Took a Wrong turn today.....

[Streak]

on my way home from the IBA ride I was chasing town names for one of the OzSTOC Names, and I may have taken a wrong turn....

I headed up East Dorrigo way, some amazing road that I was having a blast on, could not work out why on a Saturday it was so quiet......

Go through to a town called Ulong (the town in the valley the sign said)

had a look around was feeling pretty pleased with myself, saw a sign that said "13km Gravel" looked at the gravel thought it looked ok so I headed on through, thinking that it was bitumen on the other side.....oh how wrong I was, how very wrong...

30km worth of gravel took me over an hour to get through, it all thinned down to single lane steep edges, and no where to turn around, so forward was where I went, with every rock, corrugation, pot hole, logs and branches all teasing to throw me from my STead....

Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/0vmQW



The Map might say 35 mins....they lied 

I took photos as I kept stopping as I was riding in first gear most of the way...unfortunately the photos do not do the road justice...









but in the middle, I found the most amazing views, and got waves from the farmers as I road past on the 500m of really nice gravel! 





Of course when I made it out the other end, I looked back and there was a sign that if at the other end I would have avoided the road....



all in all, an experience, and I proved that you can use an ST1300 as an adventure bike....badly....

[Biggles]

Hey- you would still have gone!  The ST13 isn't that long!

Goodonya for persevering.  The big lady isn't a very good dancer when the floor is tricky, I've also found.

[Streak]

Hey- you would still have gone!  The ST13 isn't that long!

Goodonya for persevering.  The big lady isn't a very good dancer when the floor is tricky, I've also found.

side were very wet and narrow, and I was a bit nervous about trying to turn the bike on the loose gravel, I just kept telling myself the road will get better soon....

[johnnyYTED]

 
  how did you fit that trip in on Saturday,, that would have added to your times for the IBA ride...

[Streak]

  how did you fit that trip in on Saturday,, that would have added to your times for the IBA ride...

lol johhny, that was part of my trip today, made for a very long 600km trip home!

[Biggles]

side were very wet and narrow, and I was a bit nervous about trying to turn the bike on the loose gravel, I just kept telling myself the road will get better soon....

What if it had ended up a valley at a farmer's gate?
Had you thought of that possibility as you forged ahead?

[ST2UP]

Hey Streak.......don't go that way it's a really narrow, winding crappy dirt road that could cause death or even worse at any turn  ......but my XT550 used to love that road in the 80's 


 

[Streak]

Hey Streak.......don't go that way it's a really narrow, winding crappy dirt road that could cause death or even worse at any turn  ......but my XT550 used to love that road in the 80's 


 

Thanks mate! Will keep it in mind! Was it any better in the 80's?

[tj189]

Nice little adventure, now I know why it took you so long to get home 

[Gadget]

Streak,


Where I grew up, that is a 3 lane highway. 

What I learnt growing up on gravel roads is to relax and not tense up.  When you are tense you tend to over correct. 


Glad you made it home.

[Streak]

Streak,


Where I grew up, that is a 3 lane highway. 

What I learnt growing up on gravel roads is to relax and not tense up.  When you are tense you tend to over correct. 


Glad you made it home.

I grew up on these sort of roads as well, but when I was doing that I was on a XR250 dirt bike, I did exactly as you said above just took my time and poked through it all, no point rushing and panicking all I would have done was crashed...so I spent my time having a chuckle at other people in trucks and 4wd looking at me with that look of "what the?" Hahaha

[pault]

looks lik the way i usd go to work.
on the TV tower looking at Coffs

[alans1100]

My GPS is set avoid dirt roads and I get a warning when loading the route if the shortest route has one included. So I change the setting it to suit.

With trip over west in 2016 I'm (only) considering the 200km direct route from Norseman to Hyden (Wave Rock) or the other way depending on the way I go. We've done it by car and the didn't seem that bad.

[Biggles]

With trip over west in 2016 I'm (only) considering the 200km direct route from Norseman to Hyden (Wave Rock) or the other way depending on the way I go. We've done it by car and the didn't seem that bad.

Dirt/gravel can change in a week with weather or heavy vehicles.
I despise corrugations on the bike.  The front end gets the stuffing shaken out of it, with the instrument cluster basically bolted to the shocks.

[Biggles]

And don't get me started on GPS directions.  Going through Sydney on the weekend it wasn't at all happy about the M2/M7 route and kept wanting me to harden up and go through all the traffic and traffic lights.