Towong “Fully Sick” 4^th-7^th November, 2006

Paul Southwell	Honda CBR1000	Ian Payne	Honda CBR1000
Ben Warden (leader)	Honda CBR954	Dave Ward	MV 750 Brutale
Tony Raditsis (rear)	Yamaha TRX850	Ron Johnston	Suzuki Bandit 1200
Stoimen Stojanov	Yamaha R1	Cliff Peters	Suzuki GSXR1000
Ern Reeders	Honda CBR954

Here is a random collection of thoughts from the weekend.

Tony was late reaching the start point at Yarck. He just had to do an extra couple of laps of the Black Spur and the Molesworth Road to run in his new tyres and recover some form after his recent crash. He seemed to have a great weekend, his first time on this Club trip, but a regular on the Honda charity Snowies ride each year, a week later. Hence, he knew most of the roads.

The BMW Club has an annual get together at Khancoban this time every year. Invariably we get mixed up with the Melbourne contingent who follow the same route as us up through Mansfield and Whitfield. Apparently there were 200 hundred bikes but only about 160 made it, the rest lost or worse. We ran in to them throughout the weekend including the usual crowd at Jindabyne. Jack Youdan, former member, was having as much fun as always. Heading home on Tuesday we met a ‘fast’ group, twice, once between the painful Mansfield to Yarck 50 km of highway (Bonus! Safety in numbers) and later on the Flowerdale Kinglake twisties. Ben, Paul and Stoimen enjoyed their favourite road to the maximum.

Having negotiated the Whittlesea Show traffic, the Mansfield Show/Rodeo weekend is much more difficult with road blocks and poor signage. Our group managed to get split up. Not having a rear rider at this point didn’t help. Everyone is gee’d up at the start and it is difficult to workout who is the “natural” rear rider. While Tony and I corner marked at the unsignposted link road that gets you off the Benalla Road, I noticed Dave and someone pass by up at the next corner. We had waited a few minutes already and figured the rest had negotiated the maze for themselves. No point in waiting around. We all regrouped in Whitfield.

It was stinking hot – 31 deg - and very humid. Completely different from Melbourne weather which was eventually 24 degrees. We couldn’t get our extra clothes off quick enough. But I physically didn’t have enough carrying capacity and resorted to stuffing my wet weather pants, jacket, and jumper into my day bag and borrowing a strap from Stoimen to secure it. I like this about these weekends. Everyone helps each other out. This time we didn’t have Julie W. or Julie J. with cars and the extra convenience and supplies. We didn’t have extra tyres, tools, food – ingredients for night meals. We were travelling light and on our own. We needed to look after each other, whether it was supplying tape to secure wheel weights, sharing around Mr Sheen and cleaning rags for visor cleaning, or donating a set of brake pads (Thanks Ron). My km/l display had disappeared and I thought the display chip was faulty. Paul knew immediately to hold the right hand side button down for 3 seconds and it would return. Brilliant!

Cliff’s wrist (scaphoid broken in Tasmania 18 months ago) seems to have completely healed at last. He suffered no pain from it throughout the weekend, and enjoyed every moment. He barely says a word, is always ready to go, always fuelled up, never causes a problem, grins from ear to ear. Ideal member.

Dave Ward and Ian Payne rode with us to Mitta Mitta before heading back to Bright to sleep overnight and return to Melbourne on Sunday. Dave had work commitments and Ian family commitments. Ian was also unwell, ultimately being admitted to hospital via ambulance with pneumonia 2 am Monday morning and released the following Wednesday. He had been feeling crook for about three weeks with a virus, but refused to be cowed. Typical bloke stuff. He is much relieved to know the cause of his poor health, worried that it may have been “age” and the possibility of his next bike being a cruiser, possibly a Harley.

Stoimen was looking for shortcuts from day one, not used to sustained periods in the saddle. I figured his endurance level consisted of 10 laps of Phillip Island followed by a 45 minute break. His bike’s suspension was also set up for the track and was way too hard for the road, pounding him mercilessly. It was only when he got home that he realised that both rebound and compression damping at front and rear were at the extreme hard end of the scale. It must have been a very long weekend for him. He suggested that he had nearly recovered a week later. And he is pretty fit, riding the push bike to work, swimming, etc. Not that you could detect any drop off in skill. The bike responded to being ridden hard and fast which saw him up the front all too soon. When it was explained to him on about Day 2 that he could pass at anytime and wait at the next intersection, he was much pleased, removing an unneeded level of frustration. We are all here to have fun.

I took the preceding Friday and post ride Wednesday off to attend to bike maintenance. Near new Pilot Powers (tyres) all round on Friday and precautionary chain adjustment saw the bike ready. As expected, tyre wear was extreme, particularly on the Rosewood to Tumut, and Tumut to Bondo sections. The 750 km on the first day including Granya Gap, and the brilliant Mitta Mitta roads also took their toll. The rear tyre took a beating, with even wear all the way around. Replaced on Wednesday. Also did an oil and filter change. Front tyre did Trev’s Lancefield ride the following week before needing replacement, chopped out on the right hand side due to the road camber. Cam chain now ticking more than ever, one on order from Redwing.

Evening meals were now an eat-out option only. First and second nights we piled into Ron and Sarah’s blue van and headed to Corryong for tea. In fact, they had disappeared to Albury for a tennis tournament and left everything open. We figured finding the keys in the van was an invitation to use it.

The good first “lower” pub was booked solid Saturday night and we couldn’t get in so headed for the pub on the main street which was full of bikie types including a table of patched outlaws and another with the QL Club. We filled up the fourth table. After a while I started to recognise a few of the QL riders, in particular ex-member, Tony Gustus. He still has his XJ900, now with 360,000 km on the odometer. No thought of upgrading. He notes it is onto its second cam chain.

Sunday night we ate at the lower pub and enjoyed excellent cuisine. Monday night saw Ron and Sarah cook us a BBQ and share a meal with us. It was brilliant. Sarah’s home made bread was very more-ish. It was surprising how much pressure was relieved, knowing that someone else was organising tea. It was all looked after. There was no time pressure to get “home”. Consequently, we had quite long breaks on the road, a nice sleep under the trees at Adaminaby just after lunch.

Day 1: Yarck, Mansfield, Myrtleford, Mitta Mitta, Dartmouth, Granya, Walwa, Towong.

Day 2: Khancoban, Jindabyne, Charlottes Pass, Dalgety, Adaminaby, Cabramurra, Towong

Day 3: Jingellic, Tumbarumba, Tumut, Bondo, Tumut, Tumbarumba, Elliot Way, Cabramurra, Towong

Day 4: Walwa, Granya, Tallangatta, Eskdale, Myrtleford, Whitfield, Mansfield, Yarck

Home to home for me was around 2340 km. Each day we arrived back to camp at around 5 pm, usually on the road by 9 am except for the last day when Stoimen’s 5 am shaving and walking around got the better of the other sleepers and we were on the road by 7.35 am.

Ern tended to do his own thing, off visiting people and getting back earlier, having a few quiet ones, and soaking up the serenity. He’d come for the first section of the day and then make his own way. Having a home base allows people to tailor the day’s activities to suit themselves. We would all meet up again at the end of the day and share experiences. And there were plenty.

Ronny was riding the wheels off his poor Bandit. He was following me coming back from Bondo. He was at the limit, grinding away the frame! Of course, I was just cruising, the bike lapping everything up. Ronny was having 3 or 4 close calls a day – that he mentioned. Either he gets a more sport oriented bike, slows down, or crashes big time. But he certainly livens up the evening conversations.

The Yamaha’s were consuming oil and the levels had to be checked regularly. The rest of the riders didn’t even bother looking at the sight windows. Stoimen asked me to acquire a 100 ml of oil at the Whitfield servo on the last day – a pretty small amount - $2. He went and got another 300 ml. Stoimen and Tony would ritually each night top up their bikes with oil. The undercover garage area was the defacto post ride meeting place, Paul acquiring a slab on the first night and needing help to clean it up.

The weather was excellent, 31 degrees for the first two days – cooler in the mountains – and a few degrees less on the next two days. It was 16 deg when we got back to Melbourne, quite a shock. Endless blue skies were the order of the day and no compromises to the routes were required. And of course we made excellent time with the skilled, tight knit group, allowing plenty of extended breaks.

Ben Warden