Ever had one of those great days .....

Ever had one of those great days......

Well this morning, with the rest of the family getting over their Relay for Life aches and pains, I decided to head downtown for a coffee at 10.00 and then go for a blat around the Mount, seeing as it was such a beautiful day.

So, after coffee I headed up the Mount, joined by a large number of people in cars and on bikes with a similar intention. I can still hear a friend on his Triumph Speed Triple heading up Mountain Straight and the climbing turns onto the top of the Mount at a Rally last year :)

Just a few pics to give those who haven't seen Mount Panorama before a little taste :)


Bottom of Conrod into The Chase


GMC Bridge with the Resort on the right. When will they open that???


Pit entrance road looking up to the top of the Mount

Anyway, having gone around the Mountain a couple of times (as one does), I decided that maybe I should go home via one of my motorcycle riding mate's backroad to his village, Eglinton, which branches off the Sofala Road. I got to the Eglinton turnoff and it was such a great day .. oh what the hell, I'll head out towards Sofala to Wiagdon and do the twisties out there ... :)


The road leaving Peel, big right hand sweeper :)


Couldn't resist this shot, nothing like Central West kangaroos !! :)

Got to Wiagdon, down to third and second and I hit the twisties climbing up to the top. What the hell, Sofala isn't far. How much fuel do I have? Should be OK to get back... and away I go :)


Main Street, Sofala

There were about 10 bikes in Sofala, all Harley's with their riders (and most had pillions as well), sipping coffee at the cafes.

Damn its a great day, maybe I should continue on to Ilford, I mean it is such a great day :)
About 10kms out of Ilford, the road crosses the ridgeline and between the trees is this great view of the hills and mountains over towards Kandos. I had to turn around to go back and take the shot (hence why the bike is facing the wrong way :)).


So on to Ilford with the Odometer reading 250kms when I got there and its 70kms to Lithgow. Ah what the hell, why not. A nice leisurely cruise down the road to Lithgow, through Capertee, the Bullens (Ben and Cullen), and past the power stations at Portland and Walerawang. Heading into one of the Bullens I was passed quite vigourously by a Randy Mamola replica BMW R1100S (very nice) and a BMW R1200GS. They turned off towards Portland and I'm sure it was the owner of a local Music shop here in Bathurst. He has a small collection of Beemers including a Randy Mamola replica. Past a group of bikes outside the pub, including a nice silver Sprint ST (drool), a wave to their riders awaiting lunch on the verandah and I'm off towards Lithgow.

I arrived at Lithgow with 320Kms on the odo and decided it was best to fill up first before thinking about lunch. Damn my bike is good. It only needed 14 litres and I still had 6 litres in the tank - another 130 Kms. Not to forget that the first 160kms or so travelled was in and around Bathurst over the past week ......... not too bad :) I think I'm going to notice the change in economy when I eventually upgrade from the GS500.

Anyway, by this stage its just gone 1.30pm and its lunch time, so I grab a sandwich and a coffee before heading along the highway back to Bathurst, finally getting home at 3.00pm with one very big grin on my face :)

I'll have to have a coffee and blat around the Mountain again ... soon !!

Ever had one of those great days .........

Yogi's Bucko Ride 2009

Well, today was the day that the Sydney riders from the TwoWheels Forum were going to have a ride to remember our departed young legend Bucko, who tragically left us just over a year ago. I couldn't get down to Sydney for the ride, but finding myself with an unexpected short "ticket of leave" for an hour or so, I decided to head out on my own mini rememberance ride on a few of my own favourite motorcycling roads in the local area.

Here's a map of my route, leaving Bathurst on the red route and returning on the pruple one.


I left Bathurst, heading south down the Perthville, following the old Vale circuit for half of its length, via orton Park then on to Lagoon and O'Connell. From O'Connell I headed to Tarana. I love that part of the road where it follows the river about 5kms from O'Connell. I can see myself on the banks of the river there, flicking my fly rod over the ponds. On towards Tarana, down a lovely straight decsnding piece of road over a substantial concrete bridge crossing a small river then climbing up over a disused railway crossing. Again, this is a memorable piece of road, especially when travelling the other way back towards O'Connell. In this direction, the road bears right and then runs down hill towards the creek crossing the railway. For the unwary this can be an interesting crossing as the railway crossing is on a bit of a brow and taken at speed can result in some air time for the unwary rider. I refer to this rail crossing as Beast's Leap, after a fellow TWF member's experience here a few rides ago :)

Here are a couple of shots of Beast's Leap :)

Looking towards O'Connell just before the rail crossing


At the rail crossing looking towards O'Connel and the river and bridge in the middle distance


Anyway, back to the ride. From Beast's Leap it was on to Tarana, where there were 10 or so bikes outside the pub, their riders enjoying lunch in the beer garden. From Tarana it was on to Sodwalls, through the Rydal road crossroads and on to Lake Lyell and then South Bowenfels in Lithgow. A short detour here into Lithgow to grab some lunch and a drink before heading back to Hampton where I turned onto the Jenolan Caves Road at Hartley.

I love this road, especially the first part as I can get into a graceful sweeping ride through the corners at the start of this road. On through the locales of Wolgan Valley, Lowther and Hampton past the wind generators to the turn off for Oberon on the Duckmaloi Road.

I follow the Duckmaloi Road through its many climbing and descending stretches, twisties and sweepers into Oberon, which was again very popular today with riders enjoying lunch at the pub and the bakery next door. From Oberon it was back towards Bathurst along the O'Connell Road, this time passing through O'Connell and Brewongle on to Bathurst, with a final lap of Mount Panorama to end the ride.

The weather was fantastic for riding, dry, not too hot, a few clouds overhead to shade the sun at times and added to that some good music on the ipod made for a great couple of hours.

In memory of Bucko.

Yogi rides the Old Vale Circuit

Well, it was a very hot day and I'd just been out to Ben Chifley Dam for a ride to catch up with my daughters and their friends who had gone out earlier in the morning to do some water-skiing, wake boarding and tube riding. On the way back from the Dam, I decided to take my time and ride the old Vale motorcycle racing circuit, or the Vale Circuit as it was known, and take some photos along the way.

A quick bit of history - the Vale Circuit was home to motorcycle racing in Bathurst between 1931 and 1938 before racing was transferred to Mt Panorama. During this period it was home to the NSW Grand Prix or NSW TT and hosted the Australian TT in 1934 and 1936 and the Australian Grand Prix three times. The circuit was approximately 6 3/4 miles (11.5km) in length and apart from a small section of bitumen surface at the sale yards, was a gravel surface track. The outright lap record was set in 1937 by Art Senior who completed the circuit in 6 minutes 11 seconds (circuit average speed of just over 112 kph). Given the circuit in the main was a gravel surface and climbed and dipped quite a bit between the Lagoon Road and Wright's Corner (Lloyd's Road) - one can only imagine what those bikes and riders looked like wrestling their motorcycles around the circuit in the clouds of dust. Initially the circuit was raced in an anti clockwise direction, but in 1934 its direction was changed to clockwise, supposedly as riders had complained about being blinded by the afternoon sun and dust as they headed westwards down the main straight Wright's Corner to the start finish line.

http://www.visitbathurst.com.au/motor-racing/vale-circuit


Maps showing the roads as they are today and the old circuit (circa 1934).
The red circles show where a couple of hundred metres of the circuit has disappeared today.
The numbers denote the approximate locations of the photos that follow.


The Vale Circuit sign where the Pits were located (1)




The starting point, opposite the old Bathurst Sale Yards (2)




The starting and finishing point was opposite the old Bathurst Sale Yards and the circuit initially followed what was and still is the main road between Bathurst and Goulburn.

View of road/circuit heading south past the saleyards towards Perthville and Goulburn (3)
The power pole on the left of the road displays the Finish location sign for the circuit.


Heading down the first straight (Sammy's Straight) (4)


Approaching what was known as Suicide Bend (5)


The first left hand 90 degree corner onto Lagoon Road (6)








On Lagoon Road, the circuit crosses the Vale Creek at Kabels Bridge and then bears right until the second 90 degree left hand turn. This turn does not exist today as this small portion of the track (highlighted with the red circles on the maps) has been taken over by private landholders.

Just over Kabels Bridge looking up the hill towards the highest part of the track at Mt. Tamar (7)


Today, we continue on Lagoon Road and then turn left onto the gravel Gorman's Hill Road, picking up the old circuit at what was Devil's Elbow, but today is just a straight piece of gravel road. You can still see the route the old circuit took from both the Lagoon Road and also Gorman's Hill Road, and Devil's Elbow must have been an interesting corner to negotiate, particularly when the circuit changed direction in 1934.

Looking up the track at the right hander after Devil's Elbow (8)


The next left hander heading towards the top of the circuit (9)




Heading down from Mt. Tamar (10)


Approaching a slight left hander on Gormans Hill Road (11)


Wright's Corner (12)


Looking down the final straight towards Palmer's Bridge from Wright's Corner (13)





Back at the Pits/Start (14)


Throughout my ride around the circuit, I couldn't help but think of those racers in the 1930s, on their Velocettes and Ariels, rigid frames, girder forks, no suspension, braving the gravel surface and billowing dust (or muddy and slippery when it was raining). Today, on my small modern road bike that is capable of perhaps 200kph (not with me on it though :( ), I am nervous doing anything over 80kph on gravel surfaces. So I could only admire the feats of those early racers and know that had it been me, I perhaps wouldn't have made it past Devils Elbow or perhaps the first corner onto the Lagoon Road !! :)

A great ride into a part of history that is there for everyone to enjoy still.

Australia Day 2009 - A ride into the Mountains

Well, having lazed around for the first two days of the Australia Day long weekend, I decided to go for a ride today (Australia Day) into the Blue Mountains. The rest of the family wanted to laze around at home, especially my girls who only have a couple of days to go until schools return after the summer holidays.

Starting out - The Black Power Ranger ??? :)


It was a brilliant day for riding, but was threatening to get very hot during the day. 1/8th cloud cover and that was beautiful fluffy cumulus cloud. I headed out at 10.00am over to Lithgow via the Great Western Highway, where I stopped for the mandatory coffee. Had I been riding a Ducati, it would have been a Latte, but seeing as its a Suzuki, I have a flat white :) As I was entering Lithgow I spotted an unmarked Highway Patrol car turning in towards Lithgow . I made a mental note to be careful on the bells Line of Road, seeing as it is double demerit points over the long weekend. I expect the road to be pretty heavily policed.

From Lithgow, I headed up the Bells Line of Road, the plan being to ride to Bell and then take the causeway across to Mt. Victoria and then from there on to Blackheath and then Katoomba.
Just leaving Lithgow I came across the unmarked HWP car spotted earlier, parked down a hidden side road with the HWP officers concealed under a very shady poplar tree checking the speed of vehicles in the 50KPH zone with their radar gun. As I went past I gave a friendly wave and continued on up the windy climbing section of the road onto the top of the escarpment heading towards Bell. I past a couple of bikes and signaled the Police ahead and came across another marked HWP car on its way to Lithgow. A good day to not push the speed limit I was thinking - good job too :) The road was pretty busy with quite a lot of 4WDs and campers, quite loikely returning home after the long weekend and perhaps extended summer holidays.

After riding from Bell to Mt. Victoria and then on to Blackheath, I stayed on the highway till Katoomba, did a circuit of the main street to see what was open, before heading down towards Echo Point, where the viewing area and visitors centre is located for the Three Sisters rock formation and tourist attraction.

Echo Point at Katoomba


The viewing platform for the Three Sisters and the Jamison Valley


View of the Jamison Valley with Mt. Solitary


The Three Sisters




Close up showing walking track and bridge onto the Three Sisters


After having a walk around the walking tracks below the lookout, I headed back to the bike, via a cafe, where I bought some iced tea. God it was hot!! I then rode back through Katoomba to Leura, had a small ride around the village and then decided I'd head back to Blackheath for some lunch. I stopped at Blackheath and parked the bike under a very shady tree on the side of the highway and headed over to the Wattle Cafe. I had a Roast Beef, dill pickle, lettuce and sprout sandwich with a mug of coffee and sat outside and watched the world hurry past. There were quite a few people heading in both directions (east towards Sydney and west towards Lithgow and Bathurst) with off-road bikes in tow. It seems to be a very popular past-time these days.

The Wattle Cafe, Blackheath


After lunch, I headed back to Mt. Victoria and from there back along the causeway to Bell then on to Lithgow, following a HWP car for the last 10kms of the trip. From Lithgow I then took the highway back to Bathurst, deciding to get back early so I could clean the bike and also have a very long cold drink and cold shower :) On the way back to Bathurst I passed a HWP motorcycle and got a wave off the rider. That is my first wave from a Police motorcycle, things can't be bad :) All in all - 5 hours and just over 250kms travelled. It was about 25 degrees C when I started and it was 31degrees when I got home, so I can't complain, given that on Saturday it was 42 degrees in Sydney.

It was a great Australia Day ride.