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!!).