Did this first one with great mate John Dean and as part of the traditional Bucca......
Sorry no pictures due to technical difficulties….I forgot the camera (doh!)
FarRide East #18……Well Friday came around and after much advice seeking and discussion with fellow FarRider John Dean a new route had been agreed upon due to the weather out West and more South West of NSW.
John and I set off to meet a newcomer to the fold in Bruce Fenney at Bega, our starting point. All was good and in preparation with new forms in hand got my two start witnesses, fuelled the bike and got the all important start docket……time and date all good………Away We Go!!!!
The first leg is a dream run, back up the hill to Bemboka, John’s home, and on up Browns Mountain, very little traffic and a terrific way to start a ride. Then across the Alpine Country, through Nimmabatel, Cooma, Bredboe where due to some approaching clouds John decides to go the water proof over gloves, Good decision.
No sooner than we pass through and down it comes, heavy heavy rain and then out of no where Hail the size of golf balls…no where to run, nowhere to hide, so on with the flashers, slow down and plough on. At least this was the case for John and I, Bruce on the other hand decided for a 1st FarRide, home safely was a better option, well done got Rule #1 right first time out.
John and I lost touch here and down through Canberra, think Lady Mel may have put out that welcoming mat . However we knew where we were going and we ride similar paces and styles, so into Goulburn for the first refuelling and in pulls John a minute later. Alls good after discuss the hail storm and look out to the oncoming weather, think we may miss most of it so lets carry on.
Out through the Oberon Rd and heading for Bathurst, another great stretch of riding road, spoilt already. We make Bathurst and I need to refuel for a turning point docket, this will be the case for most refuelling rather than actually needing fuel. Along the way we punched through yet another rain storm around 7pm near Molong, and trust me, we almost pulled the pin here as it did not look any better out West. Agreed to continue and just see by Dubbo, and all was good just out of Wellington, dry roads, clear skies……….right, time to get serious.
John had made a decision earlier that Coonabarabran looked like a good stop for his sleep requirements so on we push and in we go, just over 900 on the clock now and it’s only just gone about 10:30pm. A quick chat and we decide it will be town to town for John and see how we go. On through Gunedah and into Tamworth just around midnight. Feeling quite good here and also get to chat with some fellow FarRiders from S.A. (names elude me), and also find out there have been others through already tonight…..good to see a lot out on the road.
John and I have quite a decent break here, move around, rehydrate and stretch……we’re good to go up through Manilla, Barraba and Bingerra as John feels we can make Inverell tonight and just do some lazy riding down to Nambucca in the morning.
Well all is good until 5km’s short of Barraba where after having seen some small wildlife off to the sides of the road and no cattle, all of a sudden with me in the lead I am \face to face with 2 Kangaroos, one either side of the double whites?
I make the split decision as the one on my side begins to exit stage left to split the two and also try to brake down from a fairly decent speed…….all good until the one on my side moving decides tackling me head on, BANG….big hit…..all in the space of that millisecond I am envisaging all sorts of pain, broken bones, helicopter flight out in the middle of the night and just how much I know hitting the deck is going to hurt…..
Amazing, I dead as a door nail roo and I’m still upright and travelling, quick glances backwards and John has cleared all the mayhem without incident, thank god…no me, all parts still moving, now bike, nothing too out of the ordinary sound wise, feel wise…my gawd I made it through and then I look up to notice the road is slightly darker, a quick glance down and one of my HID spotlights has nearly taken the brunt of the impact, Oh well, 5km’s and we will pull over and fully check the bike over before continuing.
I get started on this and suggest to John it’s a perfect IBA Motel we should rest up here as I am going to have to go over the bike…….well almost we did, but to our surprise the only thing damaged was one main fog light bracket slightly bent and one HID spotlight loose in it’s mounting…easy 10 minute fix and John is keen to keep going.
On the next stretch through to Bingerra and out to Delungra I start to feel a bit from the impact, wrists and shoulders start to feel uncomfortable, I’ve slowed right back down and am a little jumpy, so I make the decision that Delungra will be as far as we go for now, 3:50am and we are at the rest stop behind the cop shop, John quickly out with his swag and beds down……me, takes me almost 1 ½ hours to get the heart to slow down enough to nod off, all good, I get in half an hours sleep.
We set off in the morning through Inverell, Glen Innes, Grafton and down to the Wall all of that planning, taking today nice and easy, and we still arrive in at 11:40am, all the paperwork ready to be signed off on and a neat 1637km’s on the GPS readout……WE DID IT!!!
My special thanks to John Dean for the company and the support on this ride, and a big thanks not only to those that posted on the forum, but from many others with messages of support through out the ride, that did offer advice and gave John and I the motivation and guidance to be successful. And to the other 140 riders who made this one a little bit special.
Bring on the next one
Sorry no pictures due to technical difficulties….I forgot the camera (doh!)
FarRide East #18……Well Friday came around and after much advice seeking and discussion with fellow FarRider John Dean a new route had been agreed upon due to the weather out West and more South West of NSW.
John and I set off to meet a newcomer to the fold in Bruce Fenney at Bega, our starting point. All was good and in preparation with new forms in hand got my two start witnesses, fuelled the bike and got the all important start docket……time and date all good………Away We Go!!!!
The first leg is a dream run, back up the hill to Bemboka, John’s home, and on up Browns Mountain, very little traffic and a terrific way to start a ride. Then across the Alpine Country, through Nimmabatel, Cooma, Bredboe where due to some approaching clouds John decides to go the water proof over gloves, Good decision.
No sooner than we pass through and down it comes, heavy heavy rain and then out of no where Hail the size of golf balls…no where to run, nowhere to hide, so on with the flashers, slow down and plough on. At least this was the case for John and I, Bruce on the other hand decided for a 1st FarRide, home safely was a better option, well done got Rule #1 right first time out.
John and I lost touch here and down through Canberra, think Lady Mel may have put out that welcoming mat . However we knew where we were going and we ride similar paces and styles, so into Goulburn for the first refuelling and in pulls John a minute later. Alls good after discuss the hail storm and look out to the oncoming weather, think we may miss most of it so lets carry on.
Out through the Oberon Rd and heading for Bathurst, another great stretch of riding road, spoilt already. We make Bathurst and I need to refuel for a turning point docket, this will be the case for most refuelling rather than actually needing fuel. Along the way we punched through yet another rain storm around 7pm near Molong, and trust me, we almost pulled the pin here as it did not look any better out West. Agreed to continue and just see by Dubbo, and all was good just out of Wellington, dry roads, clear skies……….right, time to get serious.
John had made a decision earlier that Coonabarabran looked like a good stop for his sleep requirements so on we push and in we go, just over 900 on the clock now and it’s only just gone about 10:30pm. A quick chat and we decide it will be town to town for John and see how we go. On through Gunedah and into Tamworth just around midnight. Feeling quite good here and also get to chat with some fellow FarRiders from S.A. (names elude me), and also find out there have been others through already tonight…..good to see a lot out on the road.
John and I have quite a decent break here, move around, rehydrate and stretch……we’re good to go up through Manilla, Barraba and Bingerra as John feels we can make Inverell tonight and just do some lazy riding down to Nambucca in the morning.
Well all is good until 5km’s short of Barraba where after having seen some small wildlife off to the sides of the road and no cattle, all of a sudden with me in the lead I am \face to face with 2 Kangaroos, one either side of the double whites?
I make the split decision as the one on my side begins to exit stage left to split the two and also try to brake down from a fairly decent speed…….all good until the one on my side moving decides tackling me head on, BANG….big hit…..all in the space of that millisecond I am envisaging all sorts of pain, broken bones, helicopter flight out in the middle of the night and just how much I know hitting the deck is going to hurt…..
Amazing, I dead as a door nail roo and I’m still upright and travelling, quick glances backwards and John has cleared all the mayhem without incident, thank god…no me, all parts still moving, now bike, nothing too out of the ordinary sound wise, feel wise…my gawd I made it through and then I look up to notice the road is slightly darker, a quick glance down and one of my HID spotlights has nearly taken the brunt of the impact, Oh well, 5km’s and we will pull over and fully check the bike over before continuing.
I get started on this and suggest to John it’s a perfect IBA Motel we should rest up here as I am going to have to go over the bike…….well almost we did, but to our surprise the only thing damaged was one main fog light bracket slightly bent and one HID spotlight loose in it’s mounting…easy 10 minute fix and John is keen to keep going.
On the next stretch through to Bingerra and out to Delungra I start to feel a bit from the impact, wrists and shoulders start to feel uncomfortable, I’ve slowed right back down and am a little jumpy, so I make the decision that Delungra will be as far as we go for now, 3:50am and we are at the rest stop behind the cop shop, John quickly out with his swag and beds down……me, takes me almost 1 ½ hours to get the heart to slow down enough to nod off, all good, I get in half an hours sleep.
We set off in the morning through Inverell, Glen Innes, Grafton and down to the Wall all of that planning, taking today nice and easy, and we still arrive in at 11:40am, all the paperwork ready to be signed off on and a neat 1637km’s on the GPS readout……WE DID IT!!!
My special thanks to John Dean for the company and the support on this ride, and a big thanks not only to those that posted on the forum, but from many others with messages of support through out the ride, that did offer advice and gave John and I the motivation and guidance to be successful. And to the other 140 riders who made this one a little bit special.
Bring on the next one
