Our annual Mudgee muster was upon us again, the ride out was over the Bells Line in the Blue Mountains. This year Geoff was bringing his mate Ray from WA on his ZX-12R as he was over in the eastern states to race his Mustang in the historic championships.
It was inevitable that Ray was going to get lost when any of us were involved, he got out of sight behind and we turned off and stopped around the corner, there's something to be said here about corner man marking system and then before you know it Ray was in Lithgow when the others headed down the Darling Causeway to Oberon.
I saw it happening so Geoff and I went and found him wandering about Lithgow, it was a cold morning around 10°c and the warm fire at the Tarana hotel was welcomed by all as we heated our cold hands by the fire.
Tarana Hotel was only about 15 minutes from O'Connell and as the others took the long route through Oberon we warmed up and partook in a tasty beverage.
It wasn't long before we made our way to the cafe for lunch and the meet up with the rest of the crew.
With lunch and laughs done and dusted we headed out to Bathurst for a quick fuel up and then onto Hill End. But rather than go up the usual route via Turondale Rd, Scotty and myself decided on doing the Bridle Track to Hill End. It had recently opened about 4 weeks before and Flyboy did it on his way home to Queensland and highly recommended it.
The Bridle track technically starts at the Turondale road junction about 15km from Bathurst but the first 22km is tarred until you get to the Box Ridge Road intersection where it turns to gravel road. The road is narrow and winds up around the hillside and then into a valley alongside the Macquarie River.
The scenery along here is simply stunning, the riding was fairly easy going as well. It looks like they have graded the entire length of the track and it's in fantastic condition. You could easily get in here in a 2wd vehicle at the moment.
We stopped several times along the way to take some pictures of the stunning countryside.
As its only one lane all the way, you have to be careful of 4wd's coming the other way. Easy enough on the bike, but if there's two 4wd's then someone is going to have to back up to the nearest wide point.
The track was closed years ago at Monaghans Bluff due to a rock fall blocking the track. Rather than fix this they have put in a detour around it, and that detour is a steep up and over the mountain affair. I wouldn't attempt it if it was raining, its very steep on the Bathurst end and would be very slippery in the wet.
Scotty on Monaghans Bluff
Whilst stopping to take a couple of pics of Scotty coming up I could see the track below following the cliff line around the river. It would have been great to follow it around.
The views from up the top of Monaghans Bluff are spectacular overlooking the river and valleys below. The road at the top is seriously wide compared to the rest of the track and you can easily drive 2 cars wide along the top.
The ride down from the top of the bluff and alongside the river was fantastic riding. We passed a few 4wd's along here coming the other way. Plenty of traffic on the weekend and it would be better to do the track on a weekday if possible.
Macquarie River
There are plenty of campgrounds along the track. It would be cool to do an overnight camping trip here at some point. There was a very narrow rock cutting going up the hill, wouldn't want to meet a car here and that's exactly what Scotty did, luckily the 4wd driver waited until he came around the corner.
It was starting to get a bit late in the afternoon and we decided to press on to hopefully catch the other guys at Hill End pub, but it was looking less and less likely as the faffing around taking photos was putting us behind(it was worth it). We managed to cross the Turon river water crossing with no dramas, it was only about 10cm deep and a bit muddy at each end with 4wd dragging water out, scotty had a few slides in it but was no problem. I went to get a picture but didn't want to keep riding through the mud so kept going.
There were what seemed like hundreds of jumps across the track on the way up, drainage ditches which were good fun. Last stop was at the top of the track which dumped us right at the back end of Hill End. There were plenty of kangaroo's wandering around in the paddocks next to the road too.
We had arrived in Hill End at 3:30pm and the other were nowhere to be seen, so rather than stop for a beer we continued on but just one more quick stop for a photo on the outskirts of town where the tree's were changing colours for autumn which made a majestic corridor of colours.
The Bridle track is now ticked off the list and was much easier than what I thought it was going to be, it probably took us about an hour and a half to ride through it. Some of the best country scenery around and a good ride, better of doing it on a weekday so there is less traffic.
From Hill End Scotty and I made our way into Mudgee and the Oriental Hotel for the night, double room was about $130. The oriental does a great meal and $8 pints was icing on the cake. Another good ride with good friends.
Next day was the ride back to Sydney, about half the group split and went in different directions, but we took the Bylong Valley Way. The dreaded causeway was full of water and I went through and didn't have any drama's, no one crashed in it which was good.
Boys on Bylong Valley Way
We went then down via the Putty Road, a couple of sportsbikes pissed me off going slow in the 10 mile twisties, but got round them and had some fun. Stopped in for lunch at Grey Gums before making our way home. Another top notch trip with good mates.
This ride was 3 weeks ago now and was the precursor ride to our upcoming Snowy Mountains ride in a few weeks time. What's been the hold up? Well I can't really say I've been busy doing anything much, But I watched an episode of Cobra Kai on Netflix one night and got instantly hooked and had to watch the whole two seasons instead of writing up this blog post.
All the regular crew had been lined up for this ride with a couple of new faces being thrown in at the last minute. I picked up Stu at his house on the way to the meet point at McGraths Hill maccas. Stu stopped for fuel on the way and asked if I was fueling up. Nope I got fuel I said. Most of the guys were waiting for us at maccas so I ordered a coffee for Stu and myself whilst we caught up with everyone.
Heading out of Sydney via Freemans reach we turned onto the Bells Line of Road. Just as we passed the petrol station I looked down at my trip meter. It said 210kms. That's odd, did I forget to reset it last time I got fuel? When did I get fuel last? I distinctly remember getting fuel on a sunday last week or was that the week before. Ah shit, I'd better pull over and take a look before we get into the middle of nowhere, then I'll be really stuffed. Looking in the tank I couldn't see anything. Haha I am that idiot who turns up for a ride with no fuel. Don't be like Steve. I think this might be the early onset of Alzheimer's disease. Whipping a u-turn into the petrol station I fueled up in record time, didn't even take my helmet off and was back under way in about 2 minutes. Ah well I'll catch up. Yeah I'm not going to hear the end of this for a while....I can hear Geoff laughing at me now.
Five minutes later about 4 bikes were pulled over, Geoff needed to water the bush scrub, what already? Hahaha 1 All. A quick stop in Bell to catch up and off we headed across the Darling Cause Way to Oberon. A pesky little magpie dive bombed Craig pecking his helmet as we took off then started eyeing me off until I waved my arm at it.
Stopping in Oberon for morning tea at the bakery and we were also waiting to pick up Dave who was coming up from Goulburn, he was only a few minutes behind. Good timing.
Heading out of Oberon Doug took a left and I went straight, thinking he's going the wrong way, but when everyone else followed I thought I'd better get myself following too as I don't know where they are actually going. Doug took us some back ways where he proceeded to take a a wrong turn or two and we ended up on the dirt. He stopped and I had a look on the map. Its about 12km or so of dirt to Rockley or go a hell of a long way back. So off we went on the dirt, however a few turned around chickens. Geoffs new Africa twin was nicely suited for this road and he tore off into the distance.
We arrived in Bathurst and promptly topped up the tanks again and set of for Sofala. It was fantastic weather for riding today 22°C and blue skies. Perfect. I was following behind a couple of the others and I thought to myself we are all riding well and everyone is being quite sensible, that is until I took a peek at the speedo and was a little shocked at how much we'd actually crept over the limit. Oops. Ah well no photos so it never happen right?
It was quite interesting to follow Rolfe on his hired Bagger up the twisties into Sofala. I thought he was going to run off the road several times, the sparks were flying as he fought that hippo bike around the corners and I think those side boards wore out a couple kilos of iron along the way.
We stopped at Sofala so the group could gather back together as we then headed out towards Hillend, one of New South Wales oldest gold mining towns. The gold rush hit hillend in 1850s and by the 1870's the town had 8000 population with 28 pubs. Now however the population is 80 with only 1 pub but is serves good cold beers so its not all bad. An interesting fact in 1860 they proclaimed the town as Forbes, which is actually a town about 2.5hrs further west, then in 1862 renamed it to Hillend.
Sitting out the front of that old pub with an ice cold beer and shooting the breeze was a great way to unwind from the stresses of covid 2020. Talking bikes and beers is always good especially with like minded friends.
Alas we moved on after one beer as the pub in Mudgee was calling. As we arrived the group was split up so I thought I'd fuel up ready for the next morning. Last thing I want to be fart assing around hung over trying to fuel up. So Doug pre booked the brewery for breakfast the next morning. They do a great bacon and eggs and it was much needed.
We took the road out to Rylstone this morning and then turned north along the Bylong Valley Way. It was a fantastic day to be riding out here, much like yesterday's weather and there were riders out everywhere today.
A quick we break in Bylong. There were bikes everywhere then on into Denman for fuel and then onto Broke. From here we made our way back across to the top of the Putty road. It was awesome fun following Dave through the 10 mile.
About half way along I pulled over to take a shot of the old girl. She had just ticked over 70,000km in the middle of one of my favourite local rides. This bike is still awesome.
Thanks for the great weekend away boys. Looking forward to the upcoming Snowy ride.
The Friday pre ride weather reports were in, the weekend was going to be warm and sunny which is just perfect for late Autumn. That was gladly welcomed as the last Mudgee muster it was below 10°C in the mountains and was bitterly cold. Our meeting point was at Richmond for the Sydney crew, but later we would be meeting the Nowra crew out at Oberon.
Heading up the Bells line early around 9:00am there was an unexpected amount of traffic and the rozzers were out handing out performance awards this early in the morning but temps were up around 16-17°C just perfect really.
First pee break around Bell in the Blue mountains and a quick photo op before we crossed over to Mt Victoria and down the pass and onto the Jenolan caves road.
We then turned onto Duckmaloi road towards Oberon and it was a nice smooth run through the hills, where we stopped for a mid morning snack at the wild bean cafe. A toasted ham/cheese/tomato sammich washed down with a nice warm coffee hit the spot.
It was in Oberon we also picked up Dave's crew from Nowra and Geoff and Scotty who had driven up.
Why was Geoff driving you may ask. Well he is is still recovering from his off road crash back on new years eve and still cant bend his leg to get back on his bike. Yes it was a pretty nasty one. At our fuel stop in Bathurst Geoff tried out Bruce's Triumph.
It took a bit of effort getting on and off but you couldn't wipe the smile off his face being on a bike again. Maybe you'll have to sell the MT to me and you can get yourself a Harley mate.
It was decided here to do a lap of Mt Panorama. Why not we only have about a 2.5 hr ride to our destination. We stopped at the top to take in the views.
One lap of the mount was enough before heading out the Turondale road to Hillend. This is a great little ride as it is not very highly trafficked, its a bit narrow and its hilly and twisty. The ride into hillend is also a great bike road and following Craig on his Vstrom into the blinding sun he was setting a cracking pace.
The hillend pub had a fair few people for a Saturday afternoon and we had one quick beer whilst chatting out the front. The tree lined entry into tower was aglow with autumn colours.
Hillend was a historic gold mining town back in the late 1800's and had a population then of over 8000 with 28 pubs but since then its become a bit of a ghost town with a current population of 80 with one pub.
From here we followed the Hillend Road all the way to Mudgee. This is another good fun motorcycle road, again similar to the turondale road being narrow and winding. After about an hour we arrived at our accommodation for the night, the Oriental Hotel. We had booked out all the rooms upstairs and the house next door. At diner our table was reserved and it looks like they heard a famous motorcycle racer was in town. The food here was great and the accommodation was good and reasonably priced at $50 per head.
We finished up just before midnight but some of the other boys decided to go out for a few more. We were waken at 2.40am by 2 of the boys returning trying to get in when they were staying in the pub. Slomax was not impressed. They will have sore heads when they wake up.
Sunday morning greeted us with rain. WTF, the forecast was for clear weather and so I didn't pack any wet weather gear. Bruce asked how long I'd been riding. 25 years and I haven't learnt a thing haha. But it was light rain and it didn't last long as a cold front had come through.
We made our way down to the Mudgee Brewery for breakfast. Poached eggs on toast with bacon hit the spot nicely whilst we waited for the rain to move on. Topped off by a wake the hell up coffee.
When we finished and came out there was a shroud of mist streaming from my ventura bag as the sun heated it.
The 2 drunken louts from last night failed to appear for breakfast and we ended up leaving them as they were making their way back to Newcastle as the rest had to get to Sydney/Nowra and would run out of daylight waiting around.
So we headed off towards Rylestone on wet roads but thankfully there was no more rain today. By the time we got onto the Bylong Valley way the rain had all dried up making for a more enjoyable ride.
We stopped in Bylong for Stu and Graham to catch up. There were quite a few bikes out today. Some of the surface along the Bylong road was in very poor shape, but there were also some new sections that were pretty good.
Our next stop was in Denman for fuel before we stopped in at Broke for a spot of lunch. It was here we parted ways with Dougie & Craig heading down to Wollombi whilst the rest of us made our way via the Putty Road. Stu said that we should take it easy on the Putty today. Here's how it went.
We stopped at the Grey Gums Cafe but only so that we can all regroup and make sure everyone made it through the 10 mile twisties ok before we continued on. It was a good day on the putty today, nice and warm and no rozzers.
As I sit here and type this on Monday morning(the man flu caught up with me) the cold front that has swept through eastern NSW over night has brought snow to the Blue Mountains, Bathurst and Oberon with temperatures into the negatives with wind chill. Looks like we lucked out with the weather to our good fortune as none of us would have been prepared for negative temps. Another great weekend ride away, thanks Stu for organizing everything.
