Annual Tintaldra/Bright ride - 2009

The last weekend in March means it is time for the annual Tintaldra Bright ride! :o)

Met up with the Canberra Crew at Hume for a 10am-ish departure, to meet the Sydney guys in Adaminiby for lunch.

We bored our way up the Monaro to Cooma (zzzzzzzzz) and the Sydney guys were at a cafe in Cooma. A very brief stop to say hello (ie not getting off the bikes - yay) and we rolled through to Adaminiby. I was following Stevo and we had a good run. Fuelled up at Adaminiby and the dude in the servo (I really should find out his name) said he’d been a bit worried the week before, a blue Kawasaki had gone down up in the hills and he was worried it was me… but then he’d established that it was a dude riding it so not me :o)

Down to the pub for lunch and I had a hamburger which wasn’t bad though it defeated me in the end, there were a few mouthfuls left.

Eventually the Sydney crew rolled in and they had lunch and after what felt like about five hours we were finally on the road again. I was last out of Adaminiby for some reason and we all headed for the Awesome Road. Passed Esther and then at the start of the good stuff I caught up to a huge line of bikes :o( I backed off and sacrified the 65ers to sit on about 60km/h for what felt like forever before hitting the first of the 35’s and I was off…. all to quickly I caught up to the group again :o( though it was a little smaller now. Backed off again for a bit, went for it again, caught them again… then Eve had backed off as well so I went past her, round the corner, the dude on the Beemer had slowed down as well so straight past him, round a few more corners, past Kimmie and then it was basically all over :o( Ah well.

Regroup at the turnoff at Kiandra where I went to Stevo and told him I would see him at Tintaldra, eventually everyone else fucked off, I had a smoke, took some photos of the bike and then followed after them. I had a really nice run from here, got to Tumut Ponds and they were all still there… I got off… waited… waited… had a smoke… waited some more… eventually they all left and I delayed for a bit, took some more photos then off I went. Passed Esther and then stopped with the rest of the group before the next turn off. From here it was onto Tintaldra :o) Headed off not too far from the start of the pack this time, but coming up to my favourite corner of this stretch (right 65′er that is just beautiful) was behind someone, bit slower than I would have hit this corner, but okay pace so they’ve tipped in, I’ve tipped in, and they HIT THE FUCKING BRAKES MID CORNER!!!! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. So I had to as well so I wouldn’t go over the top of them, pushed wide, totally screwed the corner. Grrrrr. Fuck this group riding bullshit.

Anyway, got into Tintaldra and it was bourbon o’clock (hurrah!) Dad and the victorians rolled in not long after us and we had a very sociable evening :o) Went up to the pub for a bit to say gidday to Alf and Maija which was really nice before heading back down to the caravan park for dinner.

Rick and Ailsa once again excelled as hosts, FANTASTIC dinner and fantastic company as always. After dinner, the girls converted the undercover area to a dancefloor (no sprinklers this time) and we danced and danced and danced and then…. it was not even 10 o’clock and everyone had gone to bed??? WTF???? We were in bed by 10:30 as well…

Woke up Saturday morning and Dad had passed out in our tent at some ridiculously early hour (8pm??? hahahaha) and was up early. He decided that his daughters should also be up so went and fetched his bike, backed it up to the door and then bounced it off the rev limiter and filled our tent with his noxious honda fumes… TWICE!!!!!! it’s kinda funny now but was awful at the time, lying in bed watching these horrid clouds of fumes coming in the door…

Eventually the thought of coffee got us out of bed and it was breakfast time, bacon and eggs on the bbq and Ailsa’s Awesome Homemade Tomato Sauce make for a fantastic breakfast.

I had decided that I was going to split from the group that day, I had planned to duck into Corryong for fuel then head back via the Murray River Road, over Granya Gap, Gundowring(sp?)/Redbank Road to Tawonga, up Falls Creek, down Falls Creek, over Tawonga Gap, through Bright, up Mt Buffalo, down Mt Buffalo, to arrive in Bright at bourbon o’clock. Tess had said she was going to come with me… then when I told Dad that I wouldn’t be riding with them for the day he was hassling me as to what I was doing so decided to come with me as well… then Esther was coming with us… NO MORE!!!!! Four riders is plenty for a group.

We waved the others off with not really telling them what we were doing other than we’d see them at Bright… and headed off, fuelled at the BP in Corryong (sorry Caltex owners, I’ll see youse next season) and then back over past Tintaldra and headed for Granya. We started off with Dad leading then Tess took the lead… we had been sitting on a nice pace but Tess upped the pace a bit and I went naaaaaaah I’m happy here spending my $1.40 so mentally waved good bye to them. We regrouped in Walwa, then Dad marked one of the “turns” with Tess stopped just a bit further up… I kept going, and got stuck behind two cars and two bikes… eventually the two bikes got around the cars… and then eventually I got around the two bikes… had a nice run up, wonder what they thought about having a girl spending $1.80 to pass them? hahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa.

I stopped on the next “turn” having just been passed by Dad and Tess, the two other riders turned off for Hume Weir and then Esther came along so we rolled into Granya, where Tess and Dad were waiting, they waved Esther straight through, Tess pulled out, Dad pulled out then I pulled in - there was public toilets there!! hurrah! Had a nice run over Granya, was a little tentative at first but then got a bit of pace happening… over the other side… I thought I may have had my first ever power slide???? I dunno, but I powered on out of a corner and the arse stepped out… didn’t feel like gravel (god knows I’ve hit enough gravel in my time) and the road had looked fairly clear and I wasn’t on the centre line… well maybe that is just wishful thinking lol.

Regroup/smoke at the bottom of Granya then we headed for the Redbank Road… where Dad tried to go the wrong way, then Tess did but eventually we all got on the right road and we headed off for Tawonga after passing through a herd of very young and skittish cattle!!

We stopped in at the Caltex at what I always thought was Mt Beauty but is apparently Tawonga South… there ya go.

Dad decided it was lunch time so we went to the “takeaway” over the road which turned out to be a bit of an arsey cafe… $11.00 for a drink and a pathetic egg and bacon pie… smoke and we were on the road again… time to visit Falls Creek!!!

Started off with Tess in the lead and Dad was sitting right up her arse but eventually he passed her and they were both fairly quickly out of sight…. I was just cruising but once I hit the yellow lines I don’t know what happened but something clicked and I was on fire! Was fucking awesome, leftrightleftrightleftrightlllllleeeeeeeeffffffffffttttttlittlestraightleftright well you get the picture. Caught up to Tess, she waved me past and I quickly lost sight of her (no she wasn’t trying!!) and onto Falls Creek, found dad, Tess was not far behind me and then Esther rolled in. Couldn’t get my helmet off fast enough “that was FUCKING AWESOME” and a grin a mile wide… Bit of a break then. Poor Tess was suffering having had no sleep the night before (thanks to Dad’s snoring, and our conversations - apparently Dad and I were talking to each other in our sleep! She says she would have found it hilarious if she hadn’t of been so cranky about not being asleep…) and her wrist was giving her grief (hence why I had been able to catch her). Esther and Tess decided they weren’t going to do Buffalo, Dad and I decided we would but reserved the right to change our minds when we got to Bright (we had planned to go check in, dump out gear and then take empty bikes up Buffalo).

We headed out and the run back down Falls Creek wasn’t quite as fine as the run up but I still had an awesome time. Dad was waiting at Mt Beauty and eventually we were all there and we headed off for Bright.

Dad lead the way and was quickly out of sight, Tess was behind me and in my mirrors which was a bit disconcerting… spent too much time looking behind me not looking forward… approaching the second lookout and there was a car that looked like it pulled out onto the road in front of us just in time for the awesome downhill run… NOOOOOOOOOO but they stopped and gave way to us (actually there may have been something coming the other way also) so had a fantastic run down the other side… I love those corners.

Regrouped at the T intersection then rolled into Bright, got our rooms sorted… I looked at Dad… “Buffalo?” “nah, it’s twenty to bourbon o’clock” he says… so we stayed and had bourbons. After a few we both decided we shoulda done Buffalo… shoulda coulda woulda didn’t. Ah well.

The others all arrived eventually and we drank some more bourbon… I love my sister… she was being eyed off by a dude who rode a firestorm (not with our group) and Dad told her about it after the fact… she goes “hmmmm really??? Wonder what his chicken strips are like”…. she proceeds to check them out… FAIL sorry dude, no chance hahahahaaaaaaaa. There were a few different groups of riders there and we ended up checking out all their chicken strips… we shoulda called colonel sanders… heaps of chicken there!

We had dinner at the pub and socialised a fair bit but were back over to the rooms fairly early (the band didn’t kick off til about 10pm) as the bourbon was much cheaper there ($22.50 for three bourbons??? NOT cans???) and the hot bartender is no longer there either *cries*

We ended up calling it a night stupid early again (I think we are getting old  ) and fell asleep listening to the band (they weren’t too bad I think).

Woke up about 7:30am… felt good, fark it I’m doing Buffalo, so got up, threw on the leathers, threw all my stuff in my bag, loaded it up, warmed up the bike, hugged everyone goodbye and set off for Buffalo on my own.

It was a bit fresh as I headed for Porepunkah, and as I turned towards Buffalo, I encountered a slow arse 4WD with the “caution cyclists” sign on the back… and a pack of cyclists in front. Hmmmm. The office was closed so rolled straight through, had a very nice run up Buffalo, just cruising, not pushing at all… encountered heaps more cyclists with their support vehicles but only about two cars coming the other way… no bikes… admired the scenery, it is so beautiful up there. Got to the top, u-turn just before the dirt, then back the way I came… had a much better run coming down, as I didn’t have to keep an eye out for the cyclists (they were all still heading up, fuck that looked like hard work). Stopped on the edge of the road to admire the view for a bit, took a happy snap or two then off I went again. All too soon I was out of the park and heading back towards Bright.

Got to the servo to fill up and Dad was there with a couple of others, having just fuelled. The rest of the crew had just left about 20 minutes before, I got fuel, dad tells me that I am lead rider, like fuck, I’m having a toilet and smoke break here… see yas! So they headed off, I had my smoke and geared up and headed for Hotham…

Hmmmm Mt Hotham. Heading up to Hotham from Harrietville has never been one of my favourite roads, but this time I was again on fire, had an absolute blast going up :o))))))))))))))))))))))))))) Rolled through Hotham itself, saw Cenk there, gave him a wave and thought the others musn’t be too far ahead… the 9 copped a bit of a flogging along here… first I caught Esther, bye Esther! Then Karl and Kimmie, sat behind Kimmie for a while, she is peddling that bird along just fine! Round the outside and then past Karl and onto Omeo. I arrived not that long after Tess and Dad and Stevo.

Now the race… when we first met Dad, it was Australia Day Long Weekend 2008 and we met on an overnighter at Mt Hotham organised by Sir Skuffy. Skuffy had done his usual get up stupid early on the Sunday morning and piss off home so there was a group of ummm maybe 7 of us? Dad had set off first with Tess behind him and I had started at the back of the pack, before long I had overtaken the rest of the group and caught up to Dad and Tess and we had ridden the three of us towards Omeo… Dad got sick of us both on his arse so waved us through and we beat him to Omeo :o)))))))) So there has been a bit of talk about this and Saturday night the challenge is set down between Dad and Tess… who will be quicker???

TESS!!!!!!! GO GIRL!!!!!!!!!

hahahahaaaa and the chick in the servo remembered her from last time, Tess gets there with her mile wide grin and the chick in the servo says “you beat the boys again??” You betcha!

A breakfast of champions at the bakery (steak and curry pie) and the others all arrived and then it was off towards Bruthen. Brian and Cenk got in just as we were leaving so we said goodbye to them there as they were gonna stop for a while.

We had been warned that there was a new copper out and about on the road towards Ensay so we set out at a slow pace which gradually picked up and up… until I got paranoid so I backed right off and didn’t see the others again til Bruthen. Had a pretty good run along there just cruising along.

Stopped in Bruthen for a drink and smoke (it was HOT now) and said goodbye to Dad before turning north towards Orbost for lunch.

We fuelled up at Orbost and then to some cafe for lunch. We said our goodbyes to Karl and Kimmie who were heading to Merimbula for the night and we all hit the road. Karl and Kimmie were up front but not for long… our Tess was on fire still hahhaaaa so before long she overtook them… and I couldn’t resist, I gave chase. Mental. We are cruising along the Princess Highway at stupid speeds and all I can think of is “if there is a copper we are going to jail. They will take our bikes and lock us up”. Lucky there were no coppers. We stop at Cann River get off the bikes, I say to Tess “are you fucking mental” and she’s like “what? I wasn’t pushing it!” She hadn’t been looking at her speedo hahahaaaa. We had been getting a bit worried coming into Cann River as there was smoke around that was just getting heavier and heavier. The lady in the servo told us the fires were further north in NSW, not the way we were going. Waved Karl and Kimmie over when they came through and warned them, then Stevo and Esther rolled in, a bit of a break then it was time to head for Bombala.

Had a nice run up the hill to the NSW border… until we got caught behind two trucks :o( but that was towards the end of the corners and we got em as soon as we got into the straight stuff.

Rolled into Bombala fuelled up and we all agreed we wanted to turn around and do it all again. My MP3 player had died on the last stretch as well, so I had over 200km to home of the most boring roads known to mankind and no music to amuse myself with… ah well.

We rolled through, no more stops, bored our way back to Canberra and I got home once again no real idea what time, maybe about 6:30pm???

Another AWESOME weekend, though I was a little sad when we got home… this ride typically signals the end of the “riding season” and we probably won’t see the victorians again now til next season :o(

But next season we have a new road to try out… the road from Falls Creek to Omeo will be fully sealed in May (currently there is only 7km of dirt left now… if I had of known that I woulda done it this weekend!!).

Got’M Wyndham Girls Weekend - 21 & 22 March 2009

We were supposed to be meeting at 8:30am for a 9:00am departure but a late post on the forum suggested a meet time of 8:00am…. so I duly rolled out to Hume and got there at 8:15am, and nobody else was there. I had already filled up at home so I parked and went inside to get a go-go juice and stock up on the fags.

Eventually everybody was there and after a bit of a chat we were ready to roll…

The line up was:
Bec (Monster)
Sheree (Baby Ninja)
Angela (Harley)
Sue (Scoota)
Me (The gorgeous ZX9R)

We bored our way to Cooma sitting on the speed limit - it was very strange to be overtaken by cars! We stopped in at Polo Flat for some breakfast and Ang topped up the fuel and then we cruised out through Nimmitabel and onto Bombala. We topped up the fuel and then went over to the shops for some supplies. They wanted like $20.00 for a four pack of Jimmy… a FOUR PACK!!!!! disgraceful, so instead Bec and I went halvies in a bottle of Jimmy and bought a good supply of coke. We all had a giggle as the girls bought passion pop and spumante LOL.

Back to the bikes, loaded up all our supplies and Bec asked me to lead us down the mountain so we rolled out through Cathcart and then onto Mt Darragh. This is only the second time I have ever gone down Mt Darragh (been up like 100 times) and it was *much* better than last time. I just cruised down the mountain, had a good rythym going and I really enjoyed it.

I pulled up outside the cottage and hopped off and opened up the garage for when the girls got there… still couldn’t hear them so got my bike inside and turned around and then they came, waved them in and then it was time to check out our accommodations for the evening.

We had stayed here previously back in late 2006 and it was just as gorgeous. It is called Lizzy’s Settlers Cottage and is right on the edge of Wyndham. We got out of the bike gear and retired to one of the verandahs to relax and chat. Before long it was bourbon o’clock :o)

Unforunately the bourbon didn’t last all that long and it was just getting dark when we all headed up to the Robbie Burns Hotel for dinner.

Last time we were there they had an awesome menu… this time they had a choice of Chicken Schnitzel burger, Chicken Schnitzel, Calamari, Steak sanga or fish tails. We started making enquiries only to be informed “ain’t got no calamari”, “ain’t go no steaks”, “The fish is frozen” so it was chicken schnitzel burgers all round.

We got drinks and headed outside and eventually ended up in a corner of the beer garden. One chicken schnitzel burger came out, then two more. “Last one” the lady says… well no, there’s two more! Fourth one comes out “last one” she says again… NO!!!! one more. They were very good though  The menu had also advertised Pavlova so a couple of the girls went to order that “ain’t got no pavlova” hahahahaaaa Sara Lee’s frozen cheesecake it was to be! Sheree tried to order a lemon lime and bitters and got a lemon squash, bitters and lemon lol. Eventually the cheesecake came (after we went in to chase it up). The “one man band” they had advertised started up, he was alright but not what we had been after, so we all headed back up to the house around 10pm (so I am informed, I have no idea) where I promptly crawled into bed and knew no more (missed the bed olympics next door, I think I did well to sleep through that!!).

Woke up about 7am to hear the jug boiling. I stuck my head out “ooooooh coffee” yep there was coffee but no milk. Stuff that, back to bed for a bit before properly getting up.

We sat around for a while then Bec and Sheree headed up to the shop to get breakfast supplies and coffee! Bec cooked up a wicked bacon and eggs for us all and before long we tidied up, packed up and were underway.

Once again Bec asked me to lead so I took us over Myrtle Mountain (hi skippy!) and into Candelo where I pulled up to wait for the others, they rolled past and I pulled in behind them and onto Bemboka for Ang to get fuel again. Quick smoke and it was time for the Brown :o)))))))))

I led out again and had a good run to the base of the mountain, hit the 60 zone (who’d make that road a 60 zone? Seriously!!!!!!). Caught up to a big arse touring thing just before the overtaking lane so followed him for a couple of corners then out into the overtaking lane and I was goooooooorn. About 3km before the lookout I caught up to a line of traffic behind a slow arse van :o( NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! :o(. I don’t really like doing the dodgy overtaking/forcing myself in between the cars so just sat with the traffic and didn’t get past everyone till pretty much back in the 100 zone :o(. Cruised into Nimmitabel to wait for the others then led the way back into Polo Flat for another fuel up.

A bit of a stand around and chat before saying our goodbyes and heading off for Canberra, I sat up the back of the pack for this.

We bored our way back to Canberra and one of the roads I usually take to get home was closed due to some car show thing being on so I got a bit lost around the parliamentry zone before finally finding my way onto Commonwealth Avenue and then home, got in about 1:30pm.

A weekend at home! Yes, it’s true…

Well when I started up this blog thing I told myself I would update it at least once a week. Now usually I am off outta town every weekend, but this weekend, I spent my second weekend for the year at home. Yes, at home. Not having my bike may have contributed to this somewhat.

After the trip to the supers where my bike decided to shed some weight, PC had offered to fix it all up properly for me - so Friday I dropped the 9 round to his place and took possession of the zeddy… but the zeddy has a totally shagged chain so wasn’t going very far on that…

So the furtherest I went was either Belconnen Mall, Super Cheap Auto in Belconnen or Maggies in Kippax (I’m not sure which is furtherest away lol).

I spent a lot of time on the couch. It has been a loooooong time since I spent that much time sitting in front of the telly (sitting on my arse outside with my book is a totally different thing…) bit rude to sit outside with my book when I have company though 

OK so I don’t really have much to say here other than it was a lovely weekend, very relaxing and well there is more to say but I won’t say it here… you gotta catch me in person for that tale!

And the 9 is looking beautiful now… ventura rack attached properly - indicators and my iron butt plate backing thingo are back on… the number plate is no longer cable tied to the ventura rack… in fact there are no visible cable ties! (there may be invisible ones but well they’re invisble). And now, thanks to Thommo, I have high beam again!!! Some dodgy wiring, which he un-dodgied! Champion!

OK that’s enough dribble about my weekend on the couch…

This coming weekend I will resume normal transmission (i.e. riding)… next weekend at home is scheduled for ANZAC day long weekend when I am banned from riding.

:o)

Mitch’s Birthday Weekend 6 - 9 March 2009

Mitch had decided to celebrate his 40th birthday in style… with a ride through the snowies! Plans were made to spend two nights at Khancoban, spending Sunday doing a day trip around “the snowies loop”. Talking with Stevo and we decided we’d kick off Friday after work, so that we could meet up with the Melbourne crew before heading over Hotham. After a mis-understanding about where we were actually meeting (Bogong Hotel at Tawonga, not Bruthen lol, turns out they weren’t doing Hotham at all) Tess, Stevo and I arranged to meet at Hume as close to 4pm as we could.

We were all assembled and fuelled up and rolled out of Hume at about 4:20pm. We bored our way to Cooma at a goodly pace, bypassed Cooma and continued on through Nimmitabel and onto Bombala for a fuel stop. We made pretty good time so decided to continue on to Cann River for the night. Had a good run down to Cann River :o)

And what do you know, we arrived right on bourbon o’clock! (we seem to be very good at this). $70.00 saw us with a room for three so we got out of the leathers and into normal clothes then headed down for drinks and dinner. We had a pretty early night.

Saturday dawned bright and cold! I got up first and went in search of coffee, had my coffee out on the verandah with all the old dudes (there was heaps of them there for a fishing trip) and eventually Stevo and Tess surfaced, they had some breakfast then we kitted up, rolled across the road and were on our way. Cruised down to Bruthen where we stopped for morning tea and met a bunch of BMW riding dudes, including one (german?) guy who had been riding all over the world, through places like Afghanastan and Iran, more recently Thailand (and he was HOT!!!!) Tess promptly struck up a conversation with him and filled us in on his adventures.

Eventually we got moving - there were fun roads to be had! The winter gloves came out here as my hands were getting cold (yeah the other two were okay with their heated grips). Had a good run up to Omeo and then up to Mt Hotham where we stopped so I could have a smoke break (thanks guys!). Then down the other side through all the 35ers, Tess and I riding together, Stevo having disappeared after two corners lol.

Regrouped at Harrietville, then over Tawonga Gap and into Tawonga to the Bogong Hotel where we were the first to arrive. We ordered our lunch and settled in to wait…

Eventually Mitch turned up… where was everyeone else? Unfortunately one of the guys had come off out near Broadford(?), he’s okay but the bike is not and he and his pillion wife were taken off in the ambulance. Mitch had sent everyone else off ahead of him and then followed some 30 minutes later once the Police and everything was sorted. So where the hell was everyone else? We had a bit of a giggle when we realised there was actually a town called Bogong up the road a little bit (in the opposite direction). Eventually Mitch got to speak to the rest of the group on the phone… they were in Myrtleford, Mitch had overtaken them somewhere along the way.

We waited some more and finally the rest of the group rolled in, including Franky, Minna and Ratty and new people I hadn’t met before. They had some lunch and then it was time for the final leg.

We took off up the backroad to Tallangatta then up Granya Gap and into Walwa where some topped up the fuel, before rolling the rest of the way into Khancoban. I hadn’t topped up the fuel here and decided to take it easy just in case… I hadn’t been taking it easy up to there! Anyway the group got pretty spread out, I was following Minna and eventually she waved me past and was following me at a fair distance. Coming into Khancoban, there is a lefty 65er and as I came up to it there was this odd puff of dust on the edge of the road… WTF???? I was looking and then a head popped up and waved me down… damn one of our guys had gone off the edge. I pulled up and ran over, he’s okay, just needed a hand getting the bike up. I went arse up going down the hill lol. We got the bike up and gave it a quick assessment, looked straight enough, broken mirror, some cracked plastics. We pushed it along to a little dirt driveway and got it going and sent him along, Minna and I to follow. (Minna had seen me slow down and go a bit wide looking behind me and apparently thought “oh god, Mel’s lost another number place” LOL).

I know what happened to Jamie… Jimmy was calling me from the pub and he intercepted the soundwaves and it distracted him at a vital moment… I know… (he’s a beer drinker and therefore not accustomed to the call of Jimmy I guess).

Anyway we got to the hotel, stinking hot by now and…. NO POOL!!!!!!!!!! well there was a pool but it was empty :o( Outta the bike gear and into the jeans and it was much cooler. Straight to the pub to buy some coke and then it was bour… no wait Jack Daniels time. We all had a few drinks before heading over to the pub. Tess and I found another bucks party!!!!! but they wanted us to go back to their house where they were staying and we were like naaaaaah so we drank some of their beer, smoked some of their cigarettes, I obtained Geoff with a G’s number and we left them there. Mitch later rung up Geoff with a G and pretended to be my dad, hell funny. They got Tess’s number and rang her numerous times throughout the evening but there was no way we were going out to their place. I had too much to drink as usual, ended up playing pool and dancing to the jukebox, last drinks were called, stole some balloons on the way out and had a very violent balloon fight with Jamie which included some wrestling (I got slammed into the ground at some point and my neck is still sore LOL) before stumbling into my bed at god knows what time. (At some stage during the night Tess checked her phone and Stevo said “so Mel hasn’t made it home yet” and I’m like “I’m here!” so I musn’t of made too much noise trying to find my bed).

Woke up with the sun and looked over and there was a big nasty huntsman sitting on the wall… yuck yuck yuck. I felt too awful to do anything about it (it was too big and high up for squishing anyway) so tried to ignore it but had to keep checking if it was still there. Eventually everybody else got up… me, I decided staying in bed was a much better option. Everybody else took off for the ride (apparently I had already declared at about 8:30pm the night before that I wouldn’t be going riding) and I kept sleeping.

I woke up at 11:30am and decided it was time for breakfast. Got dressed and headed over to the cafe at the servo and there was a red CBR1000 there… that looked like Tess’s bike… got closer, saw the plate and it was Tess’s bike, WTF? One of the guys had run wide on a corner and gone into the armco and cut his leg up so they’d come back so Nurse Tess could patch him up (which she did an awesome job of). They headed off and I headed back to the room feeling better after my sandwich. I pottered around for a bit then headed up to the shops to try and get a book from the op-shop but it was closed. Bugger. Decided to head into Corryong, more to get some phone reception than anything, was a nice cruise, felt very good while moving on the bike. Found a park bench in the main street, bought a powerade and sat and watched the world go by for a while and got the text message I’d been hoping for :o) Got bored after a while so headed back to Khancoban (still hadn’t managed to obtain any reading material) so back to the shops at Khancoban where my choices were Take 5, Dolly or Marie Clare, so Marie Clare it was. Back to the hotel, sat out on the grass and read that damned magazine cover to cover.

(Interestingly, at Cann River, Stevo had been telling us this story about a prostitute who had a customer who paid her just to stand on snails and let them crawl on her, no sex, just the snail thing… whaddya know, that story was in Marie Clare!!).

Eventually some people returned (the Sydney guys who hadn’t wanted to pay the $6.00 to go up to Charlotte’s Pass) so I had someone to talk to again - YAY.

Eventually the whole group was back and we chilled out and had a few drinks (well I had one LOL) then over to the pub for dinner. Funnily enough nobody was really hitting the grog very hard… after dinner we retired to our room to see what was on the telly… CSI and I think I saw the first 15 minutes of it and then…. it was morning!

Mitch and Franky had left very early, I woke up to the Sydney guys heading off. I was awake so got dressed and headed over to the cafe for coffee and ended up getting breakfast. The remaining crew came over in dribs and drabs (just Me, Stevo, Tess, Minna and Ratty). We sat around and chatted for a while before finally heading back to get organised. Minna and Ratty headed off and we packed up and pointed towards home.

Had a very slow cruise up towards Cabramurra, everyone was out of sight very quickly but I was just kicking back and enjoying the scenery - it is so pretty up there. Regrouped at the usual spot at the dam then into Adaminiby for some lunch. Then some fuel and the cruise home.

Was a good weekend… maybe one day I’ll learn not to drink so much on the first night…. hahaha

CDT and WSBK 2009

Wednesday 25 February 2009

Wednesday morning dawned fine and cool… yay! Time to hit the road! Wattie & Blurr had arrived the previous evening, PC roared up Kawasaki Place and then Gos rolled up… WTF is that on your head mate? LOL Helmet from the 80’s and awesome goggles!

We kicked off and headed out to Bungendore via Macs Reef Road where eventually MickC rolled in. An easy cruise out through Braidwood and onto the top of the Clyde where we stopped so MickC could get the camera rolling… we set off down the Clyde taking it pretty easy (i.e. I had people in front of me!!!) but it was a good run down (the first time I had taken the 9 down – amazing it took me this long!).

Got to maccas for a feed and just when we were finishing the Sydney crew rolled in… minus Mike-S who hadn’t made the original meet point in time and was following behind and would try to catch up. We waited around at Maccas for a while before Phil texted him and said we would see him at Bega.

We kept cruising, the group mostly staying together, over the rollercoaster, through Mogo, Moruya, Narooma and heading towards Bega. Shortly before Bega Wattie’s bag started dispensing random items onto the road so we pulled up and PC went back to collect his various items (missed a thong though!). Noticed that the Ventura rack had come unstuck on my bike… as had the number plate holder and indicators (which had been banging against the rear tyre… bugger). A quick fix with tape got the rack back in place (one arm had been hanging right down) and the wires for the indicators were cut and stashed in my bag… alright, ghostrider mode!

A very easy cruise into Bega where the boys had some lunch and repaired my Ventura rack (gotta love cable ties). We waited for ages but still no sign of Mike-S so another text to say we’d see him at Orbost and we set off for some funner roads. A nice cruise up to Candelo and then it was seeya boys and we were off over Myrtle Mountain. Regroup at the T-intersection, through Wyndham and off towards the joys that are Mt Darragh. I had a nice cruise up through here, though was a little slow, but that’s okay just worked on my lines a little bit and quite enjoyed it.

Stopped at Cathcart briefly then into Bombala for fuel before hitting the banjo road.

I didn’t really enjoy the first dirt section, was a bit corrugated or something so I went *really* slowly, with poor Ron stuck behind me. Back onto the tar and we regrouped and set off again… Ron had said my hugger was hitting my tyre but I though it was just the edge like it’s been doing for a while, but no. Went along for a little while and it just didn’t feel right, then I could feel something hitting my left foot… not good. Pulled up and the hugger was totally munted. Ron got his tools out so we could try and get it off but no luck, his Kawasaki issue screwdriver broke (!) and I ended up snapping the hugger to get it off and donating it to the Gods of the Banjo Road.

We got going again – Marty had come back to look for us and we met everyone else at the 105km of heaven sign :o). I was feeling a bit off so waved Ron past me and just took it really easy. The second dirt bit was okay, but I was again really slow, Ron waited for me a bit of the way in… eventually it came to an end, smoke break time, YAY!

I told Phil that I was just not on it that afternoon, and not to wait for me, I’d just see them at the pub. We set off and I got overtaken by a bunch of BMW riders (shame). I passed them when they regrouping along the way and then they overtook me again! (more shame). Ah well. I got a good although slow rhythm going and quite enjoyed the run down to Orbost. The boys were waiting for me just before town so we all headed in and lined the bikes up out the front of the pub and then Mike-S rolled in so the group was complete.

We got started on the bourbon and then it was chicken parmie time – yum!

We watched the replay of the footage of the day and then pretty much were all in bed for a reasonably early night.

Thursday 26 February 2009

Woke up, showered and packed then went downstairs for a coffee… bugger it’s not hot yet. Hung around waiting for the water to boil and eventually I deemed it *just* warm enough to drink. Phil, Owen and Mike had all set off super early so the rest of us eventually got going, fuelled up and on our way. Marty led us out for a warm up stretch to Bruthen then Bairnsdale and then out via Bengworden and into Sale for fuel. When we got into Sale he pulled into a servo, I’m thinking ‘what the hell are we stopping already for’ look down and realise it’s time for fuel LOL. Marty wasn’t feeling very well so he headed for home from here and the rest of us followed Wattie who wasn’t 100% sure on where he was going LOL. The fires had been through Churchill and it was very sad to see but the road was in surprisingly good condition and we stopped in Mirboo North for breakfast/morning tea/lunch before the final leg to the Island. We again did that beautiful coast road :o))))))))))))))

Got into Cowes around 2pm???? No idea really. We kicked back for a bit before heading up the road to do our grocery shopping. Ran into Stevo and Esther, Groggles, Toni and KB and Clint (but no Charleen??) in Coles which was cool :o) Back to the love shack to get started on the bourbons (Jimmy this year) before heading into town for a feed (Lasagne yum) and now I can’t even remember what else we did that evening LOL.

Friday 27 February 2009

We got a reasonably early start, Gos worked his bacon and egg magic on the BBQ and before long we were off to the track, with PC taking first duties of dinking me out to the track (thanks Mick!). MickC rode PC’s zeddy, kicking off a weekend of the Crim staying at the shack. Caught up the KSRC crew and various other people, checked out the expo (very empty and very sad with no kwaka stand) and did a lap or two of the track. I am very impressed at my ability to be on the back of a bike with a can of bourbon in each hand (look mum, no hands!!). I think my mum would be disgusted actually LOL.

After the track activities were done it was back home for a bit before heading into town for Pizza Night. The green crew duly gathered outside Jeronimos Pizza, ten pizzas were ordered and a slab of Jimmy obtained from somewhere and it was off to the beach for pizza and gasbagging. Billy decided to head back home pretty early and I followed him – the rest weren’t far behind. Another fairly early night :o)

Saturday 28 February 2009

Back out to the track – Gos on dinking duties today (and MickC on the MFP12). Apparently there was some racing on, watched a bit of that, did a lap, usual track stuff :o) Caught up with Thommo at the track for a bit which was cool :o)

We were hanging around on the fence to watch the last race when two boys in a lot of green approached, Zach Thacerey and his mate (whose name I can’t remember now). We chatted with them for a bit, and I got two hugs and kisses off each of them (wooo!) and then it was time to head home and get ready for the BBQ up at the caravan park. Stopped off at the shops on the way for supplies then kicked back for a while before making the trek to the caravan park. What a fun night! I haven’t laughed that hard since… maybe the last Mitch & Andy get together? Eventually we were asked to leave the caravan park so the Awesome MickC, Billy, Photomike and I headed into town… not much happening but we found plenty of kwaka riders to harass and try and convince them to come visit us at turn 1 the next day (not sure if any of them did. Wouldn’t really blame them if they didn’t!!!! LOL). Ran into Gig as well in the street which was awesome. It was a late night and I didn’t get home until about 6am and I think that is all I will say about that here 

Sunday 1 March 2009

OK one thing I didn’t say about the night before. I made a stupid bet. I do stupid things when I am drunk. There was this *thing* out in the water. I bet it was a boat. Thommo bet it wasn’t a boat. We made drunken definitions of what constitutes a boat (if you are interested, a UFO is a boat). Originally a bottle of Jimmy/Rum was riding on it but then no, Mel has to up the stakes. If it was a boat Thommo had to spend Sunday wearing my kwaka jacket. If it wasn’t a boat, I had to wear his bright red Yamaha t-shirt. I lost :o(

Got out to the track feeling rather fragile and before long Thommo turned up with the T-Shirt of Shame. I did the right thing and wore it, though my Kawasaki jacket did end up being put back on (it was cold, seriously!).

The day went too quickly and before long we were packing up, farewelling the others and heading back to the house.

Went into town for dinner and hung around for a while, getting home around 10pm (no bourbon tonight!).

Monday 2 March 2009

Kick off was at 7am and we were pretty close to being on time! Fuelled up in Cowes and then we were off. Just headed pretty much straight for Morwell (I think). I got separated from the group for a while, caught up in traffic but eventually caught them again. Fuel at Sale(?) then up the A1 to Bruthen where it was turn left for FUN!!!! The roadworks were finally completed on this stretch of road and I eventually got past Mike-S and had a ball! Omeo for fuel/lunch and then up to Hotham, I got overtaken by some dudes on this stretch and then they held me up! Grrrrrr. Regroup up the top, then onto the “photo spot” before heading down… but not too far! The road was blocked off as some over size trucks were coming through… oversize indeed it was a three story chalet in three parts coming up the hill! The bikes were all waved through to the front of the queue and before long we were off again. I’m traditionally not very confident on this stretch of road so waved *everybody* in front of me. Before long I was on the tail of some dude and he waved me past and then sat behind me (sometimes real close, sometimes he’d drop back a bit). Eventually got to the bottom of the hill, the cruised to the Tawonga Gap turn off. I love Tawonga Gap! Not the best run over this time as I was behind Mike-S, I carry greater corner speed and he gets on the throttle harder and carries greater straight speed (I hate getting hard on the throttle, just getting past someone and then having to brake hard into the next corner) so it was a bit of a frustrating run over the Gap, but I cornered well and had some fun anyway.

Then Redbank Road to Tallangatta then Granya Gap. Mike set up on one of the corners on Granya to take some photos, I was a bit off, I’m happy with the lean in the photo but I am too stiff in the posture… picky picky. Anyway the boys all did a few runs past the camera then it was over the hill into Granya for a regroup. I had a very enjoyable run over Granya Gap and waved to Glen’s (sorry MICKC’S) corner. But once we got onto the Murray River Road tiredness hit me big time and I was having troubles maintaining speed etc. Usually we refuel at Walwa but there was no fuel. The boys all set off and I stayed behind to down a red bull (ick) and have a smoke. Right feeling better I jumped back on for the last 20km into Tintaldra. Met them at the turnoff for the Tintaldra Back Road and Mike S was once again set up with the camera so we all rolled into town. We were supposed to be riding two abreast… farrrk I find that hard! Owen kept waving me up and my brain just kept going ‘nononononono’. Pulled up outside the pub for a quick photo and hello to Alf & Maija then back on the bikes, over the bridge and u-turn for more photo opportunity.

Back to the pub and the bourbon was gooooooooooooooooood :o) Lots of bourbon and lots of talking shite and then it was dinner time…. Moussssaaaaaaaaaaka. Fantastic as always. The chilli con carne was a bit extreme though! Awesome feed.

Before long Underbelly was on so most went inside to watch that… MickC and I sat outside feeling the serenity cuz neither of us watch that show. After it was done, we got to watch the days footage and then off to the river for the traditional “sending” to Neka and then pretty much to bed :o) I slept really well for some reason…

Tuesday 3 March 2009

Tuesday morning dawned… a little cloudy. Then a few spots started. Before long it was a fairly constant drizzle. We all got packed and ready to go, breakfast was served and the bikes all brought around the front for another photo shoot.

I tried to be arty…

We then played swapsies, the only people on their own bikes were Mike-S on his Suzuki thing and Owen on his ZX6R. I got to ride Wattie’s crim and it was fun even in the wet and taking it super easy.

Corryong for fuel and then back through Towong, Tooma and onto Elliots Way. I sat at the back and let everyone get pretty much out of site so I could enjoy the scenery a bit, had to slow down when Mr Skippy decided to come bounding across the road… luckily he didn’t have his mates following :o) Cruised along but eventually caught up to Mike-S. Then we regrouped and I hung back a bit again and then it was the dreaded climb up from the power station (I don’t know why I don’t like this stretch). I was taking it so slowly it was laughable, I could feel how bad my front tyre was by this stage. Got overtaken by a few people (I think we’d been playing cat and mouse with them yesterday as well) and got to the top where everyone was waiting for. We continued on and stopped for a smoke break (yay) at Three Mile Dam before heading into Adaminaby. Had a good run through the yellow line section even in the wet with a shagged front tyre :o))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Adaminaby for fuel, and a break. It had started raining properly by here so everyone but the Canberra Crew got geared up for the wet (see? We are hardcore! Or stupid….) well my concession to the rain was to put my rainoff gloves on here. The Sydney crew had planned to go down the Brown Mountain and then follow the coast up to home but with the weather they scrapped that plan and headed for Canberra and then the quick way home (ie. Hume). We stopped at Williamsdale to say our farewells and then it was on to home. (sob).

No idea (again) what time I got home, stripped off the wet gear and spent the arvo pretty much on the couch sulking about being home.