DHTS Roundup 2018, Fatman & LTP's report

Fatman

Well-Known Member
#1
The dinner on the Friday night at the Taree Chinese Restaurant was very tasty, all you can eat for a low cost, yum, but then Tiger Bill handed out the 9 rally packs to each of the entrants, so in a flash the Restaurant was empty with everyone heading back to their motel rooms to start the fun of plotting a route.

The rules stated the start time was Saturday 6am, that 1666km min must be ridden and check in on the Sunday was 11am – 12pm before penalties would accrue. There was a Dam Cluster combo which meant if you got photos at 3 dams and claimed the combo bonus you would double the points for those 3 dams. You could claim more than 1 Dam Cluster also but not use the same location more than once, and each of the dams were high in value something, in hindsight, I should have studied more in the routing. In the week leading up to the roundup LTP and I along with Philmor’s help had been practicing with a new method to manipulate all the soon to get 130 or so bonus locations into Basecamp in a quicker fashion, and it worked a treat allowing us to test a few different routes prior to selecting the one we were going to ride, which in turn allowed us to maximise our sleep time on the Friday night.

Saturday found us all assembled by the side of our bikes at 5.45am at the Taree Information Centre where start odometer readings were taken etc. Then on the dot of 6am Lord Cuddles pointed to us to lead the entrants into the unknown, at least LTP and I can say we led the roundup, even if it was only being the first out of the car park.

We had decided to head inland towards Gloucester to pick up our first bonus of the town sign at Tugrabakh “TUG”. As the GPS counted down to the bonus location it was obvious that there wasn’t a town here. Now Tiger Bill had warned all competitors at the riders briefing the night before that some of the town locations may only be a locality, which made it hard to know if by riding further than the grid references given in the rally packs if a town did exist or not. At “TUG” we decided to take a pic of the creek with the same name. This was allowed in the rules as long as no one else presented a pic of the town sign, in which case we would get zero points for that bonus location. Ed and Derrick had the same idea and took off from the same creek sign after their pics.




Our next bonus location was some 390km away which got us to where the higher scoring bonuses were scattered. Down the Bucketts Way though Newcastle over to Denman for a refuel, up the Golden Hwy turning left into the Castlereigh Hwy to our next bonus at Birriwa “BIR”, a very small town with no town sign from the north but wait there is one on the southern end of town, a quick u turn with 2 little pucker moment (LTP’s and mine) as the front then rear of the bike slides on the gravel but all worth it as we bag the sign.



Through the busy town of Gulgong, the town depicted on the $10 note and down the Henry Lawson Way to Eurunderee “EURU” where no town was located so we took a pic of the Eurunderee School sign.



Buckeroo “BUC” was next on our list and the GPS guided us there, again the common theme of no town was coming through so a road bearing the name is all we could offer.



Our route took us on a loop east from the outskirts Mudgee where we thought we had better send our first call in bonus (Midday to 4pm Sat allowed) at 1.08pm while we had good phone service, 4000 points thank you. East along the Lue Rd to the town of Lue “LUE” for a pic of the sign.



What a great ride it is around this area with much to see as we travel to Kandos “KANDOS” for the town sign, as we were setting up here Tabledrain stopped at the same sign as he collects his bonus.



Soon we were refueling at Mudgee with a sandwich in hand. It was now 2.50pm and it was time to reflect on our route still to be ridden with the time remaining with the sleep bonus allowed and we thought we had better cut out a few bonus locations to save some time. So out went Biraganbil “BIRA”, Mumbil Dam “MUMDAM”, Bushmans Dam “BUDAM” and Nelungaloo “NEL”, all high points but the penalty for being late into check in the next day is brutal.

Wellington came and went in my mirrors as we headed south through Molong and Cudal to our next bonus at Canowindra “CANO” for another pic of a sign. We got this pic as we exited town which proved to be harder than it looked with the bike nearly falling over to the right as I got back on.



We had all received an SMS from Rally headquarters stating the grid reference for Wyangala Dam “WYADAM” was incorrect and where the correct location would be found. So off we went for our first Dam bonus which was going to be included in a Dam Cluster combo bonus together with dozens of roos. There was a sign indication Wyangala Dam but I thought the Wyangala Waters sign would be ok, wrong no points were gathered at the table for that one, it didn’t matter as the ride there and then out along Reg Hailstone Way to Woodstock was a cracker .



Carcoar Dam “CARDAM” was were we bumped into Tabledrain again before we got a pic of the dam sign in the dirt section near the caravan park.



By the time we got to Blaney at 8.51pm we decided to plan where we would stay for our rest bonus where 20000 points for 4 hours sleep could be gathered plus another 2000 for an extra 2 hours, so 6 hours looked good to us. It was at this point that it became obvious we were able to have extra time because we had deleted those 4 earlier bonus locations when we were at Mudgee. Blaney was all booked out so off to Bathurst we went and successfully getting a room at the same motel that Tabledrain was staying at. Our rest bonus started at 9.53pm





and we departed at 4.38am next morning.







The sun was rising as we approached Lyall Dam “LYEDAM” near Lithgow for our next bonus, again we got the wrong sign, bugger or should I say Damn!



We had 510km to get back to Taree for the check in, so we thought the direct way may be best, over the Blue Mountains, though the western outskirts of Sydney and up Newcastle Expressway. Around Mooney Mooney we realised we needed to send our second call in bonus at 7.43am (7am to 8am allowed) to claim another 5000 points.

Beresfield BP for a bite to eat and fuel and a quick hello to the local riders gathering under the cover waiting for the rain to clear all clicking on their weather radars. See you later we said as we took off north past Taree as we needed some extra kms to ensure we reached the min 1666km to be a finisher. We arrived at the finish at Taree with 1669km ridden at 11.44am which ensured we had 16minutes to spare before penalty points begin to be deducted.

Thanks to all the entrants and congratulations to Kiwimartin and Rebecca for riding a smart and efficient rally which bagged them first position.

Thanks to Annette, Shane, Bill and Ox for your hard work setting up this event, much appreciated.

Thanks to Lynne the Pillion, we had the most fun of all the rallies we have competed in up to date with less arguments than ever.. That should be worth a big bonus Annette!
 
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Fatman

Well-Known Member
#8
Great that your marriage was enhanced rather than threatened this time! :D
How sad that you missed those couple of big bonuses. You didn't think to SMS your photos to Rally HQ for verification?
Love the "after sleep pillion" photo. Not a great sleep then?? :rolleyes:

We had thought about the pic being sent but opted not too, some places may have had no phone service, so that would have frustrated me. Personally, I am not sure it should be allowed, it should be a level playing field shouldn't it?? :eek:
 
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