Wednesday, November 28, 2012

2012 Snowy Mountains Ride Part 3

DAY 3
It was decided after a great discussion on which way to go from here that we would not go over Mt Hotham but rather ride around the road to falls creek. I would have liked to do both but only one option was do-able so Falls Creek it was. And it did not disappoint. This road was the most fun of the weekend so far. I love this road and it's only the second time I had ridden it.
It's better than I remember it the first time. Today's efforts were a marathon compared with the previous days.


View Larger Map

We had a bit of a late start out of Omeo on Sunday morning. There were quite a few bikes going through town this morning, it was a great day to be out for a ride. Here's a shot of all the bikes lined up outside of the Golden Age Hotel in the morning.

Here's the view from the balcony of the hotel. Looking up the main street it was a quiet but beautiful morning.














Below: Looking out to the west towards Mt Hotham. To many roads not enough time.

The road out of Omeo towards Anglers Rest is an absolute cracker, I didn't put my gopro on whilst in Omeo as all the others did but I deliberately hang back near the back because I knew I'd be kicking myself if I didn't get any pictures or video of this great road so when I saw a good spot I pulled over. It was only about 10-15 minutes before I had to stop and get the cameras out.

The road winds its way up through lush valleys up the side of hills and mountainous terrain here, with spectacular views. Eventually the road follows along next to Big River. Any road that follows a river is usually a great biking road.

I managed to get some great shots of the guys along this section, first by stopping to photo them. Then I got going again with the video running. After a while I stopped by the road side to film the other guys having some fun. So I never got to run with the fast boys up the front but I was still having an absolute ball down the back of the group but I was not travelling slowly, in fact I passed a few guys then stopped to photo them then passed them again.

Here are some photo's of the boys at play.







It was now time to get back on the bike and chase everyone as I was now right at the back and far behind, but this turned out to be really good because I got to film some of the other guys when I caught up.





I'd decided to pull over again and get some video footage of the guys as they came past, as it turns out the footage turned out pretty good. As you can see at the start you don't want to get it wrong on this bend.




Big River



Finally its been made official, York has been declared hazardous.

Here's a video I've borrowed from bushpig, thanks mate you should have had your new Sony camera on not the old contour its a bit outdated now. Here is Yorks Wombat encounter. Quality here is a bit average but you can still see them ok.





There is always one person on a trip like this that never seems to make it on the one set of tyres and this trip it was Kingys turn. Both me and Bushpig had to laugh back at the very start of day 1 when we'd seen the rear tyre on the blackbird, it looked like it needed changing then. At the start of the day leaving Omeo it was very heavily shagged with rubber peeling off. I took another photo 41Kms later and it was just starting to crack in the centre of the carcass. Then I took another photo at Walwa 230km's later and it was really starting to get badly cracked. It only lasted a little over 1000km from Sydney, but had lots of hard riding. He sure got his moneys worth.
Omeo on Sunday morning.

41km's later at Angler Rest - Just starting to get cracks

230 km's later at Walwa - Badly cracking






We climbed up and over the Bogong High Plains road which wound its way up into the mountains and then out onto the plateau like high plains and across the rooftop of this countries snow fields. The roads surface had lots of grit and gravel tossed in and I had a few front end slides so I decided I'd take it easy after the madness on the way up here. It was a good chance to stop and take a couple of pics. There was still a few snow drifts up here in places.

I noticed that the go pro had run out of battery along here and also the lens had fogged up so it was time to forget it for the day and press on now. You can see the fogging in the following video.






The road comes out around this huge lake in the mountains near falls creek. The views up here are spectacular, I'd really like to come back up here and spend some time to have a really good look around maybe do some bush walks etc. 


After coming down from Falls Creek we regrouped in Mt Beauty and fueled up for the trip out to Khancoban. There was talk of going through Corryong but I much preferred going through Granya Gap and around the river road. The others agreed so we went that way. It was on this 20km winding stretch of road that I found out just how good the BMW S1000RR really is.

The Gopro had gone flat earlier so no chance of any video footage through here. At the turn off to Granya is was starting to get very windy and blowing quite strongly. The was a lot of leaf litter on the road and all over the bends, it was a cautious start(like the first 5 bends). You'd have thought that they would have swept the track clean for us. Bushpig pulled up next to me on the BMW and then it was on. I noticed that he was following me quite closely so I upped the pace. Normally if I'm going as hard as I can I'll drop him off after a bit but not today and not on that bike. After awhile I thought he might actually come round me and I really had the hammer down, but to no avail I couldn't shake him. At the end we came into granya and pulled over only to hear his maniacal laughter coming from under his helmet and him saying "Fuck this bike is good". Shortly after Lost Boy said that I could have a go and I didn't say no. I was straight on it.

First impressions was like 'wow', the back end is hard and it feels like a race bike. It reved out more freely than my R1 did. That engine was oh so good, SO much power and it reved like a maniac. This thing is a rocket ship. There's only one word to describe it. "In-Fucking-Credible".

I was riding it like my bike initially which was not the way to ride this thing. I'd remembered near the end that I didn't need to back the throttle off on up shifts as the electronics would do that for you and a lot better than I ever could. It was a weird feeling holding the throttle open and just changing up without bliping on-off. The thing just accelerated as it changed up gears like a rocket. WOW.
The bike was in full race mode and it was thoroughly enjoyable to ride on the twisty roads. It was very harsh on the suspension especially the back. Might need some tweaking here and there. It looked like a killer on the straight boring roads home though. The brakes on this thing are absolutely phenomenal. They have so much power and feel, I'd braked as I normally do for one bend that was approaching at warp speed only to go into the bend to slow because of those stoppers.

After I got back on my R1 I thought that my bike feels like a sports tourer after riding the beemer. As we headed around to Khancoban for a late lunch I stopped at this little lookout over the valley. You can see the rain coming down in the mountains ahead right where we were headed to.  

Tom Groggin

There was still a small amount of snow on the slopes at Thredbo and there was a chill in the air, that didn't stop bushpig from wearing his thongs out though. 

DAY 4
The final day was a bit of a non event. It was really just the long boring ride back to Sydney on the highway patrol infested roads to Canberra and Goulburn then onto Sydney. It was a foggy morning that greeted us in Thredbo with clouds sitting on the hilltops and it was wet. We had a late breakfast and then headed out just me, Bushpig and Lost Boy. Lucky we didn't see any police on the trip home till nearly into Sydney.

I'd gotten home late in the afternoon and immediately washed the bike, cleaned the chain with kero, re-oiled it and stored it away ready for the next ride. I'd done 2019km's on this trip. I can't wait for the next one. What a fantastic weekend away, I didn't want it to end.

9 comments:

  1. I think you guys had too much fun on your trip. Great roads and scenery and you got to ride the BMW too.

    Thanks for sharing the pictures and video. Such a beautiful area you live in/near.

    Did you guys ever figure out why the wombat crossed the road? Was it just to get to the other side?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey I don't think you can ever have to much fun, but we sure did have oue share that day.

      I wish I lived closer to those roads so we could do them more often.

      Wombats mating in the middle of the road maybe?

      Delete
  2. For Sale: One Red 2000 model Yamaha R1, only thrashed to within an inch of it's life on Sundays, no wheelies or peg scrapes. Offers above $18 000.......how much was that BMW again?

    Got the red mist, all TT style, there tiger! Great photos of some pretty country. Makes me want to head up there again, soonish.

    Lucky those guys didn't hit the wombats. They are built like a tank and would have launched them over the moon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thrashed?? Surely you jest, more like only ridden safely to church on sundays and never ridden in the rain or reved above 5000rpm. Sold to flyboy for $18.00

      I didn't see any red mist, maybe I need to watch the vid back again.

      Delete
    2. Must have just been the camera angle then. ;)

      Delete
  3. Awsome trip!!! I was leaning in my chair watching the videos :)

    Your photos, as usual, are stunning.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My wife keeps asking me why i'm watching the screen with a tilted head, looks like i'm not the only one doing it. Thanks Brenda!

      Delete
  4. Hey great blog I was also watching and turning my head my boss asked what I was watching (training video) looks like a lot of fun not sure about the long day you looked like you aged a heap I thought you where only 22 but you looked 50.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Training video aye, Lets hope you learned a thing or 2. I am only 22, yikes.

      Delete