I posted this on the Australian Two Wheels forum that I frequent, but thought some of you would be interested in a few piccies from a ride I did this past weekend with a number of other riders (ranging from 3 to 16 at various times). Kicked it off by leaving work at 1pm on Friday. Shot down the freeway to the other side of the Mooney Mooney Bridge where I met up with 3 other guys (VTR250, a red VFR800 and I think it is a Suzuki TLR1000 or something like that - fairly heavily modified and an awesome sounding machine - I am on the blue VFR800). We shot up the old Pacific Highway, which is far better on a Friday afternoon than the weekend, as far as the Gosford intersection before joining the freeway again for the plod north. When we first met it was bloody hot, but not long on the freeway and it started to rain a bit. Wet weathers were put on, but it didn't come down much after that (isn't that always the way?). A fuel stop near Raymond Terrace and then onto Buladelah for a refreshing beverage. This joint is pretty rough if you ask me. The few times I have been into this pub I have heard language from women that makes even me blush. Not women you would mess with We had originally planned to stay the night in Taree, but ended up heading for Old Bar and a backpackers. On the way, we passed a VFR with rider and pillion having a break on the side of the highway. I gave the bloke a wave and he very enthusiastically waved back. A couple of minutes later he caught up to us and rode with us in formation for the next 10 or 15 minutes. This is one of the things I like about biking, that you can tack onto a ride with a few other people even if you don't know them. At Old Bar, we stayed at the backpackers and had the entire 28 bed place to ourselves (Namaste was the name of the place). It had a pool table + a table tennis table (there may be too many tables in there). Ran amok to a degree and ended up with a sore head the next morning. Followed a tip from a rider who was unable to join us and rode into Wauchope via Bago Road, which was a nice intro to the Oxley. We fueled up in Wauchope and at the petrol station, there was a bloke that we estimated was between 70 and 80 years of age (I think closer to 80 than 70). Anyway, he was filling up his Sachs Madass scooter ($1.25 I think I saw on the bowser). Apparently he also rode a BMW800. He was obviously a bit of a character and his scooter drew a few car drivers over to have a chat to him. I wanted to take a photo of him, but thought it would be rude (excuse me, can I take your photo because you are old and on a madass scooter). We started off and it wasn't long before I was having a great time. Slow corners are not my forte (riding isn't my forte come to think of it), but they were enjoyable nonetheless, with the quality of the road, the virtually complete absence of traffic and the weather all combining to make for very, very enjoyable riding conditions. We rode through to Gingers Creek, where we had lunch and I started to kind of feel alright from the night before (though whilst riding I felt fine). Hamburger was the order of the day and there were a few bikes there, but not too many. From here, we entered into what I consider motorcycle nirvana. I am more interested in the 55, 65, 75, 85 and 95km/h corners than the really tight twisty stuff. I have sometimes wondered if I bought the right bike for me, but I fell deeply in love with the VFR during this stage. Some people write off the VTEC as too complicated, useless, blah blah blah, but let me tell you when riding between say 55km/h corners in say 3rd, you are hitting the magic 7,000rpm between corners and it is just awesome. The sound is brilliant and I just can't get it out of my mind. I truly was in heaven. Eventually the road opened up and we stretched the legs of the bikes a bit. In fact, I came across the only 110km'h posted speed limit I have ever seen on a shared road (i.e. not a freeway). It was 110 for quite some time, but with high cross winds, we had to drop the speed down to something not toooooo illegal. We also came across some cattle on the road. We rode onto Walcha for a drink stop and I attempted to speak to a reasonably large group of riders, but they weren't too friendly, rude in fact, which was disappointing. From here, it was onto Tamworth where we stopped at the Powerhouse Motorcycle Museum. $7 entry and the nice bloke running the show even made me a cuppa coffee. The bikes on display were interesting, with 52 in all. Apparently the bloke has another 90 in the shed waiting for bigger premises, which is on the cards. We ended up staying next door in the apartments, which were popular with riders + we got a discount for being on bikes. This was just one shot of bikes staying there (which includes our bikes). The morning saw us leave Tamworth after fuel and the compulsory stop at the golden guitar. From there it was all business through to Singleton for fuel, before heading onto Broke to meet up with a number of other riders (13 bikes in total I think). Timing was amazing, with us pulling into the carpark of the lunch stop at the exact same time as the guys heading north. A bite of lunch and we were off to the Putty Road. Now again, this road is heaven. I had this silly grin on my face for the whole stretch. I left 3rd from memory, but of 16 bikes, pulled up at the halfway house in 13th spot. Not that it was a race, but it is fair to say I briefly saw headlights, then briefly tail lights as I got overtaken. From my own riding perspective, I use predominantly engine braking rather than the actual brakes themselves, which makes me a lot slower, but that is cool for the moment and I will start to add in a bit more brake, which allows for more speed etc. etc. This is a shot of the brief stop at the halfway house. We ended up leaving the group here as we were keen to get our butts couchside after a few days of riding. Again, whilst the roads were not as twisty as the initial bit, I still enjoyed the next large stretch where there was not much traffic and you could travel at a reasonable pace. I found myself thinking all was okay in the world (ah, the content rider). Hitting Sydney (Windsor) was a bit of a bummer, but traffic wasn't too horrendous before getting home. One funny thing is that for the entire weekend, I didn't have one moment of thinking "oh shit" whilst riding along. It all felt really good, I had a bit of a crack in the twisty bits and travelled at a fair pace in the faster stuff. All pretty sensible, but still confidence inspiring, making me really start to appreciate my bike. It is certainly powerful enough for me and a great all rounder as it was pretty comfortable much of the trip. The irony was, I rode all that way and it was when it came time to stop and wait for a car before turning into my driveway, that I had an "oh shit" moment. I am normally very alert to traffic behind me, but after a 500km day I obviously wasn't. A car came flying up behind me and just as I caught sight of him in my mirror, he jumped on the brakes, thankfully pulling up in time. Would not have been good to ride all that way and get cleaned up turning into my driveway, but goes to show you how you cannot relax. End wrap up? 1,100 odd km's, 1 hangover, 50,000 grins and two roads joining my top three favourite roads: - 1. Nimitabel to Cooma 2. Oxley HWY 3. Putty Road Here endeth the report.
