Jingellic/Walwa Melbourne Cup weekend, 1^st-4^th November,2003

Honda CBR929 Ben warden MV August F4 Dave Ward

Honda VFR800 Bruce Saville MV August F4 Darryn Webster

Suzuki GSXR750 Clint Vertigan Yamaha R1 Dave Moore

Car Julie Warden Aprilia RSV-R Ken Wright

I set off bright and early in the cold and overcast conditions to make the 9.30am Yarck start where I would meet Ken and Bruce. The forecast was average but would improve every day over the long weekend. We had booked all three new motel-style units for the first night at Jingellic Pub.

Dave Ward and Darryn Webster were traveling in the Mercedes van while Dave Moore was trailering his and Clint’s bike. The four of them had spent the Friday at Winton having three half-hour sessions on the track. Darryn was getting to know his bike as he hadn’t been riding for 5 months after crashing his near new GSXR1000 not far out of Warburton. The plan was for them to spend Friday night at Jingellic after riding at Winton, then ride down and meet us at Myrtleford at 1.30pm on Saturday, and then for all of us to ride back to Jingellic.

After the 100 km or so of light rain and wet roads leaving Melbourne, we all rendezvoused at Myrtleford at 12.30pm. The lads been across the Tawonga Gap and were ready for more. We had survived the Mansfield Fair and road blockages, noting the 5 police cars, and then thoroughly enjoying the Whitfield blitz, though the unsign-posted gravel at the end gave Bruce a scare as his front wheel went sliding away.

The weather was now good for riding – cool, roads dry, traffic very light. In fact, there was almost no traffic all weekend, except for the last bit from Mansfield back to Melbourne on the last day. Best ever traffic conditions.

We headed across to Mitta Mitta for great salad sandwiches and perfect roads, then up across Granya Gap and around the Lake to the pub. In the vicinity of 600 km for me and closer to 700 for Ken. He was stuffed. Piled into the Jingellic pub for tea – most excellent. Early night.

We agreed to meet at Walwa for fuel at 9am for a day trip to Tumut. The forecast was pretty average so the trick was to keep out of the mountains for another day until the large “high” weather pattern settled over us, nominally Monday and Tuesday. We headed around through Tintaldra to Tumbarumba and on to the Rosewood road for a quick squirt up to Tumut, faces grinning. Ken was saying these were the best roads he had ever been on, and was kicking himself for crashing his R1 a few years ago at the start of one of these trips. And he was very happy with his new bike.

We had passed about 50 Indian bikes on tour, their annual, national get together. Quite an impressive sight, and some were going fast too – until a corner or bump – where the improvements in tyre and suspension technology found the old bikes wanting. Similarly we bumped into the BMW Club having lunch at Tumut. I found former MSTCV member, Jack Youdan, riding his 33,000 km old R1150GS. The BMs were all camped at Khancoban and had come up through Batlow via the main drag, and suffered the consequences of poor NSW roads. Which reminds me, we did 500 metres of road works – sticky, slippery (for some) mud that absolutely covered our bikes. I also had my eye on a large kangaroo bounding along in front of me. It was a white/fawn clay that caked on 7 or 8 mm thick under the seat. I’d kill for a rear hugger … All the $30,000 bikes looked … not happy. We didn’t get a chance to wash them over the few days either.

Heading back from Tumut we ran into a fierce hail/snow storm. Dave Moore and I pressed on, having a long wait at the end. It was all over in about 15 minutes. We made our way back to Jingellic and shifted camp across the road into Walwa Resort. Our two cottages were at the end of a kilometer dirt road but well worth the ride. The Ward clan were in one, Bruce, Ken, Julie and I, in the other. The cottages consisted of two bedrooms, a large kitchen, living area, wood fire, laundry and bathroom with spa, air-conditioning, TV/VCR with good reception, balcony and spectacular views down to the Murray River and across to the mountains.

The Ward clan found themselves in the outdoor heated spa and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Meanwhile Bruce, Ken and I headed off to explore all the little roads around Jingellic and Walwa running into the various National Parks and local farming areas. It was warm and sunny and a very pleasant way to while away the time. We couldn’t resist a 20 km squirt back down the Lake road and back again.

We regrouped for tea at the Resort restaurant and had an excellent meal followed by a couple of games on pool on the 9’x 4.5’ table. The Moore clan stayed up and watched the final MotoGP from Valencia while we watched a video and then hit the sack for another perfect sleep.

Monday was the designated long day and so it would be. We headed across to Khancoban for breakfast and around the Alpine Way to Tom Groggin and Thredbo. The scenery was spectacular as we climbed up into snow covered forests. The roads were completely dry. At Jindabyne Dave and Darryn rested while the rest of us blasted off to Charlottes Pass in absolutely cloudless conditions with barely a breeze. It had snowed for the previous seven days, according to the new Chit Tai owners, and it looked like it. From Smiggins onwards the snow was two foot deep and right up to the roadway. Nevertheless, the road surface was mint, and Bruce had obviously made a full recovery… he loves this road. We trudged through the snow to the lookout, even dragging Dave Moore along, for a few photos.

After a quick refuel we headed around to Dalgety, avoiding the highway wherever possible. From Dalgety we cut north up to Berridale and on towards Adaminaby, rejoining the Snowy Mountains Highway about 24 km south of Adaminaby. Well, Ken and I got there, and no-on else came. Eventually I sent Ken on to Adaminaby for earplugs and I headed back, meeting Bruce 15 km out of Berridale. Dave’s MV had expired with electrical problems some 3 km short of Berridale. They had managed to tow him into town and park the bike behind the servo for collection later. Given that none of the others had rear foot-pegs, it was clear that Dave was about to endure 235 km of twisty roads back to Walwa on the back of the Honda, his yellow and black leathers looking very stylish on the yellow and black Blade. We were about as far away as possible from Walwa! It was would be a very long day for Dave.

I cranked up the rear suspension a couple of clicks on the rebound and we were off, making good time back to Adaminaby. Then on to Kiandra, through the fantastic sets of corners, before heading down to Cabramurra, regrouping on the dam wall. Evidence of the recent bush fires abounded, with the ghostly white Mountain Ash looking like giant needles sticking out of the ground, completely dead, never to recover. Meanwhile the other varieties of gum were covered in almost hair-like new growth, sprouting along the length of their trunks. Grass was growing at ground level, the normal ground cover having not rejuvenated. It made for very easy riding as visibility was excellent – you could see the road through the trees. I noted new views of the various dams, not normally visible. The whole day was very spectacular, made more so by the fact that lots of the nearby mountains were snow covered and very visible. It felt like we were travelling around the Alps in Switzerland, catching glimpses of snow topped peaks everywhere.

At the Khancoban turnoff we waited while Bruce went for fuel, then headed back to Tintaldra and home via the back roads. Darryn left a little earlier, not having a pleasant day after modifiying his suspension for the worse, mimicking Dave’s settings, except the rear ride height. The net effect was the bike’s steering was heavy and slow, the front not matched to the rear. Darryn headed left instead of right and arrived back home much later than the rest of us, but happy enough to be back! It was about 7.15 pm!

Dave and Darryn jumped into the van and headed back to Berridale to collect the bike, 210 km each way. Of course they had trouble finding fuel, and the threat of running out was ever present. They also encountered wild horses, deer, kangaroos, black wallabies and wombats. They arrived back at camp at 1 pm, much relieved, and not a little shaken.

Meanwhile Dave Moore and Clint packed the car and trailer and headed off home at about 8.15pm, not getting home till around 1am. The rest of us headed for the Jingellic Pub for tea – no meals Monday night, so on to Walwa Pub which was much the same as always, though the meals seemed better. Of course the pub was running a Calcutta auction of horses for the Melbourne Cup and was pretty packed, but the meals came quickly. Ken surmised we had done about 800 km for the day. According to the map, it was closer to 470 km! He was stuffed! An early night for all.

Next morning Dave Ward dropped by to tell us of his adventures. He was almost out of fuel and was waiting for Walwa to open. When we got there, there was no fuel, but a tanker was pumping away and would be finished in another half hour. In the interim I put 2.5 litres of oil into Julie’s Magna, quieting down the lifters somewhat!

Over the course of the four days, I was pretty happy with the Blade, each suspension tweak (front rebound, rear rebound) making positive improvements. I had been chasing the rear a bit, it had been sliding around at speed, modifying the damping rectified the problem. The brand new ME-Z3 I put on Friday would be lucky to see me home, and similarly the front tyre was severely triangulated, speeding up the steering, compensating for the low profile 190 on the back.

We were back to the three amigos again, Ken, Bruce and Ben. Around the Lake and across the Granya Gap once again, retracing our steps from the first day. The fuel stop at Happy Valley road is no more, which was a problem and we limped down to Mt Beauty, with Ken running out and rolling the last few hundred metres. Ken’s bike took 18 litres, Bruce’s VFR 18 litres (20 litre tank) and the Blade 17 litres (18.25 litre tank). Ken’s new Aprilia was sucking the juice, and here was the proof.

Tawonga Gap – good, then Bright and Myrtleford (cops) before long slow ride back to Whitfield for food – except they were shut due to Melbourne Cup running! We made good time to Mansfield, though Ken thought he would (accidentally) detour down to Cheshunt before hitting the dirt and realising something was wrong! Mansfield, not Myrtleford! Regrouped in Mansfield for the long stretch to Yarck and Yea where we went our separate ways. The weather was hot!

Home at ten past seven, after some 2,400 km. Tyres shagged, bike grouse, clocked over 94,000 km. Thanks to all those attended making it a safe and fun weekend. By definition it was successful: no-one got booked and no-one fell off! Hope to see more riders on the Australia Day weekend.

Ben Warden (Honda CBR929)