I don't get out of bed for less than ... $32 a day ...

4 February - Did get out of bed at sevenish today for my latest Novex assignment. I had to turn up to King George park in Richmond for a turn as the face of Novex for the photoshoot for their new brochure. It was spitting down a bit but the wind was horrendous. I'd spoken to one of the sidebikers who was telling me that he actually had to get off his bike when crossing one of the bridges. The majority of the way to Richmond is uphill and the wind was blowing straight into me which made the climbs awful. When I reached the Knight Bridge the wind was coming from the east and I had to lean all the way to the side so i'd stay upright - whenever I was passed by a truck (reasonably often) the wake almost sent me tumbling. It took me about an hour to actually ride out there and when I did we had to wait for a couple of the trucks and the photographer. Luckily, there were a couple of cars with air conditioning to hide out in. Had a coffee from the place that did 'the best coffee in the mall' (a cursory look showed it to be the ONLY place that did coffee in the mall) and finally the arrival and the two 2 tonne cubes. The sky was slate gray and it was spitting down rain and the wind was bending all of the trees in the background but I think that the backdrop tells viewer that Novex will deliver in any kind of conditions, no matter whether it's raining or snowing or there is an F5 tornado bearing down on the city. Basically, the shot was the two trucks in the background and a garishly painted van and hybrid car in front of them topped by a stalwart biker glaring like Blue Steel. Got a lift back home by a friendly enough but reasonably bitter and jaded driver (a lot of people in this industry ar like that) who was given a superhot trip in payment (i was the package). Later on met up with dimitri downtown and also got my bike serviced. Had a vetnamese coffee from a pho restaurant on denman, which woulhave to be the worst vietnamese cofee i've ever had (only a smidgent of milk and the guy didn't even know how to set the filter properly) and planned to go to a movie but were denied on the grounds that I couldn't leave my bike inside the premises when we were watcingthe movie (despite assurances from the ticket guy). Were given a couple of discount vouchers in compensation but no movie was to be seen.