This FJR of mine is a bit like cheating. All LD rides have some difficulty involved, but somehow the FJR just makes riding around all day and all night seem just so simple with its cutthroat mile-munching efficiency and seriousness.
Yesterday I rode the KLR650 for a nice big loop. I've since done some work, had a bite to eat, a sleep and wandered about the garage swapping goods and chattels from bike to bike. I've hung up the KLIM suit and reached for the Aerostich. Yesterday I rode on the stock seat, today I put a Bead Rider onto the MJM-modified seat. I packed some fresh earplugs, cleaned the mirrors and ran out of things to do....
With both tanks filled and a docket (all dockets at the end) at my local servo at a 'normal' 03:56hr, 100796km on the odo and GPS zeroed I rolled out heading north and pretty quickly into some pretty scuzzy summer rain. To launch into a decent day of riding from Newcastle the choices are basically north on the Pacific, south on the M1 to Sydney and beyond, north west up the New England or due west on the new freeway but really heading for the Golden Highway - and Perth usually. Up the Pacific this time.
Only as far as Nabiac (5:28hr, 140km, no need for fuel) and a left turn onto the Bucketts Way. This is a well-known bike road but just currently it is a lousy bit of road here at the eastern end. Shocking potholes, bumps and sticks and stones everywhere. At least the many roadworks sections had some decent mud to slide around in for some relief. Ahh, then it gets smooth after a while as the road starts to meander and climb and undulate and all things good. If the sun were to start to sneak through the clouds it would be rising behind me as planned, but I didn't see the golden orb at all that day.
A right turn northward at Gloucester puts me onto Thunderbolt's Way. Its a fun bit of road this 150km section. Classic NSW country backroad with its uneven surface but a lovely mix of corners and elevation changes. After 40km there's a 10km or so climb to Carson's Pioneer Lookout. Nothing to see here today so I took a pic of the sign instead:
Then continued across the Nowendoc plains to reach another bike road - the Oxley Highway. It seems so fresh in my memory.... Walcha (07:58hr, 337km, no need for fuel). Despite it being (cloudy) daylight, there was almost no traffic. I came up behind a Hilux just as I reached the 50km or so of twisties. Foggy, poor visibility and with a 'We value safe driving' sticker on the back, the Hilux plodded into the void without any lights on and seemingly without any understanding of the point of the centreline. At the first glimpse of a clear spot I was past him and settled in to enjoy the rest of the road like it was a private racetrack or something. A quick pic stop at Gingers
Then continued on my uninterrupted way down the hill through Wauchope and turned north at the Port Macquarie BP Donut, back on the Pacific Highway again. I checked out the new servo at Valla (Nambucca) on one of the new sections of road up here for those that haven't ridden it yet. (11:29hr, 517km, 35.75L).
Soon after I turned onto yet another great bike road: The Waterfall Way. I had a great time climbing up to Dorrigo, pulling over a couple of times to let the light traffic get ahead, only taking off again when a car appeared in my mirrors. Very windy and with low cloud and rain to make things a little harder it was a bit slow going for a while. Pulling in to the Ebor Falls rest area for a quick break I recalled a time there were dozens of roos hopping about here in the dark. And nearly ran into one now.
Back on board I cut north east on a much less trafficked road: the Guyra Road. It goes to Guyra. This was fun. About 75km in length, it traverses the same terrain as the western parts of the Waterfall Way, but nobody seems to go that way. Tops. At Guyra the traffic increases as I headed north on the New England Highway. Without a village or a mine every three minutes like the southern end, I like this section of road. Nice variety, good surface and the odd vista, at least on a clear day.
Soon enough I reached Glen Innes (14:26hr, 864km, no need for fuel). Another great road. East on the Gwydir this time. Like a northern Waterfall Way, it starts out broad and flat, drops down nicely through some twisty bits then undulates up and down over the ridges that end abruptly as they reach the Mann River on the left. I had a few little rests along the river flats courtesy of the Wombattle Stop and Go guys. Must be breeding season as they were out in numbers this time.
Grafton (16:27hr, 1021km, no need for fuel), just a Norco chocolate milk. Heading south now, but not on the highway, on the Armidale Road. This backroad goes through the canoe country of the Nymboida River then through Hortons, Clouds and Billys Creeks where there are some fantastic twisty sections - all on a road going to kind of nowhere so there is never any traffic. Yay.
Back through Ebor again, taking the remaining section of the Waterfall Way I missed this morning, heading through Armidale, commuting along the New England a bit, then with a left turn at Uralla I was back on Thunderbolts - again. A day of little loops on great bike roads on the clock.
Into the servo at Walcha just on closing (20:00hr, 1283km, 19.16L filling the front tank only). I'm back on the Ox.
Mainly dry now and oh so much fun. The first time I rode this bike through here I had Wombattle's Tenere lighting things up from behind me and sparks from the footpegs to help with visibility in the bends. These days I'm running crazy lights and prefer the Oxley twisties at night. One semi-trailer to collect just after Gingers in a perfectly-timed overtaking zone and it was just left-right-left-left-right back and forth around the hundreds of bends. Fabulous.
It started raining again down around Long Flat, but its just commuting from here. A chat to a couple of riders manning the till at the Timbertown servo (22:44hr, 1446km, 6.18L splashed into the front). I took the little backroad due south from Wauchope just because you can to cut off the Port Macquarie corner, but it is rubbish. I rejoined the Pacific Highway (again again) heading home into some heavy rain. Tucked up behind the fairing and big screen, dry in the 'stich and very pleased with a lovely day of riding I decided not to go back down the Bucketts Way, ignored the Buladelah bends and pulled up at another regular servo near my storage shed. Day ride complete.(West Mayfield, 01:24hr, 1673km)
Violet's Valkyrie Rainbow Ride, yesterday's ZoMbiE KiLLeR650 and now today's ride on the Hardcore Four.....
Yesterday I rode the KLR650 for a nice big loop. I've since done some work, had a bite to eat, a sleep and wandered about the garage swapping goods and chattels from bike to bike. I've hung up the KLIM suit and reached for the Aerostich. Yesterday I rode on the stock seat, today I put a Bead Rider onto the MJM-modified seat. I packed some fresh earplugs, cleaned the mirrors and ran out of things to do....
With both tanks filled and a docket (all dockets at the end) at my local servo at a 'normal' 03:56hr, 100796km on the odo and GPS zeroed I rolled out heading north and pretty quickly into some pretty scuzzy summer rain. To launch into a decent day of riding from Newcastle the choices are basically north on the Pacific, south on the M1 to Sydney and beyond, north west up the New England or due west on the new freeway but really heading for the Golden Highway - and Perth usually. Up the Pacific this time.
Only as far as Nabiac (5:28hr, 140km, no need for fuel) and a left turn onto the Bucketts Way. This is a well-known bike road but just currently it is a lousy bit of road here at the eastern end. Shocking potholes, bumps and sticks and stones everywhere. At least the many roadworks sections had some decent mud to slide around in for some relief. Ahh, then it gets smooth after a while as the road starts to meander and climb and undulate and all things good. If the sun were to start to sneak through the clouds it would be rising behind me as planned, but I didn't see the golden orb at all that day.
A right turn northward at Gloucester puts me onto Thunderbolt's Way. Its a fun bit of road this 150km section. Classic NSW country backroad with its uneven surface but a lovely mix of corners and elevation changes. After 40km there's a 10km or so climb to Carson's Pioneer Lookout. Nothing to see here today so I took a pic of the sign instead:
Then continued across the Nowendoc plains to reach another bike road - the Oxley Highway. It seems so fresh in my memory.... Walcha (07:58hr, 337km, no need for fuel). Despite it being (cloudy) daylight, there was almost no traffic. I came up behind a Hilux just as I reached the 50km or so of twisties. Foggy, poor visibility and with a 'We value safe driving' sticker on the back, the Hilux plodded into the void without any lights on and seemingly without any understanding of the point of the centreline. At the first glimpse of a clear spot I was past him and settled in to enjoy the rest of the road like it was a private racetrack or something. A quick pic stop at Gingers
Then continued on my uninterrupted way down the hill through Wauchope and turned north at the Port Macquarie BP Donut, back on the Pacific Highway again. I checked out the new servo at Valla (Nambucca) on one of the new sections of road up here for those that haven't ridden it yet. (11:29hr, 517km, 35.75L).
Soon after I turned onto yet another great bike road: The Waterfall Way. I had a great time climbing up to Dorrigo, pulling over a couple of times to let the light traffic get ahead, only taking off again when a car appeared in my mirrors. Very windy and with low cloud and rain to make things a little harder it was a bit slow going for a while. Pulling in to the Ebor Falls rest area for a quick break I recalled a time there were dozens of roos hopping about here in the dark. And nearly ran into one now.
Back on board I cut north east on a much less trafficked road: the Guyra Road. It goes to Guyra. This was fun. About 75km in length, it traverses the same terrain as the western parts of the Waterfall Way, but nobody seems to go that way. Tops. At Guyra the traffic increases as I headed north on the New England Highway. Without a village or a mine every three minutes like the southern end, I like this section of road. Nice variety, good surface and the odd vista, at least on a clear day.
Soon enough I reached Glen Innes (14:26hr, 864km, no need for fuel). Another great road. East on the Gwydir this time. Like a northern Waterfall Way, it starts out broad and flat, drops down nicely through some twisty bits then undulates up and down over the ridges that end abruptly as they reach the Mann River on the left. I had a few little rests along the river flats courtesy of the Wombattle Stop and Go guys. Must be breeding season as they were out in numbers this time.
Grafton (16:27hr, 1021km, no need for fuel), just a Norco chocolate milk. Heading south now, but not on the highway, on the Armidale Road. This backroad goes through the canoe country of the Nymboida River then through Hortons, Clouds and Billys Creeks where there are some fantastic twisty sections - all on a road going to kind of nowhere so there is never any traffic. Yay.
Back through Ebor again, taking the remaining section of the Waterfall Way I missed this morning, heading through Armidale, commuting along the New England a bit, then with a left turn at Uralla I was back on Thunderbolts - again. A day of little loops on great bike roads on the clock.
Into the servo at Walcha just on closing (20:00hr, 1283km, 19.16L filling the front tank only). I'm back on the Ox.
Mainly dry now and oh so much fun. The first time I rode this bike through here I had Wombattle's Tenere lighting things up from behind me and sparks from the footpegs to help with visibility in the bends. These days I'm running crazy lights and prefer the Oxley twisties at night. One semi-trailer to collect just after Gingers in a perfectly-timed overtaking zone and it was just left-right-left-left-right back and forth around the hundreds of bends. Fabulous.
It started raining again down around Long Flat, but its just commuting from here. A chat to a couple of riders manning the till at the Timbertown servo (22:44hr, 1446km, 6.18L splashed into the front). I took the little backroad due south from Wauchope just because you can to cut off the Port Macquarie corner, but it is rubbish. I rejoined the Pacific Highway (again again) heading home into some heavy rain. Tucked up behind the fairing and big screen, dry in the 'stich and very pleased with a lovely day of riding I decided not to go back down the Bucketts Way, ignored the Buladelah bends and pulled up at another regular servo near my storage shed. Day ride complete.(West Mayfield, 01:24hr, 1673km)
Violet's Valkyrie Rainbow Ride, yesterday's ZoMbiE KiLLeR650 and now today's ride on the Hardcore Four.....
