Snowy Mountains Tour 2020 Part I

I was debating whether or not to call this post "The Great Snowy Mountains Pub Tour of 2020" rather than current title as that's probably a more apt title. Yes it is that time of year again where a bunch of drinkers bikers from far and wide get together for our annual Snow Mountains tour.

This year was going to be a little different than the others due to Covid closing the border between NSW and Victoria so we would need to stay within our own state. This would at least give us the chance to explore some of the roads in the Snowy mountains that we haven't been on in years as we tend to bypass them to get to the Victorian alps.

DAY 1

The tour was officially kicking off on Thursday however a few of us wanted to have an extra day of riding and Geoff, Doug, Scotty decided we would start a day early. Meeting at Maccas McGraths Hill we chatted over coffee before heading off. I even put fuel in the bike this time before starting the trip.

We crossed over the Blue Mountain along the Bells Line before crossing over the Darling Causeway to Mt Victoria and down the hill. 

The picture below was purely for starting a fight with my two daughters as they love the Lolly bug. What kid doesn't like lollies. They were most upset with me for not buying them any too I might add.

We stopped just along the Jenolan Caves Road for a break, but quickly moved on as someone had dropped a plastic bag with a goats head on the side of the road right next to where Doug stopped. The stench was horrendous.

 

The Plan was to head into Oberon for lunch via Jenolan Caves but that would have been around 2pm by then so we decided to stop at Hampton pub which we've always bypassed and have lunch there instead.

Never having stopped here we had no idea what it was going to be like. And to our surprise it looked like they had spent a lot on doing this place up. The lunches were pretty good if not a little slow but it hit the spot nicely. Pub#1.

From here the plan was to ride down through Jenolan Caves and back to Oberon, however at the Duckmaloi rd turn off the sign said the road was closed but the caves house was open? Umm yep so how's that supposed to work then?

So instead of riding the caves road we turned onto Duckmaloi rd and headed into Oberon for a splash of fuel. We needn't have bothered as I put in 9 litres for 180kms, the R1 is running great after the carby tune. With a 18 Litre tanks thats well over 300kms on a sportsbike.

We set off down through Black Springs and down the twisties into the Abercrombie Gorge to the river at the bottom. It's been 3 years since we'd come this way and they've put in a new bridge and resurfaced the northern side of the gorge. The road condition was great.

A quick stop for a photo of the wind farms on the distant hills. 

It was only a few short minutes into Taralga where we were staying at the Taralga Hotel for the night. The rooms are a little pricey for pub rooms but Geoff and I shared so we have more beer money.

Main street Taralga on wednesday afternoon. Not much chance of getting run over here.

PUB#2

It was the perfect weather for riding today. A few beers were had and tall stories told of speed and daring, mostly by Geoff. 

Another tall story

DAY 2

It was only a short ride into Goulburn to meet Stu and the others and it was good to get the air flowing through my helmet. However being spring here at the moment I get hayfever allergies and my eyes were watering even after I'd taken a tablet. A short breakfast at trappers bakery in Goulburn we headed down towards Tarago to pick up the crew from Callalla Bay.

The last 5 kms into Tarago my allergies were getting the best of me, sneezing into my helmet with tears running from my eye's. It was then a mission at the petrol station to get water and take some more drugs. I was so focused I'd forgotten Bretts name and almost Dave's too. Geez got to chill out a bit.

We continued down to Braidwood and then down the Kings Highway for our lunch stop at Nelligan. Except I wasn't hungry so I lazyed on the lounge with a chiko roll and iced coffee.

On the banks of the Clyde River

Lunch in Nelligan

Riding into Batemans Bay I noticed that they were nearing completion of a new bridge over the Clyde river and it looked huge compared to the old one. About time it got replaced. We are so backwards in Australia about building decent infrastructure. It's about bloody time too.

Riding into Narooma the weather looked like it was about to dump on us, so we fueled up and stopped in at the Pub with the million dollar views for a quick refreshment, there was only 76kms to go today till we arrive at our accommodation. PUB#3

Weather hunting us all into the pub

Million Dollar views, no chance today.

We didn't hang around for to long before we made our way on damp roads down the coast to Bermagui and on into Tathra for the night. I thought I'd stop down at the wharf for a quick photo op whilst the other hit up PUB#4.

Tathra pub has been refurbished and reopened now after being closed for several years. There's a brewery now on the premise of which we had to participate in the beery goodness. Saving little country town pubs, one town at a time and doing our bit for the economy. Fortunately the pub closed at 9.30pm and kick us out, which was a blessing in disguise as we were ok the next morning.

Scotty telling a "whopper"

DAY 3

Heading down to the bakery for breakfast was a good call. After a nice sausage roll and ice coffee we headed over to the beach to take a look, not many people out early today. 

A few of the guys needed fuel so we waited patiently whilst they filled up. Groups of 12 or so can take quite some time filling up, it can be just like herding cats most of the time.

From Tathra we headed towards Bega then followed the highway for a short time to the Candelo turn off. The road into here is being bumped up my all time favourites list. The Mt Darragh section is superb but is tight and can be treacherous, but ever so fun and rewarding when you get it right. With virtually no traffic at all and 45km of twisty goodness what's not to love. 

It was interesting to see that last January's bushfire had also ripped through here with the fur like growth evident on all the tree's in this remote area.

We soon had to pull over for some road works. They closed the road because of a tree falling across it, apparently unrelated to the works they were there for. Lucky for us. So we got up to some shenanigans.

Photo by Doug

It was cleared in about 5 minutes and we got back under way heading into Bombala for fuel.

From Bombala we took the Snowy River Way, a road that I hadn't been on since the early 2000s and that was only about a third of it as it was dirt back in the day. Now its a fast flowing roller coaster ride over Australia's rooftop with views of far off hills and valleys. This is Hayabusa country for sure, but had its fair share of fast sweepers to keep you on your toes.

We stopped for lunch in Jindabyne at the bakery. Maybe we should call this trip the great snowy mountains pub and bakery tour? We also picked up another rider who was a late starter due to work. Craig joined the frivolities.

After lunch we headed up and over thredbo. It was interesting to still see some snow drifts up top. As we crested Dead Horse Gap and headed down the winding slopes we noticed the bushfires had ravished these beautiful mountains and now they gave an eerie ominous look.

A few kilometers down the hill I almost came to grief with a huge front end slide followed by a rear end slide on a fresh patch of gravel that couldn't be seen. A few corners later I caught up to Stu riding quite slowly. He obviously hit the same patch and also had filled his trousers like I had. That was too close.

We stopped to regroup just after the river at Geehi picnic area. Jas pulled up on the Bandit, he'd also filled his trousers, but not for the same reason. His front guard got caught on the radiator guard and was on full stop on the suspension and almost ran off the road in the process. Its a long way down from up there is all I can say. Very lucky, but it broke the front guard.

It wasn't far from here till we reached Khancoban, where surprise, surprise we visited the pub for a quick refreshment before the final stint into Tumbarumba for the night. PUB#5.

Interesting that we bumped into one of Scotty's mates who incidentally was out on a group ride of his own. Sometimes the world really is a small place.

PUB#5

It was only a quick stop before we set off for Tumbarumba and PUB#6 for tonight's stay. Another fantastic day on Australia's rooftop.

Another Mudgee Muster

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.

 

A Good news story

Last Sunday I attended the Sydney 5 Hour endurance event hosted by St George Motorcycle Club at Sydney Motorsport Park(SMSP). Initially this year's race was cancelled due to Covid but it was re-scheduled from June to September. 

I've been out to this race meeting for the last 2 years and it's a great event that is now attracting more attention. Ex-superbike racers are now racing in the series, with Troy and Oli Bayliss riding in last years event,  and also Glenn Allerton riding in this years event.

This years event was a little different than the last two. How's that I hear you ask? Well...... this year I applied for media access through St George Motorcycle Club. Low and behold I was accepted. I must admit I was pretty excited to be accepted as official "Media". Then I got a little worried my shots won't be good enough. Self doubt is a terrible thing. I shouldn't have been concerned as it all turned out ok on the day.

Arriving at the gate I produced my Media pass to the attendant, feeling much more important than I should. I was quickly ushered in. After parking up and getting my gear ready, it was out with the umbrella as there was a fair smattering of the wet stuff flying about this morning. I arrived at race control about 8:30 and entered with a little apprehension of whether or not that I would really be allowed in as "Media". Speaking with the lovely lady in race control I showed her my Media pass and was duly handed a safety vest and was then promptly on my way out again, just like that.

Phew, that was easier than I thought. No 20 questions, no showing insurances, business details, media credentials, nothing. I was in and out in under a minute. Wow, makes me wonder if I just pulled out a fluro vest and camera and I could have walked just about anywhere I liked. Except I'm not like that and prefer to do things the right way. Still I was a little shocked at how easy it really was.

As it was raining and there was a lot of not much happening I thought I needed a good strong coffee to kick start my day. Waiting at the cafe for my coffee I saw this young fella with a worried look on his face. 

Yeah I bet most of the guys riding today didn't want to be out in this stuff.

So I didn't really want to be out shooting pics in the rain and possibly damage my camera/lenses so I hung around the pits under shelter and captured a bunch of images of the bikes, riders and pit crews in pit lane.

The light was really quite terrible today and made shooting a bit difficult selecting the right ISO and shutter speed. Trying not to get under exposed and blurry images.

Here's a couple from pit lane, with some bikes circulating early in the morning for practise.

It stopped raining about 20 minutes before the 5 Hour race was about to start and a few patches of blue sky started to poke through the clouds. Great I might actually be able to get out around the track to get some shots in. Riders were ushered to the marshalling area and media. Oh thats "ME", lol. So I got a few shots of the riders lining up getting ready to go out and hold the bikes for the Lemans style start.

I must say the level of access afforded to media is fantastic when you are a racing fanboy like myself. I could get practically anywhere I wanted within reason. It was fantastic. Pit wall is off limits normally but not today, heh heh.

I was a bit slow in grabbing a spot on the main straight and the gaps in the fence were full nearly to the end. Lucky I have a nice zoom lense.

And just like that, off they went. It is comical to watch grown men wearing full leathers and boots run across the track and awkwardly jump on their bikes and race off.

After the start of the race I made my way around to turn 15(9 on old GP circuit) and then up to the last corner. Turn nine was a great spot for shots but we weren't allowed close to the edge of the track at 18 so I quickly left and headed down to turn 4 on both sides of the track. This is a great spot on the inside and can get very close. I did feel a little fear being on the inside of the fence that close to the circuit with the bikes zooming past at 190kph+ only meters away. That's an uneasy feeling for the first time and took me a while to adjust to it. Pics below from 3-4 over the crest aka wheelie central.

Lining up at turn 4 I noticed Nick from Halflight Photography and another photog. Chatting with those guys for a few minutes was good. Standing there in a line up it felt a bit like the paparazzi. Weird feeling that. Pics below from turn 4. I credit Nick for inspiring me to get off my ass and actually plunge head long into DSLR photography and get out of relying on my phone. Best thing I ever did.

I then decided to head around to turn 2 as its close to the track and always good for photos. Just as I was leaving 4 I saw there was yellow flags out and then the safety car came out. About 20 minutes later the careflight chopper came over and landed. That's not a good sign. Hope the rider is ok and recovers quickly.

Turn 2 action

It was now after 4pm and I was getting a bit tired buggered being on my feet all day, running here and there taking pics with the 200-500 which is quite heavy to lug around. I 'd about had enough. I didn't make it to the end of the race and ended up leaving about 20 minutes before the finish. I was done. I might have signed on as media but technically no one was paying me to be there and highly unlikely that I would sell any photos either so I was happy to call it a day. It was beginning to feel like a job, and a poorly paying one at that.

Still I had a ball out there being a "PRO" for a day. Will I do it again. Well sure why not. Bring it on.

I put up some galleries on my facebook images page, you can view them at the following links. Enjoy.

Gallery  - Pit Lane

Gallery 1 - Bikes on track

Gallery 2 - Bikes on track

 

Problem Sorted

 About a week ago I got a call to say that my carby manifolds had turned up and to bring the bike in. So I dropped the bike in a couple of saturdays ago to Terry 'Doc R1' Sullivan so he could inspect the carbs.

Terry was recommended by a whole bunch of people on facebook, and with a business name like Doctor R1 then I was pretty sure my bike would be in good hands.

Terry works out of his garage, which is great because it keeps costs down. Meeting him was like meeting an old mate and talking about bikes. He knows his R1's backwards, he was an ex-Yamaha Australia mechanic and worked on their race bikes. There's nothing this guy doesn't know about R1's. Great I got the right guy on the job then. Terry races 2 x 2000 R1's on the drag strip.

I told him the whole history of the bike and he told me everything that goes wrong with them. It's a bit frightening actually. Touch wood I haven't had many issues with the bike to be honest.

He pulled down the carbies and number 3 and 4 jet were blocked, the o rings had also perished and number 1 needle was replaced as it wasn't seating properly and was letting more fuel in than it should.

The o rings have gone hard and cracked so got replaced and the manifolds are all hard. They haven't perished yet but wouldn't be far away from it, they are rock hard and will probably crack very soon.

Terry also did a compression test on found that number 4 cylinder was down to 160 while the others were at 170. About normal at this age he said and he has seen worse. He tested it hot and found number 4 was down to 120.

I'll get the valves checked on the next service I think and go from there and see what happens.

He synced the carbys and all was running well again. 

I picked it up saturday as the boys were going for a ride up the Putty road. I eagerly picked up the bike and met the guys at the cafe in Windsor before departing and heading up on a glorious sunny morning. Temps were in the low 20's perfect riding weather.

Geoff and Wayne headed back home from Grey Gums cafe whilst Stu, myself and Scotty did the 10 mile and the loop through Wollombi and Peats Ridge. The bike was running superbly through the twisty sections and I started enjoying the ride. It did get a little spirited.

The fuel light came on at 261kms and 20 km's later we pulled in at Peats Ridge for fuel. It only took 14 Litres. I could have ridden another 80kms before running out, but didn't feel much like pushing.

On another note I still haven't decided on what type of bike I'm likely to get. I'm now shying away from naked bikes and either looking at a sports touring machine and also been looking at adventure bikes. Shocking I know. The wait continues........