The Great Northern Pub Tour of 2021 Part 2

 

DAY 2

After a nice bacon & egg roll breakfast we hauled the bikes out into the carpark behind the pub ready to head off. It took a bit for everyone to get their shit together this morning but we were soon filling up with fuel ready for the trip up waterfall way.

I hadn't paid much attention to todays route plan I didn't really know where I was and when we were coming into Bellingen I finally realised where I was. It was only about 15 minutes into Bellingen then out on the Waterfall way to Dorrigo. Last time we had a lot of traffic up here but today was quite good I though as we blasted the twisties up the mountain.

The waterfalls were raging today.

Stopped for the obligatory picture at the first waterfall, but let a huge truck get past, damn. Still he was easily dispatched up the mountainside.

From here we made our way into Dorrigo and then turned down Tyringham Road. Stu decided to stop as he wanted to do another different road. We then got accosted by an elderly woman walking her dog. She stood in front of our bikes and began to tell us the history of something from the war. Couldn't quite hear her with helmets and ear plugs in luckily. Stu fired up the Tuono and roared off but she then stood in front of me and Dave. Took longer than it should as we were trying to be polite, but eventually we had to just roar off as well, otherwise we'd still be there now.

A quick stop just out of town. This area is so green and lush the scenery was amazing. They obviously must get lots of rainfall to be that green. So we watered the grass for good measure just incase of impending drought.

It's a decent enough ride along through here, just need to be careful as most bends are un-sign posted and the road can be narrow and a bit rough, but not that much traffic on it so all good.

We stopped at the Ebor-Armidale road turn off as the other guys were waiting for us, probably wondering what happened thinking something untoward may have happened, but just granny attack.

Brothers in arms

The ride along the Ebor-Armidale road was pretty good for the most part until we hit a bit of road works and it got a bit rough from there and was hard to tell how fast you could go as there was plenty of potholes right in the middle of your line. We got split up along here but just out of Grafton the guys pulled over so that we can regroup.

South Grafton

From Grafton we took the Gwydir Highway out towards Glen Innes. The ride up the range was a real highlight. I have driven up here before with the family but hadn't ridden it. The ride was superb coming into the first 45er and letting the revs rise, cracking the throttle, sheer riding pleasure. The surface was in fantastic condition the entire length of the run up the mountain. Then after that it was some fairly flowing road that you could see some big numbers on. All great fun.

We stopped at the intersection of Bald Knob road, which Stu took affection to. I took the opportunity to take out my camera to take some shots of the lads ride in here. You can tell the difference between the phone photos and the camera photos. Chalk and cheese really even though I've compressed them heaps.

The surface on Bald Knob road was pretty dire and I had to slow down to 80-90kmh and was getting kicked out of the set like riding a rodeo bull.

It was only a short 20 minute trip to Deepwater from here where we are going to have lunch at the pub, except when we got there the pub was closed for lunch today. There wasn't much in this town either but the bakery was still open, they were just about to close. An apple turnover and iced coffee hit the spot for a smallish lunch. Bushpig couldn't help but make a mess of himself as usual.

GRUB

From here we travelled up to Tenterfield where we were going to pick up my brother. I saw him ride into a petrol station on the right hand side not looking at me coming the other way, too busy looking at all the other adventure bikes in there. So I continued down the road to the petrol station on the other side of town and rang him from there. He soon came back for the ride to Kyogle.

The ride down the Bruxner twisties was quite enjoyable, Flyboy came up behind when I wasn't looking and the lights on his Africa twin make it look a bit like a police bike.

We stopped for a cold beer in Drake, so forgot to take any photos here as was busy chatting with my older bro. Troy came in after we had finished and he had busted his number plate holder and indicators off the back of his Fazer. Quite an unusual thing to happen really. 

We were soon in Kyogle at the bar having some ice cold beers. Another great day out on the bikes. One thing about group rides is it can be a bit difficult trying to get photos, by the time I stop get out camera the others have long gone, so I just get them when and where I can.

Day 2 Map Reference

Not the Tassie Ride or The Great Northern Pub Tour of 2021 Part 1

In February-March plans were for another motorcycle trip around Tassie. COVID put an end to that with the uncertainty that it brings with snap closures and lockdowns. So the Tassie trip was cancelled and plans were made to head north instead. It not all bad at least Rick and my brother will be able to make this trip.

DAY1

The first day of the trip was going to be a big one, I was ready and raring to go and I left early at 6:45am to pick up Stu and the Callala Bay crew who stayed at Stu's last night to shorten the first day. From here our next meeting point was to be at Colo Height service station to pick up the rest of the crew.

We hit a few bits of road works en-route to meet the others and it was cool and pleasant out riding this morning despite this. We'd arrived within about 5 minutes of each other and the other guys were just having a coffee.

With greetings exchanged it was down to business. Bruce had bought himself a new MT-09 Tracer GT, Stu checked his chain tension then next minute out come the tool roll. What is it with these Tracers they overtighten the chains so that it is guitar string tight, same as the ones we hired in New Zealand.

No sooner had the chain been adjusted and we were on our way. Not much time for mucking around today as we had a lot of riding to do. So it was a quick Friday morning fang up the Putty Road. Brett, Dave and Myself had a very spirited ride on the 10 mile of twisties. Haven't had that much fun for a couple of years. Weekday rides are the best.

We picked up 5 more riders in Singleton at our fuel stop, which was only a quick slash of fuel and greetings then we were off to Gloucester for lunch via the Gresford goat track. I've said it before this road is a shit hole, but they have been fixing some sections. It would be no problem on one of the adventure bikes. We stopped briefly in Dungog for a wee break, and relieved the buttocks after the pounding received on the goat track.

Mmmm Africa Twin looks comfortable

A quick stop at the Gloucester bakery and café where I hoovered down a pie from the bakery. Brett had ordered a burger from the café, it was almost as big as his head. The kebabs were also gigantic sized and Doug couldn't finish his it just too big. Maybe should have called this post the great northern bakery and pub tour.....

Next up we headed up towards Wyndham and the back of Taree. We pulled in to fuel up for the last leg of the day. As we were waiting a local guy on a dirt bike thought it would be a great idea to wheelie out of the servo onto the road. What he didn't count on as he reached the road, was the hedge at the end of the servo blocked his view of a car coming the other way. It startled him and he dropped the front tyre back down but locked it up with a fist full of front brake and proceeded to hit the deck and almost roll underneath the car, seriously there would have been millimetres in it. All in his t-shirt and with no gloves. Troy and his brother went to help him pick up his bike. He was a bit shaken up, they later said he looked about 60. Damn old fool shoulda known better.

So from here we droned mindlessly up the freeway to Kempsey. Think I got so bored droning along at 110kmh that I could have shot myself in the head. From Kempsey we made our way out to Gladstone and the Heritage Hotel which sits on the waters of the Macleay River. Beautiful little spot to stop for an ice cold beer.

After we left Gladstone it kind of felt like we were going around in circles a bit. Doug had a great little back road route that allowed us to ride through some nice twisty bits and kept us well away from the highway until we got to our accommodation for tonight at the Ocean View Hotel in Urunga. It's a nice little spot, $50 rooms nice and clean with typical shared bathrooms. The top of the pub is a little bit of a maze of corridors.

Day 1 done and dusted at 655kms. Yeah I need a beer after that.

Ocean View Hotel - Urunga

A long day in saddle and some relaxing beers were a requirement. Many beers were had and tall tales told until the wee hours. The Ocean view did fantastic meals as well.

Day 1 Map Reference

 

10 Year Anniversary

Holey Moley. I can't believe that this blog is 10 years old. Yep that's right I've been clogging up the interwebs with complete bollox for 10 long years. Maybe I should have done something more worthwhile during that time, like getting a degree or learning some new skills or something important. That would be a smart choice but whoever said I did anything that was logical? Ever? That would explain why I owned 2 R1's.

With all the random shit that I've pulled in the last 10 years I'm not sure why my wife hasn't divorced me yet. Ahhh the mystery's of life.........Oh well, on with the blog then.

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

I thought that I would have a little look back over the crazy shenanigans that I've gotten up to over the last 10 years. First up a few statistics from the bloggers stats page, if it can be believed. I think most of these hits are from web bots and other such devices.

I've posted up over 411 post's and wasted countless hours of about a dozen or so peoples lives who for the better part will never get that time back. Not many compared to other bloggers but I like to think my posts are quality, quantity, picturesque.

It says 46 followers but I couldn't imagine there would be more than probably 10 people that would regularly check in as most of those followers have given up blogging, but those 10 simply awesome people have commented over 3500 times.

With 340 people checking in and 816,000 bots crawling my little blog, that's a pretty good number for someone that flunked English in high school. Matter of fact computers only just started in school the year I left, now I'm showing my age.

So the all time views charts shows some interesting data. From the start it was pretty slow going for about 5 years before I started to gain any sort of traction. I find it funny that in the year that I posted hardly anything(2020) that I had my all time most views. What the?

How can that possibly be? Not much new content, views through the roof. It's either because everyone was home during COVID and they were surfing for motorcycle blogs instead of working or those same people used a lot more search bots, just so they could drop those nasty marijuana comments in my inbox daily.

So I thought I'd have a little look back over some of my fondest memories during that 10 years of motorcycling bliss. It would be fair to say I had no idea what I was doing back on my first post. Luckily I've learned so much since then and now I almost know what I'm doing.

Back in 2012 my second daughter was born, so I got into the full swing of responsible parenting 2 daughters and riding bikes.

We lost rising MOTOGP star Marco Simoncelli back in 2011. A sad day for all of motorcycling. RIP Marco.

I explored some new roads back in 2013.

Crookwell - Bathurst Road

2014 saw one of my long time motorcycling bucket list items ticked off. My brother and I along with 2 mates explored New Zealand's South Island on hired bikes. Still the best ever tour to date. I'd so love to do this again.

Lewis Pass

Arthurs Pass

Crown Range Road

Glenorchy Road

I even got to meet the worlds fastest Indian

Mt Cook

At the end of 2014 I got to top off the year with riding one of my all time favourite race tracks. Phillip Island. Besides the abysmal weather we got, I still had a great time and brought it all home in one piece.

Me at Lukey Heights Phillip Island

Riding in Australia seemed a little bit boring after our epic New Zealand trip. However a new bike was on the horizon in 2015 an Yamaha released its all new R1. 

200Hp fire breathing dragon

In 2016 I got to unleash the 200Hp monster at Sydney Motorsport Park. A fun day was had by all.

Me on Turn 2 SMSP

I also made this neat video of our day at the track. That bike was an absolute weapon at the track. Loved every minute of it.

In 2017 we turned our gaze across the Ditch again but this time to New Zealand's North Island for another 10 day tour on some hire bikes taking in some of their twisty tarmac. We also managed to catch up with 2 of NZ's best Motorcycle bloggers. It wasn't all smooth sailing however with Geoff throwing his bike down the road on the very first day.

Gentle Annie

Mt Doom

Moki Tunnel on the Forgotten World Highway

Mt Taranaki

Here's a short little video of our 2017 NZ tour.

2018 had another fun packed ride in store for us with a combined World Superbike round at Phillip Island followed by a week long tour around Tasmania. 

Freycinet Peninsula

Hobart

Gordon Dam

Also in 2018 I got back into some of my early bike riding roots and attended the Wombat rally. Severe brain damage was a result due to the alcohol consumption or was my beanie just way too tight.

At the start of 2019 I flew up to Brisbane and rode around South Eastern Queensland with my big Brother on his spare bike. It was a good 4 day get away.

Pomona

Glass House Mountains

Mt Lindsay

At the end of 2019 pretty much most of the Eastern Sea board of Australia was covered in severe bushfires. I saw the ash falling from the sky on a daily basis.

2020 started out the same way as 2019 ended, with more bushfire devastation. If we knew what was headed our way in March no one would have been complaining.

Sadly COVID-19 hit the planet and knocked everyone for a six.  The world hasn't been the same since. Pretty much everything stopped. This blog pretty well stopped.

At some point last year I thought I was going to wrap this little blog up. I wasn't riding anymore and didn't really have anything left to say. My least amount of posts ever, only 11. I also sold my beloved 2015 R1. It still hasn't been replaced yet.

Sydney was a ghost town in 2020

So 2021 has rolled around and the blog is still lumbering along on tired legs, lurching forward like a zombie. Perhaps this year maybe I can rekindle some of the love and get out and enjoy riding and what our beautiful country has to offer.

Jenolan Caves Road

Thanks to everyone out there that has read my blog over the last few years. I hope you found something in here that made you smile or laugh and maybe nod your head along in agreement. Hope to meet you one day on the road. Stay safe and enjoy your ride. Thanks for stopping by.

How long does a Motorcycle Tyre last?

That's an interesting question isn't it? If it isn't used that much and sits for a period of time just how long will it last and still be usable.

Back in 2014 I put a brand new set of Michelin Pilot Power 3 tyres on my R1 after we did the track day at Philip Island. It wasn't much longer after that I got my 2015 R1 and the older R1 sat idle in the garage with no use for 5 years due to being unregistered. So fast forward to 2020 and I re-registered the bike again. I used those tyres back in 2014-15 for about 1000kms or so. Then no use for 5 years.

Whilst out on the last 2 rides I had a few rear wheel slides mid corner. Did I hit gravel/oil or just coincidence that the tyres deteriorated to the point of no longer being usable? I cant be sure and with another ride coming up I don't think these tyres would have the distance in them to get another 2000kms.

So a cheap insurance policy is just to change them out for a new set so that's exactly what I did. 7 years and 7000kms from that last set of tyres, not bad.

I took the Bandit Rider/Geoff James route and went for a set of Michelin Pilot Road 5's. These should last me for another 7 years, haha. Gee the grooves in this tyre are huge, but its a slick on the edge..