Brookesters IBA Dalby Muster 2018

Brookester

Premier Member
#1
IBA Aus. 2018 Dalby Muster
Well it has been some time since going for a Long Ride, even longer since doing any IBA Certified ride and a ride report.
The past couple of weeks had been a bit tough with having to attend the funeral of a life long friend Monday before Easter, then having my work contract terminated Easter Monday.
But alas, every cloud has a silver lining, this now freed me up to attend the Muster. So originally, I was just going to come out and say G’day to many like minded crazies I had not seen in some time, then LTP convinced me to register and do an IBA ride-in.
Then TJ popped up, more encouragement and waiving of the late fee and as you all know, like we need any more reason to go riding…...as usual route planning was extensive…. how far South do I have to go before heading North to get 1620kms in, done, lodged…see ya’ll Saturday.
So original plan was to leave home 12noon Friday and arrive 24 hours or less later in Dalby by travelling down the East Coast to Heatherbrae, heading over to Tamworth, then North to Dalby. Friday morning, I checked weather when packing the bike up and realised the temperature down the middle would not be to my liking, anything below 28C would be tough. Quick call to TJ and route reversed with leaving out Heatherbrae and just going down to Tamworth and across to Thrumster. All good, still 1620kms and that will do me.
So I get going from home around 10am and head towards Tenterfield for my first refuel. The KLR650 is not far from stock so only about 300-350km range. The start of the ride saw the GPS mucking up and trying to send be down to the Airport Link Toll road, so after about 5 resets it finally gave up and got tracking the route correctly.
Once into Cunningham’s Gap I was glad for the extra two base layers, it was already too cold for me having just spent the last 6 months in Central Queensland. Things were going well and off towards Tamworth I went.
Pretty uneventful ride down to Tamworth although very cold down through Glen Innes and Armidale so I was loving that I changed my ride plan. Pulled up just outside of Tamworth to give the bike a going over, have a rest stop when I noticed two bikes heading North. Gave a big wave and got one back from the 2nd rider, the front rider was head down straight ahead.
Turns out this was Brian and the second time on one of his rides this had happened, previously when he was following Frans around Aus and I was the only person standing on the side of the highway through the remote town of Elliot, NT waving frantically he noticed and waved back, Frans, head down and straight ahead……
Anyways off to refuel on the other side of town to keep the mileage creeping up then turn around and head North to the Oxley Hwy turn off and head across to Thrumster. As I got to the turn-off it was time for yet another layer, so in went the original thermal linings and some thermal inner gloves, full balaclava and a check to make sure every vent on my riding suit was fully closed.
Going across the Oxley is a lot of people’s great ride, what with 200+ Twisties it’s normally a lot of fun. Not much wildlife to speak of with 1 wombat, 1 black footed wallaby. But by the time I had reached Gingers Café, even before then, I was over the Twisties.
I started trying to remember when these damn corners would end and cursing myself for picking this route to do in the night time period I was so over it…… and this is also when my trusty, world travelled Garmin Zumo 660 GPS decided to have a fit. All the screen became pixel mash, music was playing at 1.5 times normal speed……can’t be bothered with it for now, hopefully a full reset at the end will resolve it.
Into Wauchope and it was Show Night…. peoples everywhere, did more dodging of peoples with show bags and Dagwood Dogs than I had done of any wildlife…..finally into the Doughnut for some fuel, where after 10pm you have to pre-pay just like in the States.
Decided I needed a little bit of food and a walk around, so walk over to Maccas quaff down a ¼ pounder and check the SpotWalla group page and some social media. Kiwi Martin and Pillion Piglet’s last location is just South of me, so I comment the I’m either just ahead or just behind them. Martin comments they are already in Coffs Harbour for the night…
A run up the Pacific Hwy with 110km/h speed limits, 2 lanes wide, and lots of well lit up trucks running made this a really easy run…. thought about beeping the 139dB horn passing through Coffs…lol!!!
Just prior to Grafton the ¼ pounder was starting to give me grief so an urgent pit stop 20kms short of my next refuel. Arrived in Grafton for a refuel and to have a bit of a break walking around when a very attractive young lady pulled up in a very expensive Range Rover, unloaded 2 pit bulls out of the back for their rest stop.
For some reason the dogs found me more interesting than getting back into the range rover….so a small chat and finally I put the dogs back into the range rover…a little smirk and wishing me a safe ride from their owner….
My next stop was Coomera for fuel and with the Commonwealth Games on thoughts turned to if I am early enough to miss traffic mayhem on the M1??? Turns out I not only struck the M1 in absolute no traffic mode but got a nice little escort with a group of 8 Police Outriders heading up to collect a V.I.P. and hurtling along so I thought I’d join them….
At Coomera I really needed to take a break, for the first time ever I had a cup of hot coffee on a LD ride and some Turkish Delight chocolate…. turns out my diabetes was paying up a bit, so I took about ½ hour here and to also get rid of some layers as it was now quite pleasant 22C.
The run across the south of Brisbane and up to Toowoomba was uneventful. Great day for riding and the run over to Dalby was just a short final 90kms with a bit of wind.
Arriving in Dalby, found the motel, already full of a lot of riders to witness the end of my ride. Met with some new crazy peeps and caught up with some not seen in way too long.
Made my way over to the check-in and the room was full of IBA Aus. Members. Checked in with a lousy 1615kms in 23 hours 38 minutes…. fat lazy old bugga style IBA ride for me……
The afternoon and the night was great fun. My head was spinning in amazement at all these great IBA riders in one room, IBR finishers, Massive Multi Day riders, and some riders whom I had yet to meet in person but had interacted with on forums and social media for some time. I'm a people person and the riding is secondary to me so my heart was filled with joy once again and the troubles got parked.....smiles all round.
The diversity of riders and pillions always amazes me and truly warms the heart to think these people do this sport not so much for the rides but for this, the great companionship and storytelling, experience sharing and endless laughs.
The night was filled with certificate presentations, great complimentary presentations on Fatigue Management and Cruise Controls…..and a lot of really good discussions around the future of IBA Aus. whilst also celebrating some of the great achievers in our small community here in Aus.
To ALL who organised, attended, participated in supported everyone else and myself…. THANK YOU HEAPS.
RIDE SAFE AND HAPPY TRAVELS TILL WE MEET AGAIN!!!!
OH! As a sub note, can people remember to put the ‘E’ in BrookEster……lol!!!
 
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Tele

Premier Member
#2
So pleased you could make it BrookEster :p;)
Always great to catch up. The 23+ hours is not a drama mate. They give you 24 to do the ride and you made the most of the opportunity to chat up a pretty lady, walk away without scars from a pit-bull experience, get a private Police escort, eat some turkish delight, drink a rare coffee and ride a ridiculous amount of corners. You had a ball :p:p

great report mate!
 

Skidoo

Premier Member
#3
Enjoyed the read 'BrookEster', great to see you had a great ride and enjoyed the weekend. When your music played at 1.5 times I suppose you have an opportunity to listen to more songs o_O

You did the ride within 24hrs, that's all that counts well done and look forward to catching up again soon mate.
 

Biggles

Premier Member
#4
Well done BrookEster (you asked for it! :p ) Doing the SS1600 on a single cylinder naked bike through a cool night gets cred from me.
You're right about the room full of achievers. But did you notice? No one was crowing or holding court. Just a bunch of guys and gals who have done the kays and love swapping yarns.
 

tj189

Premier Member
#5
Thanks for sharing Brooke, enjoyed the read and glad you were able to make it. You had 24 hours to complete your ride and strategically, used it well. Nicely done :)