FarRiders Australia: FarRide #12 to Nambucca Heads

Summary: Nambucca Heads will be a yearly FarRide location, almost like an AGM of sorts. They say: If you can only get to one FarRide a year, make it this one. I attended my first Nambucca Heads Ride-to-Eat in February 2010.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• The Ride Report
• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Conclusion
• Lessons Learnt
• Road and Location Coverage

Introduction

FarRide #12 was posted online on November 05, 2009. This FarRide® is part of the "Ride-To-Eat™" series of the FarRider community. How it works is described on the  FarRide #12 webpage on the  FarRider website. Just quickly: A rider needs to complete 1,000 km ride within 24 hours. The checkpoint closes usually at 12:30, also specifying that the start of the trip cannot occur earlier than 12:31 the day prior. That is it; plain simple.
This "Ride-To-Eat™" was to finish in Nambucca Heads in New South Wales, Australia.

FarRide East #12: Max Arrives on his Burgman 650 Executive at the V Wall Tavern, Nambucca Heads © 2010 Charleen Lovell

When the ride was posted it had a deadline for registration of February 4th, 2010. I thought heaps of time to register and I shall better wait to see what's on in the new year. What I somehow missed was, if the limit of 100 riders was reached prior to the deadline, registration would close earlier. Well, on January 5th, 2010, 97 riders had already registered… ouch  I better register now! So I did. I quickly thought about what type of ride I would do — either an IBA certified ride or a flat 1,000 km — and since the answer was required for the registration I opted for the 1,000 km. This turned out to be the right decision, because I took the long way round to Nambucca Heads, via a bunch of IBEM towns long the way. Sweet!

FarRide East #12: Aerial view of the White Albatross Holiday Resort at Nambucca Heads

The Ride Report

Day 1: Friday

Toowoomba Town Sign

I took Friday off to cater for a nice morning, breakfast on the deck, walking the dogs, and packing my bike — a Suzuki Burgman 650 Executive — with a handful of things I though I need for the three days out and about. The auxiliary fuel tank was almost filled up to the max., meaning I would need hardly any fuel at my start location: Blacksoil, on the Warrego Highway, not far from Ipswich (QLD). Blacksoil seems to be the perfect start location — in particular for time-constrained rides, such as the IBA rides; most of the buzz of the city of Brisbane and neighbouring Ipswich is left behind

My start docket showed 11:32 — yes, you get that but filling up the bike, and then ask for the time on the cash register system, and wait until the clock ticks over (here past 11:30), and then pay. And off I went. 16 litres of extra fuel should make for a long 500 km ride, until the next fuel stop would be required.

Toowoomba was my first stop — I actually hate stopping — but then I like to take the odd photo, as well as take photos from the IBEM towns along the way, until I have visited them all. And yes, Toowoomba was the first IBEM town along the way. The weather was great, with temperatures rising from 26 to 30 °C.

I had this old clunker of a car in front of me that seemed to play road-block. You know, the ones that won't let you split lanes to go past them. The dual lane road added a right turn lane, I moved to the right and he blocked my way, just to pull left and go past this fool. He seemed very agitated about his defeat. Oh well, this is just the sort of people one can do without; it was satisfying nevertheless. 

Goondiwindi was next on the map. 223 km later I arrived there; the temperature had risen to 36 °C. 9 km later I was in Boggabilla, like Goondiwindi, another IBEM town I had to document. Yes, I have been here before, but back then I did not know about the IBEM challenge.
The weather was interesting again; heavy rain in the east, and nothing on my way… I think…

The Lucky Gap: Rain on the left, rain on the right, nothing in the middle!

Moree was just another 115 km down the road, but the skies decided to generate different colour scheme: rain clouds. This was very interesting to watch. The relatively stationary clouds in the east got darker and darker, while a storm front was forming in the west. What was interesting about it? This was the 3–5 km band of blue and bright sky between it.

So here I ride, knowing that deviating from the southern direction will require the wet gear to cope. It was after Moree (another IBEM town) that I decided the wetsuit was the gear fo choice; just in case. On my way to Narrabri it started raining and then bucketing down rain for some 50 km. A thunderstorm called the Mount Kaputar National Park mountains home; it was quite a spectacle to watch. The rain eased into Narrabri, where I refuelled 26.5 l — almost 5 l left to spare… good for another 100 km of road.

It was 18:54 NSW time; the servo's time was out by 15 minutes! I had a little break of 10 minutes and a muesli bar. The road to Boggabri (yes, another IBEM location) became more interesting, presenting a few nice bends along the way. Despite heading south-south-east, I still privileged to enjoy the gap with favourable weather in the sky; I also knew it would not last for much longer. I had some drizzle here and there along the way. I was now heading towards Gunnedah (IBEM locus); the sky broke clear in the south, while the thunderstorms played their power in the east. What a sight!

When I arrived in Gunnedah I did not see a town sign , but decided to take the sign of the local diesel shop. The next thing I see is a motel on the left. I smelled lots of rain, and took my chances to call it a day with a chance of less rain the next early morning. I parked the bike in front of the office, paid for the night, was turning on my heal, when … the sky opened wide and the rain was pelting down. Alright, I said to myself, let's check out the room. The owner offered me to park the bike under the porch, which I kindly declined for two reasons: 1. the bike is waterproof and 2. there was quite a step to get up under the porch, more than my bike's underbody would have tolerated.

I took a decent shower and went to bed, the clock was set for 05:30.

Day 2: Saturday

Oxley Highway; My Starting Point Near Bendemeer

"Rise and shine" the next morning was straight forward: hopping into the motorcycle gear, and off to the next road. I was really looking forward to the next part of the journey: the Oxley Highway. I first passed through Tamworth — I offered my assistance to a rider on the roadside, only to learn it was Gaggs, changing his visor to sunny mode. Gees, this seemed very optimistic to me. 

Off I go … "up the Moonbies on to the New England Highway. I like this part of the road. It climbs up to the dizzying height of 1,800 metres — quite high for this country — and the road has some great sweepers to keep a rider interested. Much better than the long straights of the Newell" Highway I rode yesterday.
[Text in quotes snatched from fellow FarRider Clint Lovell.]

Bendemeer was next on the map: the start for me on the Oxley Highway.

This was another welcomed change of landscape. I saw this sign we all like: twisties next 65 km! Yeah, this looks like fun. I was sitting on 103 km/h in the early bits, when I was overtaken by a bunch of bikes, one had the license plate OX-34; I thought I do remember this sign, one FarRider has it has forum name. Well, this got me thinking, maybe 3 over is not the right setting, and pushed the RES button twice. Each push increases the set speed of my McCruise cruise control by 2 km/h. I still lost sight of the bunch, only to catch them later down the Oxley Highway.

As I said:65 km of corners… and I have to admit I became a bit impatient with the bunch of bikes in front of me, and eventually pulled past one after the other. I now understand why this road is loved by many. It is a veryy nice and twisty road. It offers beautiful scenery! This road is also one of the 200 top rides in the Australian Motorcycle Atlas: ride number 30.

It was time for a petrol refuel in Wauchope. Shortyl before, I had my mueslli bar breakfast, and here the bike got some petrol. Crappy, another FarRider showed up here too.

My idea was to ride to Kempsey, and from there via Taylors Arm to Macksville (AMA-200 Route #34). I must have missed the exit, because I kept going straight to Nambucca Heads, eventually arriving at the V Wall Tavern.

This was the official reason for the ride: a Ride-to-Eat™, organised by the FarRiders Australia.

White Albatross Holday Park at Nambucca Heads. Here my Accommodation for the Night.

Ripped Storm Cover form the MotoDry Luggage Rollbag

I spent the rest of the day and night at location. I had rented a van for the night — did not notice any wheels though 

When I parked my Suzuki Burgman 650 Executive in front of my accommodation, I noticed that the "storm-cover" did not withstand the storms experienced. The way I see it, the seam thread must have caught up with the zipper hook and dismantled itself. Well, does't look like the best brand to me. A bit flimsy I'd say.

And I made another discovery: When I put the bike on the centre stand it wobbled a bit. This is something I noticed aerlier, at the fuel stop in Wauchope, and again when I arrived at the V Wall Tavern. Now was the time for a closer inspection.

Burgman 650 Executive Centre Stand: right hand side, with lost bolt. A bodged service job!

It turned out that one of the bolts securing the centre stand on the engine block vanished. What a coincidence; this happens after my workshop removed the centre stand to grease the bushings. The mechanic did either not use the right torque or LocTite to secure the bolts — whichever it was that should have happened. This was the final straw for me to ditch the workshop. Every time I had a service I had to return at least once to fix issues they had created, or not addressed! I cancelled my workshop appointment I had with them for the following Wednesday.

Later in the evening I watched the weather forecast on TV, and they said heavy rain and flooding along the coast for the next day. Easy decision: ride inland 

Day 3: Sunday

I had a good night sleep, leaving bed at 05:00. There was not much to pack, and 15 minutes later I was on the bike and on my way to Dorrigo — yes, another IBEM town! It was raining, and I was thinking, whether to take the long way or short way along the coast back to Brisbane; rain is rain after all. Common FarRider sense prevailed and I took the long way. 

The Newell Falls, Waterfall Way

The road to Dorrigo via Bellingen is number 36 of the AMA-200. My initial plan was to ride to Armidale and then to Grafton, to cover the full length of another AMA-200 road, number 120. Since this was also a sort of sight-seeing trip, and with the rain at hand there was not much seeing, I gave it a miss and turned right to Tyringham via Bostobrick. That way I rode half of top 200 roads number 120: the Waterfall Way — logically it does not count as "road completed" though.

The Waterfall Way to Grafton was another very nice and memorable piece of road. It runs between the Chaelundi and Nymboi-Binderay National Parks. I only saw one motorcyclist between Bellingen and Grafton, and hardly any cars. Sure, the early riding time, around 05:15 in the morning has helped the cause of solitude.

The Mann River (Gwydir Highway, S29 32.328 E152 27.879)

I refuelled the bike in Grafton and visited a acquaintance at a nearby holiday park. He has a permanent "shed" there, enjoying running a 90k$ water-ski-tow-boat up and down the river. After a nice chat I wanted to continue to Glenn Innes along the Gwydir Highway.
Little did I know the Gwydir Highway: another beautiful motorcycle road!

The photo above shows a part of the Mann River. It was drizzling at the time. The clouds were hanging low. It was quiet and traffic was almost non-existent.

Then the fun started! In a matter of 18 minutes and over 21 km the twisties brought me from 100 m AMSL to 1,000 m AMSL! It must be a great road when you see the road snake four times on my Gamin zumo 550 ( GPSr) screen.  On that: Yes, while one should not rely on the GPSr, it was quite nice to see where the road was going on the GPSr, without being able to see where the actual road is going. It allowed for a faster speed around the corners… yes, common sense should prevail and has prevailed when going around corners without actually seeing the full length. I was still able to evade the odd rock fall along the way.

Gibraltar Range (Gwydir Highway): From 100 m to 1,000 m in 18 minutes over 21 km (coloured cyan)

The image above also shows how the actual road differs from what the GPSr thinks it it should be. Green is what the GPSr expects, and cyan is the actual track.
It was here, half way between Grafton and Glenn Innes, high up in the Gibraltar ranges, when I rode through the clouds, the drizzle stopped and hey: I had nice weather from here on. Riding inland! Yes, this was the right decision.

It was only now that I realised I have heated grips!  The Drizabone™ over-gloves did not withstand the occasional downpour of rain, and the summer gloves I wore under them were damp. The cruise control allowed me to rest the palm on the grips and let the fingers "fly" in the wind to dry the moisture. But as we know, moisture and wind provides a cooling experience, and up on the Gibraltar Range, with an ambient temperature of 19 °C, and a moving speed of 100 km/h, the temperature drops by 10 °C. This made the "drying" process a rather unpleasant experience. So what's about the heated grips? Well, these are electronically controlled, and kick in when the ambient temperature is under 15 °C. What I forgot was the temperature selection dial! I cranked it up to 10/12 and hey, the heat came on. How nice was that! The combination of heat from below and wind from above dried the gloves in an hour. Again, how cool is that?! Anyway, I like it.

10 km East of Glenn Innes

I made my way through Glenn Innes; right-turn onto the New England Highway to Tenterfield. This is the place with the huge Granite marbles along the road between Deepwater and Bungulla. In Tenterfield I turned right onto the Bruxner Highway to Tabulam. Right in between these two towns is the Girard State Forrest with nice twisties. Yes, I love this road too and have ridden this one before. I took a little break and had another muesli bar.

Snack Break in the Girard State Forest on the Bruxner Highway (looking west)

The little town of Tabulam is just across the bridge over the Clarence River. Just before the town's centre is a little road to the left. It is the Bottle Creek Road which runs along the Bottle Creek. The road is in good condition, but it has some pot hole stretches. These are actually fun and serve as a good practice for reaction time and bike turning speed. I did not hit a hole, despite being at the fast end.  This road joins the Woodenbong Road after 11 km.

Bottle Creek Road Shortly After Tabulam

The Bonalbo to Urbenville Road is always fun; so on the day!

Bonalbo–Urbenville Road

Gees, the fellow below almost ran me off the road!
No, of course I am kidding.  I saw this letterbox along the way on the Mount Lindsay Highway, corner Hardgrave Road. Yes, at the twisties passing Mount Barney.

Steel Cow Letterbox

Conclusion

All in all a nice ride for a Sunday, covering some 750 km within a relaxing 12-hour window. The total distance was almost 2,000 km over three days. Or ~875 km on day 1, ~300 km on day 2, ~750 km on day 3.

Lessons Learnt

I also learned a lot. In fact this trip was a test — after installing all the farkles in December 2009 — for any longer, away-from-home trip, such as any IBA certified rides or my upcoming Around Australia. I need a well serviced bike and cannot afford to accept the work of shonky workshops. Where do you get a bolt in the middle of nowhere? Or loose the bloody centre stand while riding, possibly running over it and damaging the bike. Not funny! 

The same applies for the riding gear. The diving hood I used to waterproof me from the elements worked like a charm. I was absolutely dry, were it not for the Drizabone™ overgloves that basically failed to keep the gloves dry. Gloves, once soaked, take days to dry in dry and warm weather, and even longer in a wet and cold climate. I have addressed this weakness by ordering a pair of  "Rain-Off" Genuinely 100% Waterproof Motorcycle Overgloves from New Zealand.

The auxiliary fuel tank was not breathing as expected. I had to open the cap of the auxiliary tank to let petrol flow into the tank. I have already addressed this. Two solutions presented themselves:

1. Remove the pressure control valve (PCV) at the auxiliary tank and let it breath freely; or
2. Close-off the tube connected to the stock PCV.

The storm cover for the luggage rollbag: If I pack all gear in sealable plastic bags — most of the stuff I had packed this way, which kept dry — I can do without the cover. This makes it also easier to access the auxiliary fuel tank filler neck.

Last but not least: my McCruise Control! Yeah, what a nice piece of equipment! Nothing to worry about, no monitoring of speed; set it and forget it. Yes, there is still manual throttle control; e.g. slowing down before and accelerating quickly after a town or speed limit; but after that it is truly "set and forget".
I also figured it maintains speed better then I do. And in the case of riding with overgloves: it is harder to maintain the grip, at least with the Drizabone™ gloves I had at the time. The grip was slipping under these gloves quite significantly. And I noticed a difference in cruise control use with overgloves: while I used the cruise control regularly, I also used it for the slightest speed changes; e.g. 60 to 70 to 80 to 100 km/h by pushing the SET and RES buttons once per 2 km/h change. A 10 km/h change required the button to be pressed 5×, and because the cruise control maintained speed better than I did with the overgloves.
It sounds silly, but counting to five, as in pushing the button for 5× (each push equals 2 km/h for a difference of 10 km/h), is far easier, far more accurate, and far more efficient than "than cancel the set speed", "twist the throttle to hit the new speed spot on", "lock the new speed".

Road and Location Coverage

Bear Rides

The term "Bear Rides" refers to the "200 Top Rides" listed in the "Australian Motorcycle Atlas" (4th Edition) by Peter Thoeming. My aim is to travell them all.  I have travelled the roads listed below as part of this trip:

IBEM Locations

The IBEM locations are listed in the song "I've Been Everyhwere Man". It was written by Geoff Mack©, as sung by Lucky Starr in 1962. May aim here is to visit all locations listed in the song during my motorcycle journeys. I have visited the locations below during this trip:

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