Hello all! Upon reading this proposed ride in January, I knew this was one ride I could not pass-up attempting. I had a lot already planned for 2023, with the Piston Diversity and 4 Seasons Award rides - not to mention an SS1000 Nevada In-state - but I decided early-on to be a part of this if I could. Come end of April, I was confident in committing, and eagerly registered. The Nevada and Winter Solstice rides were successful, and put me in good stead for my first 50CC attempt.
I knew the bike was ready, having just had a service and new tyres, but was I? I knew I needed to also be match-fit and up my fitness game. I anticipated being one of the youngest and least experienced. It's one thing to get to a destination, but I knew I also had to get myself back home. I needed to optimise my recovery times. Work was full-on through July, so I started hitting the cross-trainer 6 days out of 7 in August for 3 weeks. My old cross-trainer lasted for 2 of those weeks, before I broke one of its resistance cables! So I hit Gumtree to quickly find a replacement nearby. Thankfully, that allowed me to complete my final session 4 days beforehand, where I pushed myself to what I felt was 95% of what I could do. The last session was the hardest. Pleasingly, I did 25 KM in 90 mins at high resistance. I was feeling strong and ready to hit the road to Melbourne.
Wednesday 23 August I rode to Melbourne. It was largely uneventful, except for breaking the iPhone ConnectedRide Cradle at Yass. The bottom clasps were always hard to move, and in the cold temperature at the servo, I unsuccessfully tried to remove the iPhone and broke the bottom clasp entirely. It was at that point I made a decision to ditch the ConnectedRide Cradle entirely when I got home. Thursday was a rest & remote work day. Running video meetings meant I unfortunately had to miss the lunch and dinner on the Thursday. I would have preferred to introduce myself in person before the 2am Friday start line.
130am was the real time I needed to be at the United Port Melbourne servo for photos. The Park Squire Motor Inn locks its carpark gate after 8pm, so I made sure to work-out the sequence of actions to exit on time. But that didn't go exactly to plan, when a group of 10 or so backpackers were trying to get into the complex and needed a bit of guidance. Those extra 10 mins cost me some time in arriving at the United at my planned time. Thankfully - I did make the photoshoot, and hurriedly met many of the nice, great people I've read so much about. IIRC, I think it was Fatman and Kimmie who were the first to say G'day. Such a warm, welcoming bunch of legends! After Kimmie & Ron signed my start-of-ride witness form, and I obtained my first fuel receipt, the group set off at 2am sharp.
Being a Sydney-sider, I find Melbourne roads confusing at the best of times. Although I did remember to 'keep-right' at the roadworks per the forum advice, I forgot to check for how long. Pretty soon, I was heading in the wrong direction to Geelong. Thankfully, my Connected Ride app and Beeline agreed I needed to take the other way - and I soon met Kimmie & Jeff The Chef at Horsham. Thanks for this great photo Kimmie!
Not the start I wanted, but I was glad to be headed to Adelaide. I knew some riders like Phil (Road Bandit) would bypass Adelaide, but I decided early-on that I would prefer to go through Adelaide as it was not peak-hour, and would give me the best chance of having its location named on my certificate. It would be almost 12 months from when I first rode through Adelaide in gaining my first IBA certification - so it had some sentimental value to me also. Until this ride, I had only been attempting IBA certified rides for less than a year.
The city traffic in Adelaide wasn't bad, and I uneventfully found myself in Port Augusta around 2pm local time. I planned to take a 15-minute break here, which is where I ran into Phil. He kindly made me a bit jealous when he gloated how he made himself a nice cup of tea and had a bite to eat by the side of the road before this stop. I do enjoy the challenge and thrill of timed rides, but in equal measures, I often think how nice it would be not being on-the-clock at certain locations I find interesting or relaxing. Phil was soon on his way, and it was nice to be in a warmer part of the country. I was soon filling-up and had started my nested Centreline 36 attempt. Not seeing a map via my GPS was causing some issues for me, as I would need to just start riding and let the GPS catch-up to tell me if I needed to turn or keep going straight. This was one of the times that caught me, where I had to double-back past the servo from a side-street... BUT it wasn't a bad thing in the end - as I saw Derrick and rode behind him all the way to Glendambo... nice!!
As Derrick led, we spotted animals on either side of the road, but nothing that placed us at imminent risk. The greatest risk to me was in laughing too hard when Derrick 'waved' to oncoming traffic. To paint a picture of this, he has a multitude of different waves to break the boredom. Some waves in particular tended to cause confusion to passing caravans who either thought he was having some sort of attack, or was trying to indicate the caravan had a problem. I had the amusement in witnessing each passing traveller's face and reaction... it was in no way dangerous - just priceless!
*
I had driven a 4WD to Glendambo some 20 years ago, and only after this ride recalled the horrible fuel consumption from Port Augusta heading north. With 284 KM planned distance and a 320 KM range at 110 KMH, I noticed my distance-to-empty reduce far more than anticipated. I needed to reduce speed, and did so in the afternoon light - to which Derrick kindly kept the same reduced pace. At this point I did not have any spare fuel, as the plan was to fill the Desert Fox fuel bladder at Marla. I didn't wish to go any slower with the late afternoon light, so as my range anxiety increased, I started tucking my body into the bike and placing my head behind the windscreen to streamline as much as possible. I saw the consumption improve, so kept this up for over an hour - which was quite uncomfortable. My fuel management efforts paid off when we arrived at Glendambo with 12 KM fuel distance remaining. Until we arrived at the servo, Derrick had no idea why I had slowed but slowed anyway to ensure I was ok. What a great bloke! 12 KM to empty was too close for my liking - so I filled the fuel bladder for the very first time, with about 15 litres.
Derrick kept going whilst I needed to stretch. Having a shower at Marla was keeping me motivated and focussed. I refuelled at Coober Pedy without issue, and found it odd to not see the dirt mounds and barren landscape hidden by the night. But with night comes danger of animals, so I ensured I kept extra vigilance on this last leg to Marla. This proved necessary, as I had to take evasive action about 50-100KM from Marla. The first was a kangaroo in my lane when I was at the speed limit - that scared me, and I slowed to 90 KMH. I avoided that guy by only 3 metres! The second scare was 3 cattle in the middle of the 2 lanes. I avoided them fairly easily with an emergency stop to let them get off the road. I don't think I was less than 10 metres from them at any point. This is where the BMW Connected app reckons I pulled 1G in Deceleration! I decided to drop my speed even further to 80 KMH - as I was mindful of not having the fastest reactions at this point in the ride.
The final scare was another single (that I could see) kangaroo in the opposite lane facing my direction of travel. This guy decided to hop towards my lane in my direction of travel. Instinct must have kicked-in, as I did not go for the brake... instead, I hit the throttle and managed to power away from him. That guy got about 5 meters from me. I have no doubt I would have hit that one if I had braked.
The Marla Travellers Rest was a welcome sight, where I refuelled and checked-in before 1130pm local time. I had planned for a 4-hour rest, but appreciated I was the last to arrive and slowest thusfar - for a variety of reasons I would need to continue to manage in the push to Darwin. So I decided to reduce my rest to 3-hours with a 2-hour sleep. This worked better than I expected, as I was refreshed after the sleep and hot shower. Copious amounts of Dencorub were also applied as both a current measure and preventative measure to a few minor aches and pains.
In the darkness of a 330am start, I heard the rustlings of another rider in the room next to me... it was Martin! This briefly caused me to think I had definitely made the right decision to leave at this time. Martin had been a great help with some tips on paying for fuel in the USA, and it was great to finally put a face to the name and have some quick chats during this event. Although I left Marla first, I stuck to my 80 KMH until I found a truck’s tail lights to follow. Martin soon overtook me outside of Marla and had already finished his stop at Erldunda when I pulled in. A quick chat and a photo later, Martin was off again. I presume this ride would have been a walk-in-the-park, after competing in the 2023 IBA Rally a couple months prior. I still struggle to imagine 11 days of back-to-back long distance riding.
I thoroughly enjoyed the section of road from Erldunda to Alice Springs. The higher, sensible speed limits in the Northern Territory brought a smile to my face - just like the 80MPH Interstate limits in Nevada did. Without any range anxiety, I was also able to take-in the breathtaking scenery of the Outback once more. Outback sunrises and sunsets are spectacular, and its landscape seems to recharge me each time I'm travelling through it.
Before long, I was at my only planned photo stop, had refuelled and was heading to Ti Tree.
I had a nice chat with a fellow biker at Ti Tree. He'd been visiting friends and family over the past month riding his Yamaha Road Star. He was both curious and in disbelief I had only left Melbourne the day before, and expected to be in Darwin that night. He confessed to loving being on his bike again after a few operations - which made me reflect on how time is of the essence, and to make the most of what I can now.
Even before Ti Tree, the cattle grids were increasing in frequency and road surface seemed to be rougher too. Nothing the BMW's active suspension couldn't still make into a magic carpet ride, but I did start to notice an odd noise heading into Tennant Creek. No handling issues, just a noise I hadn't heard before. After refuelling in Tennant Creek, I put the bike on its stand and discovered the after-market rear wheel hugger had broken its forward attachment point. The front of the plastic was freely moving around, and causing noise when it vibrated. The wheel and tire spun freely, so I initially decided to keep going and consider the matter more whilst riding. It wasn't long until I erred on the side of caution by pulling-over at a little place named Warumungu. I had mulled over how the hugger is comprised of fairly strong plastic, with minimal flex and some screws that attach it to the bike. If it were to break further, it could cause damage to the spring/shock, the electronics for the suspension, and at worst - potentially wedge itself to stop the rear wheel and/or cut the tyre at 130 KMH. So I stopped to remove it, which cost about 30 minutes of time - which included another quick chat with a fellow in his car that used to ride an old Kawasaki. He said he didn't have a GPZ like mine, but it was from about 1985. Nice older fellow, who looked a bit envious of what I was doing.
I met some peacocks at the Elliott Caravan Park when refuelling, before I came across Vlad - who stopped at the Puma. I was keen to get to Daly Waters, as I knew I was running roughly to plan now.
Daly Waters turned out to be a disappointment, as they only had 91 Grade fuel. Vlad had caught up to me as I was looking for the next town with fuel. Unfortunately, it looked to be Katherine - so I would need to use the fuel bladder. In hindsight, I should have just filled with 91 at Daly Waters, then filled with 98 at Katherine - which I did on my return trip home. Anyhow, I pressed on and hit Larrimah, some 183 KM / 2 HRS south of Katherine. I was more or less riding with Vlad, looking for any open service stations with 95 or 98 grade fuel. This is where we ran into Wombattle.
Wom was checking into a room for the night, as he was swamped by fire trying to pass through an out-of-control back burn fire - not far up the road from Larrimah. The pub confirmed the situation, and asked if Vlad and I wanted a room too. I felt like crying with disappointment, this can’t be happening. I declined, and after speaking with my wife on the phone, I had to check the situation for myself - as I was so close to the Darwin finish. I needed to refuel before Katherine, so this was as good a place as any. I found a well-lit spot under a street lamp to start refuelling. I'd rather not have the bike run out of fuel with fires around me!
It's at this point Wom comes over to me after speaking with a truck driver who has just come from the opposite direction. The truckie confirmed he went through the fires ok, and thought we'd have a fair chance now - so long as we didn't dawdle. I was half-way through transferring the 15 litres into my bike when Wom said we should give it a go together, and that he was running low on fuel too. He went and checked-out, then came back where I had left about 5-6 litres for him if he wanted to put that in his bike. He had done some more calculations and believed he could just make it to Katherine - so we decided to not completely fill my bike and keep the spare fuel aside in case either of us needed it. There was no way I’d leave Wom or any rider without fuel.
In the meantime, Vlad had gone to check how bad the road situation was, and never returned. That was a good sign for us, that he was able to make it through.
Having been surrounded by fire in front and behind, with animals running over the road to escape the flames - Wom sure was brave in attempting to ride through again. He led, and I stuck like glue to his tail light through the thick smoke. The first fire front was the worst, and must have been what turned Wom back on his first attempt. We had 6 metre flames on our right, and smouldering smaller fires to our left. The fire was passing from the left of our road to the right. A few trees were tall enough to fall onto the road, and remain on fire and/or smouldering for us to ride carefully around them. Wom knew he needed to spot obstacles as best he could without slowing speed unnecessarily. It was a calculated judgement on his part, where I had already decided that if something happens to him, the same thing will happen to me. I couldn't lose his tail light - or I'd be in even more danger than I was currently. The smoke was very dense, with about 5-10 meters visibility, and very hard to breathe.
We saw fire service vehicles on occasion, and always gave them right-of way and a clear berth. No police were seen, and no-one stopped us or indicated we should not be doing what we were doing. But then again, anyone could see we weren't there sightseeing and obviously on a mission to travel as fast as the situation would allow.
We stopped briefly after the first two fire fronts where smoke had cleared. I indicated I needed to maintain a cruise control speed of 112 KMH for both fuel conservation and being able to avoid obstacles in time. Wom graciously accepted my request, and I agreed to lead the next section. The third and final fire front was concerning, but not as full-on as the first two had been. There was still the need to consider fallen trees, animals escaping, and what to put into action if the fire made the road ahead impassable. Pretty soon, my attention returned to including my fuel consumption. We were out of the worst of the fire fronts, but my distance to empty went to Zero. I didn’t want to get a fuel pump or vapour-lock issue, so I pulled over at a well-lit area with some controlled back burns far-enough away across the road. Wom stopped with me before continuing into Katherine, and I used the rest of the spare fuel. although I didn't completely feel out of danger, I felt far more at ease.
In the next set of photos, the top three were taken by Phil. I only took the bottom photo when I felt safer, using the last of my spare fuel just before Katherine.
At 940pm I was out of danger, pulling into the Katherine servo where others had waited to ensure we made it through ok. As soon as I pulled up to the pump, I was greeted with "Did you like riding through those fires?" My clear and firm response was a definite "NO!" I never want to attempt something like that ever again.
With the drama over, another ride highlight started - where we formed a convoy heading into Darwin. High-beams lit by each rider formed a tunnel of light piercing the warm night. As each oncoming vehicle approached, off would go the high-beams one-by-one from front to back. Once the oncoming vehicle had passed, the high-beams would go on again on-by-one in sequence front to back. It was a delight to be a part of this visual spectacle. It was true that there was also some added responsibility with a convoy - as you could not get too close or far from your rider in front, and with riders behind - definitely not make any sudden moves or do anything that may put them at a disadvantage. The convoy was also mindful for those who had issues (E.G. lights). If someone dropped back, the pack would reduce their speed to ensure the last rider could still see & catch the group. Some riders needed to manage their concentration & fatigue, electing to go ahead of the pack, or stopping for a power nap. Outstanding management at both group and individual levels. This struck me as very impressive, as this seemed to occur so naturally without any prior discussions.
I personally found the last 25 KM quite hard with how long it took to get to the Shell servo once we started to hit civilisation. Speed Cameras galore, constantly changing speed zones, and what I thought was the main part of Darwin was only its outskirts of Palmerston - with a bit longer to go, each time I thought we were there. I knew we were well within the 50 hours, so I settled-in and rode behind 3 other riders into the Shell servo at Darwin.
In addition to the sense of relief and achievement, I was also filled with joy that 2 people were waiting to congratulate us. They were Marguerite and Richard. Two total strangers who were up at 1am to greet us - amazing and so heart-warming! After getting the last fuel receipt, they graciously signed my end of ride witness form, took some photos - and even made sure I found my hotel easily, by leading me there with their sidecar! ❤️
Of the 9 riders & 1 Pillion who started, 8 had arrived at Darwin. I wish to again congratulate Derrick, Hackle, Spaz, Vlad, Wombattle, Martin and Roadbandit.
I have great respect, and now a deeper appreciation, for the original 4 motorbike adventurers who embarked on what was to become the first certified 50CC IBA ride in Australia: John, Derrick, Bill & Bernard. A special big thanks goes to Michael and Derrick, for putting this Australia 50CC 20th Anniversary Ride together, and for Ox and Shane (ACT Capo) being at the start to cheer us off whilst mid-ride on their SS1600K's. Thanks again to everyone involved in planning, organising, participating, supporting & anyone else I may have forgot!
The final highlight, was dinner in Darwin where I had the pleasure of getting to know some of my fellow riders better. Naturally, the next night required another beer to continue the celebration on my hotel rooftop. What a ride, what a privilege to be a part of !!!
Cheers to new friends and memories of a lifetime
* Free licence image sourced from iStock: Stock illustration ID:1213302184 / Standard Licence (for use on websites).
I knew the bike was ready, having just had a service and new tyres, but was I? I knew I needed to also be match-fit and up my fitness game. I anticipated being one of the youngest and least experienced. It's one thing to get to a destination, but I knew I also had to get myself back home. I needed to optimise my recovery times. Work was full-on through July, so I started hitting the cross-trainer 6 days out of 7 in August for 3 weeks. My old cross-trainer lasted for 2 of those weeks, before I broke one of its resistance cables! So I hit Gumtree to quickly find a replacement nearby. Thankfully, that allowed me to complete my final session 4 days beforehand, where I pushed myself to what I felt was 95% of what I could do. The last session was the hardest. Pleasingly, I did 25 KM in 90 mins at high resistance. I was feeling strong and ready to hit the road to Melbourne.
Wednesday 23 August I rode to Melbourne. It was largely uneventful, except for breaking the iPhone ConnectedRide Cradle at Yass. The bottom clasps were always hard to move, and in the cold temperature at the servo, I unsuccessfully tried to remove the iPhone and broke the bottom clasp entirely. It was at that point I made a decision to ditch the ConnectedRide Cradle entirely when I got home. Thursday was a rest & remote work day. Running video meetings meant I unfortunately had to miss the lunch and dinner on the Thursday. I would have preferred to introduce myself in person before the 2am Friday start line.
130am was the real time I needed to be at the United Port Melbourne servo for photos. The Park Squire Motor Inn locks its carpark gate after 8pm, so I made sure to work-out the sequence of actions to exit on time. But that didn't go exactly to plan, when a group of 10 or so backpackers were trying to get into the complex and needed a bit of guidance. Those extra 10 mins cost me some time in arriving at the United at my planned time. Thankfully - I did make the photoshoot, and hurriedly met many of the nice, great people I've read so much about. IIRC, I think it was Fatman and Kimmie who were the first to say G'day. Such a warm, welcoming bunch of legends! After Kimmie & Ron signed my start-of-ride witness form, and I obtained my first fuel receipt, the group set off at 2am sharp.
Being a Sydney-sider, I find Melbourne roads confusing at the best of times. Although I did remember to 'keep-right' at the roadworks per the forum advice, I forgot to check for how long. Pretty soon, I was heading in the wrong direction to Geelong. Thankfully, my Connected Ride app and Beeline agreed I needed to take the other way - and I soon met Kimmie & Jeff The Chef at Horsham. Thanks for this great photo Kimmie!
Not the start I wanted, but I was glad to be headed to Adelaide. I knew some riders like Phil (Road Bandit) would bypass Adelaide, but I decided early-on that I would prefer to go through Adelaide as it was not peak-hour, and would give me the best chance of having its location named on my certificate. It would be almost 12 months from when I first rode through Adelaide in gaining my first IBA certification - so it had some sentimental value to me also. Until this ride, I had only been attempting IBA certified rides for less than a year.
The city traffic in Adelaide wasn't bad, and I uneventfully found myself in Port Augusta around 2pm local time. I planned to take a 15-minute break here, which is where I ran into Phil. He kindly made me a bit jealous when he gloated how he made himself a nice cup of tea and had a bite to eat by the side of the road before this stop. I do enjoy the challenge and thrill of timed rides, but in equal measures, I often think how nice it would be not being on-the-clock at certain locations I find interesting or relaxing. Phil was soon on his way, and it was nice to be in a warmer part of the country. I was soon filling-up and had started my nested Centreline 36 attempt. Not seeing a map via my GPS was causing some issues for me, as I would need to just start riding and let the GPS catch-up to tell me if I needed to turn or keep going straight. This was one of the times that caught me, where I had to double-back past the servo from a side-street... BUT it wasn't a bad thing in the end - as I saw Derrick and rode behind him all the way to Glendambo... nice!!
As Derrick led, we spotted animals on either side of the road, but nothing that placed us at imminent risk. The greatest risk to me was in laughing too hard when Derrick 'waved' to oncoming traffic. To paint a picture of this, he has a multitude of different waves to break the boredom. Some waves in particular tended to cause confusion to passing caravans who either thought he was having some sort of attack, or was trying to indicate the caravan had a problem. I had the amusement in witnessing each passing traveller's face and reaction... it was in no way dangerous - just priceless!
*I had driven a 4WD to Glendambo some 20 years ago, and only after this ride recalled the horrible fuel consumption from Port Augusta heading north. With 284 KM planned distance and a 320 KM range at 110 KMH, I noticed my distance-to-empty reduce far more than anticipated. I needed to reduce speed, and did so in the afternoon light - to which Derrick kindly kept the same reduced pace. At this point I did not have any spare fuel, as the plan was to fill the Desert Fox fuel bladder at Marla. I didn't wish to go any slower with the late afternoon light, so as my range anxiety increased, I started tucking my body into the bike and placing my head behind the windscreen to streamline as much as possible. I saw the consumption improve, so kept this up for over an hour - which was quite uncomfortable. My fuel management efforts paid off when we arrived at Glendambo with 12 KM fuel distance remaining. Until we arrived at the servo, Derrick had no idea why I had slowed but slowed anyway to ensure I was ok. What a great bloke! 12 KM to empty was too close for my liking - so I filled the fuel bladder for the very first time, with about 15 litres.
Derrick kept going whilst I needed to stretch. Having a shower at Marla was keeping me motivated and focussed. I refuelled at Coober Pedy without issue, and found it odd to not see the dirt mounds and barren landscape hidden by the night. But with night comes danger of animals, so I ensured I kept extra vigilance on this last leg to Marla. This proved necessary, as I had to take evasive action about 50-100KM from Marla. The first was a kangaroo in my lane when I was at the speed limit - that scared me, and I slowed to 90 KMH. I avoided that guy by only 3 metres! The second scare was 3 cattle in the middle of the 2 lanes. I avoided them fairly easily with an emergency stop to let them get off the road. I don't think I was less than 10 metres from them at any point. This is where the BMW Connected app reckons I pulled 1G in Deceleration! I decided to drop my speed even further to 80 KMH - as I was mindful of not having the fastest reactions at this point in the ride.
The final scare was another single (that I could see) kangaroo in the opposite lane facing my direction of travel. This guy decided to hop towards my lane in my direction of travel. Instinct must have kicked-in, as I did not go for the brake... instead, I hit the throttle and managed to power away from him. That guy got about 5 meters from me. I have no doubt I would have hit that one if I had braked.
The Marla Travellers Rest was a welcome sight, where I refuelled and checked-in before 1130pm local time. I had planned for a 4-hour rest, but appreciated I was the last to arrive and slowest thusfar - for a variety of reasons I would need to continue to manage in the push to Darwin. So I decided to reduce my rest to 3-hours with a 2-hour sleep. This worked better than I expected, as I was refreshed after the sleep and hot shower. Copious amounts of Dencorub were also applied as both a current measure and preventative measure to a few minor aches and pains.
In the darkness of a 330am start, I heard the rustlings of another rider in the room next to me... it was Martin! This briefly caused me to think I had definitely made the right decision to leave at this time. Martin had been a great help with some tips on paying for fuel in the USA, and it was great to finally put a face to the name and have some quick chats during this event. Although I left Marla first, I stuck to my 80 KMH until I found a truck’s tail lights to follow. Martin soon overtook me outside of Marla and had already finished his stop at Erldunda when I pulled in. A quick chat and a photo later, Martin was off again. I presume this ride would have been a walk-in-the-park, after competing in the 2023 IBA Rally a couple months prior. I still struggle to imagine 11 days of back-to-back long distance riding.
I thoroughly enjoyed the section of road from Erldunda to Alice Springs. The higher, sensible speed limits in the Northern Territory brought a smile to my face - just like the 80MPH Interstate limits in Nevada did. Without any range anxiety, I was also able to take-in the breathtaking scenery of the Outback once more. Outback sunrises and sunsets are spectacular, and its landscape seems to recharge me each time I'm travelling through it.
Before long, I was at my only planned photo stop, had refuelled and was heading to Ti Tree.
I had a nice chat with a fellow biker at Ti Tree. He'd been visiting friends and family over the past month riding his Yamaha Road Star. He was both curious and in disbelief I had only left Melbourne the day before, and expected to be in Darwin that night. He confessed to loving being on his bike again after a few operations - which made me reflect on how time is of the essence, and to make the most of what I can now.
Even before Ti Tree, the cattle grids were increasing in frequency and road surface seemed to be rougher too. Nothing the BMW's active suspension couldn't still make into a magic carpet ride, but I did start to notice an odd noise heading into Tennant Creek. No handling issues, just a noise I hadn't heard before. After refuelling in Tennant Creek, I put the bike on its stand and discovered the after-market rear wheel hugger had broken its forward attachment point. The front of the plastic was freely moving around, and causing noise when it vibrated. The wheel and tire spun freely, so I initially decided to keep going and consider the matter more whilst riding. It wasn't long until I erred on the side of caution by pulling-over at a little place named Warumungu. I had mulled over how the hugger is comprised of fairly strong plastic, with minimal flex and some screws that attach it to the bike. If it were to break further, it could cause damage to the spring/shock, the electronics for the suspension, and at worst - potentially wedge itself to stop the rear wheel and/or cut the tyre at 130 KMH. So I stopped to remove it, which cost about 30 minutes of time - which included another quick chat with a fellow in his car that used to ride an old Kawasaki. He said he didn't have a GPZ like mine, but it was from about 1985. Nice older fellow, who looked a bit envious of what I was doing.
I met some peacocks at the Elliott Caravan Park when refuelling, before I came across Vlad - who stopped at the Puma. I was keen to get to Daly Waters, as I knew I was running roughly to plan now.
Wom was checking into a room for the night, as he was swamped by fire trying to pass through an out-of-control back burn fire - not far up the road from Larrimah. The pub confirmed the situation, and asked if Vlad and I wanted a room too. I felt like crying with disappointment, this can’t be happening. I declined, and after speaking with my wife on the phone, I had to check the situation for myself - as I was so close to the Darwin finish. I needed to refuel before Katherine, so this was as good a place as any. I found a well-lit spot under a street lamp to start refuelling. I'd rather not have the bike run out of fuel with fires around me!
It's at this point Wom comes over to me after speaking with a truck driver who has just come from the opposite direction. The truckie confirmed he went through the fires ok, and thought we'd have a fair chance now - so long as we didn't dawdle. I was half-way through transferring the 15 litres into my bike when Wom said we should give it a go together, and that he was running low on fuel too. He went and checked-out, then came back where I had left about 5-6 litres for him if he wanted to put that in his bike. He had done some more calculations and believed he could just make it to Katherine - so we decided to not completely fill my bike and keep the spare fuel aside in case either of us needed it. There was no way I’d leave Wom or any rider without fuel.
In the meantime, Vlad had gone to check how bad the road situation was, and never returned. That was a good sign for us, that he was able to make it through.
Having been surrounded by fire in front and behind, with animals running over the road to escape the flames - Wom sure was brave in attempting to ride through again. He led, and I stuck like glue to his tail light through the thick smoke. The first fire front was the worst, and must have been what turned Wom back on his first attempt. We had 6 metre flames on our right, and smouldering smaller fires to our left. The fire was passing from the left of our road to the right. A few trees were tall enough to fall onto the road, and remain on fire and/or smouldering for us to ride carefully around them. Wom knew he needed to spot obstacles as best he could without slowing speed unnecessarily. It was a calculated judgement on his part, where I had already decided that if something happens to him, the same thing will happen to me. I couldn't lose his tail light - or I'd be in even more danger than I was currently. The smoke was very dense, with about 5-10 meters visibility, and very hard to breathe.
We saw fire service vehicles on occasion, and always gave them right-of way and a clear berth. No police were seen, and no-one stopped us or indicated we should not be doing what we were doing. But then again, anyone could see we weren't there sightseeing and obviously on a mission to travel as fast as the situation would allow.
We stopped briefly after the first two fire fronts where smoke had cleared. I indicated I needed to maintain a cruise control speed of 112 KMH for both fuel conservation and being able to avoid obstacles in time. Wom graciously accepted my request, and I agreed to lead the next section. The third and final fire front was concerning, but not as full-on as the first two had been. There was still the need to consider fallen trees, animals escaping, and what to put into action if the fire made the road ahead impassable. Pretty soon, my attention returned to including my fuel consumption. We were out of the worst of the fire fronts, but my distance to empty went to Zero. I didn’t want to get a fuel pump or vapour-lock issue, so I pulled over at a well-lit area with some controlled back burns far-enough away across the road. Wom stopped with me before continuing into Katherine, and I used the rest of the spare fuel. although I didn't completely feel out of danger, I felt far more at ease.
In the next set of photos, the top three were taken by Phil. I only took the bottom photo when I felt safer, using the last of my spare fuel just before Katherine.
At 940pm I was out of danger, pulling into the Katherine servo where others had waited to ensure we made it through ok. As soon as I pulled up to the pump, I was greeted with "Did you like riding through those fires?" My clear and firm response was a definite "NO!" I never want to attempt something like that ever again.
With the drama over, another ride highlight started - where we formed a convoy heading into Darwin. High-beams lit by each rider formed a tunnel of light piercing the warm night. As each oncoming vehicle approached, off would go the high-beams one-by-one from front to back. Once the oncoming vehicle had passed, the high-beams would go on again on-by-one in sequence front to back. It was a delight to be a part of this visual spectacle. It was true that there was also some added responsibility with a convoy - as you could not get too close or far from your rider in front, and with riders behind - definitely not make any sudden moves or do anything that may put them at a disadvantage. The convoy was also mindful for those who had issues (E.G. lights). If someone dropped back, the pack would reduce their speed to ensure the last rider could still see & catch the group. Some riders needed to manage their concentration & fatigue, electing to go ahead of the pack, or stopping for a power nap. Outstanding management at both group and individual levels. This struck me as very impressive, as this seemed to occur so naturally without any prior discussions.
I personally found the last 25 KM quite hard with how long it took to get to the Shell servo once we started to hit civilisation. Speed Cameras galore, constantly changing speed zones, and what I thought was the main part of Darwin was only its outskirts of Palmerston - with a bit longer to go, each time I thought we were there. I knew we were well within the 50 hours, so I settled-in and rode behind 3 other riders into the Shell servo at Darwin.
In addition to the sense of relief and achievement, I was also filled with joy that 2 people were waiting to congratulate us. They were Marguerite and Richard. Two total strangers who were up at 1am to greet us - amazing and so heart-warming! After getting the last fuel receipt, they graciously signed my end of ride witness form, took some photos - and even made sure I found my hotel easily, by leading me there with their sidecar! ❤️
Of the 9 riders & 1 Pillion who started, 8 had arrived at Darwin. I wish to again congratulate Derrick, Hackle, Spaz, Vlad, Wombattle, Martin and Roadbandit.
I have great respect, and now a deeper appreciation, for the original 4 motorbike adventurers who embarked on what was to become the first certified 50CC IBA ride in Australia: John, Derrick, Bill & Bernard. A special big thanks goes to Michael and Derrick, for putting this Australia 50CC 20th Anniversary Ride together, and for Ox and Shane (ACT Capo) being at the start to cheer us off whilst mid-ride on their SS1600K's. Thanks again to everyone involved in planning, organising, participating, supporting & anyone else I may have forgot!
The final highlight, was dinner in Darwin where I had the pleasure of getting to know some of my fellow riders better. Naturally, the next night required another beer to continue the celebration on my hotel rooftop. What a ride, what a privilege to be a part of !!!
Cheers to new friends and memories of a lifetime
* Free licence image sourced from iStock: Stock illustration ID:1213302184 / Standard Licence (for use on websites).
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