Wow what an interesting week that was! A late start on the
Saturday put us behind the eight ball and then we punched out 600km up to the
overnight stop at Cootamundra, which to all the cricket fans out there is the
birthplace of Don Bradman, for all those non cricket fans google it. That left
us only around 230km to go the next day and a relaxed arrival and meet with the
others on the run. It also gave us chance to have a ride around the Mount Panorama Bathurst
race since I came to Australia
(It was one of the first things I saw here on TV) but nothing prepares you for
how steep and twisty it is coming off the mountain or how much conrod straight
undulates. A good start to the week.
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| Mount Panorama Race circuit |
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| Everyone arriving and meeting each other |
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| Clubby trying to calm everyone down at the welcome dinner |
After the welcome dinner and a few beers Monday morning saw
the departure for the first days ride from Bathhurst to Oberon which if you
take the direct route is only around 50km. We were to take the long route and
most of it off road for the 353km!! This also included the most technical
section of the weeks ride.
We started off well and although I was the only bike that
week (as far as I know) with duel sport tyres on instead of the recommended
full off roads knobblies we did OK.
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| Be careful those causeways can be slippery! |
Just before the lunch stop it all went pear
shaped. A big group of riders had stopped to change the instruction sheets in
their tank bags and watch one off the
old 750 Teneres virtually strip his front forks apart.
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| Running repairs |
As I took off I thought
that Mike would catch me as he is much better on the dirt than me. Instead he
stopped to help one of the older ’83 machines that was having trouble starting
and followed them along the track. I waited at the next major turn for him
along with some of the mates of the riders he was with. They ended up taking a
wrong turn and by the time the guy in the front (on a new 1200) realised he was
going down a steep rocky path that was then too steep for him to get back up!!
Needless to say After two hours I was told to go on as the sweep riders tried
firstly to find them and secondly the back up 4wd had to back down to a point
where he could tow the 1200 out!! I then rode the rest (and to my mind most
difficult section of the whole ride) on my own. By the end of the day I was
knackered and one of the two woman on the ride had fallen, hurting her knee
(luckily nothing broken) but was out of the run.
Day two was the longest day at 424 km From Oberon to Tumut,
although getting lost on a couple of occasions did add to that! The other lady
Maryanne who had been riding with the couple who had gone out, joined us as I
reckoned she couldn't be going any slower than me!!
The morning went well and things only really went askew when
we got directionally challenged around Canberra .
The afternoon saw the second victim of the run retire after crashing on one of
the fast sandy sections late in the day. I rode past just as he was being put
into the ambulance with a broken collar bone, cracked shoulder and some broken
ribs. He was the youngest rider with us so should “bounce" back easily enough. A
sobering reminder to us all of our fragility.
Day three was from Tumut down to Batemans Bay
Things started to come together for me confidence wise, although
I was still the slowest in the field. The day started with a wonderful twisty
road transit to the dirt. They then wound through the hills on some nice
forested dirt roads and also some wide open fast sandy trails, although at one
point you could have been mistaken for thinking you were on a different
continent with some of the place names!
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| A photo opportunity |
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| Are we in the right place?? |
In the afternoon we had the first
mechanical incident with Maryanne having a puncture in her front tyre. We had
made a good start to getting the front wheel out when lots of other riders
started to stop to offer their help including the organiser of the event
“clubby” from Trail Zone Magazine. It appears that his use of tyre levers is
not seen that often and as there were plenty of people keen to work
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| Apparently Clubby doesn't do this too often |
I just
stood back and took the photo’s. 30 minutes later we were off and running
again, toward the finish of the day but not until we had completed another
transit section over the hills down to the coast along some more fantastic
sweeping bends. Days end and after the fiasco of the previous evenings dinner
where the motel ran out of food tonight was pizza and red wine shared with the
seagulls in the waterfront park, reminiscing about the days events and
contemplating what tomorrow would bring.
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| Bringing the sheep home with dad. |
Day four was 386km from Batemans Bay
Nearly all of the first 70km consisted of narrow winding gravel
roads to get us in the mood until the first break at the Araluen Valley Hotel,
where the local publican was waiting to greet all of us and provide anything we
needed in the way of refreshment.
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| Morning Coffee |
It was so nice that by the time we had
finished our coffee the sweep riders were pulling in!! Time to get going. The rest of the afternoon went quite well
until we went through a junction were there was a signpost saying road closed??
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| Road Closed?? |
Any sane law abiding citizen would have turned left at that point (and indeed
some did) but Mike just kept going until we found the point where the bridge
(and road) had been washed away.
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| The reason why!! |
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| Mez going through with a bow wave! |
Unfortunately I didn’t have the foresight to
switch the helmet cam on so I have no film of me crossing this. Mike, Maryanne
and myself all went through with no problems.
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| I was glad to get through in one |
Others were not so fortunate as
there was a rather large “hole” in the water crossing that caused some to let
their bikes have a small rest on its side half way through!!
As we rode into the hotel in Jindabyne it had been a long
and eventful day giving everyone something to talk about over a couple of cold
beers that night.
The last day was to be a loop out from Jindabyne to follow
some fantastic roads through the Snowy Mountains for 366km.
We had to go to the
gas station first thing to get some more oil for the old Teneres and Mez found
that she had her second front wheel puncture of the trip!! This meant that we
were going to be late setting off, but also the sweeps were late in starting as
they helped Mez to fix it! The weather that had been so kind to us changed a
little as it was a cold start and a few showers throughout the morning, but not
enough to make the going impossible. The scenery that day was spectacular and
by the afternoon the sun had reappeared to warm us up.
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| McKillops bridge in the Snowy Mountains |
After all the official
photo’s had been taken we had the celebratory dinner with some prizes awarded
for some things serious and some frivolous. I think everyone had a good time.
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| All together for a group photo |
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| The five oldest '83 Teneres on the run |
On reflection.
8 Days, 3200 km on 29 year old machines with no breakdowns.
650km on the old Tenere is too far, at least until I can get
some better foam in the seat.
My dirt riding skills are not as good as I either thought or
would like them to be. I also think that at 53 years of age the possibility of
reaching the desired skill level is not likely to happen. I think that the recklessness
of youth and knowledge of how much it hurts when you fall off prevents the all
out commitment it takes. I think that is something that is learned at a younger age. I consider myself to be an adventure rider who while
riding if I come across a dirt road will ride along it, make it through in one piece and hopefully without dropping it. I don’t think that I
purposely go looking to ride off road.
Would I do it again? If the situation was right and the cost
not too expensive, yes. But having done it it’s not some thing that I
desperately crave.
The event was superbly organised and run by Clubby and Tania
from Trailzone Magazine, and for that I thank them.
Thanks to Mez (Maryanne) for some of the photo's in this report. She has already beaten me to posting the video which is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxQsDCC-rlo&sns=em enjoy.
What’s next?? I intend to go to Europe
again next May. I would like to attend the Horizons Unlimited meeting in the UK , and maybe even take the 660 Tenere down to Spain and even further to possibly Morocco again
that depends on a lot of things that have to come together at the right time,
we’ll see but I’ll keep you informed.
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