This topic contains 25 replies, has 0 voices, and was last updated by 
-
What happened Wayne thats a long day mate :blink: Was there dramas? We have done from Chickens at Cooranbong to Denman Pub and back through the Watagans with singles thrown in and beers at Laguna and been home in Sydney for dinner :laugh: I guess there was only 3 of us :huh:
I meant to warn you the windrows before Rasberry Junction are huge and have the back of them dug out :huh: hope it didnt cause any problems :blink:
Look forward to your report with bloody pictures please, which pub did you go to?
Wish I had gone
(expect riding home in the dark stuff that shit)TB
We had lunch at the Royal and not a bad feed it was for $10. No real problems on the day except for Lotsa having a flat battery when we went to head off from the meeting point near Laguna. His was the second bike I have towed in a week now. There weren’t alot of pictures taken that I saw, no time for me to take them as I was sweep rider all day, I have a bit of a sore throat today from eating everyones dust
. I am sorting out a couple of videos at the moment.The Veestrom went well all day and handled all conditions fairly well considering it still has the road tyres on. The biggest worries were the sandy sections and the couple of muddy sections where I was just a passenger holding on for grim death
. Definately need to beef up the suspension though, bottomed out numerous times and near broke my ankles when I hit one of the erosion mounds a bit quick.I left home at 6.30 in the am and got home at 7.30 that night, not sure why it took as long as it did as the pace was fairly steady and the breaks were minimal. Only 4 falls that I know of for the day, the first was GavB who tried to climb on his bike and take off at the same time, only problem was that he forgot to put it in gear and so belly flopped onto the grass at 0kmh. The next was Craig, one of the Owls on the XR400, he came over an erosion mound that had a clay puddle on the back side which speared him off into the bushed, lucky he didn’t go over the embankment due to the thick vegetation. Then it was Kat’s turn, on a particularly steep rutted section she started down and then had to stop (as did I cause I was following her, bad move
). We both stopped and I helped turn her bike so she could head down the better section and off she went while I climbed back on my bike. GavB decided to head back up to make sure we were alright and he and I were talking when I looked down and there was Kat lying under the bike. At this point I thought I will just ride down then help her pick her bike up, what I didn’t realise was that she was actually stuck under it and couldn’t get up (oops, sorry, shouldn’t laugh)Gav helped here anyway and I did thank her for showing me how not to do it. The last that I know of was MickP who was moving only slightly faster than GavB if at all, I didn’t actually see him fall just saw him pulling up to a gate and looked away, then looked back and he was on the ground. I think there was a hollow where he tried to put his foot down. Anyway, more to come once I get the pic’s and videos sorted.The plan was to travel from Wyong, meet up with more riders at Laguna Creek Rd and Putty Valley Rd, have lunch in Denman and return by a different route. This would be the second attempt. The first was unsuccessful because we were delayed with a missing pannier so went to Bulga instead, which is a great ride in itself. So there were to be no excuses today. It was Denman, even if it was dinner instead of lunch.
Katgirl and Krusty were ready to go at the meeting point when I arrived at 7am, so with quick greetings we set off. After Ourimbah SF and up the hill we arrived at Murrays Run. We set a steady pace which gave me time to think about the beautiful views along Murray’s Run on a perfect not so chilly, sunny day. Who knew there was scenery to look at on these roads…….
Arrived at the meeting point Laguna Creek rd to find mickp, gavb, Jeffro, Choot? (Ian)
The starter on the DR was thumbed, to get going and found a dead battery. Apparently if you leave the ignition and heated handgrips on, the battery goes flat pretty quickly. Woops. Jeffro broke out the towrope and with his recent towing experiences got me up the hill to jump start. Thanks to Ian who pushed and Jeffro and his SV650 and everyone else for their patience. There will be photos I’m sure.
As a group we travelled along nicely at a constant pace without any shenanigans and got to the Putty Rd via Yengo Track. A short blast down the Putty Rd and we arrived at Putty Valley Rd to find the Owls. Krusty got on the phone and mickp went down the road and we were soon giving intros and getting ready for the next leg to Denman.
There were nine of us now. Krusty had the route in his gps which looked more sophisticated than my bit of a4 paper so with Krusty leading we set off for Raspberry Junction.
Pit stop
At one stage there I thought we must be on the wrong track because I remembered rememberable (is that a word) erosion humps. I found the first one that opened my eyes like dinner plates on landing and it was all good after that. With mickp seeing me on that first erosion hump we pulled up at raspberry junction and he said I was all arms and legs flailing on landing. It was pretty untidy from my view as well as I speared into the bottom of the next one. The stock suspension did a great job though.
Krusty
Martindale track start
At Raspberry Junction there was a forestry sign saying ‘Access upon permission of property owner’ or something like that. Unsure of what lay ahead and having heard there maybe a locked gate with an angry property owner we took it very slowly figuring it would be easier talking my way through if we weren’t riding super cross up to his gate. I had prepared for this with cash in the wallet, Katgirls tears and even considered putting a fresh bottle of Jim in the pannier, but giving away a bottle of Jim was going just too far. All good though, no locked gates; a steep windy section claimed a couple of scalps and then open farmland. There was a landcruiser closing a property gate near the creek and they were happy.
Landcruiser having a chat
Creek crossing
We hit the tar and motored into Denman and the Royal Hotel a welcome sight.
To put the food critic hat on, the coffee at the Royal tasted crap and at four dollars, expensive crap. I would have complained but they may have spat in my BBQ Occy salad and I should have done because it tasted like they already had. The beer seemed ok and they couldn’t stuff up a can of coke.
Gav before he tasted the coffee
Royal Hotel nice pub
We had a banter and ribbed Katgirl that we had to go back up the steep windy hill we came down before. Fuelled at the servo across the road and when someone mentioned it was quarter to three I was planing for dinner at Wollombi in the dark.
At Appletree Flat Gav and Mick worked out how to get through the gates and once on the Commission Track it was easy going to Putty Rd.
My camera broke around about …….now
Krusty fuelled Katgirl, we said our goodbyes to the Owls and started on the Settlers Track. We stopped halfway along to regroup and take in the view of sunset over the mountains then turned our headlights to high beam and did the rest in the dark. Ian’s Tenere head light shone through as the biggest and brightest.
From Paynes Crossing we hit Wollombi at 6.30pm and the northern boys went north and the eastern boys and one girl went east back to the meeting point.
Well done Katgirls for your determination throughout the day and everyone else for an easygoing day.
It was good experience for the Cameron Corner ride and definitely points out to me that it’s harder to throw the leg over the bike at the end of the day than it is in the beginning, so I’ll be doing my best to get in as much practice throwing my leg over between now and Cameron Corner.
I hope bollocks can fit a spa in that camper trailer.
It was an ambitious day given the circumstances and I expect everyone was challenged.
After all, it is an adventure ride.
Here are some pic,s
Glamour shot of the Veestrom at Laguna Valley
Clear Crisp morning, definately crisp 😆
Meeting up with the owls at Putty
A couple of accidental shots from the helmet cam
And the Veestrom not looking quite as glamorous (spelling)
If you look real close at the front wheel you can see a nasty ding :unsure:
Vandals struck
:laugh: :laugh:
Close up of the rim damage
Jeffro wrote:
Quote:Close up of the rim damage
:angry: :angry: I have a decent on on the front of the Tenere as well Jeffro
Road tyres have softer side walls get decent rubber on there will reduce it a bit
TB
Trailboss wrote:
Quote:Jeffro wrote:Quote:Close up of the rim damage
:angry: :angry: I have a decent on on the front of the Tenere as well Jeffro
TBIwas lucky it didn’t go down being a tubless tyre.
hey Jeffro,
Thats a nice dint you got there. I got ones in my vstrom also.I had one last tyre change, that caused a leak, so I flogged it out with a soft face [nylon] hammer. The trick is to leave the tyre on and fully inflated during the flogging, but I dont want any responsibility if it does not work…..
I think they can be professionally repaired using rollers[Laurie Alderton I believe is good].
I can lend you my spare while you get that one fixed if you like?
Cheers
ScottJeffro wrote:
Quote:Close up of the rim damage
Jeffro wrote:
Quote:Close up of the rim damage
Nice ding there Jeffro, did you feel the hit when it happened or was it one of many?
Big ride thanks to all. My GPS logged 480km all up from home but the bike speedo said 500km :blink: I think the GPS is wrong :laugh: :laugh:
Well the new panniers worked well and I had a lot of gear in them and nothing came loose, oh except for my left hand mirror which I tightened 3 times and put it in the pannier the 4th time.
Arrived at Denman with 235km on the speedo from Morisett fillup and used 11.1 litres from the main tank with 0.9 l left. Still 14l left in the Safari tank so the Cameron Corner trip mileage is looking pretty good @ about 500km depending on conditions (heavy going in sand)
Wayne, I’ll make some jumper leads for the corner trip so next time we can jump start yer bike
Mick
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.