When is an Adventure ride not an Adventure ride?

Easy, when you have over 150mm rain the night before the ride and all your mates bail on you. The pic below was at 7pm the night before the ride. 

Red line was original plan with 100kms dirt - Blue line actual ride

I'd organised a half road/half adventure ride with the lads down to Tumut the week before as the wife and kids were going to the Hunter Valley.

The excuses started flowing thick and fast from the lads during the week when rain was predicted on thursday & friday. I'd been watching the weather all week and Tumut had no rain up until 25mm on friday so was pretty confident it would be ok. "Oh my fork seal is leaking", "oh my chain is worn out", until finally "we are gonna pull out as we'd rather do it in more ideal conditions". The forecast for saturday and sunday was showers and 1-5mm. That's nothing, sometimes you just have to go all in, pussys.

I was greeted with thick fog at 6:30am which cleared once I got to Penrith. I'd decided to head up the Great Western Highway, good call as unbeknownst to me the Bells line of road was blocked with tree falls. It was clear blue sky's all the way across the Blue Mountains and 18°C.

I'd decide against going down via Oberon which also had 150mm rain over night and decided to head further west.

I came to a causeway on the Tarana rd which had a torrent of water running through it. It wasn't too deep but there are 2 more of these further on and those ones are deeper than this. I didn't want to take a risk being by myself so rode around via Great Western to Bathurst. I went through my first rain shower which lasted about 10 minutes and just wet my visor, road was still mostly dry. 

I then decided I would head south down the Abercrombie Rd to Crookwell. I went through another shower or 2 here that again was enough to wet your visor. Geoff called me and I answered, but the comms is pretty shit at 120kmh cause I couldn't hear him and it cutout after a bit. I could tell by his tone he had FOMO.

Abercrombie Caves park was closed today. Probably due to high predicted rainfall that hasn't actually eventuated. I noticed all the weather reports online this morning had comments turned off. Media scaremongering and climate alarmism bullshit to fit their narrative.

I continued on and had a kamikaze Kangaroo jump out in front of me. He was hopping so slowly and looked soaked haha.

Most of the ride was in sunshine with threatening looking sky's. The road was mostly dry with a few wet patches and was totally empty today and it was fantastic riding.

It's not the adventure ride I was hoping for but still a fantastic road ride in pretty damn near ideal conditions and I was loving it.

Next stop was for Fuel in Crookwell and then a feed. It's not a motorcycle tour without a bakery stop. A coffee and pie hit the spot. I was thinking the conditions would be ideal to continue the rest of the adventure ride. 

After checking the weather again and NSW Traffic app I found out that Wee Jasper road was closed at Brungle Creek. The sky's were starting to get darker and more threatening. Decision made on heading out further west through Boorowa and Harden.

More empty roads and awesome riding. The sky looked foreboding but it was much like that savage dog at the dodgy house down the street, behind that fence that's all it was threatening and nothing else.

Rolling into Jugiong I came upon this fantastic little pub, the Sir George. It's an old pub that's a little bit up market in the middle of nowhere. So I thought it's time for a beer. I even got valet parking right out the front. I can't believe we rode through here for years and never once stopped here at the pub, what a waste. That Crankshaft ale went down nicely.

Just out of town I saw a lookout by the roadside with views over the valley and hills beyond. Beautiful country out here.

It was a short stint along the highway to Coolac where I turned off again down towards Tumut all on back roads through Brungle.

I could see the clouds following me south, building blacker. The road along here has been re-tarred from the Murrimbidgee Bridge to the turn off at the farm and was in top condition also been widened.

A quick stop on the Brungle Road Bridge over the Tumut river. The water was flowing steadily but was quite clear. So quiet out here with no one around.

Getting to the Wee Jasper Road turn offit was only 4pm, so I turned to have a look what condition the road was in. The dirt looked like it had just been resurfaced and was in good condition, slightly damp so no dust and plenty grippy. I turned around after about 5km and thought it was time for a beer at the pub in Tumut.

The lookout over Tumut on the Wee Jasper Road. Awesome views. I was soon in town so filled up cleaned the visor and was ready to go in the morning. The Royal Hotel in Tumut was great. $90 for a motel style room where you could park your bike right at the front door.

Time for a beer or three, whilst I watched out the front window the rain coming down. It lasted for about an hour. Just beat it then.

A glass of red went well and this steak was one of the best I've had in years. Cooked to perfection.

I retired to the room with a bottle of red where I could lazy in comfort and watch some TV.

Sunday morning and I open the door to look outside and I'm greeted with this.......

I shower an pack and look at the weather radar. The rain appears to be heading south. I'm not going to Ride the Brindabellas today after this rain, it was the 2nd part of the adv ride I had planned and I'm not going further into the Snowy mtns either as I'm sure to be cold and wet up there. I get some breakfast at Maccas and decide on my route.

The weather today doesn't look as good as yesterday, but I head off in the dry back up to Coolac and onto the highway. I encounter a few more showers along the highway but don't get wet.

I take the Gunning turn off to Crookwell which has superb twisting flowing hilly curves where I'll get fuel at Crookwell and decide my next move. I thought I'll get lunch at the Taralga pub. Solid plan. Dodging rain along the way.

On arrival at 11:50am its closed. I gear up to leave just as they unlock the doors. I think fuck it they are not going to be doing lunch's right now if they only just opened at 12 so head off.

I keep avoiding rain showers along the road, the road is wet with occasional dry patches and vice versa.

Coming down Abercrombie Gorge I notice the debris on the bridge. Lucky I didn't try and come this way yesterday, it would have had water over the road and probably would have had to turn back.

I decide to avoid Oberon and head for the blue mountains. I'll get lunch at Mountain Pies bakery. I continue down Shooters Hill Road.

I take the Cox River road and join the Great Western Highway and cross to the Bells Line. Looks like there goes my lunch stop, I forgot about the pie shop, disaster. I have one final detour upon reaching Windsor the plains are flooded and I have to double back and adds an extra half hour. Finally reach home about 3pm for lunch and a couple of well earned beers.

Another fantastic ride, lads you missed out on a top ride. Wasn't an Adv ride but I'll take what I can, when I can these days.

A Duc, a Wing and an Eagle

It's been a very slow start to the riding year for me, so much so that on Sunday, I finally got out for the first ride of the year. Its also been summer here and its now just ticked over into Autumn, there seems to have been always something to get in the way of getting out for a ride whether it be work, rain , 40°C heat or just family stuff getting in the way, so it was fantastic to get the bike out for a ride. By the end of today's ride one of us wouldn't make it to our destination and another had ended up ploughing off the road.

Checking the tyre pressures that morning at the servo and the front was down to 25 psi and rear was on 30 psi, yep it has been awhile hasn't it and filling up since the last ride I put in 15.48 litres for 298km's. Not bad that's 5L/100km and on a sportsbike too!

So today's plan was to do a full day's ride into the hills stopping off at Taralga pub for lunch. Geoff picked me up on his way through and then we picked up Wayne in the Blue mountains on the way out to Oberon. Wayne mentioned that his ducati was running very roughly. We didn't realise it at the time until we pulled into the servo at Oberon 120km later and he put in 13L. Wow that's over 10L/100km. He wasn't joking when he said it wouldn't pull out of a corner or couldn't overtake. So Wayne decided to pull the pin as riding an ill performing machine was no fun at all, it was just plain scary. I think it's time for a new bike Wayne.

The first stop we pulled over to take in some of the scenery just south of Black Springs. The pine forests here had been cut down as far as the eye could see. If the greenies in the city could see this they'd be up in arms writing folk songs on their acoustic guitars! As we stopped here we saw a couple of gold wings and Harley's and a concourse pass by enjoying the day.

The ride through the hills here was fantastic although it can get a little rough in places. The best thing about this road is that it's in the middle of nowhere, it starts nowhere and really ends nowhere but has loads of bends and hills. Some of my regular readers might remember me talking about this road last year and about the notorious bend over the crest of the hill that quickly turns and drops away to the right going from wide double lane to narrow single lane. Looks like it caught out one of the gold wing riders that had passed us earlier when we stopped to take some pics. He went straight off the road and went down in the gully. He had broken mirrors, scratched up fairing and damaged crash bars. Not too bad all things considered.

I took some video of the trip today with the gopro. Here is a snippet of the road where it descends down the gorge and across the Abercrombie river. It starts just before the gorge you can see the Blue gold wing at 0:37 and other bikes and it ends with Geoff rooster tailing it at the bottom of the gorge in the dirt.



We arrived in Taralga just on lunch time. There were a couple of other bikes at the pub having some lunch as well. The bar staff here were great fun and very welcoming, asking all sorts of questions about my gopro and the ride. They do a very nice lunch here too. A little later the group of guys with the gold wings pulled in so we had a chat to them to see if all was ok. The rider said he was fine just a little sore around the ribs.

Taralga Hotel

It's all vegan.......cept for the chicken

Bikes at the pub

After a beaut lunch it was time to head back up the same road on the way home. I decided to put the gopro in picture mode every 5 seconds and see what it came out with. As it turns out I got some nice shots and something a little unexpected.

Damn is this thing on...I think it is!

Touring by R1

Bridge on the Abercrombie River

I thought I'd pull up at the bend to have a look and see if there was a gold wing mirror laying about. Looks like they must have taken it with them but I found some other interesting things, like a bike mirror and some other plastic bits and pieces. Looks like this bend has claimed a few scalps in its time.

Did I lose this?

Geoff stops to inspect the bit and pieces

It's time to keep on moving so its back to the bike for the trip back to Oberon.

Is this one mine?

One last look back at that bend, they have put up 45kmh signs on the bend since I last rode down here. It was scary coming into this last year at speed with no warning. It's something you'll never forget that's for sure.

On the way back I saw a couple of eagles flying low over the road, and I saw Geoff looking up at one of them. He had a large wing span with white and brown feathers. Now the picture below I don't remember seeing this until I looked through the pictures later to make this post. What does everyone else think the object above Geoff's head is? It looks like an eagle carrying a rabbit or something to me. You will have to zoom in to see it well.

We pulled into the servo in Oberon for one last fuel up before the trip back across the Blue Mountains. I noticed the price of petrol here was the highest I've seen anywhere. OUCH!

Another fantastic day out on the bike. Lets hope that the next trip is sooner rather than later.