TripleTreat's Renmark IBA Muster SS1600

TripleTreat

Well-Known Member
#1
Firstly, I'd like to thank all and sundry involved in organising a great reason go for a ride. The longer it went the better it got! Apart from the Parkes to West Wyalong bit because I hate the Newell Hwy, it just drive me nuts.


A 5am start saw me head up the hill and into some crisp weather around the 5-7C mark, a little bit of drizzle and a little bit of fog all of which had disappeared by Nemingha (Tamworth) allowing me to strip down to base layer and summer gloves. Bypassed Tamworth onto the Duri-Werris Creek road then the usual Premer, Spring Ridge, Coolah section that let me get right into the groove with the bike humming along nicely and my body settling into the ride after very little distance riding in the past 8 months (only a trip to the WSBK at Phillip Island in February) due to shoulder issues.


By Wellington via the Cobbora Road, I was ahead of schedule and not needing the time I had allowed for the stop as I was in fuel up-eat snack-drink water-go! mode and the weather was just perfect for riding. The Renshaw-McGirr Road to Parkes was fun and then it was boredom city on the Newell to West Wyalong where I had a slightly delayed stop due to maintenance work on the fuel pumps which probably only cost me an extra 5 minutes in the end. Then the mind games began... can I be disciplined enough to get through to Balranald on one tank of fuel? The short answer is "no". It's technically possible but it seems that I am unable to muster the throttle control that is required.


Anyway, I got to Balranald just on 6pm with daylight beginning to fade and ran into Fatman and Lynne the Taskmaster so I took the opportunity for my first extended stop of the day and had a chat while waiting for the sun to set. The very last vestiges of sunset were barely apparent when I headed off to Pinnaroo and my final stop before Renmark and into some scattered roadkill which made me a little nervous and tempered my speed until after Tooleybuc when the roadkill seemed to magically disappear and allowed me to gradually get my speed back up the speed limit.


By Pinnaroo my SENA bluetooth headset had run out of charge and, unknown to me at the time, my phone had stopped transmitting to SpotWalla which led to a very anxious wife back to home who was seeing my Spot not moving and was unable to call me! All's well that ends well and after the usual "Hey, I made it" phone call when I arrived at the Renmark Hotel at 11pm I was able to reassure her and remind her that technology exists to fail when you need it most!



All in all a good days riding.


This goes straight to the pool room!


This is from Sunday, on the ride to Griffith.



This is the internet so everything must have a cat photo!
 

tj189

Premier Member
#8
Thanks Rod, great catching up. There is a new Sena bluetooth being released soon:) might help with the calls and links.
Great looking certificates. The cat looks cranky :eek:
 

kwaka

Premier Member
#11
Thanks for sharing Rod and great to see you at the muster.

What's wrong with the Newell? Lol.
Although I must say Parkes to Forbes, compared to what Liz and I have ridden on is the best slab tar, just a short 33km or so of billiard table smooth.
 

Tele

Premier Member
#14
I'm a slow reader Rod! Just got to this one. Top effort in all respects. I'm not a cat fan, but as you said, it's the Internet after all :rolleyes:
 

Rusjel

Premier Member
#15
Coolest certificate picture ever! Great ride Rod, thanks for posting it. For reasons of leave hoarding couldn't make this one and it sounded,like a fantastic event. Next time.
 

Nev..

#44764
Premier Member
#17
Coolest certificate picture ever! Great ride Rod, thanks for posting it. For reasons of leave hoarding couldn't make this one and it sounded,like a fantastic event. Next time.
Nice to see that the IBA have adopted the correct spelling of kilometre too.