Towong (Melbourne Cup) Weekend, Nov 2004

Honda CBR929 Ben Warden Honda 954 Paul Southwell

Yamaha YZF1000 Trevor Harris Suzuki GSXR1000 Cliff Peters

Honda VFR750 Renzo Cunico Augusta MV750 Dave Ward

Augusta MV750 Darryn Webster Yamaha R1 Dave Moore

Magna Julie Warden BMW R1100S Darryl Chivers

Day 1 – Friday 29^th - Yarck to Towong, 720km

As per last month’s excellent write-up from Trevor. His table of average speeds makes very interesting reading. Feedback from this article was excellent. Well done Trev.

The only incident that escaped the author’s pen was Darryl’s BM gearbox decided that it could only change up around lunchtime, heading for Mitta Mitta. While we visited the Dartmouth Dam Wall and the boat ramp, Darryl was on the phone to BM who put him on to the local Albury dealer who suggested that he could book it in, in three weeks time! And that it might come good anyway … Darryl spent time jiggling and clunking the gear change lever and miraculously, something went clunk, and all was well for the rest of the weekend. An excellent outcome. But scary.

Late afternoon Dave Ward arrived in the van, and Dave Moore and Darryn arrived by car with their bikes on a trailer. Dave and Darryn unloaded their bikes and left them in our under-cover garage, Darryn having booked accommodation in Corryong. All three had been to Winton for a track day. When Darryn arrived at the track he realised had only had half of his leathers and so headed back home to Melbourne to get the other half – 200 km each way. By the time he arrived back at the track, the riding was over. His money was refunded. The two Dave’s had a great day at the track, weather fine and warm, surface grippy.

Dave M. noted that there was a go-cart, powered by a 250cc GP two stroke motor, running with the bikes, (alternate half our sessions cars, then bikes), blitzing everyone. Dave W. thought that he had about the same acceleration down the straights, but only about half the corner speed. The cart was running rings around the bikes - and because it was so low to the ground, it was difficult to see or anticipate.

That evening the food was provided by Paul. I had picked up a bag of supplies from Paul the previous Wednesday to be ferried in the car. That night we feasted on a mountain of home made spaghetti and meat sauce, supplemented with Schwabs bread. Dave W. brought two boxes of loaves – white, sour dough and wholemeal, and a box of iced fruit loaves. Fantastic. We froze some of the bread, using it for breakfasts and evening meals every day. It lasted all five days with only 2 (of 16) loaves left on Tuesday morning – and they went to a good home.

I swapped rear wheels, replacing the very hard 2001 vintage Dunlop 207 with a 2004 Pirelli. Wandering around the undercover garage, a quick tyre survey of the bikes produced the following:

Name	Bike	Rear Tyre	Front Tyre
Darryn	MV750	Metzler Sportec M1	Metzler Sportec M1
Renzo	VFR750	Bridgestone Battlax 020	Dunlop 208
Paul	CBR954	Michelin Pilot Power	Michelin Pilot Power
Ben	CBR929	Pirelli Diablo Corsa	Pirelli Diablo Corsa
Dave W.	MV750	Pirelli Diablo	Michelin Pilot Race RS2
Cliff	GSXR1000	Dunlop 208GP	Bridgestone 020
Trev	YZF1000	Bridgestone Battlax 020	Bridgestone 020
Darryl	R1100S	Bridgestone Battlax 020	Bridgestone 010
Dave M.	R1	Pirelli Diablo	Michelin Pilot Race

Day 2 – Saturday 30^th - southern loop, 467 km

Darryl’s front tyre wasn’t going to last another four days, despite using Trev’s logic which goes something along the lines of: “I get 20,000 km out of a front, this one has done 15,000, therefore I have 5,000 left.” Not up here! Tomorrow was Sunday and nothing would be open. If he rode with us today, he wouldn’t be able to ride on Sunday (no tread, weather unpredictable), waste Monday getting tyres, ride home Tuesday. Best option was to get tyres today. After first trying the Corryong bike shop, he headed in to Albury and fitted the latest Bridgestone Battlax 014s front and back, transforming the bike. And he did well over 300 fun kilometres in the process, including Granya Gap and around the Lake.

The rest of us took the following route: Khancoban, Alpine Rd, Thredbo, Jindabyne, Mt Kosciuszko National Park ($6 entry, not $16 as someone thought), Charlotte’s Pass, Jindabyne, Dalgety, Berridale, Adaminaby, Kiandra, Cabramurra, Khancoban, and Towong.

Weather – warm to hot, perfect for riding, roads glorious, cops none.

Darryn’s MV’s instrument display failed. He pulled the fairings off in search of disconnected plug at Jindabyne, providing morning tea entertainment. No luck. All the other electrics were working fine – blinkers, horn, lights. He continued on with the ride without instruments. Back in Melbourne the bike shop came up with a number of suggestions including water in the loom, faulty display panel ($3,500) and dud battery. Darryn eventually tracked down a wiring diagram and after blowing it up by 500% and much study, replaced a faulty fuse. Voila!

Ride highlights: Paul described the 40 kilometre stretch between Jindabyne and Charlotte’s Pass as motorcycle nirvana. Snow one metre deep blocking road for last 300 metres. Sun blazing, road surface warm to hot to the touch, despite ambient temp around 12 deg. The most common vehicles on the road were other bikes. On the roads we travelled, we barely saw a car. Despite the Alpine Way now being speed limited to 60 and 80 km/h, not being a public holiday or long weekend in NSW meant no special attention from the Force.

At the Khancoban turnoff, 25 km from home, Dave Ward noted the non-arrival of Darryn. While the rest of us got fuel, Dave and Dave waited for Darryn a long time, concerned that he may have fallen off. He eventually arrived, having ridden very slowly due to fatigue.

That evening Ben discovered the axe and fired up the genuine wood fired BBQ. The menu was based on a shopping list generated the previous night, and anything else Julie felt should have been on the list! Costs divvied up between the group worked out at $10 each for the following feast: sausages, chops, BBQ chicken, for protein, coleslaw, sliced cucumber, Spanish onions, corn cobs, cheese, carrots, olives, capsicum, and of course, Schwabs bread. Desert: orange jelly with peaches and choc swirl ice cream. Later we played a kids card game called Skipbo till stumps.

Darryn and Dave Moore headed back to Melbourne after tea.

Day 3 – Sunday 31^st – north loop – 468 km

Route: Khancoban, Cabramurra, Sue City, Tumbarumba, Rosewood Road, Lower Bago, Tumut, Bondo, Tumorrama, Tumut, Rosewood Road, Tumbarumba, Towong.

Poring over the maps the night before after playing a new Russian version of Backgammon with Paul, I really felt it was time to try out a few new roads as well as known good roads. There were no objections, and given every road we had been on so far was excellent, even Paul had stopped querying the proposed daily routes. I had won him over.

We headed for Khancoban and up the Kiandra road stopping at the usual first dam. We ran into Mark Knights group again, having seen them at Cabramurra the day before. There appeared to be about 15 of them based in Corryong and doing much the same as we were. Mark used to ride with the Club on a Yamaha TZR250 two stroke and has progressed to a new Kawasaki ZX6, a weapon on these roads. After upping the rebound on the rear Ohlins one click yesterday, the bike suddenly handled sensationally well, losing all vagueness. After the group tyre spot check and being informed that I had the softest/grippiest compound tyres available, confidence was further enhanced. Between the Dam and Cabramurra, Dave, Mark and I “went sick” according to Dave, noting yesterday’s sighting lap. Whereas Mark blitzed us yesterday, today he clung on to the tail. Power probably had something to do with it as well.

We regrouped at Sue City at the bottom of Elliot Way for the obligatory photo, and again at Tumbarumba for fuel. From here on we investigated some new roads, heading first to Lower Bago and Westbrook (both in the middle of nowhere) on smooth, steeply undulating, low speed roads with lots of blind crests. I was hoping we would be able to make a loop and rejoin the Rosewood Road (it has a real name now, but unlike Ron who seems to have a fantastic memory for such detail, I can’t remember the name of it). The map showed a small dirt section. Trevor and Paul volunteered to navigate this section while I lead the bulk of the group back and around to the main drag. It turned out to be about 6 km of good dirt.

Together now, I diverged almost immediately again, heading for Batlow and an alternative 12 km of skinny, relatively built up (apple farming) road. Worth a look, once. Darryl enjoyed these sections the most. On to Tumut for lunch.

Tumut ain’t real busy at 2 pm on a Sunday and we parked on the 4 metre wide brick-paved footpath. No sooner had we done so than Mr Plod appeared suggesting that we were not in Melbourne now and to get off the path, or by implication, he would book us. Paul struck up a conversation with him, as he is making a habit of. For some reason Mr Plod took a large step backwards and onto Darryl who was in the process of bumping the BM over the gutter. The first thing I heard was an enormous crunch as the BM went crashing over. Unbelievably, the bike sustained almost no damage, the plastic guards on the heads doing their job. We consoled ourselves with Golden Gaytime ice-creams, thanks Paul.

Next we headed off on the Wee Jasper road. It took a bit of finding but was well worth it. It opens out into a brand new logging truck road through a pine plantation. It is the best road I have found since the Rosewood Road, and that is saying something. The further you go, the better it gets, culminating in an endless series of high speed sweepers, enormously wide, visibility further than needed – the hills were stripped of trees. To quote Dave, “went sick, mate, had 4 to 5 fifty metre drifts, knee on ground, wheel pawing the sky”; and “unnecessary tyre wear”. Cliff, master of the understatement, said it was “good”.

We all came to screeching halt after cresting a sweeper and meeting thickly gravelled road, grins from ear to ear. I pointed out a fist sized hole in Renzo’s fairing. He had hit a magpie hard, smashing the very strong leading edge of his fairing, blinker dangling. We were in a locality called Bondo. We back tracked 13 km and took another 8 km spur road, of similar quality, to Tumorrama (weird name), and then back to Tumut for fuel, completing a 90 km diversion. We’ll be back here for sure.

Back to Rosewood, Tumbarumba (more fuel! for some) and Towong, enjoying the spectacular 360 degree view including the snow capped Mt Kosciuszko mountain skyline. Most of the group had never seen this sight before and I slowed right down to fully appreciate the view before dropping down to Tooma, also offering expansive views along the valley of very green undulating farmland. Realising that we are but specs on the landscape is quite a humbling experience.

For tea, I fired up the BBQ again, cooking fresh sausages and rissoles, ham steaks and pineapple which Julie had bought for the group while out on her own day trip. There were enough salads left over from the night before to feed all of us. We finished with off with ice cream and black currant jelly. For $3, it was a bargain.

More cards, getting ever more competitive, followed by the last MotoGP of the season till late. Brilliant race, Rossi by a whisker from Gibernau, eyes hanging out of our heads. Tomorrow would be an easy day.

Day 4 – Monday 1^st November – central loop - 320 km

Route: Towong, Khancoban, Cabramurra, Kiandra, Adaminaby, Anglers Rest, Kiandra, Elliot Way, Sue City, Towong.

Darryl headed home while we decided to head for Cabramurra and Adaminaby and the good roads. Once again the weather was glorious. Given it was an easy day I decided to check out Old Adaminaby – it was moved when they dammed Lake Eucumbene as part of the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme.

Old Adaminaby and Anglers Rest proved to be a collection of holiday houses for the very rich. We did a slow drive by, sucking in the rich air. We even had to stop for our first rain, but it was only a shower.

Back to Cabramurra for fuel and food, then around Elliot Way and back to Towong for the ritual evening bike wash.

That night we went to the Corryong Pub for tea, our last night together. Dave’s van and Julie’s wagon carried all the troops. “Thankyou” to Renzo for the bubbly to toast Julie on her birthday.

More card playing followed by a relatively early night.

Day 5 – Tuesday 2^nd November – homeward bound – 541 km

Someone heard Renzo leave at 7.15 am to visit his sister in Myrtleford. We didn’t expect to see him again. Hence our surprise when he caught up to him at Whitfield.

A thick fog had settled on the river flats and only just lifted as we set off at about 10 am, allowing plenty of time to pack the wagon including putting the push bike inside.

At Walwa the fuel was very expensive, as noted in last month’s magazine, so three of us shared $15 worth of fuel. I stopped for a photo shoot of Lake Hume at high water, a rarity these days. We regrouped again on the other side of the Granya Gap, Trevor, Cliff and Paul getting very “competitive”. Grouse road. Across the Happy Valley road to Myrtleford and down to Whitfield and the beginning of Plod Country. It was fairly jumping! And the rain came, just enough to wet the roads and knock the edge off the speeds.

Back to Mansfield and the pain to Yarck and break-up.

Overall Impressions: Fabulous weekend, accommodation relatively cheap and comfortable, hosts very affable. Views fantastic, no incidents (tickets, crashes) (tyre baldness, bird damage doesn’t count), can’t wait to get back on Australia Day weekend. Thanks to everyone who came. Quote of the weekend was Paul’s “found Nirvana”.

Fuel consumption figures: On the next page is a table listing the fuel consumption figures for the duration of the trip. When read in conjunction with Trevor’s table of average speeds for the five days (101.4 km/h, 101.7, 102.5, 90.34 and 96.54) it is very clear that the faster we went, the worse the economy. Below is some analysis.

To work out fuel figures easily you need to always completely fill your tank including starting and filling tanks. Obviously the amount of petrol required to fill the tank at the start of the ride was the amount consumed by the previous week’s riding and hence should be ignored in the calculations. Conversely, the last tank includes some kilometres after the completion of the ride, in this case 77 km, but you need a full tank to work out the economy.

The average price for fuel was 111.9 cents per litres (excluding the first tank) and I used 165.19 litres (180.78 less first tank). I travelled 2587 km tank to tank (the actual total weekend kays were 2520.) Hence the average fuel consumption was 15.66 km/litre with a best of 16.75 km/l coming into Mansfield and a worst of 14.71 at Jindabyne including a fast ride to Charlottes Pass with altitude issues.

CBR 929 Fuel Figures
Date	c/l	$	litres	odom	tank	km/l	where	comments
Fri 29^th	104.50	16.29	15.59	30154			Campbellfield	starting with full tank
Fri 29^th	112.00	16.23	14.49	30393	239	16.49	Whitfield
Fri 29^th	116.90	20.01	17.12	30672	279	16.30	Mitta Mitta	most ever paid for tank
Sat 30^th	115.80	16.68	14.40	30893	221	15.35	Khancoban
Sat 30^th	115.90	14.42	12.44	31076	183	14.71	Jindabyne
Sat 30^th	115.80	17.03	14.71	31,311	235	15.98	Khancoban
Sun 31^st	115.90	11.75	13.62	31,482	171	12.56	Tumbarumba
Sun 31^st	109.90	13.39	12.18	31,671	189	15.52	Tumut
Mon 1^st	117.30	21.21	17.99	31,955	284	15.79	Adaminaby	most ever paid for tank
Tue 2^nd	126.70	4.98	3.93	32,159	204	16.12	Walwa	dearest petrol – not full
Tue 2^nd	110.90	16.41	14.80	32,257	98	16.12	Tallangatta
Tue 2^nd	112.90	15.30	13.55	32,484	227	16.75	Mansfield	transport sections
Mon 8^th	108.90	17.38	15.96	32,741	257	16.10	Pascoe Vale Rd	finish with full tank
Totals		201.08	180.78	2587
Average	111.90				215.6	15.66		Ignoring first tank

Fuel for the whole weekend cost $184.79 (total less first tank) or about $37 a day, or $37 per 500 km average. (Gosh, the bike has done about 128,000 km which equates to $9,472 (in 2004 holiday dollars) on fuel in nearly 4 years. That can’t be right. Gulp!)

The dearest we paid for petrol was 126.7 c/l at Walwa – we put $5 only worth in each bike. Hence, that buggers up the figures – so I averaged the km/l using the tank fills either side of Walwa.

The overall average number of kilometres per tank was 215.6 km. Excluding the partial fill, the average rises to 226 km per tank. Trev’s bike was definitely the most economical and Paul’s the least, but that had a lot to do with the right hand.

Ben Warden (Honda CBR929)