Trip Report – Australia Day Ride, Snowy Mountains

Honda CBR929	Ben Warden	Suzuki Bandit 1200	Ron Johnston
Magna Wagon	Julie Warden	Red Commodore	Julie Johnston
Suzuki GSXR1000	Lyn Duncan	Kawasaki ZX12R	Jason Peters
Triumph 955i	Ern Reeders	Kawasaki ZX10	Danny Hawker
Suzuki GSXR1000	Brett Stuart	Kawasaki ZX6	Darryn Webster
Honda CBR1000	Paul Southwell	Suzuki GSXR750/ute	Clint Vertigan
Honda Blackbird	Peter Feistl	Suzuki GSXR600/ute	Dave Ward
Suzuki GSXR1000	Danny Hasnat	MV Augusta Brutale	Bronwyn Manifold
Honda CBR900	Shane Hindle	15 bikes, 4 cars	17 people

Pulling into Yea for juice on the way back home, the servo was clogged with Harleys of 57 varieties. In fact, the whole four days had been thick with them as Jindabyne hosted some 750 members of HOG (aka, Harley Owners Group). Strangely there weren’t many hogs among these-well dressed and often greying folk. Makes you wonder what you have to do to be an outlaw these days. These HOGgers rode sedately and offered some amusing opportunities for slalom practice at speed.

Our four days were again based at Ron and Sarah’s cottages at Towong and benefited again from their genial hospitality. A record 17 riders took part in the outing with the overflow housed up the road at The Ridge. The weather was hot, as usual. Damp northerly winds provided unusually high levels of humidity, giving us good practice at sweating into our helmets, dipping into the pool or river and re-hydrating with foaming electrolyte-rich substances. Lyn led the way with instant cooling off by dipping into the Tumut River on the Elliot Way with leather pants left on. Next day she had to hose the mud out of the legs.

Day one saw the usual route followed but with Dartmouth Dam left out in deference to the weather and with a novel swing through Mudgegonga on the way to Rosewhite. Ronnie’s rear tyre sprang a leak by Mitta Mitta and the patch didn’t last so he pillioned with Dave Ward on his 600. That was something to see: a flying beanpole through Granya Gap with Dave’s style barely cramped by his passenger. That night Ronnie retrieved the bike with Jason’s help driving wife Julie’s car with the spare bike wheel. The car ran out of fuel on the way back leaving Jason stranded without food or water. After scavenging 20 litres of fuel in a jerry can from their host Mark at The Ridge – all the service stations were closed – Ben drove him back to collect Jason some 62 km back, arriving back at camp around 11.30 pm.

A blown headgasket on his newly acquired cage completed his trifecta of bad luck.

(Ron started the 650 km day ride with low tread and it lasted 300 km. Being a race tyre and very thin, the plugs wouldn’t take. The “red” car ran out of petrol possibly because it had a leak in the tank and issues with the fuel gauge sender unit. His normal “blue” car’s air-conditioning wasn’t working properly. The red car wasn’t going anywhere with a blown head gasket so Ron rode home and retrieved the blue car and trailer in record time. On the way home he dropped his bike while mounting. …Ed.)

Day two brought the usual anti-clockwise circuit of the Snowies with the roads drying early in the morning from an overnight shower. Shane decided on a close inspection of some snow gums at speed. That earned him a shot of morphine and a trip in a fast van, some x-rays and several boring days in Cooma Hospital. (I wasn’t bored when I was there last but then I’d just been born). Two broken ribs and a lot of bruising (the total as I write) means he won’t be watching comedies for a while. His Fireblade suffered badly in the plastics department but seemed structurally OK.

For the rest of us, the ride into higher altitudes provided welcome relief from the heat even if the sweat inside our leathers turned somewhat clammy.

Day three brought some fast and furious riding on the Rosewood road en route to Tumut. From there the group did a loop to take advantage of a little used road that owed its existence more to industry politics than transport planning. I gave up that pleasure to precede the rest on the planned return route to Tumbarumba, Elliot Way, Cabramurra and home. Ten minutes of rain on the twisties down to Tumut River slowed me down and avoided a pinch by a mobile radar unit. Lack of room to turn a car probably saved those following me from the same fate.

A number of riders swapped bikes during the day and that generated some serious comparative analysis in the ride post-mortem back at the cottages. Paul may now have to use the fine range of excuses we developed to explain to spouses why the current ride needs to be replaced – cheap life insurance (because it’s safer; yeah right), economy in the long run (‘cos when all the mods or repairs have been done they’ll amount pretty much to the value of a new bike), etc. etc.

That evening the heavens opened, and hell as well, judging by all the lightning. Lyn’s dog Thor found that he could after all negotiate the stairs to Ron and Sarah’s and get some comforting. Luckily, at the pub, the dinner was just put on the table before the power went off. Without power, there was no water or light at the cottages. Our hosts brought around kero lamps and wine and the yarning went on for some time.

Day four meant a return to the big smoke with some good riding to take the mind off the heat and humidity.

(Each evening after the ride was a tyre changing extravaganza as we now have full tyre changing facilities care of Ron Johnston (compressor and supply of second hand race tyres), Cliff (bead breaker) and Danny Hawker (wheel balance). When the hydraulic jack failed Ben provided the scissor jack from the Magna.

No power meant three bikes with new tyres but no air: Ben’s front, Peter and Danny Hasnat’s rears. It was agreed that if the power hadn’t returned by 11 pm we would worry about it the next day. It didn’t return till about 11.30 pm which would mean a later than planned departure time. But highly skilled tyre mechanic Danny Hawker returned early next morning with all the wheels full of air and balanced. Much appreciated by all. Thanks Danny. …Ed.)

I left early and in the valley encountered mist suffused by the pink light of dawn. By nine, the King River plains were already starting to bake. Back in Melbourne the weather was tropical and it seemed a hose was barely needed to clean the bike.

Many thanks to Ben for his meticulous organisation of the ride, to Julie Warden for generously organising the food, and to Bron and Jason for rear riding.

Ern Reeders