Towong Saturday 29^th Oct – Tue 1^st Nov, 2005

Honda CBR929	Ben Warden	Mitsubishi Magna	Julie Wagon
Suzuki GSXR1000	Lyn Duncan	Triumph Sprint 955	Ern Reeders
Suzuki GSXR1000	Cliff Peters	Honda CBR1000	Paul Southwell
Kawasaki ZX10	Danny Hawker	Honda VFR800	Bruce Saville
Honda CB900	Shane Hindle	BMW K100RT	Mike Neate
MV Augusta Brutale	Bronwyn Manifold	MV Augusta 750 SPR	Dave Ward
Suzuki Bandit	Ron Johnston	Ford Wagon	Julie Johnston
Honda VFR750	Renzo Cunico	Yamaha R1	Dave Moore
Kawasaki ZX6	Darryn Webster	Suzuki GSXR750	Clint Vertigan

Day1: Saturday 29^th Melbourne to Towong, 712 km

The day had finally arrived. After packing the car the night before and wishing Julie well on her trip, I was on my bike and heading north on the start of another Club long weekend to my favourite riding country, the Snowy Mountains region. If only the weather holds up, I thought.

I fuelled up at the Shell at Kalkallo on the Hume and noted the odometer at 66,812 km (actual 161, 822 km). Next stop Yarck via Whittlesea and Yea for the official start at 9.30 am where I expected to see everyone in the above list except Dave Ward, Clint and Dave Moore. who had done a ride day at Winton on the Friday, stayed overnight in Corryong and would meet us at Myrtleford somewhere between midday and 1 pm and ride back with us to Towong. That was Plan A. Note: Bronwyn was travelling with the group, having a full cooked breakfast with Paul Southwell before riding together up to Yarck.

After a pleasant ride in the warming conditions I arrived to see most of participants indulging in coffee and other delights. I handed out a sheet listing everyone’s names and phone numbers as part of the renewed duty-of-care policy. If anyone did have a breakdown then they could call numerous people. As it turned out the sheet came in handy a couple of times.

Mansfield was reached after an unpleasant 52 km of highway. The Mansfield Festival produced chaos as the main street was blocked as per every other year, the detour sign posting leaving a lot to be desired. I got lost resulting in bikes going everywhere, particularly as we were now mixed up with 40 BMs from Yea heading for Corryong via Whitfield, that is, the same route and destination as us. We ended up passing the same bikes twice. If we had just used their corner marking system …

Finally we reached the better roads heading for Whitfield, our first stop after 103 km, releasing some of the pent up frustration by immersing ourselves in the challenging twisty sections. The bloke at the servo is starting to recognise us now we visit so frequently.

Next was the 80 km of highway up the King Valley and across the Oxley Highway to Myrtleford arriving at about 11:50 am, making good time. We piled into the bakery and then sat outside with our salad sandwiches and drinks, the weather very hot and sticky. Bronwyn spoke with David on the mobile and worked out that they were in Bright. The call of the Tawonga Gap linking Bright and Mt Beauty was too strong. Plan B was to meet us in Mitta Mitta.

At about 12:50 pm we set off for Ovens and then onto the Happy Valley Road and the 34 km of excellent motorcycling road including the mountain pass. There was barely a car on the road, typical of the whole weekend. High fuel prices are clearly biting with petrol costing around $1.33 in the region, the dearest we paid was $1.44 at Walwa. Of course, add another 15 cents for Premium.

Heading north now, we picked up the Tamgambalanga Road running parallel to the Kiewa Valley Highway for a brisk trip to “Red Bluff locality” intersection, then back south to Eskdale and Mitta Mitta along fantastic roads, often following the local rivers and creeks. The boys were starting to push and the competitive spirit was making life at the pointy end intense. Mike had settled into the rear rider role quite comfortably, his big K100RT most definitely not designed for the type of punishment the Japanese bikes were lapping up.

After some people put in a dash of fuel we headed out to Dartmouth Dam wall for a photo session, and then back to Dartmouth and out to the boat ramp, a round trip of 62 km of glorious and varied roads. Some people took the opportunity to have an extended break such as Ern who was feeling crook for most of the weekend, Bruce, Mike and Bronwyn.

The water level was right up compared to this time last year. There was maybe a hundred cars and boat trailers parked, their owners presumably out fishing in their tinnies. Back along the big sweepers to Mitta Mitta for lunch and a serious refuel, the last for the day.

By this time Dave Ward, Dave Moore, Clint and Darryn had arrived. They had spent a very pleasant Friday circulating on the Winton Race track. Dave Moore said he got faster and faster each session, and it got easier to go fast. Just like road riding, the more you practise, the easier it becomes. Unfortunately, Dave’s MV750SPR had developed what now appears to be “normal” wheel bearing failure. This group decided to leave early and head back to camp, the Pinnibar Motel in Corryong for Dave M, Clint and Darryn, while Dave and Bron were staying at The Ridge in Towong with the main group. Bronwyn accompanied them. By the time they reached Tallangatta, the rear wheel of Dave’s bike was wobbling around so much it was considered prudent to call it quits and leave the bike, returning later to collect it in the ute.

Meanwhile the rest of us followed, heading north back the way we had come past Eskdale and on to Tallangatta. The bugs were so bad that I stopped for a visor clean after only 26 km, opposite the local tennis courts which showcased the local talent. Just as we were moving off, a foreign red CBR1000 with pipe and a yellow Ducati 748 went flying past, and not long afterwards Bruce on their tail, Bruce managing to pass the 748.

It started to rain in the next section, just enough to help wash the bugs off, a positive to a point. I had cunningly stored my waterproof pants in Mike’s BM panniers, but Mike and Ern had set off earlier deciding to head directly for base camp. But at Ern’s prompting, Mike kindly waited at the Tallangatta T intersection for me to catch up. To help pass the time he struck up a meaningful conversation with the local bobby from Tallangatta who thought he would like to see my licence too. As it was now raining quite heavily I was pleasantly relieved to put my waterproofs back on. At this point a number of riders decided to take the direct route to Corryong rather than traverse the longer route via Granya and around the lake. Of course, not everyone knew where they were going …

Lyn, Danny, Cliff, Renzo and I took the longer scenic route. The Granya Gap was grippy though Lyn got spooked when her front tyre slipped at the second corner. I saw Julie in the Magna heading in the other direction across the Granya Gap, waving excitedly. I had my hands full at the time and was unable to respond appropriately, thinking “She’s missed that turn-off again!” There was no leaf litter and only a few driveway wash outs on the down hill side. Heading around the Lake we were entertained by 45 or so Indian bikes coming the other way, out on their once-a-year rally. We also passed 14 Volks Wagons driving along at about 70 km/h. It felt like there were 50 of them according to Shane. Every type of vehicle from Herbie (#54), combi vans, old beetles and modern cars.

At Walwa we stopped to clean our visors and have a break. Sure enough the VWs pulled up, checked out the ablution block, and headed off again, meaning we had to pass them again!

We arrived at Towong at 5.45 pm, just as some of the others were getting off their bikes, having spent a lot of time lost! Shane learnt a valuable lesson.

Ron was fretting. He didn’t know where his wife Julie was. It turned out she had been ensconced in their luxurious accommodation up at the Ridge from 3 pm. I took Ron and Renzo up there. Mike was also staying up there with Dave and Bron, happily lapping up the serenity, enjoying the spectacular views, sipping a quite ale or two.

Later Bruce took Julie’s Magna into Corryong and sorted out the next priority: alcohol! Paul and Shane were passengers.

Next job was Lyn’s bike. We dropped the forks through another 5 mm from standard after the bike shop had accidentally returned them to standard position when changing the fork oil. The expected outcome was to quicken the steering. Cliff, hearing Lyn talking about it, did his first, and then we did Lyn’s. Then they all helped me swap my rear Pilot Sport shod wheel for my spare wheel shod with a Michelin Race, all the better to play with!

Meanwhile Julie and Ern set about cooking up a mountain of spiral spaghetti and meat sauce, enough to feed 16 hungry bikers after a hard day’s ride. The sixteen included Dave Moore, Darryn and Clint who shared their experiences of the track. Dave and Bron had tea in Tallangatta, having had to return to Corryong to get the ute, drive back to Tallangatta, and then return to Towong, making for a very long day. Dave very generously supplied 20 loaves of Schwabbs bread where he is the manager. We had everything from iced fruit loaf, to sliced rye bread to standard white sliced.

After tea I fired up the lap top and showed the 30 or photos from the day and photos from the three previous trips to Towong. After such a big day it wasn’t long before people started to drift off to bed.

Day 2: Sunday 30^th Towong to Tumut to Gundagai to Towong, 545 km

It rained all night; 28 mm according to a local. Lyn was driven crazy with the house water pump turning on and off every 17 seconds, trying to keep up the pressure, a leak somewhere in the system. She resorted to wearing ear plugs; problem solved. Still raining after breakfast, I decided to go for a ride anyway, and as Lyn put it, the rest of us tagged along, not wanting to miss out on anything. The hardy few were Paul, Lyn, Shane and Cliff. Interesting, it was not at all cold, rather extremely humid, perfect bug growing weather – and fog inducing.

We headed into Corryong for fuel. Lyn was immediately surprised (pleasantly) how fast her bike tipped in. “It felt like she had hopped back onto her old bike, except better.” Cliff was also happy with his as well, Lyn checking every time we stopped. Lyn said, “Lets head that way” – west and I happily obliged for a short while before taking the Cudgewa turnoff and the long straights to Tintaldra. Over the mighty Murray, almost in flood, and north towards Tooma and Tumbarumba.

The fog set in as we rose out of Tooma crossing Maragle Mountain, dropping my speed down to 85 km/h, the other riders disappearing after a while, Lyn was frightened that she was going to lose sight of Paul and “everything was going to go to pieces”. The fog got a bit thicker in places and I dropped my speed back to 75 km/h. The upside was it wasn’t raining, though it sure was wet. This lasted for about 15 km according to the sign posts before we emerged from the soup into Tumbarumba for a well earned eye break. Riding with your visor partly open, mist stinging your eyes, yet opening them as wide as dinner plates trying to peer into the twisty gloom, while watching the white line like a hawk, is very tiring.

We polished off our home made fruit loaf sandwiches, thanks Dave, while the weather cleared to the point of visible sun. It was tempting to remove our wet weathers but we resisted. It was midday. We pressed on, picking up the Rosewood to Tumut heaven sent logging truck road. Alas, the rain started again, but we made steady brisk progress on the grippy surface. Riding into Tumut we noticed two NSW police vehicles attending to an accident scene. A woman driver had speared off the road in a 60 km/h zone in a slight corner, wrapped the car around a tree and then dropped another 5 metres down a steep embankment. She was alive.

After refuelling we headed into town for lunch and then decided to check out a new road after the Wee Jasper road that linked up to a twisty road coming down from Gundagai via 7 km of dirt (mud, according to Lyn, conjuring up horror pictures of quagmires and being trapped with her horribly mangled bike). Lyn was flustered, and so asked the most unreliable source she could find, a local joint smoking kid. “Yeah, it’s made.” Nice work Lyn.

We headed out to Bondo on the Canberra road to see if the bitumen had been lengthened. Nope. Then back 15 km to the Tumorrama turnoff and another 10 km of huge sweepers till the start of the dirt. The roads were damp but the grip was ample, particularly at legal speeds. Lyn tried to trick me into turning around when we came to the dirt by pointing her bike in the other direction. Her bluff failed miserably, though it partly worked on Cliff. We pressed on on what was a great dirt road with nothing less than 80 km/h and often 100 km/h. It was course gravel over hard packed dirt, with long sweeping bends, suitable for logging trucks! Of course Lyn battled along in second gear fish tailing everywhere, life flashing before her eyes multiple times. Did I mention all the cattle wandering across the road? Never seen a bike along this road before.

The flies were thick. Now I swear I don’t print stuff about blokes having a leak, but having your hand bitten by flies is quite distracting. Our bikes were now covered in mud, from top to bottom including on top of Cliff’s rear ductail, the result of no hugger. Another visor clean and photo shoot and we were away into unchartered territory.

We were heading for Ajungbilly and followed signs to Coolac along interesting narrow country roads. After a few astute guesses we followed the exact planned route and found ourselves as far north as 10 km out of Gundagai. We then wound our way back south to Tumut and continued on to the Rosewood Road. The roads had all been dry from Ajungbilly onwards and a very pleasant time was had by all. Paul came flying by once he realised the Rosewood Road was now dry and fast, tyre wear and fuel consumption rapidly increasing.

Back to Tumbarumba for fuel and decisions. The weather had improved to such an extent that I was tempted to head up the Elliot Way to Cabramurra and back to Khancoban and home, a 150 km loop, the alternate being 58 km directly back to Towong for a beer and tall stories. Lyn was in six different minds. Would it be dry? No. Would there be animals? Yes. Is it further? Yes. Will it be fun. No. And there will be cars and farmers and gravel and all manner of nasties. That way she couldn’t sue me! Paul was looking for a drinking mate and Shane was afraid of getting left behind (like last night) and needed Lyn. I told her she didn’t have to make up her mind until the Elliot Way turnoff. And when it came to the crunch, she took the high road!

That left the four of us for the dry road blast down to Sin City. I was expecting kangaroos but it was a little early. We regrouped and I offered Lyn a swim in the Tumut One pondage as per last summer. After a break we set off riding around the river and the seven new bridges and then up the steep twisties. The road was damp but I was really enjoying the grip of the rear Michelin Race, really riding the back wheel up the hill, driving hard out of the corners.

Since this was Shane’s first ride in this part of the world, I did a drive through tour of Cabramurra stopping at the usual car park and shop, which was closed! Lyn noted that the pub was open; the cricket could be heard from the big screens. We checked out the old photos from the building of the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme. Quite amazing.

The road down to Khancoban was 90% dry and in excellent condition. There were only three cars over the whole length of it, two of them coming towards us. It was like our own private race track, all signposted at 80 km/h in the open areas and 60 km/h in the twisties! We got on the gas a bit, our first really enjoyable tight twisties since yesterday. Shane was riding the best he had ever ridden, he reported later, and thought it was a fantastic road. Though Lyn kept him at bay, riding like the wind all weekend – except in the dirt of course. She really impressed all the boys. Shane sees his long term goal as being able to pass Lyn. For now, if he can keep her in sight, that is enough!

Though there were no cars, the kangaroos and wallabies were out in force, feeding at the side of the road on the new grass shoots. I dodged the first five, then another three and then another two. It was pretty hairy stuff and I very nearly collected one of them braking hard as it dived under the front wheel, providing the one “moment” of the weekend. I had already taken out a magpie and two smaller birds and was not looking for more blood and guts on the fairing and headlight. And having been hit by a kangaroo and wallaby on previous occasions (once on this same road) causing enough pain and damage to make avoiding them a priority.

Back to Towong for a BBQ up at The Ridge. Julie and Bron had been out and bought all the ingredients, and when divvied up the cost came out at $7 per head. After a shower, I ferried a load of guys up to The Ridge where I found Julie W., Bron and Julie J. had prepared the salads etc. All we needed was to fire up the barby on the balcony and get the meat cooking. With no smokers, it was around to the owners to borrow a box of matches. It wasn’t long before 14 people were munching on a feast. Ern was still indisposed, resting quietly back at Snowy Mountains resort. The rest of enjoyed the spectacular views of the Murray flood plains with the Snowy Mountains including Mt Kosciuszko as the backdrop in good company, with plenty of food, wine and conversation flowing. A great way to finish off the day.

As the night drew longer, Julie ferried a group back to base, returning for Bruce and Paul who thought they could walk in the pitch dark down a steep dirt driveway, followed by steep bitumen roads with no runoff. Duty of care suggested otherwise.

The next day promised a whole new set of excitement as we planned to head up to Thredbo and Adaminaby.

Day 3 and 4 to be continued next month as it’s the day before magazine printing and there is much to be done!

Ben Warden