General Category > LONG DISTANCE RIDING, Proper preparation, Safety and Tips
OzSTOC SS1600K - the wrap up.....
Streak:
same as Gadget!
Brock:
:popcorn :popcorn :popcorn :popcorn :beer :popcorn :popcorn :beer :beer :popcorn :popcorn :hatwave
johnnyYTED:
:dred11
here's my certificate,, RR to follow.
:runyay
Gadget:
Part 2: The inward journey
Right, refuel, pay, get docket, note Odo, write Odo on fuel docket, munch, drink, look around for other riders and see the bikes all lined up at Bullocky Bills Cafe down the road. Being a marginally social guy I weighted up jumping back on or going down to see if I could have a quick catch up and see how everyone was going. To my surprise, I saw Growly Pops Trike parked out front and a small gathering inside. Well now came time to make some decisions. Was I tired, No. Was I comfortable to continue, Yes. Do I extend this break seeing as I made it down in 9 hours and I knew I could afford and hours delay, Yes I decided, I'd give Streak and Shiney until 12:00 to catch up and then I'd be on my way. By now TJ and Wonbattle had arrived and TJ checked on Streak and Shiney's progress and they were just up the road. TJ, Wombattle waited, made sure they were OK and then went to the dog, took the obligatory photo:
At 12:17 pm we were off on the slab again with TJ leading. We agreed to sit on CH13 UHF and a test of comms on the road soon showed I could be heard by TJ and Wombattle, but I was flat out understanding TJ. It sounded very distorted and I could only occasionally make out a word here or there. At least we had oneway working (better than nothing). Anyway we sat on the speed limit and had an uneventful retuen trip spare my noting the Wind Turbines were all parked on the way back and I figured they had got past peak demand and had shut down to save on wear and tear.
At the start of teh M5/M7 TJ in the lead, nearly changed lines at exactly the wrong time and was about to get stuck on the M5. I remembered Saaz's warning about that the night before and gave TJ a quick Toot of the horn and pointed to the overhead sign which was enough to prevent the extended detour through Sydney.
Along we trundled and soon we were back on Pennant hills road and seemed to catch every red light. At one of them a couple in a convertible took a real interest in TJ's rig. At several sets of lights they made point of pulling up beside him for another look.
Soon we were back on the Newcastle Freeway and I was looking forward to the next stop. Out west with the cold dry air I had been experiencing dry eyes and was too stuffy in the helmet not to let fresh air in, but usually a few minutes of closing all the hatches and I was all good again. Well as we approached the 3ed stop My left eye started to sting and then it REALLY STUNG, my eye teared up so badly and that they were pouring down my cheek. I got some relief if I kept my left eye closed, but in Saturday afternoon traffic up the Freeway and merges I didn't think riding one-eyed was safe, so I opened my eye and though I might just make it to the stop. then all hell broke loose in my eye and my right eye started to go out in sympathy, well I just had to find a stopping point and fortunately I was already in the left lane. Into the safety lane, I flipped open the helmet, ripped off my gloves, grabbed my handerchief from my pocket and wiped my eye and then the corner of my eye. I could see nothing on the handerchief but I was feeling a lot better. I noticed TJ had stopped just up the road to make sure I was OK and gave me a quick call to see what was wrong. I now had I told him relief and I was right to press on the the next stop. Just as I pulled into the lane my the lovely lady of the GPS informed my "In 2 km, take the exit" So close, so far.
Anyway, into the servo, Note the time (4:32 pm), refuelling, chomping and Wombattle kindly offered me a couple of drops of Visine, which rally did the trick and he also gave me sage advice to always carry eye drops for long rides. We decided to take an extended break because we were still making good time and I assessed I was still good to go. This gave Wombattle time to have a Coffee, me a chance to clean the bugs of the visor and Windscreen and finally clean the mirrors after the rain earlier that day. Clean my gleasses and discover a spray of something I presume to be bug guts on the bottom of my lens and I think I have found the source off my left eye from hell a very short time earlier. We discussed if wet weather gear was necessary and thought trousers might prove a handy foil for the impending cooling of the day. At 5:02 pm we were on the bikes and rolling out the drive for the last stint with Wombattle taking point.
As night approached another transmission from TJ and still distorted, I realised my radio was probably transmitting on 25W so I turned it down to 1 W and gave another call and still got a distorted reply, I commented I'd possibly have to re programme my radio to Wideband because it sounded over modulated. The next thing I know is I receive an absolutely crystal clear call from TJ. "What did you do?" I queried, "I turned the volume down" came the reply. I didn't quite understand what exactly he had done, but was so happy to hear him again. Now, I had an opportunity to find out what he was asking and he was after my opinion of how effective his three LED indicators at the back were in the dark. This gave me an opportunity to find what someone else thought of all my reflectors on the rear.
As darkness engulfed I pulled up to the right and slightly to the rear of TJ to take a look at his Infra-red camera screen. I was impressed with the level of detail including being able to see the road and the trees. WOW: The three of us then played a little nut and shell game with 3 bikes on the freeway and talked about what we saw and compared notes and feedback. With Wombattle valiantly illuminating the road ahead on a section of divided road I thought I'd jump up beside him and give him a hand and see how the Narva 90+ compared to the Honda Lights in a Side by Side comparison. Low beam to me didn't seem to be much better, but my High beam seemed to be a brighter white. After about 5 minutes of us dipping our lights for oncoming traffic and and back to high beam, we saw a blinding flash from behind and then a brief moment later heard a little voice say "Have you finished playing with your lights?" with a tone of :p and :grin . We conceded and made room for TJ to come through. Arm the "Photon torpedos Scotty". Even on low beam TJ has a really wide spread or evenly distributed light with an amazing wide angle. I now have a serious case of photon envy. :grin
TJ's set up. The big box front and centre is a video screen for the Infra-red camera.
Before we knew it the temp had dropped to 16 °C again and this time I was toasty warm. Next thing we are at the Kempsey Bypass and a car coming the other way on the divided road which is half a car height lower than the north band section flshed his headlights, TJ and I thought cops ahead, not to worry we are at or below the limit, but eh, just disengage cruise and be prepared to brake if necessary, a few seconds later he flashed his lights again, and three more seconds he did it again. Well TJ, I and Wonbattle all must have thought teh same thing at the same time, as all three of us in unison flashed our headlights back. Needless to say with TJ illuminating about 1.5 km of road up ahead, he didn't bother doing it again. It gave me a good laugh and probably more than it should have.
Before we know it we are off the motorway and onto winding sections of forested single lane dual direction highway and the associated myriad of speed zones and high beam switching. Soon we were at Macksville with less than 100 km to go and I was still feeling alert, just the last 50 km had really started to bother the backside. I was looking forward to stopping.
More road works and more slow sections made it excruciating pain wise and I was able to remain calm entusiasm wise figuring it was much better to plod along than ruin the day with a off or some unwanted :law attention. Before too long, we hit what I knew to be the last 110 km section and we were again able to relax and engage cruise mode. As we entered the last round-about before the finishing point, I asked "Are we there yet?" Ecstatic to have made it this far and grateful for the opportunity.
We pulled in the The servo at 9:28 pm and as I stiffly got off the bike, Wombattle came straight over and shook my hand and congratulated me soon to be followed by TJ and then ST2UP and Pockey to grab Odo reading and the signature to finish. I refuelled had a another big drink of water and then went to pay for the fuel. Inside the attendant was telling a customer who had asked what was happening with all the bikes, so I chipped in and told him what we'd doe and that is was a SS1600k IBA ride. he knew what is was and said "I hope you had an Airhawk!" :grin
Now it was time to go and have a Sausage sizzle prepared by ST2UP and Pockey and a couple of light beers. Then after comparing tales of teh journey, sharing jokes and being inundated with more good advice from the seasoned riders we waited for Streak, Shiney and johnnyYTED to make it. With the really good news that all the little ducks had made it home to roost we had an informal thanking everyone including the participants, and a little award ceremony to get our certificates. It was off to bed for a solid nights sleep.
6:30 hours later I was awake and ready for breakfast. Off we walked to the Surf life Saving Club and had a fanastic breakfast, more good laughs and yarns.
We said our farewells, thanked the motel staff, TJ Shiney and I headed for home. Apart from a stop at Grafton for Shiney and TJ to refuel, it was non-stop to home for me. Near Yatala, Shiney waved goodbye, and I figured he had a hankering for a Yatala Pie. TJ took his exit to the Logan motorway and I continued on to home. I pulled into the garage with my B trip meter sitting on 996 km, having run over to the 2000 mark somewhere south of Coffs. So I am happy to say, a grand total of 2996 km from door to door and a new set of tyres is now well and truly due. :grin
Thanks again everyone who made this possible. I enjoyed it a lot! :thumbsup
Statistics here
http://ozstoc.com/index.php?topic=8053.msg92664#msg92664
Biggles:
Gary has done an excellent job telling the details. My story is similar, without the bug in the eye or the radios. I rolled out in the third group and we found ourselves eventually out in front by sheer dint of saaz' laser lights. And so we cut a swathe through the light rain which fortunately didn't last too long. I wasn't dressed for the cold and figured I would endure until the sun started its job thawing me. It wasn't to be, as the NSW temperatures stayed doggedly in the low teens. I was at the stage of being thankful to ride at 80 rather than 110, which isn't my usual mind-set.
I'm a bit like Gary in the social stakes. And I don't eat much when I'm on a mission, but decided to have a toasted sanger since everyone seemed to be taking the Half-Way turn-around pretty casually.
Called Mrs Biggles to report in and she said- "Oh, I guess you are near Sydney by now." She'd obviously slept through most of the outbound leg and was surprised we were in Gundagai. "So you'll go and visit our daughter in Tumut since you're almost there?" "No dear, this is a pointless ride for the sake of the ride" (as Sargent was later to say). :grin
Anyhoo- a shot of the Dog and off north with saaz and Lionel. At Jilliby we three refuelled and I announced I was going to try this strange business of stopping for coffee. :eek
Lionel couldn't wrap his head around that concept and headed for the finish. Saaz graciously and patiently waited- quite shocked that I'd actually ordered a "drink-in" coffee and not a take-away to drink on the road, as one does on an IBA ride. :-(((
We two managed to get separated near Karuah when he stopped and waved me on, and I stopped soon after in a Rest Area to remove the sunnies and grab a lolly out of the tank bag. It turned out he'd scooted past while I was there, so he arrived at Coffs 5 minutes ahead to register 2nd in the non-race.
For the record, here's the dockets the IBA needs as primary evidence.
While we burned dwindling petrol supplies, ST2UP and Pockey went shopping and back at the Motel around 10:00 pm there was a very welcome BBQ with nibbles and beers thrown in. Many thanks, guys for your thoughtfulness.
Soon after that we were ushered into The Saloon where TJ and Chris had assembled a marvellous array of IBA and OzSTOC gear. More evidence of the thought and effort that went into this whole exercise. TJ presented the certificates to the grateful participants.
The morning brekky on the deck at the Surf Club put the finishing touch to an excellent venture. During the analysis we reached agreement that OzSTOC is something special. Yes, we have the best touring motorcycle in common, but that machine seems to attract the best kind of people and our Club has developed a character all of its own of which we are all delighted to be part.
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