World Superbikes and Tassie Trip 2018 - Day 1 and 2

Last November plans were hatched to go to the World Superbike opening round at Phillip Island and then after that we would take the ferry across Bass Strait to Tasmania. It has been about 15 years since I'd visited either by motorcycle so I was excited to be heading back.

With my recent knee injury I was a little concerned about being able to ride for long stints. An MRI turned out that I had a knee fracture but the only thing for it was Physio, so I got hooking in to get as well as possible in anticipation for the ride. It has been so long since I'd been on my motorcycle I'd almost forgotten what it was like to ride it, I hadn't been on the bike since November last year.

DAY 1

We left early from my place with Stu and Bushpig just after 7am headed towards Goulburn via the dreaded Hume Highway. I packed my sheepskin just for this section. Two hours later we had arrived and refueled the bikes and met the others(Dave and Bruce) at the bakery for a spot of breakfast.

With the hunger wolves now at bay it was more dreaded highway down to Yass where we picked up a couple more people, Doug and Craig with now seven of us all told. We continued down to Coolac where we finally turned off the highway (yay) and took the back way into Tumut. Headed out of Tumut we took the Rosewood road up through the pine forests, this is a great bit of road in the middle of nowhere, thank you logging industry for providing some motorcycle heaven. We then stopped in Tumbarumba at the bakery for a spot of lunch.

Leaving Tumbarumba behind we headed down to the NSW/VIC border via Jingellic and onto the Murray River road and up over the Granya gap. I struggled riding through the Gap a bit as I couldn't put weight through my knee to weight the pegs and hang off into the bends so I had to counter steer every corner without hanging off, which became a bit slow and tiresome but still a lot of fun being back on the bike.

Dederang Hotel

We were soon pulling into the pub at Dederang which was to be our destination for tonight. The accommodation is quite reasonable at $40 a night with continental breakfast. Dave and I stayed in one of the cabins out the back which cost a little extra but we were in total luxury.

The local constabulary turned up to the pub and was checking out our bikes, he said a quick hello and then went off to see the publican. Putting the bikes around the back we settled in for a few well earned ales.

Inside our cabin

Dederang pub can be contacted on 02 6028 9325 the rooms are quite good and the cabins are fairly new and very comfortable so its a good spot to stay also putting you in reaching distance of the Victorian high country with many loop rides nearby.

Day 1 Map Reference

 DAY 2

Today's trip would include some great motorcycling roads unlike day 1 which was half highway half twisties. I'd skipped the free toast for breakfast as Doug had said we'd stop at the whitty cafe for breakfast about an hour away. We refueled in Myrtleford on the way to Whitfield. Sitting at the cafe eating breakfast we watched probably over 100+ bikes go through. They do a great breakfast here too and are very bike friendly. 

I hadn't been down the Whitfield road for about 20 years so it was almost like a new experience for me although I did remember the big views over the valleys. It's a great bit of road with a bit of everything, sweepers, tight bends and elevation changes with views and vistas.

Bushpig nick-named Doug's bike the Stukka, because;
A: Its German and
B: It comes in from behind and dive bombs you before shooting off into the distance.

Here's a short video of the Stukka in action on the Whitfield road.

We refueled in Mansfield for the trip across the Jamieson to Eildon Road. This is a road I've never ridden on before but had read a lot about it so this was a first for me. The road didn't disappoint it was an absolute cracker. There were so many bends by the end of it I think I was just about all 'bended' out and was hoping for a few straights. SHIT did I just say that?

Goulburn River

Jamieson - Eildon Road

Lake Eildon

The lookout is at the Jamieson end not far into the twisties but with superb views below of the lake. From here the road twists its way around mountains with 55km corners which slowly turn down in speed until you doing 35km and 25km corners. I was quite exhausted by the end of 60kms of just bends. With counter steering the whole way it wasn't making it easy, I couldn't ride my normal ride by not being able to hang off and attack the bends but boy was it still a hell of a lot of fun.

Lake Eildon Lookout

Here is a short 2 minute video of what the first section of the Jamieson Road is like from the lookout above. The road tightens up after this.

We had a brief reprieve from the twisty goodness that was the Jamieson road as we pressed on down to Marysville. Then we turned off here and instead of doing the black spur, Doug took us down the Reefton Spur yet another first for me as this is another famous bike road that I'd read about but never done. Two first's in the same day with brand new twisty motorcycle roads. I'm loving it, bring it on.

Mansfield

Reefton Spur

R1 on the Reefton Spur

The first section of the spur was a little more open and flowing as the road ascended into the forested hills. There were so many dead trees, probably from bush fires in recent years that have swept through the hills killing all the trees. It was quite erie to behold.

After this the road seemed to descend for miles and miles and the road became narrow and very twisty, plenty of 25 and 35km corners and all this after the work out earlier on the Jamieson road. The constant downhill bends were giving my wrists a workout. I bet this road would flow much better in the other direction as it would be mostly uphill. I didn't put my gopro on here as it was almost flat from the jamieson road but it would have been nice to get some footage.

After what seemed like ages of corner after corner action we finally came through Reefton (not much there) and into Warburton. Refueling the bikes it was time for some lunch so we found, you guessed it another bakery. With coffee and pies dispatched we then turned towards the Island which was not too far away, only about 2 hours. I was thankful as I was beginning to get tired by this point.

Map of the 2 Spurs

After some more great little back roads out through to Drouin we reached the Island and our rental house where we unloaded our gear and got ready for diner and beers at San Remo's pub(s), I also found out that there is more than 1 pub in San Remo. Who would have known as I never made it past the first one.

The view from our house over Cape Woolamai

Cheers Boys

All up a great days riding down to the Island, I think I prefer this way to come because most of the riding is very twisty and often at or below legal speeds as opposed to the Great Alpine Road which is very open and conducive to higher speeds and then after that there is 4 hours of boring flat straights to ride along to actually get to the Island. The way we came today only had about 30 minutes of boring bits to get to the Island so that's a big win in my books. Bring on the SUPERBIKES!!!!!!!



Map Reference

Phillip Island Trip Day 1 & 2

DAY 1

With a week off work and MotoGP on the cards at Phillip Island you could have excused me for being a little excited about hitting the road. That's an understatement if there ever was one. I was frothing at the Gib to get going as I hadn't ridden to the Island in years. I had packed my backpack as best I could. This new R1 has no luggage carrying capacity, that was my first hurdle but I didn't let that dampen my enthusiasm as Bushpig and I hit the road at 7:30.

First up was the boring slab work along the dreaded Hume Highway to Goulburn which consists of long boring straights that go on forever. Goulburn was our first fuel stop and time for a quick coffee at Trappers bakery. They do excellent pies and sausage rolls here, just take the second exit from the freeway or you'll have a 15 minute ride through town, it's only a minute from the second freeway exit. The local highway patrol arrived and there was 6 or 8 of them, just after we had our coffee which I was keen to get going and leave them, where we know where they are. I'd noticed my rear tyre was balling up rubber just on this straight slab section, that's how soft these bridgestone RS10 battlax tyres are. I was hoping they would make it to Bairnsdale as I'd booked a tyre change there tomorrow morning.

Next stop was Cooma for more fuel and a cool drink. As we had been doing mostly straight roads to here with a 110 kmh limit I'd noticed that the fuel economy on the R1 was pretty good when just riding steady and it was getting figures of 4.8 - 5.0 L/100km. I was pretty impressed with that. We could have ridden to Queenbeyan for our first fuel stop but I was being cautious. I don't want to run out again and it also gives me a little break. 4 hours in the saddle and I was getting a sore ass, this seat seems to be a lot harder than the older bike.

Cooma

We had to stop again shortly after in Bombala as the trumpy needed some fuel. He didn't fill up when I did in Cooma so we had another short break. Just after the photo below we had our first encounter with the NSW HWP who were hiding off the side of the road with the radar out, he was shaking his fist at us as we went past. Was it because we weren't going fast enough to book us or was it for us to slow down, I'll never know. We were only just over the limit. We knew we were going to see HWP patrol out for MotoGP weekend as its been blasted all around in the media, but it wasn't the NSW HWP we were worried about. No Vicpol are notorious for pulling some dodgy stuff.

Delegate

Turning off after Bombala we headed into Delegate and the Bonang Highway. There were lots of bikes heading down this way with a few passing by us a some speeds we thought were a bit fast, especially seeing it's HWP season.

The first section of dirt on the Bonang seems to be a lot shorter now more like about 3kms rather than the 7-8 kms it used to be, but the twisty dirt section is still 10 kms long. The R1 handled it pretty easily with only the occasional sliding about, Bushpig disappeared on the trumpy. Then the road gets into the thick of it with 105kms of beautiful twists and turns. Unfortunately the speed limit has been dropped from 100kmh to 80 kmh making this a perfect spot for the HWP to lurk about.

Beautiful twists and turns on the Bonang

No longer than 5 minutes after the we stopped at the curve in the above picture than we came down this wee little straight in the picture below. BAM out onto the road pops one of Vicpols finest and it's all over. Nice hiding spot in the bushes. Bastards got Bushpig, and just as we were leaving they were pulling in the next lot of bikes. We spoke to that guy in Bairnsdale later that night and 3 of his mates got done and the next lot of guys behind them. Everyone was less than 20 kmh over. They must have made thousands that day. Revenue or safety - I'll let you be the judge.

A brief stop to chat at the fire place in the above picture and there must have been 20 bikes went past us. I said to Bushpig "Look at how slow all of these bikes are going, I bet every single one of them just got done." He nodded in agreement.

We rolled on out a little more weary and with a lighter hip pocket as we finally motored into Bairnsdale late in the arvo. Filling up I noticed a pub next the the petrol station. I said lets stay here as after sitting on the R1 for 750kms was really starting to hurt my ass now and I didn't really want to ride any further. Luckily they had a room at the pub and we finished the night with several refreshing ales.

DAY 2

We started out by dropping my bike off at Bairnsdale Yamaha for a new set of hoops. The old tyre had just started to crack in the centre of the carcass. It was completely shot with only 2600 kms on it. I think I would only get these tyres again if I was doing a track day as they had excellent grip but oh so short life. I went with a set of Bridgestone S20 Evos.

Whilst my tyres were getting fitted we made a bee line for the main street to get a yummy bacon and egg breakfast. We were not disappointed. With our bellies full we made our way back and picked up the bikes and made our way through East Gipslands quagmire of road works and potholes till we got to Mirboo North. The victorian roads used to be in great condition compared with NSW roads but now they seem to be reversed.

We stopped in for a spot of morning coffee and a toasted samich at the Inline 4 Cafe. What a great little cafe this is with all the motorcycle paraphernalia inside, they even had a set of Casey Stoners Repsol leathers hanging up. The food and coffee was fantastic and a great atmosphere to boot. I highly recommend any bike riders to stop in here and support these guys.

Inline 4 Cafe

Interesting table decorations

Tom Sykes WSBK 2012 Tyre

Bushpig just had to have a photo with the sign below, he couldn't help himself.

The final stretch from Mirboo North out to the Island itself was short and sweet and we were there in no time, it's a bit of a boring ride and we had to stop in at San Remo to have a quick beer to appease the motorcycling gods. Iwas glad to get off the bike as I was quite tender around the buttock area. Yes I know it's not a sports tourer.

Beer at San Remo

Selfie Time

Getting to the cabin in the caravan park at Cowes I waited for a bus to the track but it never came. The caravan park owner took pity on me and gave me a lift out to the track. There are still some good people in the world after all. I gave him the $10 that I was going to give the bus driver for beer or petrol either way he didn't have to do it and was a nice gesture that was very much appreciated. I did have visions of him axe murdering me when I noticed he wasn't driving in the direction of the track but it was all good.

After watching the last of the Aussie superbikes and supersports it was off to the camp ground for some beers with some of Bushpigs mates and other like minded people.

Phillip Island Track Day Nov 2014

Cresting the hill on the main straight, grid markers flashing past, the overhead bridge flashes by as I look quickly at the dials, 250+kmh speedo and tacho passing the red line in 5th gear changing up to sixth looking ahead all I can see is the track disappearing over the crest and into the ocean. I know there is a right hand bend coming up fast but I can't see it yet. The adrenaline is flowing fast now. This has got to be the best race track in the world.



A couple of days earlier........

Loading up the trailer with the bikes on thursday night for the trip down to the island was pretty easy, it only took about 10 minutes, unlike the drive that was ahead of us on Saturday morning. It was a 1000km 12 hour journey, which was made a little easier as both Bushpig and myself took turns in driving.

Road tripping

The Island approaches

Paying the Toll

We had left Sydney around 6am for the long boring trip down the Hume(Doom) Highway. Why this road only has a 110kmh speed limit is beyond me. It could quite easily be 130 or 140kmh. Hour after hour and mile after mile of boring dry country scenery we were finally coming into view of the bridge onto the island at San Remo. We had to pull in a pay the toll at the San Remo hotel. Bushpig said it would bring good luck and please the motorcycling gods or some such thing.

Phillip Island is a pretty place in its own right even without having one of the best race tracks in the world on it doorstep. The Sunday dawned a perfect day with sunny Sky's and a warm 24°C. So we had a bit of a look around the island and went out to the knobbies where they have seals, penguins and seagull colonies. We didn't see any seals or penguins but there were thousands of seagulls shitting on every ones cars. But we didn't really come here for sight seeing we came to race er ride the track. You decide which one we were doing. Technically they call it a ride day, but just about every one we saw looked like they were racing each other.

Main Street of Cowes

Waiting to get into the track. Funny thing that this guy in front was in the garage next to us.

For those of you who have never been to a track day before and were wondering how it works it is pretty simple. You pay your money and sign away your life via their indemnity forms then you are allowed into the track where your bike has to pass scrutineering. You also need a full set of leathers, gloves and boots and helmet. Back protectors are highly recommended but not mandatory.
There are 4 different groups of riders; Red(Fast), Green(Medium/fast), Yellow(Medium/slow) and white(Slow). Groups are checked and if your to slow/fast for a group they will move you either up or down. You get 6 - 20 minute sessions throughout the day which are 1 hour apart, which actually comes around quite fast on the day. That's pretty much it about it. Ride as fast as you possibly can without binning it is the general idea.

We got to the track early about 7:15am and the line to get in already stretched out to the road. I was feeling a little zombified as I didn't sleep real well the night before. I guess the anticipation of the days events were playing on my mind and I only slept very lightly. It felt like the alarm had gone off just after I fell asleep. It was one of those nights where I was drifting in and out of sleep. It was also my first PI track day and we are in red group, so I was a little nervous.

The skies had grayed over and looked ominous as we waited to get into the track. Indemnities signed and we were allowed in. We quickly found our garage where Stuart and Rick were frantically unloading all of their gear and race bikes. We just unloaded bushpigs R1 and were about to unload mine when Phillip Islands meteorological system decided it was time to dump on us. So we left my bike in the trailer until it could be retrieved in one of the few dry bits between some of PI's best rainfall.

Once unloaded we promptly went through scrutineering promptly and got our bikes back and on the stands with our tyre warmers on. Then we waited....

and waited...

and waited some more......

and it rained.....

and rained some more......

so we waited some more.....

Whilst the bikes sat idle in their nice and cosy tyre warmers. 

Early on during this time I'd texted Jules of Tarsnakes fame as he was coming out to the track today to see us, take some photos and generally check out how a ride day operates. I'd just finished texting him the garage number then he suddenly appeared right in front of me phone in hand. Well that was a stroke of luck. The officials had the wet signs out meaning no slicks, I wasn't prepared to go out anyway until it dried. So Jules, myself Stewie, Rick and Bushpig all had a good yack about all things bikes and other such things.

This was the theme for the day

Race ready

I'd felt a bit bad about Jules coming all the way out to the Island only to have bad weather have us stuck in the garage most of the day. We did have a great chat together though so it was still good. And mate if your up this way next year make sure you drop by and say g'day, your welcome here anytime. Thanks for the lend of the jacket too mate, much appreciated. I put my leather jacket on after you left that kept me warm enough even if I did look funny in shorts, thongs and leather jacket.

Phillip Island ride days have a bunch of BMW S1000RR bikes that you can hire for the ultimate track experience. Just don't crash them as the excess is $5000. We saw about 3 or 4 of these go down the track in the rain on the Monday.

The guys in the garage next to us were on street tyres and the rain wasn't going to stop them from going out. Bushpig still had his road going tyres on so he got out for 1 early session where it was still wet but stopped raining briefly until near the end of the session where it started to rain again. The smile on his face when he came back in said it all. I think the words were something along the lines of "Fucken unreal". That was pretty much the end of day one as Phillip islands weather put us to the sword as we just waited and watched. At least while we had all this down time Rick was put to good use and set up every ones suspension sag settings in the garage. He has since been nicknamed Dr Kwok. Lets hope tomorrows weather will be a bit more co-operative. This was the reason we booked for 2 days - insurance against the weather. Rick didn't get out as the race bikes had slicks and Rick was only booked for one day.

Photo courtesy of http://tarsnakes.com.au

Not all bikes that went out came back in the same condition

Day 2 started out a little more promising as there were patches of blue sky with ominous looking rain clouds passing overhead. The track had a dry line on it but still had wet patches. Stewie and Rick both said that I should swap the slicks for the road tyres to at least get some time on the track to learn it before going out on the slicks later when it dries up. It didn't take too long to make the decision, better to go out with not many bikes on the track to learn where it goes before all the fast guys get out. Stewie and Rick had the wheels changed whilst we waited at the rider briefing. That was a good decision as I got to learn where the track went and there was only a handful of riders out. 

That first lap out was incredible, the speed and flowing nature of Phillip island was absolutely incredible. My very first pass down the straight in the damp condition I hit 250kmh before peeling into turn 1 which is an incredible fast bend.

The first session ended up raining on my last lap, I had been pushing as hard as I could in the damp conditions and my visor had been fogging up around the circuit I had to open it a couple of times to defog it near honda and MG(the 2 slowest points on the track). The last lap coming down the straight started to bucket down with rain I remember seeing 255kmh in the rain and my visor was badly fogging, very interesting......

Drying track

Riders lining up for the first session, still a wet track

Our 2nd session was just about to start the track had dried again but another heavy rain shower dumped right at the start of the session so I sat that out. I didn't want to ride in the rain when it might be dry soon. That was the last of the rain for the day and by the 3rd session the dry track signs had come out and everyone had come out on their slicks. I decided to stay on my road tyres as the weather still looked dicey. I managed to go a lot faster in the second session and I saw 264kmh down the front chute before starting to fear god. I was surprised that I got my knee down pretty early in my 2nd session as well. I love this track. The one thing I noticed was how under powered my old R1 was compared to the new bikes, all the new litre bikes motored past down the straight and I was coming around turn 12 the same speed as most of the guys. 150 small ponies can't match the 180-200 horses of the modern bikes. Time for an upgrade? No bikes came past on the straight when I was doing track days 10 years ago. 

The suspension was working perfectly, money well spent in my book as it's probably the reason that I stayed on the track and in 1 peace. I was also pretty happy with the performance of the old Michelin pilot power 3 as they had over 5000kms on them. I managed to pass a couple of guys riding on slicks on my worn old street tyres. I can't wait to try these slicks out when I get to Eastern Creek. The tyre warmers are a must on a track day, where you can go out hard from the first bend as the tyres are already up to temp.

The 3rd session was even faster again and I was really enjoying it and getting into some sort of rhythm, managing to string the corners together in a high speed sequence. Getting the knee down was no problem at all as it seemed to be kissing the tarmac everywhere. Some of the A graders in the session were really flying on their race bikes on slicks as I watched them from a couple of metres away backing their bikes in, motogp style into the 2 hairpins. So impressive. I have a new found respect for the motogp boys.

The 4th session started out pretty well but I started to get a bit tired fairly early after only about 4 laps and I started to slow a bit. This track day stuff is hard work for a lazy fatboy like me. So as I came past the start finish line I was thinking I may come back in. The yellow flags were waving at southern loop and as I crested the curve I could clearly see Bushpig sitting on his bike in the kitty litter on the exit of the turn. That was enough for me so I pulled in to see if he was ok and needed any help. Turned out he was fine and he lost the rear end coming out of the bend and went into the kitty litter. There was virtually no damage at all, those oggy knobs did a fantastic job.

Stewie on the YZF 750 race bike

The track had some official photographers taking happy snaps of everyone circulating. We went and checked them out and they were very good photos so we bought a couple each. 

Me at Lukey Heights

Me at Siberia

This was my first time on the Phillip Island track and I thoroughly enjoyed it except for the average weather but anyone who has been to PI before will know that this place can be fickle. If your thinking of doing a ride day I highly recommend PI as it is a seriously fun, fast sweeping track. If that's your type of riding your going to love it. I know I did.

Here is a video I put together over a couple of days.