Motorcycling & motion sickness

[SteveD]

Thought I'd bring this topic up

Believe me, rider motion sickness happens and is not mythical. amhik.

I know of three great riding roads here in Victoria, Oz that unfortunately make me nauseous. I know of many more similiar roads that don't.

1. Downhill from Cumberland Jn to Reefton, aka the Reefton Spur. No problems going up the hill.
2. Eildon to Jamieson. The third closer to Jamieson and I'm struggling bigtime. This road is curvey, downhill, uphill, varied and technical.
3. Downhill Falls Creek to Mt. Beauty. 20kms, steep and twisty downhill. I get to about 15kms and 4/5 on this stretch I need to stop and hurl. Yesterday was a close call as it was building for 5kms but then came on suddenly into the entry of a 25kph switchback. Thanks goodness for flip up helmuts. I managed to pull over just in time.



The bloke at the petrol station wasn't impressed with me using the windscreen brush to remove the vomit from my left shoulder.

I'm close to 62. This has come on in the last 5-6 years. I do get seasick easily, car & plane travel is fine, though as a boy car sickness was a problem.

I think I'll source some ginger (ginger beer didn't help yesterday) or some antiemetics.

[Rob Frankham]

I feel you should consider going to see a doctor. Motion sickness, especially when it has come on over a (relatively) short period of time can be a sign of various problems. May well be nothing but it's best to know.

Rob

[Steve in Golden]

I have a rather weak stomach, and sometimes feel a bit queasy when on a curvy mountain road as a passenger in a car. Or a rough plane ride. Strangely, this is never an issue when I'm piloting the vehicle, only when a passenger. So for me at least, it seems to be "all in my head".

[SteveD]

It's 5-6 years ago when I first experienced it on the Mt. Beauty road, but a few years earlier on the Reefton Spur.

I still do the Reefton road because it's a sensational half day ride into the hills for me. We have the lovely small town of Marysville which is a great spot for lunch. I now always ride it from the other direction which is uphill.The strange thing is, it happens consistently on the same three roads.

I ride many similar roads quite regularly without issue. I do avoid the roads mentioned, though this past weekend I was with a bunch and they chose two of the three to ride. It was a great 990km weekend ride regardless.




Blue arrows indicate the culprit roads.

[Rob Frankham]

McDonalds, Croydon Hills...
Dinner Plain Victoria...
Crazy Cow Cafe and Bakery...

Am I seeing a connection here?

Rob

[SteveD]

The meatlovers weekend ride!

There was bacon on the ground on the Mt. Beauty road.

[The Veg]

I have never had any stomach problem from motion, but I do have circulatory issues when exposed to high G-loads, for example on roller coasters. When the Gs get strong either positive or negative the blood goes too much to either end and really makes my head hurt.

[melville]

Boy, it looks like I'd let this one pass by without comment. Thanks for bringing my attention to it, Veg.

I have a great abundance of twisty roads around me and a selection of vehicles with which to enjoy them. I'm rarely myself disquieted but my passengers are, sometimes. The rundown:

1. On the moto, g-loads are generally felt straight down, into the seat. Neither I nor my pillions ever report discomfort.

2. In the sportscar, going as fast as on the moto or a bit faster, I have some passengers report discomfort if we have stopped for a meal on the trip. There's some sloshing around of the gut. This is lessened if I'm smooth in my inputs, even if not any slower. This car feels particularly connected to the ground, cornering pretty flat.

3. In the pick-up truck (3/4 ton big American thing) I can go faster than my gut really wants to go. I'll take it down a notch, but my passengers require it to be taken down two or three notches. Again, smoothness counts. If I'm not smooth, the experience in the seats is a wiggly wiggly time.

4. The VW Buses I've had over the years absolutely demand smoothness but are also mostly incapable of the speeds of the above vehicles. If I have a passenger with a known weak stomach, I'll have that one ride in the front seat and coach him or her on where to keep his or her attention. This is usually by taking my internal monologue external and letting them know what I'm looking at. This helps the eyes tell the gut what's going on. The VWs aren't as wiggly as the pick-up, but they do lean quite a bit the wrong way compared to the moto.

And I can't let this pass without hoping that the people and roads in this thread are unaffected by this summer's fires.

[SteveD]

...
And I can't let this pass without hoping that the people and roads in this thread are unaffected by this summer's fires.

From the 26/1/20... this is the eastern area on my route map above. The Blue Duck Inn is where us Oz Boxerworkers have had 3-4 catchups and is on Jeff's favourite road.

six houses and a car were burned in the famous Mt Hotham ski village, while another six homes were lost at the historic Cobungra station, including at least part of the View Estate holiday village.
Three buildings were burned north of Benambra and at least one was destroyed near Omeo.
Three vital bridges were also lost, cutting crucial road links.
The Livingstone and Hinnomunjie Bridges over the Mitta Mitta River near Benambra were lost, as was Gibbo's Bridge on the Benambra-Corryong road.
The wind changed just before the fires reached Omeo, but the 180 degree wind change to the south-west brought havoc to the townships of Harrietville, Wandiligong, Mt Beauty, Mitta Mitta, Towong and Towong South in the early hours of the morning.
Wind gusts of up to 35kph changed the direction of the 120km-long fire front, bringing it up to the outskirts of some settlements.
Jim Brown, who runs the Blue Duck Inn at Anglers Rest, lost his home yesterday, and had to battle to save the historic pub.
"I could see the fire coming up the valley ... I've got a lot of trees around my place, and the tops just started to go and I said I'm out of here," Mr Brown told radio 3AW.
"When I got down the road I just saw my house just explode.
"But as my dear old Dad said, if you can replace it with money it wasn't worth much to start with."

No recent deaths thank goodness.

[The Veg]

Now that the coronavirus has sucked up all the international media attention, what's the state of things fire-wise?