2022 Alpine Ride Part 1

DAY 1

This years Alpine ride was going to be similar to the other years with similar route plan. I was thinking of changing it up a bit on the second day by doing something slightly different. But first it was time to put a new front tyre on as the Karoo3 may or may not make the trip. I sourced a Karoo4 as the 3's are now obsolete. 

Karoo4

I dropped by Stu's house and met up with the Sydney crew heading out at 7am. It was fresh at 13°C and only a handful of days out from summer. This would be the theme for the trip so we would find out.

Our first stop was for a coffee and sausage roll at trappers bakery in Goulburn where we picked up a few more riders as we continued south. Dave's new Superduke 1290 looks mighty impressive. Like, will that rear tyre last the trip. 

Day one of this trip is always a bit of a slog as its really a commute day to get down south to ride the good twisty roads. Lunch was had in Nelligen, but I wasn't that hungry so opted for a coffee and Caramel tart instead. It had warmed up to a balmy 20°C.

NSW roads have become a minefield of potholes over the last 12 months with all the rain events we have had. The ride down to Braidwood was an excursion in pothole avoidance. Clyde mountain was filled with cars and some of NSW finest hair dryer operators trying to collect some funds to fix the roads.

Filling the tank in Batemans Bay, it took 15 litres for 330kms or 4.5l/100km. The Old Africa Twin is impressive on the fuel economy I must admit. Next stop was the usual rehydration stop at the Narooma Hotel.

Before making our way to our destination for tonight at the Tathra Hotel and picking up the last of our riders here. A total of 17 this year.

Tathra Hotel has some beautiful views out over the ocean, except it was far too cold and windy out tonight to enjoy them. We managed one beer out of the wind in the small alcove before retreating to the warmth of the pub and a delicious diner. Notice none of the locals were outside, that's how cold it was.

DAY 2

The weather today was a mighty improvement over yesterday, it was still a chilly morning but top temp was going to hit mid twenty's. Hooray for us. First stop was for a bite to eat at the local bakery. When 17 bikers turn up at the same time it can take a while.......

The route today was the same as last years, with us going up Mt Darragh and across to Bombala for a fuel stop before tackling the Bonang Highway. Here the group usually splits into 2, with the more precious riders that don't want to do the 10kms of dirt on the Bonang turn down Cann Valley way and meet at Orbost.

This year I was going to make it a 3 way ride. I bought some extra water and some lunch whilst fueling up in Bombala. Everyone that was interested last night in my alternate route now chickened out. That made me more determined to do it even if I went alone. I told them where I was going incase something went wrong. So when we got to Bonang I turned off the road and onto McKillops Road. Geoff stopped with a look of concern. I could tell he didn't want to ride this road but he also didn't want to let me ride it alone either. Either way I would have done it alone but company is always the prefered option.

So 150kms of dirt riding coming up, the road was in pretty good condition compared with some of the tarred roads we have ridden. The road followed the Deddick River for quite some time. We stopped several times to admire the views.

Plenty of rock faces on one side and big drop offs into the river on the other side. It helps keeping your concentration levels up but the scenery through here was awesome.

It seemed to take quite some time to actually get to McKillops Bridge but it was only 58kms from the turn off, but we stopped several times and were only doing about 60kmh as the road was narrow and twisty.

As we arrived I noticed 4 KTM riders parked up, looked like they were fixing one bike. Speaking to them they were the sweep riders on a 70 rider group heading to Jindabyne tonight. Luckily they were leaving as we were stopping for a bite to eat. I cracked out the sammiches and Geoff had some chocolate so we shared and had a cool drink in the shade whilst admiring the views. The bridge is 255m long and spans the Mighty Snowy River. The original bridge got swept away in a flood the day before it opened in 1934.

The road out of here was a steep and narrow 10km climb out into the vic highlands which meets up at the Barry Way.

It wasn't long before we came upon Little River Falls. A quick stop for a drink as it was thirsty work now it was getting warm. Surprisingly we passed 5 or 6 cars along the road, lots for a minor back road.

Little River Falls

From here it was only a short fun ride to the Barry Way turn off. It looks to be all tarred from the turn off down to Buchan, but we turned north and headed to Limestone Road. I was surprised as there was 8kms of good tar on the Barry Way. I thought it would be all dirt.

I must say the new Karoo4 was handling the dirt better than the Karoo3, I didn't have any front end slides or moments of any kind and I was getting better at braking into corners. Bit more dirt and my confidence is slowly coming along. Only about 80km of dirt to go and then back onto the tar again.

Limestone road had a bit of every type of gravel on it. Good fast compact gravel, slippery new rocky gravel and a fair amount of rutted gravel corners thrown in, but was a good fun ride through some beautiful countryside. We stopped at Native Dog Flat campground for a drink. Geoff then remembered he had a bag of donuts he bought at the bakery this morning, we made quick work of those before heading off again.

It took us about an hour to get to Benambra. As we came down from the hills into the valley to Benambra I was thinking this rich green beautiful area is truly god's country. Amazing. Stopping at the intersection in town we both spied the pub across the road. I asked Geoff if he needed Hydration, it was a dumb question. We settled in for a couple of quick pots, as it was only a short 22km ride into Omeo from here.

The road from Benambra to Omeo is a cracker too, wishing I had my R1 for that bit but we still had fun.

As we arrived in Omeo I notice Dave was here and a couple of the others had just arrived. Impeccable timing. So we all caught up over a few beers. We made sure that the guys that chickened out on the ride heard all about the great ride up over McKillops Bridge really was. They saw the photos and then they wished they had come along. Next year fellas.

Geoff keeping the hydration up, only problem is two hands and only one mouth

Day2 Map Reference

Snowy Ride Part 1

 It's that time of year again when we venture into the NSW Snowy Mountains for our annual bike trip away with the boys (and girls). As luck would have it Victoria opened up the week before so we could venture further this year. So I packed all my stuff onto the big twin and headed to Stu's. Weather predictions were dire this year with up to 30mm of rain for saturday and sunday.

I don't think Geoff knew which bike was his.......

I decided to take my textile suit this year instead of leathers with rain suit. Less to pack but its untested in the rain so this could be disaster if it gets cold and wet. Dry rider gear is renowned for not being dry.

Next stop was Marulan for breakfast and wait to pick up the crew from Nowra. Yep you guessed it another bakery stop but I opted for a sausage roll instead of a pie, because that's how I roll.

Then it was back to the bikes and head out through Bungonia and down to Tarago. There was lots of roads works and 60 zones through this bit.

The ride down through the King's Highway was a bit of a car park. The road surface was better than its ever been. I would have been angry if I got here on the R1 only to find it filled with slow moving cars but on the AT I didn't really care and just admired the scenery.  The temperature rose sharply as we came down the mountain to about 30°C, I was starting to swelter in my gear. I had to take off my thermal top, far to hot for that. Lunch stop was in Nelligen and we picked up another 3 riders here.

With my gourmet chiko roll dispatched it was time to mount up again, it was here I noticed Doug tapping his foot. Yep the cat herding has commenced. Next stop for fuel in Batemans Bay before heading down the south coast.

 

After fueling the big twin I was surprised at how little it was using compared to my R1. I'm starting to like this bike. I more on this later. We stopped at the usual pub in Narooma for a beverage before continuing on down the coast to Tathra.

The scenery on the south coast is spectacular and not that much traffic, although it is busier now than it was years ago.

Our destination for tonight was the Tathra Hotel. It was quite windy with lots of white caps out on the ocean and the temp also quickly plummeted with the sea breeze and we were back into jumpers.

It was good to catch up with everyone over a few well deserved beers and just chat about things in general after the year we've just had. Tathra pub makes it own beers and a few taster plates were sampled.

Day 1 Map

Day 2

Lucky for us the pub closes early on Thursday at 9pm so we didn't have too sore heads in the morning. To my absolute horror we had breakfast at the bakery again this morning. Loading up the bike is a breeze with the SW Motech drybag. 4 Clips and it clicks on and pulls down tight in no time. Super easy and I'm sure it has more space than 30 litres. Scottys bag was 50 Litres and they looked the same size. Nice and easy to oil the chain by myself with the centre stand now away on trips.

Breakfast bakery stop

The more thirsty sports bikes stopped for fuel here but I thought I'd wait until Bombala and see how it went. I swapped bikes with Brett as he was interested to see how the AT went. As I was putting my gloves on and getting ready to mount his MT10 I saw the AT on the back wheel going up over the hill. I think he liked it.

As we went down through the twisty hills near Myrtle Mountain I was following both Dave and Brett on the MT10 and Tuono. As it was my first ride in the twisties I was riding quite conservatively, however they didn't get that far in front I could still see them. The big AT is heavy to throw around in the twisties but as this is my first real ride on the thing I want to know how it handles before pushing it too hard.

Fueling up in Bombala I'd used just under 12 litres for 260kms. So I had a third of a tank left and could have ridden another 120kms and in comfort. I'm really starting to like this bike now. From here the group split as the nancy boys er sportsbike riders took the Cahn Valley way and the rest of us took the Bonang Highway. The dirt section in the middle is down to 9kms now. This was the first time I could keep up in the dirt doing a modest 85kmh. The rain that came through before us had kept the dust down to a minimum. 

The Givi tank bag is another great purchase for this bike. Fits in heaps of stuff and its out of the way, I've got somewhere now with easy access for my camera and a drink.

I am really starting to love the engine on the AT as I could just put it in 3rd and ride the torque curve up and down, it would still punch out of the bends and the brakes are so good to pull this heavy bike up, you don't actually notice how good they are because they just work. Between 35kmh bends it requires a fair effort to get it turned but it's quite rewarding actually. It soaks up just about every bump with its long suspension travel. I notice when hard on the brakes the front suspension dives quite heavily with all that travel. 

Next stop was in Orbost for lunch and to meet up with the soft cocks er non dirt riding fellows. The bikers special toasted ham/cheese/tomato sammich was excellent together with a flat white. Not to heavy. I decided I didn't need fuel here either, gee I'm filling up a hell of a lot less times on this trip.

I was going to stop somewhere on the Buchan road to take some photos but was having so much fun leading the group into town I just couldn't stop. You can't see it but there's a huge grin on my face.

Next stop was for fuel in Bruthen, probably could have made it to Omeo that night without filling up, but it would be easier to do it here then we can get to Tallangatta on one tank. 

As we turned at Swift's Creek Geoff lead the others up the garden path so to speak so I used this opportunity to get out the front and find somewhere on the road I can stop for a couple of pics. There were several good spots of which I choose none. Still got to do 2 of my hobbies in the one day and get some pics of the boys and girls at play.

The 24-70mm F2.8 lense I find limited at the track so it gets used for pitlane duties and not much else, but it is actually very useful on this bike trip. Still an extra 50mm reach would have been nice but it got the job done and I'm reasonably happy how the images turned out seeing as I was only ever going to get one chance at getting them on one pass. No practising out here.

It was time to put away the camera's as it was now beer o'clock and time to get into Omeo for a ice cold refreshing ale or two. 

Omeo Main Street

Looks like we beat the weather again today, with only a bit of wet road so no testing of the dry bag or my wet rider gear. I'm content with that.

Emperor Palpatine - These aren't the beers you're looking for

Cheers

Day 2 Map