the second rather than establishing a wide entry. Exits might not be as fast (maybe), but the bike's more stable (I've been pushing the front quite severely on occasion flopping it over), it smooths out the throttle demands, and makes the first bend easier to navigate (especially if sight is bad).
The Gillies, another beauty, certainly lives up to its reputation (though there aren't really 365 corners). It's actually so good a road that I found it hard to ride fast enough - not only is the surface great, the road is relatively wide, the motorists are generally quite considerate (they use turnouts! - and are more thinly spread than most routes too), and the corners are so predictable and relentless that tyres are operating at track temperature, even when riding with the full-gear handicap. I have never gotten tyres this hot on the road before - that's the kind of road the Gillies is.
There are only two downsides to the Gillies: it makes me want to ride faster; and at the bottom is the highway to Cairns.
The road along the coast to Port Douglas is scenic, but God knows how you find space on it that isn't filled with a motorhome. It was every bit as frustrating as the highway through Cairns. Found a good coffee in Port Douglas though which brightened the spirit (and prepared me well to climb Mt Molloy).
--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
The road made me reconsider some of my lines which saw an improvement in my adaptability and an upping of the fun factor. I've been straightening out my ess bends a lot more, aiming straight for the apex of the second rather than establishing a wide entry. Exits might not be as fast (maybe), but the bike's more stable (I've been pushing the front quite severely on occasion flopping it over), it smooths out the throttle demands, and makes the first bend easier to navigate (especially if sight is bad).
The Gillies, another beauty, certainly lives up to its reputation (though there aren't really 365 corners). It's actually so good a road that I found it hard to ride fast enough - not only is the surface great, the road is relatively wide, the motorists are generally quite considerate (they use turnouts! - and are more thinly spread than most routes too), and the corners are so predictable and relentless that tyres are operating at track temperature, even when riding with the full-gear handicap. I have never gotten tyres this hot on the road before - that's the kind of road the Gillies is.
There are only two downsides to the Gillies: it makes me want to ride faster; and at the bottom is the highway to Cairns.
The road along the coast to Port Douglas is scenic, but God knows how you find space on it that isn't filled with a motorhome. It was every bit as frustrating as the highway through Cairns. Found a good coffee in Port Douglas though which brightened the spirit (and prepared me well to climb Mt Molloy).
--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Lorenzo: back to his former best
The 'former best' I speak of is of course the best he could manage last year - fast, but always crashing. Haven't really read the reports yet (I missed the race... poo), but apparently he at least didn't hurt himself.
Deficit to Rossi now: 50 points.
Points he would have had in the last two races without crashing: 50. (+ at least five that he would have snatched off Rossi)
It's sort of sad he can't convert his speed and talent into results - I would still expect the championship to go to Rossi, but it would be much tighter. Rossi is still just as fast, and ultimately better at winning. But he shouldn't be as far ahead as he is.
As it is, the hopes of our nearest challenger are slipping away faster than his bike is sliding down the track.
--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
Deficit to Rossi now: 50 points.
Points he would have had in the last two races without crashing: 50. (+ at least five that he would have snatched off Rossi)
It's sort of sad he can't convert his speed and talent into results - I would still expect the championship to go to Rossi, but it would be much tighter. Rossi is still just as fast, and ultimately better at winning. But he shouldn't be as far ahead as he is.
As it is, the hopes of our nearest challenger are slipping away faster than his bike is sliding down the track.
--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Riding gear: Shifty experiences
I just wrote an item on my todo list which provided cause to stop and think: haven't I been here before?
Working at MCA I came across a broad range of Shift products and was broadly impressed. They seemed to offer good attention to detail, sensible design - and often they look shit hot as well. There were some reservations by some - but given those people were generally suggesting the European garments with 50-100% more on the price tag, I took these reservations tongue in cheek. And I know at least one with a lot of experience with the product who swears by them.
I am now the proud (...ish) owner of a pair of Shift kevlarred riding jeans, and some Shift sports gloves.
The gloves fit the bill perfectly when I was shopping - I wanted good overall protection, a wrist strap and a pricetage under $200. And they fit 'like a glove'. They were a no brainer, and generally seemed to offer good value. Within a couple of weeks, the stitching on the palmside of the fingers had buckled on a number of fingers - I took them back and they duly got restitched. Within a couple of months, the other hand has pulled apart and remain that way - taking them back is not worth the effort or wait, and I haven't yet gotten around to doing it myself. I am still happy with my purchase, but would be much happier if something was available with the same features and fit and was actually made properly.
The jeans are a reasonable amount cheaper than Draggins (and Hornees again), fit well and look so much hotter. I really like my jeans. Others expressed some reservation, but couldn't really give anything specific. The kevlar is much thinner - but should still do the job, right? Reading that the 'kevlar' pad is actually only 20% kevlar put any such misunderstandings to rest. Oh well, I got what I paid for - ultimately still happy with my favourite jeans.
But... on my todo list now: 'restitch the crotch of jeans". Frankly, I expect further deterioration. Compared to Draggins - or any half-decent jean - which I've heard of people wearing for 10+ years without drama, this is uninspiring.
... you can make your own judgement - with a bit more information than what you might see initially: the positive design elements which drive the sales of the the Shifty brand.
--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
Working at MCA I came across a broad range of Shift products and was broadly impressed. They seemed to offer good attention to detail, sensible design - and often they look shit hot as well. There were some reservations by some - but given those people were generally suggesting the European garments with 50-100% more on the price tag, I took these reservations tongue in cheek. And I know at least one with a lot of experience with the product who swears by them.
I am now the proud (...ish) owner of a pair of Shift kevlarred riding jeans, and some Shift sports gloves.
The gloves fit the bill perfectly when I was shopping - I wanted good overall protection, a wrist strap and a pricetage under $200. And they fit 'like a glove'. They were a no brainer, and generally seemed to offer good value. Within a couple of weeks, the stitching on the palmside of the fingers had buckled on a number of fingers - I took them back and they duly got restitched. Within a couple of months, the other hand has pulled apart and remain that way - taking them back is not worth the effort or wait, and I haven't yet gotten around to doing it myself. I am still happy with my purchase, but would be much happier if something was available with the same features and fit and was actually made properly.
The jeans are a reasonable amount cheaper than Draggins (and Hornees again), fit well and look so much hotter. I really like my jeans. Others expressed some reservation, but couldn't really give anything specific. The kevlar is much thinner - but should still do the job, right? Reading that the 'kevlar' pad is actually only 20% kevlar put any such misunderstandings to rest. Oh well, I got what I paid for - ultimately still happy with my favourite jeans.
But... on my todo list now: 'restitch the crotch of jeans". Frankly, I expect further deterioration. Compared to Draggins - or any half-decent jean - which I've heard of people wearing for 10+ years without drama, this is uninspiring.
... you can make your own judgement - with a bit more information than what you might see initially: the positive design elements which drive the sales of the the Shifty brand.
--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Stoner's mystery illness continues to take its toll
It appears Stoner's apparently improving competativeness belied a condition far more serious than optimists like myself had expected.
http://tiny.cc/YEASf
http://tiny.cc/AuUaK
Ducati have confirmed rumours of Stoner sitting out at least three races.
It's really sad to see Stoner resorting to sitting out races. His attitude on the track and in front of the press had been extremely negative for a while - contrasting his mature performances at the start of the year. I was hoping, like many, that a few weeks' break would see a further improvement of his condition and increasing competativeness at rounds at which we could expect strong performances.
It's not to be it seems.
The most disheartening factor is that we still have very little indication about what is causing his condition, and with news like this it becomes apparent that his problems are much more severe than tiredness over race distance.
All hoping he has recovered for the final string of rounds starting in Portugal, and in particular can have another strong performance at home at the end of October.
--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
http://tiny.cc/YEASf
http://tiny.cc/AuUaK
Ducati have confirmed rumours of Stoner sitting out at least three races.
It's really sad to see Stoner resorting to sitting out races. His attitude on the track and in front of the press had been extremely negative for a while - contrasting his mature performances at the start of the year. I was hoping, like many, that a few weeks' break would see a further improvement of his condition and increasing competativeness at rounds at which we could expect strong performances.
It's not to be it seems.
The most disheartening factor is that we still have very little indication about what is causing his condition, and with news like this it becomes apparent that his problems are much more severe than tiredness over race distance.
All hoping he has recovered for the final string of rounds starting in Portugal, and in particular can have another strong performance at home at the end of October.
--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
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