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.

Bathurst to Mt Hotham and return - 4 days and 1960kms

This is the TwoWheels motorcycle Forum Christmas party (or as it is known the Xmas Partee) trip that I have been waiting for all year.



Day 1, Friday 28th November 2008

5.00am wakeup , bike packed the night before, throw on the tankbag and at 5.45am I'm ready to go meet up with a mate, Turbo, at 6.00am at MacDonalds and commence our trip. I have a tank full of gas, an iPod full of tunes, its clear weather and 4 hours to reach Robertson.



First stop is Goulburn for fuel and a coffee, then on to Robertson to meet up with some Sydney riders before heading down the Kangaroo Valley. At Robertson Pie Shop we sampled the apple pie and cream and a relaxing coffee. We ended up waiting a tad longer than expected because of hold ups with the Sydney crew, but eventually left Robertson at 11.50am, having spent nearly 2 hours there waiting. Whilst waiting it started to rain, so wet weather gear was taken from bags for the trip south. Next stop is Nowra and then on to Ulladulla for lunch, where we had lunch on the balcony of a shopping centre overlooking the harbour and foreshore. Very nice. The rain had stopped by the time we reached Nowra, but the skies were still very grey.

Our line up of bikes at Uladulla.


The shopping centre where we had lunch


The harbour


The lunch crew discussing my healthy mega "hamburger with the lot"


After lunch we headed south through Bateman's Bay to our next stop, Narooma. As we approached narooma, the heavens openned up into a torrential thunderstorm. We were later to find that the storm front stretched from above Tamworth in the north all the way down to the NSW/Victoria border. Once again wet weather clothes were hastily donned on the road side and we rode into Narooma very damp, looking for a place to park out of the storm.

Parked under a disused Dental Practice shop front in Narooma, awaiting the storm to lift


With no sight of the storm abating we decided to head on and kept to the highway rather than take the coast road to Tathra and Merimbula. Next stop is Bega, where we will meet up for our last leg into Merimbula where we will spend the night.

We arrived at Merimbula at 6.30pm where we met up with the other riders who had come down from Sydney and the local area earlier. Altogether there are about 20 of us. The rain had eased and was just spitting. After allocation of our rooms (I was bunking in with Luke - hope he has earplugs !!) we parked the bikes undercover, changed and headed down to the Cantina Tapas and Wine Bar for the evening. This is a great place if you are visiting merimbula - highly recommended - and the Blue Tongue beer is not bad either. The Tapas plate is a specialty and in the cooler months they do an amazing Paella.

Some of the group enjoying the wine, food and comfort of the Cantina


Day 2, Saturday 29th November 2008

6.00am wake up, breakfast (full cooked one) at 7.30am and we are away by 8.30am. Today we are heading to Harrietville in the Victorian Snowy Mountains. Luke tells me that I didn't snore too badly, but then again, he was wearing earplugs.

Spook's Red Honda VFR800F in front of Beast's BMW K1200R

Some of the bikes ready for the road

Even Santa (Beast) made an appearance :)


First stop of the day is Bombala, where we will meet up with a couple more riders before deciding which route we will take southwards. The weather is still overcast and threatens rain, which has been falling on and off all night.

The entourage at the Bombala petrol station


From Bombala it is decided to head down to Cann River via the Monaro (Cann Valley) Highway. This is a great run and it is a fun road to ride. we arrived in Cann River about 10.00ish where we stopped to await some of the slower riders to catch up. The main group headed off whilst a smaller group of five of us waited for the little Honda NSR150 to catch up.

From Cann River we head towards Bruthen along the Princes Highway, where we will have lunch. We take a fuel stop just outside Orbost as the heavens open up again.

As we arrive in Bruthen, the main group is just about to head off up the Great Alpine Road (GAR) towards Omeo. The six of us settle outside the local takeaway for lunch and watch an assortment of motorcycles, including a group of 19 Buells head up the GAR. Once again the rain has stopped but the clouds threaten.

Lunch over, we set off up the GAR towards Omeo, following the Tambo River upstream. This part of the road reminds me of the road from Jindabyne to Thredbo as it follows the Thredbo River. it is very picturesque and a wonderful road for riding. The only pitfall of this road is the number of cyclists on it who insist on riding two abreast on sharp corners. We find this problem all the way to Mt Hotham.

Next stop is Omeo where we stop for fuel before climbing up to Mt Hotham via Dinner Plain and then descend into the valley beyond to Harrietville, where we will be staying for two nights.

Around Dinner Plain the cloud starts to fall and the temperature starts to turn decidedly chilly. we stopped to discuss having a coffee at the Mt Hotham Ski resort, but given the time and weather conditions, we decided to continue on to Harrietville, where a hot shower, beer (and/or wine) and dinner await :)

Spook, Syd and Fletch at Dinner Plain discussing not stopping for a coffee on Mt. Hotham


The weather on top of Mt. Hotham was attrocious. Cloud reduced visibility down to a couple of metres at the most and that as well as some sleet and rain made riding quite hazardous. We crawled over the summit and started our descent, passing snow that remained from the previous weekend's cold snap.

We finally made it to Harrietville at around 5.30pm, where rooms were allocated and bikes parked under verandahs. I was fortunate to be bunked in with Spook and Fletch and hoped they had their earplugs as well. The remaining riders from Victoria arrived at the same time and the full group was there, 37 of us all up. Following a shower, change into street clothes the hotel bar was a very inviting place and much beer and wine was drunk and pizza consumed as everyone caught up.

Bikes parked under the room verandahs




Day 3, Sunday 30th November 2008

0630am wake up with breakfast at 7.30am.
Blue sky, a few white clouds and it looks like a great day for riding.
Today is a play day. A motorcycle suspension specialist from Melbourne has been brought up for the weekend, so some riders will have him take a look at their bikes and tinkle with them, (that's a technical term ! :)) whilst others will go out on rides in the local area. Poor Spook has found that his lovely red VFR has a slow leak in the rear tyre and being a Sunday there is virtually no way he'll be able to get it repaired, so he's stuck at the "base camp" trying to plug and repair it.

Harrietville General Store


The Main Street of Harrietville (The Great Alpine Road)


After breakfast I decide to head back up the mountain to Mt. Hotham and take some required touristy photos. The ride to the top is magnificent and the roads are dry and totally different than the previous night. I thoroughly enjoyed this road today.

On the way up I stopped to take some snaps of the road and surrounding scenery.










On top of Mt. Hotham I ran into a group of our riders about to head off down to Omeo and then up to Angler's Rest for lunch at the Blue Duck Inn. I decided to stay at Mt. Hotham and have a coffee.

The group about to take off for Omeo


The Mt. Hotham Ski Resort


Zirky's Cafe, where I had coffe and walnut slice :) Yum!


A view over the ski fields (without snow)


My bike beside the remaining roadside snow


I made my way down the mountain and caught up with a group of riders heading up to Bright for lunch, following which they were heading across to Mt. Beauty and then up to Falls Creek. i decided to tag along :)

Lunch at Bright after filling up at the BP servo was a pie and diet coke. Beast arrived during lunch, having unfortunatelt run out of petrol just on the entrance to the town and having had to push his Beemer a kilometer to refuel. That is a huge bike to push that far !! Another rider, PistolPete on a sweet sounding Hyosung 650 pulled up just as we were getting ready to leave so he literally threw a pie and drink down and we headed of towards Mt. Beauty. The Tawonga Gap Road between Bright and Mt. Beauty is an absolute brilliant bike road, full of twisting sections and tight 30kph hairpins. The one thing I have learnt from the trip is that Victorian speed advisory warning signs for corners are accurate !!

The view from the Tawonga Gap Lookout towards Falls Creek


Onwards and upwards from Mt. Beauty we climbed up the twisties to Falls Creek, where there was a fair bit of summer rebuilding and maintenance going on. The trip down was reasonably eventful - being caught behind a tourist bus on the way down isn't too flash and then to meet a 4WD towing a monster trailer full of rowing 8s on a hairpin heading up the mountain was an interesting experience :)

The three GS500Fs with JPugz and Miller lined up at Falls Creek Upper Car Park

The day ended back at Hariettville around 4.30 pm. A brilliant day of riding some wonderful roads, with great scenic experiences and I'm feeling slightly knackered. I had time for a long hot shower and then to prepare for the nights Christmas Dinner festivities, during which many fine wines, beers and a Christmas dinner were consumed, many stories told and brazillions of laughs had :)

Day 4, Monday 1st December 2008

Departure day.
6.00am wakeup, packing of bikes, breakfast at 7.30am and hoipefully hitting the road by 8.30am.

Well this day was supposed to see me head back to Merimbula overnight, but family commitments made me reschedule my return to Bathurst to do it all in one day. A number of others were also riding back to Sydney in one day, so Turbo and I decided to cadge along on their ride via Corryong, Dead Horse Gap, Thredbo, Jindabyne, Cooma and Canberra - well that was until it bucketted down the night before and we woke to crappy weather. We decided to take the more direct route home via Albury, Wagga, Cootamundra, Young and Cowra.

Vando already for the road north towards Tamworth via Thredbo.


So bidding all a fond farewell, safe riding and hoping to see them all again soon, we headed up to Bright to refuel before doing the Tawonga Gap Road again to Mt. Beauty, but this time turning NW and heading up towards Wadonga. We ended up in a small group with Stevo, Syd, Emax, Leatherpants, Turbo, Miller and myself. Stevo, Syd and then Emax on the NSR turned off at Wadonga, whilst Turbo, Miller, LP amnd I sought out the local Harley dealership where LP could get his Buell's brake and tryre problems sorted. having taken a cooks tour of Wadonga and then Albury, we finally found the "Tractor" dealership and bid LP a safe journey and Turbo, Miller and I set off northwards.

Turbo and I farewelled Miller at the Olympic Way turnoff just outside Albury and the two of us commenced the final leg home. Just enering Wagga Wagga we encountered our first locusts. lunch in Wagga, refuel and then on the road north we encountered the main swarms and by the time we stopped at Cootamundra, we and the bikes looked quite disgusting.

Turbo's helmet at Cootamundra


My helmet, with embedded passengers - after I cleaned the visor as best as I could.


Just after Cootamundra my throttle lock (a cheap version of a cruise control) decided to break, so I was stuck holding the throttle rather than being able to relax a little with it locked in position. I didn't realise till then how much vibration there was in the handle bars and my right hand started to tingle after a while of riding at "speed limit" speeds :). A coffee stop at Young, refuel and we headed up through Cowra to Blayney, where I waved Turbo goodbye as he headed off to Orange and I completed my trip home, arriving at 6.30pm. I oiled the bikes chain, put it to bed in the garage and was totally rooted !! I must admit, at that point I was not looking forward to unpacking the bags and panniers or the big cleanup of the bike and gear the next day !!

All up 1960 Kms through some absolutely stunning scenery and roads and riding with some fantastic people. Turbo, Luke, Spook and Fletch are legends. I can't wait for the 2009 Xmas Party.