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I only decided on Wednesday last week that I would be attending the Farride... was trying to decide what route I would take as Tottenham is only some 400km from home... decided that I would have a go at the SS1600 so I devised a route that according to Google Maps would be 1655km in total.
Friday morning I was up about 7am - I relaxed for a bit, packed up all my stuff, loaded the bike and still had hours to go... I had my sister who I live with do my start witness form and I set off for the servo at long last... I was aiming for midday but my fuel receipt is 11:50am... I am a little impatient
I slabbed it up the Federal to Goulburn where I filled up and head off towards Taralga. Just out of Taralga I found a 4WD being tailed by Constable Care so the pace was a little slower then... eventually, just before the descent down to the Abercrombie River crossing, Constable Care overtook the 4WD and then the 4WD waved me past but I kept to the limit as I knew he was up ahead somewhere... passed a copper on a bike coming the other way in the twisties - he was going hard!! Got flashed by a few cars coming the other way so kept the pace nice and easy and was feeling a bit sore by the time I got to Black Springs so I pulled up and had a quick smoke before rolling through Oberon and onto Lithgow for fuel. I was now 1/2 an hour behind schedule.
I left Lithgow and headed over Bells Line of Road where I had a fairly ordinary run - a fair amount of traffic and I got stuck behind a caravan for a bit... eventually got around and cruised along then made my way to the Putty Road. Just before the start of the 10 mile, I was stuck behind two cars and was looking for a place to overtake them but it was getting a bit darkish and my visor was very bug-splattered so instead I found somewhere to pull over and swap for the clear visor. No other cars came past while I was doing that so I hopped back on knowing the road ahead was clear... yay! All too soon I caught up to the two cars again and got around them fairly quickly before rolling into Singleton - the bugs were out in force, it looked like rain where my headlights caught them. I stopped in Singleton for fuel and had a quick sandwich and cleaned the visor before heading off towards Tamworth. I was now 1 hour behind schedule (I'm not as quick as I thought! )
It was a very sedate run up to Willow Tree, with the memory of the ticket I got last time I travelled that section of the New England fresh in my head, and also there are a lot of towns through there. After Willow Tree I picked the pace up a bit - I really enjoyed this stretch, it was quite a pleasant temperature and I love being out on the road at night, it is so peaceful. The road was just rolling by... eventually I got into Tamworth and pulled up for fuel - I was a bit cold now so had a (terrible) coffee to warm up a bit and then continued north - Glen Innis next stop. I was now 1.5 hours behind schedule... oops.
A close encounter with the arthritic suicide bunny was a bit of a worry but other than the temperature varying about 10 degrees I swear it was a good run into Glen Innis. Fuel and I added my flanno to the collection of clothing I was already wearing and a bit of a chat with a local who warned me of the deer, roos and pigs on the Gwydir highway... I set off towards Moree very cautiously... but eventually the pace picked up. A few close calls along here, a bunch of roos on the road (one hopping right in front of me... yes my brakes work!) and a very smart bunny who did an about face as soon as I hit the brakes and a suicide hare(!). I still felt good along this stretch and only started feeling tired about 50km out of Moree (I have found this before, even on much shorter rides, when the destination is near I get tired?!). Got into the motel at 1:30am, still 1.5 hours behind schedule. Not too bad really, given that it was a real last minute plan! Sent the obligatory text messages home and crawled into bed.
Alarm was set for 5am and I heard Rob and Charlie leave about 5:30am(?) so thought I had best get a move on too... packed up, and moved out, fuel receipt is for 6:03am. I wasn't sure if Davo had been through or not yet so I kept an eye on my mirrors... got into Coonabarabran and found Rob and Charlie at the servo there... filled up, smoke, gogo juice and a bit of a chat and we all headed off together. Passed Davo having a chat with Constable Care along the way and stopped at Gilgandra, Charlie was calling home so Rob and I decided it was a good excuse for a smoke break (I can't recall exactly what time it was, but I had been making really good time). Davo came passed and said *something* to Rob... suddenly the pace increased somewhat...
We had a good run through to Warren where we stopped for fuel and a bit of a chat - Rob asked how I was going for mileage and time etc and all was going well - I think I had something like 1 hour and 50 minutes to do the 80 odd kays to Tottenham. It was an extended stop and we got going - at Nevertire Rob's GPS was trying to send him left but Charlie and I voted to go straight - I don't think GPS recognised this road (I know Google Maps didn't!) and we got into Tottenham. I calculated how much kays I had actually done according to the Odometer and it was only 1618???????? According to Google Maps I should have done around 1650... I still had a bit of time so upon Rob's suggestion I headed for the next town, Albert, some 24km away.
I passed a lot of riders coming the other way, it was great to see all the bikes out on the road. I got to the pub at Albert and bought a stubby holder to get a receipt (its a really pretty pink one!). I felt a bit bad as there were two blokes in the pub who were really keen to talk about the bike and stuff - and usually I'm all up for standing around talking about my bike! But I had to get away and I felt a bit rude Back into Tottenham, having taken my odo up to 1660km total and got there 11:42(?) ish. Everyone wanted to congratulate me and I had Davo sign my form then he was shouting at me GOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cuz I kept talking to everyone. Eventually got into the pub and got my receipt - the first one he printed out, the time was fast!!!!!!!! but then the eftpos machine had the correct time (11:49 - phew!)
Lunch was great! I hadn't eaten yet that day and was starving but two plates of chinese later I was well sated... purchased some supplies and it was off to the rally. I got the award for longest distance ridden by a female... yay!!!!! I was really chuffed about that. Also ran into a dude I met at Barkly Homestead on my trip in August which was cool! I was pretty tired but felt okay mostly. Had a little nanna nap around 5pm(?) for about 20 minutes then went to bed about 9:30pm, only to be woken up by one hell of a storm about 1am. Very impressive - I crawled out of the tent, found a squashed can to put under the side stand on Jimmy then had a smoke and just watched all the action... amazing. After it let up a bit crawled back into the tent only to find it had sprung a leak and was dripping onto my head... grrrr... jumper over my head fixed that and I woke up to everyone talking around me and Skip calling me to breakfast... yum!
Headed off about ummm 7:30? 8:00am? I can't remember Skip was heading back to Orbost and was heading via Canberra so we consulted the maps and decided to head back going Forbes, Grenfell, Young, Harden, Yass etc. We stopped at Forbes for fuel then figured I could make it to Yass on that tank so headed off... it started raining a bit before Young so we pulled up in Young so I could wriggle into the plastic pants. It was dry after that for the run into Yass. Got fuel, had a quick pie, and was watching the black clouds heading our way... seemed a good time to get going but as we headed for Canberra it hit us and rained pretty much all the way - it was very wet coming in to the ACT. Waved goodbye to Skip and got home dripping wet on the outside and only a bit on the inside...jacket failed me on the zip though and let a bit of water in and boots leaked a bit but otherwise was dry Got home about 1pm I think (I didn't actually look at the time). Got out of the wet gear and promptly curled up with my book until falling fast asleep for a few hours .
All in all it was a fantastic weekend and I am very glad that I chose to do the FarRide in the end! Was great to see everyone and I am so pleased that I made my SS1600 - thanks to everyone for round of applause, it was fantastic!
