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Since Kram bought his NX650 he has been keen to get out and do an adventure style ride, so it was decided to pre run the Wauchope to Nabiac ride. Talking on the phone Friday arvo,Kram asked what gear to wear and my response was “dress for an adventure” . Little did I know how big of an Adventure it was going to be!!!
We headed off from my place at 8.30 am headed for Comboyne via Bago. I managed to link up a good ride for the NX’s, a few hills and singles thrown in for good measure, some awesome views can be had on this loop, I only hope the weather is as kind to us when we all head for Nabiac in a few weeks.
We stopped at Comboyne for a smoke and a yarn before we headed off through a track that I know goes through private property, we dropped into the Farmers house to see if it is OK to lead the group through in a couple of weeks, so all will be cool!!
A bit of local knowledge helps to find top spots like this.
Next stop was Elands store for Fuel and a drink, a bit of a yarn with the shop keeper and a few locals was “enlightening”. WE then went across to Ellenborough Falls as Kram had never been there,
The Falls had plenty of Water flowing over them and it looked great
From there we headed towards Blue Knob Lookout, Kram hit something with his gear stick and it needed some attention so we pulled up and fixed it
Kram should also look where he stops before putting his feet down
We got to Blue Knob and the view was awesome!!
Blue Knob over looks the Cells to the West and you can see Bago at Wauchope 100kms away on a good day
Not even that far out are you safe from the dreaded mobile phone call, as I climbed the fire tower the phone rang and Krams missus was on the other end wondering when we will be back, Kram’s ETA was to be shot out of the water as the events of the day unfolded.
From there we headed towards My George via Knodingbull road. WE turned into a trail that leads to Rowleys rock. The view from the top is worth the strenuous walk to the viewing platform.
The steps going up to the top remind me of somewhere in Japan with all the moss growing on them
At the top
The trail is steep to the top, the sign describes it as a 45 minute strenuous walk.
The next stop was at Dingo Tops camp ground that was totally empty which surprised me considering the weather was so nice.
From there we headed towards Mt George, once we hit the Nowendoc road we headed west towards, Tiri and Bundook. There was a nice tar section over the mountain that had 6km’s of nice twisty corners. We turned onto the Bundook road headed for Kramback, we where having a great time and where looking good for Krams ETA. Little did we know that a turn of events was about to change our plans considerably.
We got to the Glouchester river and it was cranking fairly well after the recent rains.
A couple of days earlier and I don’t think we would have gotten across
The country around there looks a treat after the recent rain and I was just taking it all in and enjoying the ride..until I felt the familiar and dreaded tail wag a bike developes when you get a flat tyre. BUGGER.
I pulled to the side of the road in a suitable place to change the tyre, as like all great adventure riders, I had the gear to fix my flat tyre. As I pulled my helmet off, unbeknownst to me there was a bee jammed between my helmet and goggles and the bastard bit me in the face near my eye. Having been bit on the face by a bee before I knew then that I was in a wee bit of trouble as I am a bit allergic to bee bites and I knew that I would soon swell up like the elephant man.
First of all we had to get the tyre fixed in a hurry.
A suitable stand was found and we snapped the wheel out of the NX
and I got to work changing the tube.
The road we were on had a few big rocks on it, so I figured that I had a pinch flat as the NX had a standard tube in it.
MISTAKE NUMBER 1
I wonder if TB knew he had been riding the NX with a standard tube in it??
Not exactly A4DE stuff but we had it fixed and ready to go in 15 minutes.
We were away again and within about a Km the arse end of the NX started waving about again as the new tube went flat again. Bastard!!!!!!!!!!!!
I knew that I hadn’t pinched the tube, so WTF??
Another suitable stand was found and out comes the wheel again.
Upon inspection of the tyre we found this.
How the F#*K did we miss that, when we fixed the tyre previously??
With our only spare tube now rooted as the nail punctured it next to the valve , the job at hand was to fix my other tube with a patch kit.
A patch kit with 5 patches and a tube with 6 holes was always going to be un up hill battle. At this stage we were about 150kms from home and in the middle of no where.
We had a go at fixing it as good as we can so we could at least have a chance of getting to Kramback
We got it pumped up and holding air and we were off again. We got about 16km from Kramback when the tyre went totally flat again with the valve stem torn completely out and the tube hanging out through the bead, we were stuffed!!!
Kram spotted a property up head that had that many cars around it, it looked like a wrecking yard, maybe ol mate would have an old farm bike or the likes we could pinch a tube out off.
A battled the NX with the flat tyre up to ol mates house and was greated with a menagery of dogs, chooks and a myriad of other critters.
He introduced himself as Richard and said that he had a WR250 that was seized and we could have the rear tube from it. By this time my face had really started to swell up and my eye was starting to close and all the humour was gone from me.
Once again the NX was up on something with the rear wheel out.
Richard lead me off looking for the WR through his wrecking yard and into the bush at this stage I though he maybe going to kill me in the scrub.LOL Anyhow after a 5 minute walk into the bush, we found the WR jammed into a tree, left where it seized.
I snapped the wheel out of it,while Kram rode into Kramback to get Richard and us some beers. Just as Kram got back I was in the process of pumping the tyre up after fitting the new tube. Only to see it go down again!!!!!!!! I know I didn’t pinch it so what the hell was going on???
Richard said he had some patches if we had some glue. OK go get them Richard. Richard turns up with these monsterous truck tube patched about 4mm thick. As soon as I saw them I knew we were pushing shit up hill.
I started to pull the tyre off again, but could only find two tyre levers, one was missing. Guess where I found it??
In the f#*king tyre!! That is what punctured the new tube when I put a ton of pressure in the tyre trying to get it on the bead.
MISTAKE NUMBER 2
What a dick head.
We then proceeded to Pull the patches off the destroyed tube and we glued them on and hoped for the best!! We got the tyre back together only for it to go down again. We had misses a pin hole. I was starting to get the shits and was really feeling the effects of the bee sting to my face and I had developed a screaming head ache.
We found the pin hole and fixed it with another second hand patch and the tyre stayed up, so I stuck the wheel in the NX
At this stage all we could do is laugh and hope.
Kram thought it was a great joke and kept taking photos of me. Here is the look of a bloke whos day has gone to shit
Anyhow, I have to drop back into Richard’s on the way to Nabiac to drop off a replacement tube for him,so all the boys with us will get to meet him and see his place.
He is a top bloke and I owe him big time..Thanks heaps Richard.
As we left his gate we stopped and had a laugh about what a random afternoon it turned out to be. As we headed through Kramback night fall had started and we still had 100 km plus to get home. My eye had swollen pretty badly and it hurt to put goggles on it,I couldn’t not wear them though as there was fifty trillion bugs coming at me at a alarming rate of Knots. Try riding in the dark with one eye closed with only a NX headlight illuminating your way.
I was getting low on fuel and the Kramback sevo was closed so I nursed the NX into Wingham, by then It was dark. We fuelled up and went to pay, only to return to see the back tyre on the NX flat again!!!! WE grabbed a can of Finileak and pumped the tyre up with that and it appeared happy so we headed up the gravel road to Comboyne in the dark, I was peddling the NX along and left Kram to ride in my dust. He was going bloody slow up the hill and I was wondering what was wrong, it turns out he had blown the seals in his front master cylinder and had little or no front brakes. He decided there was nothing we could do in the dark and we pressed on slowly up the mountain in the darkness. We were about 11km’s out of Wauchope and I felt the tyre going flat again as the bike was starting to slid around corners and I could hear the knobbies “growling” on the tar. I pressed on hoping to make town before it went totally flat. The last corner before my house saw the NX go completely sideways as the last bit of air escaped the rear tyre. We rode down my driveway at 9.45, relieved to have mad it home. We cracked a beer to celebrate as the kids ran into the shed and reeled in horror when they saw how swollen my face was…
Kram still had to ride to Delicate Knobby to get home which involved a run up Plommer road in the dark. That would have been a challenge in itself!!!! I am doing my best to type this with one eye closed and my wife laughing at the look of me.
Thanks for the day Kram. It was a real Adventure to say the least!! I can’s wait until we do the ride again in a couple of weeks!!
Great report mick was a very entertaining read. You could work for the local rag with journalistic skills like that. :laugh: Funny that Richard left the WR where it died in the scrub. Glad to see you didn’t get stung around your neck. Fantastic Post.
I suppose some of you may be interested in the product that I bought to try and get us home.
The product was called Holts Tyre weld.
I have since been to the shed, cracked a beer and perused the instructions on the can.
It is any wonder I got home at all!! The instructions read:
Remove object…………PASS
Position puncture at bottom of wheel…………FAIL
Shake can vigorously….PASS (but remembered at last minute)
Clean tyre valve thread…FAIL (dodged a bullet there
)
Hold can upside down..PASS..(Written in bold letters on can )
Use entire can..FAIL
Immediantly drive 5-10 kms…..PASS
Then check and adjust tyre pressure…..FAIL
Travel at a reduced speed below 60kmph……..FAIL
Not recommended for motorbikes………BIG FAT FAIL.Written in big red letters on the can:
READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS THOROUGHLY BEFORE STARTING REPAIR……….OBVIOUSLY FAILED THAT ONE TOO, IN MY HASTE TO GET HOME..
Anyhow I got home in the end, so all is good..
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
I still can’t think about yesterday’s adventure without pissing myself :laugh:
The next time you invite me for a little adventure ride Mick I’m taking a tent.
My day started at 7am when I jumped on my trusty NX left the surf at Delicate Nobby camp ground and headed for Wauchope via Plommer Rd.
The first half of the day was fantastic riding a heaps of fun. But I should have known something was going to happen to Mick because he spent most of the day trying his best to avoid the local wildlife.
His first encounter nearly saw him join the Boony/RcHonda club when a roo jumped out of the scrub and he came within a nats nicker of taking it out. He had the Big NX all crossed up and somehow managed miss it.
Next it was the magpies. Two came swooping out of the tree trying their best to lodge a claw or beak in his helmet. :woohoo: :woohoo: Not to be out done a bush turkey did it’s best to take him out as it flew out of the scub and almost into the front of the NX.
Then came the reptiles. With our legs in a yoga position above our helmets we came across a couple of Red Belly Black Snakes, a Blue Tongue Lizard and a small goanna.
But as all these creatures had their turn and failed to get their quarry. Then a humble Bee had its turn and BAM Mick turned into the Elephant Man :woohoo: :laugh: :laugh:
Mick’s pretty well covered the rest of the day except the hours Richard the Celtic Worrier and Me sat around hanging shit on him as he patched and patched the tube and fitted the tyre and patched and refitted the tyre :blink: :blink:
Thanks for the invite Mick. I had an awsome day. I managed to make it back to our camp at 11pm. After another trip along Plommer Rd in the Dark :S
Can’t wait for Nabiac :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:
Kram
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