Confusion

Stuart T

Getting the hang of it
The rally, not a state of mind :!:

Confusion rally has been running for over 20 years. Conveniently near Licola, it gives everyone an excuse to ride some particularly fantastic roads.

So, with plans coming and going faster than mushroom induced flashbacks, myself and Mike (Moike) headed for Licola on Australia Day weekend. We were both a bit short of time, so couldn't head up Friday. No matter, it was a relatively short run form melbourne.

We played dodge the rain, semi-successfuly, on the way out of Melbourne, but by the time we got to Lilydale, it had all but cleared. We kept heading out of town, via the well worn path of Yarra Junction, Powelltown and Noojee. When we got to noojee, Mikes BM was starting to suffer from slipping clutch so he fiddled with the adjustment to try and correct this before heading inside for a coffee.

After the break, we headed on, climbing up out of Noojee and on to the Icy Ck road. On this section, Mike went backwards in my mirrors, especially on the long uphills. We stopped at the corner and Mike decided that he was going to have to nurse the bike back to Melbourne but would come through to Willow Grove and cut back across to the freeway from there. By Willow Grove, he'd decided that if he kept the massive power of the R bike in check, the clutch didn't slip, so with a commitment to judicious throttling, he decided to keep going. e rolled on through Tyers, Glengarry and made it into Heyfield for a spot of lunch at the pub.

At the pub, we met up with another 2 riders who had been forced to stop their journey to Licola the night before when the VTR 1000's reg-rec died. After he rang around the Gippsland bike shops that morning, his mate headed over to Sale for a new reg-rec and battery. Once they got got that sorted, they realised that most of the light globes had blown, so off went his mate again. They got them fitted and were ready and keen to roll again, so they headed off while we had lunch.
 

Stuart T

Getting the hang of it
After lunch, we headed off up the Licola road. Despite the fires which had torn through much of the area, the road was in excellent condition with the added bonus of a good view through many of the bends owing to the lack of vegetation. It's a brilliant 50km of road, it never fails to impress and as a bonus, it's usually pretty quiet.

Confusion2.jpg


It's all looking a bit charred, but not too bad. It'll grow back.

Confusion3.jpg


Made it to Licola and the rally. The 'new' rally site this year was in the caravan park directly behind the general store. The rally is usually held on private property a few km's up the road, but owing to the fire, it was worse for wear. So the town decided to let the rally run in town given it's been running for years and not many other tourists were showing up. So a win for everybody. It's a fairly enthusiastic rally with gymkhana, bands and catering. 'twas a good night, but fortunately the headache fairy didn't come visiting.
 

Stuart T

Getting the hang of it
If you're only in this for the photos, tune out now. I took bugger all for the weekend and you'va already seen them.
Sunday morning, surprise surprise, we headed back the way we came. Took a detour to avoid Heyfield, went via Seaton instead. As we were trundling along the Icy Ck road, I thought "it's damn hard to get sick of this bit of road, I could ride this all day", although i had similar thoughts on some of the more open sweepers on the Baw Baw road later :)

A good little run for the weekend, I wonder how Mike's going with the clutch?
 

moike

Old Fahrt
Stuart T said:
If you're only in this for the photos, tune out now. I took bugger all for the weekend and you'va already seen them.
I've got a couple, but they look a lot like yours ;)
A good little run for the weekend, I wonder how Mike's going with the clutch?
I pick it up tomorrow. What might have been a problem with the cluth plate or the pressure plate turned out to be both. Cost a week's emergency teaching. I'll be picking it up tomorrow if the school doesn't call me in.
 
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