Snowy Mountains Ride Part 1

In November we had our annual Victorian Alps & Snowy Mountains ride on again. Rick and recently moved Dave had ridden down from Queensland to meet us at the starting point in Sydney an extra 2-3 day trip for them on top of the 6 Day trip that the alpine ride is.

We had a couple of potential meet up points, Stu's house at 7am or Trappers Bakery Goulburn  at 9am. I decided on meeting everyone in Goulburn, so put on some tunes and headed off.

The pie and coffee was nice as usual and we were back on the road just after 10am. Yeah it takes awhile on big group rides.

The group split up in Braidwood where the road bikes went down Clyde Mountain to Batemans Bay and the south coast, whilst the adventure bikes went down via the Araluen road to Moruya.

The Araluen road was surprisingly good. Fairly easy gravel road riding with spectacular viewing over river gorges and surrounding mountains.

Somewhere along here on one of the slower gravel corners Rick dropped his new Guzzi, lost the front end. Nothing damaged but his pride.

Scottay

Braidwood to Moruya via the Araluen Road is only 85km and there's probably only 50km of gravel so was easy going. We arrived in Narooma very early so decided to have an early lunch as the others would probably have lunch in Nelligen. The typical stop at the Hotel with the Million dollar views.

I wasn't super hungry so Joffrey and I decided to share a Nacho bowl. Everything else on the menu looked big and at nearly $30 so the Nachos were good and easy.

From here we took the back road into Central Tilba where we stopped at the Dromedary for a beer. We haven't been here for many a year so was good for a quick stop and reminisce. They sure do have a steep slope outside the pub, gotta be careful parking here or one could easily take a tumble.

Joffrey was in his element!

After a quick beer and chat it was time to head off. Remember that steep slope out the front of the pub I mentioned that could be hazardous? So for the second time today Rick had dropped his bike this time right outside the pub. Lucky a couple of the boys were still there to help him pick it up as it went over down the hill. Picking it up would have been a struggle against the slope.

From here we went down via Bermagui and on into Tathra where we were staying at the Tathra Hotel for the night. I decided to have a quick shower and then head up to the bottlo and get a 4 pack of Jamesons before we went to diner. Standing on the balcony with an Icey cold Jamesons I notice a couple of whales swimming by only about 100m offshore.  

Day 2 and I was feeling ok despite turning in after 11:30pm and I'd forgotten to pack the power lead for my cpap machine. The look of disappointment on Joffrey's face was priceless. Opening the door and I was greeted by Skip and his mates. He wouldn't come any closer the to Africa Twin, the kanga killer.

We headed down to the bakery for breakfast, I decided to take a look at the Tathra wharf. There were a few people out fishing this morning.

After demolishing a toasted ham/cheese/tomato sammich for breaky we headed out the normal route towards Bega then down through Wyndham and Cathcart on our way to Bombala where we refueled. We grabbed some lunch to go here as we would be turning down McKillops Bridge Road up into the high country. Plan was to stop at McKillops Bridge for lunch and then keep going via Limestone road to Benambra. The road bikes would continue down the Bonang to Orbost and then head back up to Omeo and meet us there.

I stopped just out by the pine forests outside of Bombala just after a kamikaze magpie dived across the road only to hit me in the left boot. He would have been fine if he just stayed where he was. I stopped for a photo of the bikes from a hilltop in between the forests. 

Heading down the Bonang you could feel the temperature starting to rise. Then we turned off down towards McKillops bridge. It wasn't far probably about 50kms or so, it took about an hour and we arrived around 1pm. Stopping at the foot of the bridge we had some lunch, standing under whatever shade we could find. The temp had risen to 35°C and was getting quite uncomfortable in all our gear, I could feel the heat sapping my energy, I'd been unwell in the lead up to this ride.

A group of kayakers had stopped underneath the bridge for some lunch. It's a beautiful spot for a lunch stop here along the shore of the Snowy River. A couple of cars crossed the bridge. It made the whole bridge rattle and shake.

We discussed  heading down to Buchan and around as riding in the 35°C heat at 50kmh wasn't ideal. Stu decided no matter what he was doing limestone road to Benambra. As we ascended the hill out of McKillops bridge and got to the top of the range the temp had dropped back down to 28°C and was quite tolerable again. We stopped at the Barry way intersection waiting for everyone where we decided that it would actually be better to ride to Benabara in the cool rather than go back down into the heat towards Buchan. It was 200km to Omeo that way and only 110km via Limestone Rd. Stu had already blasted off not to be seen again like he tends to do.

As we went along Limestone road it crested the range at 4500ft and the temp had dropped to a pleasant 23°C, felt like the AC was turned on, so good. I didn't stop along here at all keeping the pace up trying to see if I could catch Stu if possible at Benambra pub but wasn't to be as he blasted along to Omeo.

I stopped at Benambra pub as I was definitely going to have a beer. Then got a call from Joffrey. Looking at my phone I thought that's odd, why would he be calling? Turns out he got a flat rear tyre about 30km out of town. He rode it into town and parked up at the pub where we proceeded to change the tube. The tube had a little cut in it but couldn't see anything wrong with the tyre. Lucky I had a spare tube. Then we had a well earned beer or two.

It was only a short 20km ride into Omeo from here so was over with pretty quickly. We were the last in due to the extra time it took to change the tyre. So we relaxed into an evening of beers and good company. Life doesn't get much better than this.

The Omeo Hotel was again busy for dinner but it emptied quickly after that and we relaxed into beers out the front for the next couple of hours until they closed at 10pm. It made for a hangover free day the next day which was a win.

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