penguineer
just luscious
Sorry a bit slow posting this up - been a bit all over the shop lately. The meeting at Renark was on 29 September 2012 at 1130h(local time), so you can see I've been sitting on this for a while.....
Still got a day or so to finish writing up, but that will happen in the next few days.....
The Plan
I had registered to attend FarRide East #20 in Renmark, SA with the basic 1000km in 24 hours. Muttley from FarRiders had organised the Renmark Club for a lunch venue, parking out the front and the pub for dinner, along with a few other surprises. As the direct distance to Renmark was over 1800km I also put together a plan to complete an IBA SaddleSore 1600 ride(1600km in 24 hours).
On the way home I would take as different a route as practical to see some of the countryside and maybe drop in on a friend in Broken Hill that wasn't unable to attend the FarRide.
By planning the SS1600 as my primary ride I was able to essentially choose my departure time as long as I had time to make the checkin time(as a backup).
To make the most of the day I would leave at 0800h, plan to finish at 0800h the next day in Mildura and still have a couple of hours to get from Mildura to Renmark. The 8am start was so I would have a few hours at the end of the ride in daylight after a 0515h sunrise. I didn't have a firm plan, but planned to get a bit of sleep in a roadside stop between West Wyalong and Hay.
A ride I had done earlier showed the effect that photo stops have on moving average and this was a 'serious' ride, so there would be no sightseeing on the way south(that means no photos for the first day or so).
Day 1
Yatala - Warwick - Goondiwindi - Moree - Dubbo - Parkes
After a poor nights sleep I get my start witness form signed, check the weather(storm front moving north through South Australia that promises a bit of rain and a temperature drop, hopefully I'll pass behind it). Looking up road conditions last night showed a few small roadworks, but otherwise clear.
At the last minute I changed my start location to the Yatala BP instead of Canungra. I've noticed some funny timestamps on dockets at Canungra and the distance is practically the same.
First stop is Warwick for a refuel, back on the bike and off to Goondiwindi. Another fuel stop at Goondi sees me on the road again and make a wrong turn at Boggabilla(not the first time!!), and back on my way after finding where the highway turns off in the middle of town.
At Moree I stop for fuel and a stretch. The attendant at the servo remembered me on the way home from Lightning Ridge - "Tell the other guys you were with that they should get out and ride more". While I'm having a drink a rider that seems to be "on the way somewhere" waves and keeps moving(possibly spada?).
Back on the road again and I'm doing well on my plan.
I head through the Piliga forest and found this stretch a struggle - good road, lots of trees to look at, but straight run and for some reason I found it brain numbing.
I made a stop and checked the weather ahead - the predicted storm is coming, but is still a fair way south and it looks like I may be passing through an edge of the storm somewhere south of Dubbo.
I refuel at Gilgandra instead of Dubbo and decide to put the wet gear on at Dubbo while I decide about something to eat.
Turns out that was a bad decision. Small spatters of rain turn into heavy drops then a deluge as lightning splits the sky.
By Dubbo the rain has tailed off and I find a McDonalds to take a break and warm up with a coffee. I don't like Maccas coffee, but for some reason this is nearly drinkable and more importantly I can warm my wet hands a bit while I go over my map and check the weather radar on my phone. I get the wet gear on and change to waterproof winter gloves, there will be another band of rain ahead but I've ridden in rain at night before so I'm not too concerned, particularly as I should skirt around one end of it.
Just out of Dubbo the rain intensifies into a downpour and lightning flashes all around me. Water starts sheeting on the road and I can feel the bike moving around a bit.
By Parkes I've had enough and check in at the first motel I come to. I was lucky to get a room as there's a music festival on over the long weekend.
A hot shower later and I'm thinking about how I'm going. I had planned to be much further along before taking an extended rest stop and I'm fairly sure that the last few hours have destroyed my plan. I figured that I could designate Warwick as my starting point(cutting 160km off the distance already done) and use Renmark as my finish(adding 150km to the distance yet to do). As long as I made it to Renmark before 1000h(Qld time) I should still be on track.
Decision made, I'm in bed for a few hours of comfortable sleep.
Still got a day or so to finish writing up, but that will happen in the next few days.....
The Plan
I had registered to attend FarRide East #20 in Renmark, SA with the basic 1000km in 24 hours. Muttley from FarRiders had organised the Renmark Club for a lunch venue, parking out the front and the pub for dinner, along with a few other surprises. As the direct distance to Renmark was over 1800km I also put together a plan to complete an IBA SaddleSore 1600 ride(1600km in 24 hours).
On the way home I would take as different a route as practical to see some of the countryside and maybe drop in on a friend in Broken Hill that wasn't unable to attend the FarRide.
By planning the SS1600 as my primary ride I was able to essentially choose my departure time as long as I had time to make the checkin time(as a backup).
To make the most of the day I would leave at 0800h, plan to finish at 0800h the next day in Mildura and still have a couple of hours to get from Mildura to Renmark. The 8am start was so I would have a few hours at the end of the ride in daylight after a 0515h sunrise. I didn't have a firm plan, but planned to get a bit of sleep in a roadside stop between West Wyalong and Hay.
A ride I had done earlier showed the effect that photo stops have on moving average and this was a 'serious' ride, so there would be no sightseeing on the way south(that means no photos for the first day or so).
Day 1
Yatala - Warwick - Goondiwindi - Moree - Dubbo - Parkes
After a poor nights sleep I get my start witness form signed, check the weather(storm front moving north through South Australia that promises a bit of rain and a temperature drop, hopefully I'll pass behind it). Looking up road conditions last night showed a few small roadworks, but otherwise clear.
At the last minute I changed my start location to the Yatala BP instead of Canungra. I've noticed some funny timestamps on dockets at Canungra and the distance is practically the same.
First stop is Warwick for a refuel, back on the bike and off to Goondiwindi. Another fuel stop at Goondi sees me on the road again and make a wrong turn at Boggabilla(not the first time!!), and back on my way after finding where the highway turns off in the middle of town.
At Moree I stop for fuel and a stretch. The attendant at the servo remembered me on the way home from Lightning Ridge - "Tell the other guys you were with that they should get out and ride more". While I'm having a drink a rider that seems to be "on the way somewhere" waves and keeps moving(possibly spada?).
Back on the road again and I'm doing well on my plan.
I head through the Piliga forest and found this stretch a struggle - good road, lots of trees to look at, but straight run and for some reason I found it brain numbing.
I made a stop and checked the weather ahead - the predicted storm is coming, but is still a fair way south and it looks like I may be passing through an edge of the storm somewhere south of Dubbo.
I refuel at Gilgandra instead of Dubbo and decide to put the wet gear on at Dubbo while I decide about something to eat.
Turns out that was a bad decision. Small spatters of rain turn into heavy drops then a deluge as lightning splits the sky.
By Dubbo the rain has tailed off and I find a McDonalds to take a break and warm up with a coffee. I don't like Maccas coffee, but for some reason this is nearly drinkable and more importantly I can warm my wet hands a bit while I go over my map and check the weather radar on my phone. I get the wet gear on and change to waterproof winter gloves, there will be another band of rain ahead but I've ridden in rain at night before so I'm not too concerned, particularly as I should skirt around one end of it.
Just out of Dubbo the rain intensifies into a downpour and lightning flashes all around me. Water starts sheeting on the road and I can feel the bike moving around a bit.
By Parkes I've had enough and check in at the first motel I come to. I was lucky to get a room as there's a music festival on over the long weekend.
A hot shower later and I'm thinking about how I'm going. I had planned to be much further along before taking an extended rest stop and I'm fairly sure that the last few hours have destroyed my plan. I figured that I could designate Warwick as my starting point(cutting 160km off the distance already done) and use Renmark as my finish(adding 150km to the distance yet to do). As long as I made it to Renmark before 1000h(Qld time) I should still be on track.
Decision made, I'm in bed for a few hours of comfortable sleep.