Today’s ride was a long one, the weather had been very ordinary for most of last week and so it had been 7 days since our last ride, but just like yesterday, today’s weather was stunning…..so after work we headed out.

First we headed down Marine Parade, out over the creek to Salt & Casuarina, then out to the coast road for the run back to Cudgen, headed left at the lights onto Cudgen Road and followed that along one of our favourite bits of road to the highway, via the 1.5 km twisty road that we love so much, then headed south to Tumbulgum, turned right and over the river, up the hill to Terranora, then down Fraser Drive and Dry Dock road to South Tweed Heads…..then it was follow Minjungbal Drive to Tweed Heads, cross the border and head through Coolangatta, Kirra and then up the Gold Coast highway to Currumbin, then we headed out to the Currumbin Valley, before heading back to Stewart Road, then onto the M1 for the trip home…..all up it was about 105 km, and great fun.  Here's what it looks from space....

It was a great ride and we got to see lots of other bikes, (Chopper, R1, GSX-R 750, Zip 50 etc…) Anthony also got to see a few other riders with the same helmet as he has – the Shoei XR-1000 Rogue…but the best part was seeing a big smiles on the faces of all the riders out enjoying an afternoon ride, whether they were commuting, or just enjoying the sun….days like this are made for riding.

Today’s winner of Derbi’s Celebrity Pillion Passenger is another Brazilian Model, (noooo…she comes from Brazil!!.......) anyway she was born in Salvador in 1981, best known for her work with Victoria’s Secret, as a spokesperson for Maybelline and works for the Elite Model agency in New York.

As of 2007, she is the 4th highest paid model in the world….she began acting in 2001 in various movies and TV series, she speaks fluent Portuguese, English and French, and some Italian.  She loves reading, has been romantically linked to Lenny Kravitz and the Prince of Liechtenstein and is due to be married in June 2009.

She loves listening to Beethoven, and she is Adriana Lima.....

There were some large patches of fine weather today which made me think we might get to go out for our usual mid-week ride……and then the weather started turning ugly again, but thankfully the rain stayed away long enough for us to go out.  

We headed north for our usual highway run, and then when we approached the airport tunnel we were lucky enough to have a jet land right in front of us, then pass over as we headed through the tunnel.  Very cool.

It was a fun ride, especially since we hadn’t been out for almost a week.  It was great to zip through the late afternoon traffic and basically leave all the stress of the work day behind.

There were only a few scooters and bikes out today, couple of 50’s and the odd Harley.   And as usual there were a few idiots on the road who (a) don’t look for bikes, cars, pedestrians etc… and (b) people who can’t read road signs, speed signs, etc and therefore also get in the way…..thankfully Derbi power allows us to get away from them.

So that’s it for today, hope all is going well for everyone out there, stay safe and I’ll see you next week. Cheers,   Derbi.

For this week’s winner of Derbi’s Celebrity Pillion Passenger of the week, we feature a Ukranian born actress…born in 1979, she was then raised by her mother from the age of three, began modelling at age 13 and signed a modelling contract with a Paris-based agency at the age of 17.  

She began her acting career in France in 2005, and won an award for her performance in L'Annulaire in 2006, starred in Hitman with Timothy Olyphant in 2007 and most recently she became the latest bond girl, Camille Moses in the 22nd James Bond film,  “Quantum of Solace”.

She is featured on the December 2008 cover of Maxim Magazine, she is Olga Kurylenko.

 This weeks riding has been fun, it started last Friday with another trip down the highway to see Scooter Girl, and thankfully this time, a lot of the bugs that inhabit the late afternoon sky must have had a better offer, and decided not to become plastered across the front of me.  There were some that decided to give it a go, and shared the same fate as their departed brothers a fortnight ago.  Thankfully Anthony doesn’t leave them there as a deterrent to others that might try and fly into the light……

But it was a great trip down once again, a lot of cloud cover ensured a cooler ride, but it was good fun.  

The trip back on Monday looked like it may have been a wet one, overnight rain had made certain parts of the road a bit slippery, but after the half-way point the road was dry, and continued like that the rest of the way home.   Like Anthony, I enjoy these longer trips. The chance to stretch the legs a little out on the open road is great.  And the looks on the faces of the car drivers as they are overtaken by a scooter is always good too.

Today we headed out after Anthony finished work, headed up the M1 to Currumbin, down Stewart Road to the beach, then back up onto the Gold Coast highway before heading down through Tweed Heads, then refuelled on the way back, before arriving back in Kingscliff.

Looks something like this….

It was a good way to unwind after a busy day at work.   This weekend we’ll be out and about, and I’m sure SB & SG will be heading out to cruise around at some point.  Hopefully the weather will be warm and sunny.  Anyway, that’s it from me today, not much to report, stay safe and have fun,  Derbi.


Like Vespa, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi and others….this week’s winner of Derbi’s Celebrity Pillion Passenger of The Week is Italian.  Born in 1975, she is a TV & Film actress and director.

Born in Rome, she is the daughter of a film director, producer and screenwriter, her great grandfather was also a composer.

She published a book of poems at age 8, and became an actress at age 9, and was cast in one of her father’s films at 16.

She appeared in the music video for Placebo’s “This Picture”, speaks fluent Italian, Russian and English, as well as French.

To many she will be remembered as “Yelana” in the Vin Diesel film “XXX” and she is Asia Argento.

There hasn’t been a lot of riding this week, but that’s ok.  Sometimes these things happen and Anthony has something else that he needs to do, or the weather is bad and going out for a fun ride isn’t always an option when it’s wet.  Like him, I don’t mind the rain…and if we have to go somewhere and it’s raining, bring it on, but to deliberately go out when its wet….not going to happen.

But that’s ok….I’ve had plenty of stuff to do, such as checkout stuff on the net – the coverage of the Melbourne Motorcycle Expo has been really cool. Was good to see some cool pics of the scooters on offer.   I’ve also been checking out the mcnews.com.au site and checking up on the latest happenings in the motorcycle world and also watching TV….today it’s been NASCAR, also been watching a cool doco on the creation of the Harley Davidson V-Rod….and plenty of other stuff.  So being a scooter and not riding much isn’t too bad….sure I’d rather be out on the black stuff riding around, but its still been fun.  And we will be off for another big ride on the weekend to see Scooter Girl which will be good.

So that’s it, another quiet but good week.  I hope it’s been a good one for all of you, and until next time, …..Seeya.  Derbi.


This week’s winner of Derbi’s Celebrity Pillion Passenger of the week was born in 1972 in Pittsburgh.  She began ice-skating when she was three and later competed in the US championships in 1988.

A stress fracture put an end to her skating career in 1989 and so she turned to acting.  She studied acting at New York University and in 1997 she auditioned for the role of Buffy (which went to Sarah Michelle Geller) in the Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series.  She took a smaller part (the role of Darla) and then continued that role in the Angel TV series.

She has also starred in other popular shows such as Supernatural, CSI Miami, Law & Order and CSI.  She played the lead role in the recent Rambo film, and also starred in the fifth instalment of the SAW movie series, and also the sequel to The Punisher.

She is Julie Benz.
 

As mentioned in my post earlier in the week, it was looking very likely that Monaco would be leaving the garage some time soon, and late last night it happened. 

Old mate Monaco, who formerly graced the pages of this blog with witty and often mindless banter.......has gone to Queensland, off to a new life with a new owner, ready for a whole new adventure

Bye Bye Monaco, you will be missed, but not forgotten.

cheers

Derbi.

No, we weren’t going to a show like Bon Scott sang back in 1975……. but we were riding down the highway (and then back up it!)  

This past weekend, Anthony took me on the trip to see Scooter Girl.  So after being all packed and ready to go, we headed off Friday night about 5:30 for the trip south.

It was a great trip, despite the cool temperature for the last 25 minutes once the sun went down….and the multitude of bugs that splattered both me and Anthony.  It was great to have another chance to get out and open things up on the road.

To give you a bit of background on the way Anthony travels via Derbi…..my underseat storage area is normally used for things like tools, cable lock, wet weather pants etc….so with a bit of moving things around, he was able to get some shoes and a few other things in there, and then the rest of his gear is taken care of in his new hard-shell backpack, which he recently purchased from Rushfaster.  It’s the Axio Fuse 08.   And with some careful packing it’s capable of easily storing a weekend’s worth of clothes, as well as his laptop (which is one of its main functions).  It is comfortable to wear, doesn’t offer any wind resistance and does a great job at safely transporting his gear.  And although its hard-shell protection capabilities are something he doesn’t want to test, it’s nice to know that it’s there.

And so we soon arrived, a bit cold, covered in bugs but smiling because we’d had a fun ride.

The return trip this morning was good too, the early morning sun starting to warm things up a bit once we got going and yours truly ran faultlessly once again.   We had a great run with not too much traffic and showed the many onlookers that a 250cc scooter is capable of blasting down the highway with very little effort.  (Although I’m sure it was easier for me than Anthony as he is a bit tired today)  

But it was a great weekend, and I got plenty of attention lavished on me on Saturday afternoon.  Scooter Girl was shooting a wedding so Anthony gave me a wash (after the bug-fest I needed one) and then a polish and I was all nice and shiny, resting for the weekend in the garage.

So what’s coming up this week…..we may be bidding farewell to Monaco very soon.  Will keep you updated on that event which will take place most likely this week…..farewell Monaco, your place in the garage will no doubt be filled by something that old Merv will need to dump there, but we will miss you.

Scooter Girl has been taking some photos of me out and about and we’ll be continuing that photo shoot on the weekend.  So we’ll have some cool photos available in the near future……so that’s it for me today, have a great week, and I’ll see you out on the black stuff soon…..
 
In honour of the Nikon Indy 300 held on the Gold Coast, Derbi’s Celebrity Pillion Passenger of the Week is a race driver.  

She began go-kart racing in 1992 at the age of ten and went on to win several national championships. She moved to England at the age of 16 Focusing primarily on road racing, and competed in developmental open-wheel series while in Europe.  

Then in 2002, Patrick signed a multi-year deal to race for Bobby Rahal – and started in the Barber Dodge Pro Series, then moved to the Toyota Atlantic Championship in 2003.  

Then in 2005 she moved to the IRL series, racing for Rahal-Letterman, and became only the 4th woman in history to ever race in the Indy 500.  That year she finished 12th in the series and was named rookie of the year.  

She currently races for Andretti-Green racing and won her first race at Japan this year. In November 2008 she will testing with the Honda F1 team, and finished the IRL series in 6th place this year.   She is Danica Patrick

 
It’s been a bit of a quiet week this week once again, but thankfully Anthony had to head down to Murwillumbah for work on Thursday morning, so we got to go for a ride.   The only downside to the trip was the rain, and it was the first long ride in the wet that we’ve had, but it was no real drama.  One of Anthony’s co-workers made a comment about him “braving the wet weather on the scooter”…to which Anthony responded, “it’s not an issue, you just put on the wet weather gear and go….”  

His co-worker doesn’t get it……

But it was a good trip and on the way back we took a detour up Cudgen Road and headed into Kingscliff the back way…..the road was dry and once again we had a chance to drive around some nice corners that we love to travel on.  

Here’s where the best part of the road is located….it’s a bit hard to tell how good it is from the photo, it’s one of those pieces of road that you have to travel on to appreciate it.  It's only a short piece, but worth it.

This weekend we will be out again, Scooter Girl is here and I’m sure that my two passengers will take any chance they can get to go out on the road for a ride.

Here’s me at one of their favourite spots….

And so that brings us to this week’s winner of Derbi’s Celebrity Pillion Passenger of the Week…..She was born in Umbria, Italy and is an actress and fashion model.

The daughter of a trucking company owner, she started modelling at 16 and also once started to go to law school.  She speaks fluent Italian, French and English, semi-fluent Spanish and Aramaic.

Her acting career began in the early 90’s with an appearance as one of Dracula’s brides in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.  She is best known for her role as Persephone in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.  

Her exact date of birth is uncertain and different sources give different dates - the most common years given are 1964 and 1968.  But that doesn’t really matter, no matter when she was born, she’s still worthy of being this weeks winner, she is the one and only Monica Bellucci.

 Today was a long work day for Anthony…..one of those days when office “special-ness” creeps in and makes everyone feel a bit on edge….one of those days when he was itching to get out of the office, strap on his helmet and go for a ride……which thankfully we did.    And now, thanks to good old curtain-fading daylight saving, we were still able to leave at 6:00pm and be out for over an hour.

It was one of those rides where Anthony was into it right from the start…..he seemed to be in a bit of a “drive it like you stole it” kind of mood…..which suited me perfectly.  First up we went out Cudgen road, which isn’t fantastic, until you get to the part of the road where you head down hill towards Tweed Valley Way…..There are some really nice corners on that piece of bitumen, some with very tight bends and very low recommended speeds….corners that just beg you to implement the “double it and add 10” principle…

And so after reaching the highway we then headed south to Tumbulgum and then up over the hill to Terranora….where more cool bends awaited us.    After a bit of a stop to admire the view from the “Azure” estate on top of the hill,  we continued down to the turnoff on Sexton’s Hill, headed north up the M1 to Currumbin, then down around the beach past Elephant Rock, then back up to the Gold Coast Highway and then headed south through Tugan, Coolangatta, Tweed Heads then home…..


This week’s winner of Derbi’s Celebrity Pillion Passenger of the week is a  5 ft 6 in brunette Actress, model, film producer, former WWE Diva and singer…..what hasn’t she done….

She was born in 1970, resides in Los Angeles she is Amy Weber.

Is there anything better than the wind in your fairing, (or for you humans, on your face….) the feeling of rubber on the road and the chance to get out in the sun and just GO………didn’t think so. 

After a quick stop about ¾ into the trip (to let Anthony’s brother know were not too far away), we were back on the road and soon arrived at Southbank, outside the Mantra hotel, and then went inside to meet up with Gavin.

so we headed north, up the Gold Coast Highway to The Spit, SB & SG enjoyed a walk around Marina Mirage, then we headed back down through Surfers Paradise to Broadbeach, where they stopped to hang out at in and around Broadbeach Mall, and then we made our way back home…..5 hours and 170 odd km later…… 

She’s from Albuquerque in New Mexico but currently resides in Los Angeles, she was born in 1985, is a Icon motorsport sponsored Stunt Rider…she is Jessica Maine

 Riding this week has been great.  It started on Monday afternoon with a ride with Scooter Boy & Scooter Girl.  We did a run from Kingscliff, up over the hill to Cudgen, down the highway to Tumbulgum, back up over the other hill to Terranora and then back to Kingscliff.   It was great fun and always good to hang out with my two favourite people.

Next time out on the black stuff was Thursday.  Anthony opened the garage door, cranked up his iPod, and off we went.   We headed up to Tweed Heads, and then followed the beach through Coolangatta, Kirra, Tugan and Currumbin.  After that we headed back down the M1 for a quick blast back to Kingscliff.

So what’s next for this week?   First is a trip up to Brisbane early on Saturday to visit Anthony’s brother, and then a day out on the road with SB & SG on Sunday.  

For some people, its money, power, success, or a feeling of superiority that drives them on and gives them the motivation to get up each day……for me, it’s the chance to chase the white line, follow the black stuff, and go for it……its simple really.  And the simple things in life are often the best…..whether it’s a late afternoon ride to checkout a cool sunset, blasting down the highway or just having the chance to get out and enjoy life with the people you care about and the people who make you happy.

Life is good and the more time we spend riding and doing what we love, the better it gets.  So get out there and enjoy it…….

This week’s winner of Derbi’s Celebrity Pillion passenger was born in Oslo, Norway.
She is the younger of two daughters, her Norwegian father is a teacher and her Filipino mother is a former nurse. She has previously been to dance schools in Scotland, Norway and Canada, and then she moved to London to study musical theatre. From there she went to Canada and landed her first part on television.

She has stared in films such as Lake Placid, 40 Days and 40 Nights, and Elektra, will be starring in Transformers 2 and recently played the title role in the “Scarlet” publicity campaign for LG Electronics

She was born in January 1974, she is Natassia Malthe.

This past week’s weather has mostly been fantastic for riding, and yesterday afternoon was no exception.

We were out for a late afternoon ride, and for a bit of a change of pace we decided to head back home from the Gold Coast via Bermuda Street, but then that got too busy so we turned of at Broadbeach and headed out to the highway once more.
 
Before heading out to the back road we spotted several scooters, lots of bikes…….and a whole bunch of cars  filled with mostly one person that slowly negotiated the late afternoon peak hour traffic……it was satisfying to zip past them as they waited to move a few meters on the road.

And then we were back on the M1, it was throttle down and off we went.   It wasn’t hot or cold, the sun was just going down, and it was perfect weather to get out for a blast down the road. 

As summer is approaching, it will mean more time out on the road during the week, as well as longer rides to visit Scooter Girl on weekends…..(they are both looking forward to that)  And getting out and about in the sun is part of what scootering is all about.  Sure it’s good both economically and environmentally, but primarily its FUN….and that’s just the way it should be.

This week’s winner of Derbi’s Celebrity Pillion Passenger of the Week is a Model, a former Actress, is married to an Indian textile company heir and now lives on a 400-acre organic farm in Gloucestershire.  She played the role of “Vanessa Kensington” alongside Mike Myers in the first two Austin Powers films, was known as “Hugh Grant’s Girlfriend” for 13 years, and started modelling at the age of 29.

She has been described as “one of the worlds most famous arm ornaments, model and some-times actress”, she claims she hasn’t watched television since 1979, she is 43 years old, she is Elizabeth Hurley.
 

 Firstly, Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there…..And because my owner is a dad, it’s a special Happy Fathers Day to Anthony too……

There wasn’t a lot of riding happening this week.  We headed out Monday afternoon for a ride after Anthony finished work which was great – Started with our usual trip from Kingscliff out to the coast road (via Salt & Casuarina) then back out to the highway, up the M1 to Currumbin and then back down the Gold Coast highway to Coolangatta, Tweed Heads and then over the hill to home……but the rest of the week he was either working later or the weather was wet and horrible.   Riding in the rain is fine, but going out for a fun ride when its wet isn’t.  

But thankfully today brought more fantastic weather, we got to go out today for a Father’s Day Sunday morning ride.   It was great fun and we headed to Scooter Boy & Scooter Girl’s usual spots (Currumbin, Point Danger, Terranora…etc)  it was cool to be out on the road once more….we spotted plenty of cool bikes (including an awesome green Chopper at Currumbin) and had a great time.  Hanging out with SB & SG is always good.  They look after me and always take me to cool places.

And so hopefully the fine weather will continue this week….the days are getting longer, (which makes SB & SG happy and they keep mentioning stuff about their Sunday afternoon sunset and cuddles rides….) and once summer hits we’ll be out on the road all the time.  Being a scooter (especially one as good looking as me) is great and being out on the road is the best place to be…

This week’s winner of Derbi’s Celebrity Pillion Passenger of the week is a model and television host.    Although she wanted to pursue a career in plastic surgery, modelling became her career for 15 years, living in Paris, Milan, New York and Los Angeles.

She is currently hosting various television shows in the US, but for those (like Anthony) who remember the 2000 Nintendo 64 game Perfect Dark (and were lucky enough to see the television commercial for the game) you would also have seen her star as the live-action version of the game’s central character, Joanna Dark

She is a tall blonde girl now (she was 5 ft 11 inches tall at age 14)….she has been selected for Maxim magazine’s hot 100 two years running in 2006 and 2007.  She is of Swedish and Russian descent, she is the daughter of a former Victoria’s Secret model, she is Michel Merkin.

Today was a special day because Scooter Boy’s youngest son turned 2.  Yes, his littlest man, Alex, had his 2nd birthday…

He had a cool party earlier in the week with his brothers, Scooter Boy & Scooter Girl his aunty, cousins and his Grandma…and today it was also cool to hang out with him before work.  So once again, Happy Birthday to Alex!!  Hope you’ve had a great day. We all love you very much.

We went out for a ride a few rides during the week, the best one was on Sunday when we (myself, Scooter Boy & Scooter Girl) got to go cruise around and enjoy the fantastic weather and amazing scenery that this area has to offer.  They both had a great time, and I’ve noticed that Anthony’s smile is a bit bigger when he has his girl on the seat behind him.  It was a perfect day for a ride (which was obviously the thought of the other riders that we saw out and about)…..there were cruisers, sport bikes, two police officers….everyone on two wheels was out enjoying the sun – the way it should be.

This week’s winner of Derbi’s Celebrity Pillion Passenger of the Week is once again a musician.  She’s a brunette, but not American…..and like Aprilia, Vespa and Moto Guzzi, she is Italian….she has been singing professionally since 1991, and is one of the lead vocalists of gothic metal band Lacuna Coil.  (Being also from Europe just like me, I thought we’d feature someone this week who is a bit different……..who am I kidding,  I just think she looks hot!)  She was born in Milan in 1972, and her interests include watching movies, cooking, shopping, clothing, and spending time with her friends and family (….did I say she was a singer in a gothic metal band? )  Anyway, she is one of the most popular female rock singers on the planet today, and was featured on the cover of Revolver Magazine’s Hottest Chicks In Metal Issue…..she is the one and only, Cristina Scabbia….


 




 

 After getting serviced last week I’ve been running great.  It’s been great fun heading out for a ride in the afternoons after Anthony finished work, and getting the chance to head up and down the highway, or to cruise along the coast has been heaps of fun.

This weekend Scooter Girl will also be here so we’ll get a chance to head out for some rides, which is always good.

This week when I haven’t been out on the road I’ve had a chance to watch some TV, Anthony recorded the MotoGP from Brno last weekend, so I’ve had a chance to watch that…unfortunately Casey Stoner didn’t win, but it was good to see 7 times world champion Valentino Rossi win again.  It’s going to be interesting to see how the rest of the championship turns out.  It was also cool to see 125cc Championship leader Mike Di Meglio (on a Derbi) up on the podium once more.  I have a feeling that it’s going to be a Rider & Manufacturers championship for Derbi this year in the 125cc category.  (and being a Derbi myself, why would I think any different)

So that’s been my week, it’s been fun out on the road, (had my first trip on a slightly wet road last night).  Anthony is loving his Derbi experience, and its fun to get out and continue to enjoy life on two wheels

This week’s winner of Derbi’s Celebrity Pillion Passenger of the week is a Canadian rock singer, musician, fashion designer and actress.

She was born in Belleville, Ontario on September 27, 1984, and at the age of 16 she recorded her first album.  She released her second album in 2004 and then her third in 2007.  Other work has included the release of “Abbey Dawn”, her self-designed clothing line and also her voice was used in the animated film “Over The Hedge”

In 2006 she was married to Deryck Whibley, lead singer and guitarist for Sum 41 and in December 2007, she was ranked at #7 in the Forbes "Top 20 Earners Under 25", with an annual earnings of $12 million.  Since 2002 she has sold about 30 million albums worldwide, she is Avril Lavigne.

This week saw me reach 1000km and get my first service done at ScooterHQ.  It was organised for Thursday morning, and so early in the morning we headed up to Southport.   It was a cold morning (at least Anthony thought so) and we arrived there about 8:30, I was dropped off and Anthony returned to Kingscliff.  Thanks to the HQ guys for the loaner….

And so I spent the day getting worked on and was then ready to go again. Brendon took me for a spin in the afternoon and then brought me back to the shop in the morning ready for Anthony to take me back home.  He arrived to get me at 8:30 Friday morning and I noticed that was wearing his new helmet.  That arrived Thursday…..and he is now the owner of a Shoei XR-1000 Rogue (limited edition white) helmet.  I have to admit that it looks very cool, and with his camo Draggin’s, he’s looking almost as cool as me.

And so after a chat to Brendon and D’Arcy,  (because he really didn’t want to go to work…) we were ready to go.  So we headed out along Smith Street, took the Coolangatta exit (getting to go round the awesome corner) and then down the motorway to Kingscliff.  We had a good run home and I’m now looking forward to the next 1000km (and more) of fun.

The next winner of Derbi’s Celebrity Pillion Passenger of the week is from Boston, USA.   She has worked with Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio and James Belushi,  She has appeared in films such as Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, Bring It On…the TV series Tru Calling and in 1997 she planned to attend university to major in English, but was offered the role as “Faith” in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Her Favourite colour (like Anthony’s) is Black, she loves Women’s Ice Hocky, was born in 1980, she is Eliza Dushku