Brookester's 2013 IBA Rememberance 1000

Brookester

Premier Member
#1
This was one of the best IBA rides I have ever done, not only for the ride but the weekend had by all... :rolleyes:

Wilmington 2013.
So here it is…….Brookester’s IBA Remembrance Ride 1000……

So the planning…..booked flights to/from Melbourne, booked a hire bike (Honda ST1300A) out of Garner’s Motorcycles, booked a room at Wilmington Hotel, punched into Google Maps “Melb-Wilmington” getting 3 route options and then knowing I would need to add a return run of around 600kms to make up mileage. And that was it for Planning….no spreadsheets, no hard route decided upon, nothing.
So into Melbourne a little late and down to Garners only to find that the bike was “kinda” ready to go..it had new tyres, had been serviced, full tank of fuel….seat was missing, panniers and top box were still out in the workshop……finally an hour and a bit behind my anticipated start time I get out on the road.
So where to start…..BP Calder Park sounds pretty good, out I go…not needing fuel I grab the obligatory Iced Coffee and Mars Bar to obtain a receipt for the all important Start Docket. Done. Now I need a witness, low and behold pulled up along side me is another ST, get talking and yes he will be my start witness and after a bit of a chat possibly a new member for OZStoc. Start time is 12noon AET with 26,618kms on the clock.
Off up the Calder Fwy heading initially for Mildura….weather was moving in and it suddenly chilled down a few degrees and some light rain started to fall on the way up to Bendigo…but all was good as I could see on the far horizon that sunny skies were on the way in so there would be no need for any wet weather gear.
The ride up towards Bendigo was chilly but overall uneventful. Around the bypass road and off up towards Sea Lake where I would grab some fuel and something warm to eat. Arrived in Sea Lake and did just that, a nice warm meal was just what I needed to get the blood circulating again.
I must say that having just covered some 300kms on the Honda ST1300 for the first time I had some thoughts about the bike. Firstly, this bike is very smooth in its operation and you can be doing over the allowable speed limit very quickly if you blink, very quiet in its operation and the electronic adjustable windscreen makes for an even smoother ride and the big bonus, 28-29ltr fuel tank gives you a very nice range indeed. The luggage space with stock panniers and top box was amazing and surprising. Now on the downside….No 1, the seating position that slides you into the tank on a downward direction, not comfortable at all…..No 2, from this seating position the waist-leg-foot peg ratio is not at all comfortable and hence does not allow for an as upright riding position as one would like for Long Distances…and No 3, the worst thing of all is the steering disturbances, coming up behind any semi or B-Double in the turbulent air and the steering starts going all over the place and feels that at any moment it will skip the front wheel right out from underneath you……not a good feeling at all. But onwards and upwards, I hired this bike to assess it in consideration to the new bike purchase after having BUSted the S10.
Off from Sea Lake and my so called ride plan opened up in my head yet again….which way do I go??? Up the road to Ouyen and decision made, across to Pinnaroo and a right hand turn up to Loxton, some very nice cruising roads with great sweeping bends that will do me nicely for the late afternoon.
Just out of Ouyen you come round a nice little set of sweepers as you enter the grain sidling of Boinka. The last one of them is a nice right hander……coming out of this I notice on the left hand verge, right along side the bitumen, is of all things a friggin’ Camel…..a Camel, WTF, down shift, brake, lean over further to go centreline, look ahead in case I need the other side of the road…..all the usual panic reactions at the site of a camel looking to walk into your path…..then as I get closer and the effect of the sun in my vision is less I breathe again as I notice this camel is tied up to a stake and is being used as a lawnmower…to say that the heart rate needed to calm down a little would be an understatement. All good, now to get back to enjoying this great stretch of road, which I did.
Turn right at Pinnaroo and head for Loxton, this road was a bit bumpy and full of emus when I last passed this way a year ago, not so this time round….nice run up through some really nice countryside and this was a great time to just ride along and play tourist looking out across some great farming land.
Arrived in Loxton just on dusk and knew that I still had about 400kms to go to get to Wilmington….which would be done in the dark and with only stock standard lighting on the Honda, no fancy LED/HID set ups, and no UHF or music either.
A nice quick refuel and off I head for Wilmington, via Burra, Spalding and the Main North Road. No record speeds will be reached as I am acutely aware of this stretch and it’s associated wildlife. I am nicely surprised by the headlamps on the ST, they give quite a nice spread and distance, and with the adjustable height adding to the projection down the road I felt quite comfortable. As I head up the Main North Rd direct to Wilmington a small amount of fog makes its way across the road.
The adjustable headlights get set to the lowest point and appear to give me good coverage under the fog in front.
Pull up at the Wilmington hotel to find some of the usual suspects enjoying a quiet ale or two out front, Muttley and Soulos. A quick hello and a bit of a chat and I make my way into the bar to pay for my room where there are even more already assembled. Toura and some others are here, turns out I had just missed Wombattle and Tele who had done a turn around and were already heading home.
I grab a room key, take the bike around the back, unload the pannier bags up to the room and make my way back down to the bar…grab a nice JB & Cola can and whilst chatting out the front a suggestion is made for a destination to finish my ride. I have arrived in Wilmington with 1,060kms on the clock, so I need a further 600kms by 11:30am local time tomorrow.
Given the fog I had just experienced and knowing that the run down to Port Augusta in the dark o clock hours of tomorrow morning will be foggy, I decide that rather than running PA-Adelaide-PA to finish my ride I will go PA-Glendambo-PA, fog free, nice straight run and with it being nearly daylight at the time I will run through I should have no probs with wildlife and straying stock.
Off to bed I go with the alarm set for 3:45am, just on 4 hours of sleep. I awaken to have a good coffee and a warm shower, feeling great, so off I go for a run down Horrocks Pass. In to the BP at PA for fuel and a clean of the windscreen and visor as it is Spring time and the insects are in full flight.
As I make the run out of PA I find a nice big road train doing a good pace and settle in behind at an appropriate distance that my high beam are not effecting him cause the suns not up quite yet and this first stretch is renowned for sheep.
Just as I approach Ranges View look out the sun starts to rise and once again this beautiful country starts to reveal itself. Onwards and upwards and the next great sight is Lake Hart, what a magnificent site in the early morning sunrise, the colours of the lake and the surrounding rock is simply stunning.
Into Glendambo and I have time for a good ole road house brekky which I enjoy immensely. Breakfast finished, refuel the bike, swap the clear lenses for sunny’s and head south back to PA for fuel and up to Wilmington for a finish.
Arrive in PA after a brilliant straight run down, pull over to the side after refuelling to fill out paperwork when I turn around and see the big blue gold wing of Frans and Jeannie. So a quick chat and Frans joyfully signs off as my finish witness, 1655kms or 1,034mi up for the trip, and it’s 10:08am local or 10:38am AET, time to spare.
And now for the fun part of the weekend, first of many rides up and down Horrocks Pass, a major gathering of Long Distance Riders, a dinner that is sure to be outrageous as usual…..and then there is the reason we have all come to this point at this time from all states and territories, to pay our respects collectively to a man who got us to be a collective of Long Distance Riders and to celebrate his extraordinary life and the impact he had on so many people in so many different ways.
We were later to see some of our well spent tax payer dollars at work as the main procession of Rebels passed through late Saturday arvo with their $5.8mil Police escort, 30+ camper vans and trucks, some with obligatory HD’s on trailers, but all in all, each and every one of those who stopped and talked were decent blokes.
A great weekend was had with many people, Pat TOURA , Muttley, Soulos, Ziggy, Skidoo (the crazy man on a 125cc), Grey Gentry and Marls, Large, Myemee and SS1600 Virgin Pillion Linda (not anymore), Hagar, Russel, Road Bandit, Sandy & Thommo, Fatman & Lynne, Baz & Liz, Nico, Frans & Jeannie, Henk, Gateman, Tony K, Nev and a few more for whom I am sorry in forgetting.

See more of you out on the road soon……new FarWeapon almost in the garage 
And yes there were pictures…..a photographer I am not…..but the pictures have now long gone o_O
 

Fatman

Well-Known Member
#5
I remember that year with the Rebels riding over to WA and the Police taking videos of bike at the intersection of Horrocks Pass Rd and the Highway.

Great pic of Toura isn't it.