OpenRoaders Longwood lunch...May

Williamson

Part of the furniture
Big numbers at Longwood:




A classy bike:


Longwood - Ruffy Road:




Today's route went something like this:


Distance: 308km

Thanks to Sir Frank, the ORT's and AT's for organising and the company.
:clap:
 

John_Johnny

Long Timer
Re: Sun 22 May - Openroaders lunch run to Longwood

Crusty was next me, it was Big Rob's BM over the road.

Oh. Well of course. Big Rob would dare to be different. If fact he could dare to do absolutely anything. Fine by me. :bs
BTW, Big Rob expressed an interest in Goughs Bay.
 
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John_Johnny

Long Timer

Tallarook 10:20am. No one here yet. We'll go for a walk.


Mechanics Hall, couple of potato cakes and a dim sim.


Ahhhh. Here they are! :clap:
That's Jason and his yellow Suzy. I have a tale to tell about that. :bees:



One day you will be mine :glu :cdle
 

John_Johnny

Long Timer

Coffee kickstarters at Hock the Ruby. Lisa was there with her MV Augusta. Colin got to sit on it and give it a bit of a rev. Then Lisa had to turn it over for quite a while before it would start again.


Willo and Crusty glass tapping. Sir Francis praying for...... (insert here)


Still tapping! Bloody kids and their phones these days. I dunno.

Sir Frank says we're heading South to Seymour. I reckon it's North. Maybe he's praying for divine guidance?
 

John_Johnny

Long Timer
We took the scenic route to Seymour. On the Tallarook-Pyalong Rd I was sitting behind a big bike leisurely cruising along when I saw a headlight rapidly approaching, then the orange indicator and zip! straight past us. Well that's a red rag to a bull so off I went and got right on his yellow suzy arse. Then came a tight right hander at Sharps and Taylors Rd. Ohhh shit! Loose stones all over the corner! I washed off as much speed as I could in one second then leaned in and hoped for the best. My new Pirelli Angels had their halo on and held tight so no probs but the bloke in front stood the bike up and went into the gravel shoulder. He did well to get it back on the bitumen but what a butt-clenching moment!

The Longwood lineup. Big Rob's beemer is on its own across the road. (Dare to be different)
Eivind and Aaron arrived just as Willo and I dismounted. The others arrived later due to refueling. Bahaa.
 

John_Johnny

Long Timer

Jason hoeing into his massive pepper steak. I had the steak sanga for 16 bucks. Johnny had the schnitzel, chips and vegetables. Very nice meals. The vegies were freshly cooked. I don't like broccoli that's been sitting in a bain-marie for hours, these vegies were crisp and obviously cooked as ordered.


Willo still tapping on glass! Eivind carefully tapping the precise amount of salt onto his sanger. Aaron behind, also glass tapping, Jason, Colin and Lisa chatting at the back. Crusty Varmit finger weaving and Big Rob obscured. Can't remember who that is beside Johnny or the bloke standing behind Eivind.


We had a lovely day. Thanks to the openroaders, the austourers and especially to Tim for being the catalyst bringing these groups together. :clap:
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Looking good there! :chug:

Our day sadly ended at the Rochford Winery, 5k's short of Healesville when I cornermarked and Goodie finally showed up, nursing the Klacka to a stop.
"There's something wrong in the front, are the forks leaking? Can't steer, the thing just goes straight everywhere".
Sounds like a flat and being a tubed tyre is an affair of at least an hour, might as well run home and get the Husky.
Knocking the rubber with my knuckles made a somewhat hollow-ponng sound.

Swapped bikes, went into Lilydale (discovering why Goodie had gone THAT slow into+out of corners) topped up the air (which strangely seemed to be still at its normal 22psi, but servo gauges are always out by a mile, right?) and kept
wallowing home, despite the now 30psi in the front.


Things just didn't make sense, checking air again with my own gauges...compared to the normal both ends were over-inflated (the rear by a couple of pounds, the front by ~50%.
Also, the front Mitas was pretty damn warm-to-hot (and somehow too soft when prodded and squeezed), something maybe expected, under the conditions from a fairly hard-ridden rear... definitely not from a front.

With time slipping away and no hope of making Longwood in time, we peeled the tyre off, checked the tube for leaks in a trough (no bubbles= no leaks) and popped a fresh Mitas 07 on that was still "in stock" under the house.
Pumped to its customary 22psi, it was out for a quick spin (the wind was now blowing the treetops horizontally)...all good and all back to where it belongs.

Things started to become clear when Goodie had a good, long look at the old hoop (~5500km old).
This was the 2. Mitas 07 on that bike and between those as well as any other Mitas we've had/ have on the other bikes, before and now, I've never seen
a) a wearing pattern like this
b) nor cracked rubber at the base of each block/ bar

Looks like we copped a bad one at the time and it had had its time.

Sorry for the no-show :(:( but the bike was impossible to ride for any stretch but home/ workshop.

I also had 2 more little roads around Alexandra to check out on the planned return leg, which we went and had a look at by taking the cage to Alex in the afternoon, seeing Sir Frank and about a dozen others pulling out of Yarck, just as we rolled in (about 2.30 or so).

As for the 2 dirt stretches....
one turned out a true no-through affair (bummer!, went in from both ends to make sure) due to a near-impassable creek-crossing (6ft deep erosion-channel) plus a VERY steep (straight up the hillside) bare-earth climb into a saddle. U
Closed, but unlocked gates either side of the saddle, too...so this could be private property.
https://goo.gl/maps/YdYWRALaCh92

....the other we've done before a few times as "the scenic route" into Alex (incredible views across the Goulburn Flats/Cathedrals/ Alex etc etc)...now starting to deteriorate in the mid-section.
A no-through sign at one end, all signs removed and looking like a private drive at the other end. Give it a few more years and it'll grow a gate here or there and it all becomes a no-go zone....like that little Clarkes Rd. out of Thornton.

Going to get some pics now of that Mitas...

Hope that all got home fine, it sure was a cracker of a day out there....and the 'Bogies should've been fantastic.
 
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