Author Topic: Shiney’s 2013 Rally Ride Part 1 of 3  (Read 3832 times)

Online Shiney

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Shiney’s 2013 Rally Ride Part 1 of 3
« on: September 07, 2013, 09:52:12 PM »
Sorry this has taken me so long :fp but I have finally finished my ride report :runyay
I put a lot of effort into this so I hope everyone likes it :-[



Shiney’s 2013 Rally Ride
This is part 1 of a 3 part epic adventure

Part 1      The Ride Down
(aka: The origins of the “Dave, Dave, Dave and Duncan Crew”)


My national rally experience was very similar to that of Streaks but here goes anyway…

This ride for me was a massive undertaking and an opportunity for an epic adventure, you see I had only been on a couple of big distance rides on a motorcycle.

In 2011 I rode from Strathpine in Queensland to Moree in NSW on my old 1990 ST1100 with the wife on the back, a total of around 500 km.



The next big ride was in 2012, again the starting point was Strathpine in QLD and this time the destination was Inverell in NSW, a total of around 500 km (wife stayed at home).
The major difference on this ride was that I was doing it with an awesome club I had only joined 10 months earlier and I was on a new bike, a beautiful blue 2004 ST1300.




After this ride I was in a bit of pain and decided that in the future I would have to restrict the time between brakes to around 1 hour.

Anyway that was a while back so when I decided to attend the 2013 OzSTOC National Rally I started to get ready, I did this by making some comfort modifications to the beast (highway blades, handlebar riser, custom seat) and exercising a bit.

With all that the only thing left to do was go for a few practice rides (around 500 km long to get used to the average distance that would be travelled each day on the ride to SA) Gaz tagged along for the ride to give a bit of moral support and for the fun :)




Now while I had been getting ready for the adventure my riding partner / navigator / coach for the ride (Streak) had planned the whole trip and organised for us to catch up with a few of the awesome OzSTOC members on the way. (What a legend)


So the day to leave my place finally came and I loaded the bike, said goodbye to the wife (Carrol) and headed off to Toowoomba with nervous excitement, this would be the longest trip I had ever done and the furthest I had ever been from home.

The ride to Streak’s was without incident, just a nice easy cruise. Stayed the night talking about the bikes and the trip, had a good dinner and an early night and then it was the next day and time to start the journey.

The Ride Begins

Day one
Toowoomba QLD to Tamworth NSW, total of approximately 508 km.

Left Streaks place early and headed to Warwick to meet up with Cerebral Kneviel (Duncan) *Now known as "The Silver Fox"




We had a coffee and a chat then rode on to lunch at ST2UP’s place where we had an awesome lunch and a coffee or two from an amazing little coffee making machine.

Then onwards to Tamworth, we met up with Steveo at a servo and he led us to our stop for the night.



Streak and I setup camp at the Paradise Caravan Park while Duncan checked in to the motel he would be staying at, once that was all done we met up with Steveo again and had nice dinner at an Asian joint opposite the camp ground.
After a feed and a bit of a chat it was time for bed.

Day one done with plenty of rest stops along the way feeling good :)

2013 OzSTOC Rally As Seen From Shiney's STeed Day 1


Day two
Tamworth NSW to West Wyalong NSW, total of approximately 610 km.

Up early at 05:30 made coffee for Streak and I then packed the tent, or as Streak has named it, the Taj Mahal. Then it was time to start the biggest day of riding I had ever done.



We headed off to Coonabarabran and had a great bacon, eggs and coffee breakfast.
Then as we were leaving Streak told me he was going to get a photo outside the Post Office for FarRiders and that I should lead for a while, so off we went… Streak caught up a short time later and advised he hadn’t gotten the photo as he couldn’t get a park outside the building.

We continued the ride and met up with Abe in Parks NSW. After a bit of a bite to eat and a chat we continued along (with a stop here and there) till we pulled up in West Wyalong at Tony’s house.



And WOW what a reception, Tony’s wife Jeanette (Pit Stop) met us when we pulled in with cold beer, an awesome home cooked feast on the stove and trifle for desert.
We had a great time relaxing on a nice comfy couch in air conditioned comfort and had a few laughs, some time later Tony got home from work and joined in on the fun.
On a side note, this is where we became known as the “Dave, Dave, Dave and Duncan crew”
What an awesome place I want to visit again :)



Anyway that was day 2 the longest day I had ever done on the bike and amazingly I was feeling great :)

2013 OzSTOC Rally As Seen From Shiney's STeed Day 2



Day three
West Wyalong NSW to Mildura VIC, total of approximately 550 km.

Woke up to a great breakfast of home cooked bacon and eggs, coffee, and awesome company. What a great way to start the day!



After saying our goodbyes it was time to hit the road again. We rode to Goolgowi where we met up with Sabie on his beautiful blue ST1300 :) taking our number to 5 thus completing our ride group.



We continued on for a while and stopped for a coffee and a fuel just before the legendary Hay Plains. The coffee was the hottest coffee I had ever burnt the crap out of my mouth with, Streak agreed. We asked the attendant if we could add some cold milk to the coffees to cool them down to a temp that they could be sipped, the bloke appeared to take offence saying they had been made to regulation temp but he relented and we cooled them down.



After recovering from the coffee it was time to ride the Hay Plains… I had heard from many people about how the Hay Plains is the most boring bit of road to travel as it is dead flat, straight and nothing to see…
Well it is amazingly flat but there is a few slight bends, and lots of road works to relieve the boredom :)









We made it through and stopped at a rest stop on the other side, had a chat to a couple travelling around in a campervan and got a photo.



Then we rode to our destination for the night, the Big 4 Caravan Park in Mildura VIC where we stayed in a couple of cabins.
After relaxing for a while we headed out to dinner at the Gateway Tavern with the local OzSTOC members, Octane and Lonerider.

That was it for day 3, we had been extending the time between stops and I was still feeling fine, all the prep for the trip had been paying off :)

2013 OzSTOC Rally As Seen From Shiney's STeed Day 3



Day four
Mildura VIC to Middleton SA, total of approximately 425 km.

It was the final leg of the journey to the Rally and so we loaded the bikes and headed off. First was getting through the veg & fruit checkpoint (a new experience for me), we made it through without anyone having to unpack the bikes even though Streak told them we had fruit (or something like that :think1) we stopped on the other side and got a photo or two at the border.





After this as we were cruising along I got to observe the impact protection of the Shark Evoline 3 when a bird flew into Streaks helmet without him even noticing (I did, feathers went everywhere) then it was a seemingly never ending lot of road works, dropping our speed from 110 to 80 and in some areas 25… but we eventually passed them all and hit some awesome roads leading into Middleton.

Well we made it to the Middleton Caravan Park



We met up with Stinkypete (one of the SA members) and my wife who had flown down.

All in all the trip down had been an amazing little adventure for me, and all the guys that rode with me were (and I’m sure still are) brilliant blokes that were a pleasure to do the trip with, I would ride with them again any time, thanks guys.

So the whole trip down was approximately 2093 km making this the longest trip I had ever done on a motorcycle. I learnt a number of tricks to improve comfort and time in the saddle and by the time we reached Middleton I was well in the swing of distance riding (for me anyway. I’m not up to the FarRider abilities yet)

2013 OzSTOC Rally As Seen From Shiney's STeed Day 4


So that was the trip to the OzSTOC 2013 National Rally from my point of view.


Be sure to check out the next instalment:
Part 2      The Rally (aka: ANTS!)
« Last Edit: September 07, 2013, 11:11:16 PM by Shiney »
My Ride: 2023 ST1800   :thumb
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Offline Abe

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Re: Shiney’s 2013 Rally Ride Part 1 of 3
« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2013, 07:09:54 AM »
Excellent job once again.   :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup
At my age " getting lucky" is remembering what I came in the room for ;)

:wht13      Cheers Dave
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Offline Neale

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Re: Shiney’s 2013 Rally Ride Part 1 of 3
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2013, 08:45:15 AM »
Thoroughly entertaining account of events. Noticed you partaking of Tonys favourite, the yellow barbed wire, a good drop, even if it is 4X.  :thumbsup
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Online Wild Rose

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Re: Shiney’s 2013 Rally Ride Part 1 of 3
« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2013, 09:02:46 AM »
Awesome  :thumb
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Offline sargent

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Re: Shiney’s 2013 Rally Ride Part 1 of 3
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2013, 09:44:34 AM »
A good read, another great trip down memory lane also.
Bring on Chapter 2.. :popcorn
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Offline Sicman

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Re: Shiney’s 2013 Rally Ride Part 1 of 3
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2013, 10:07:41 AM »
Well written Shiney  :clap :thumbs
Cheers
Tony
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Offline tj189

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Re: Shiney’s 2013 Rally Ride Part 1 of 3
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2013, 11:41:26 AM »
Nice write up so far, set yourself a good standard  :thumbs thanks for sharing .....well where are the other parts  :whistle
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Offline Streak

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Re: Shiney’s 2013 Rally Ride Part 1 of 3
« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2013, 12:27:35 PM »
Great write up so far mate, glad to be aboard on this trip!
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Offline Biggles

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Re: Shiney’s 2013 Rally Ride Part 1 of 3
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2013, 01:00:13 PM »
Good to read another perspective.  A timely refresher halfway between National Runs.    :thumb
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Online Shiney

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Re: Shiney’s 2013 Rally Ride Part 1 of 3
« Reply #9 on: September 08, 2013, 06:11:08 PM »
Thanks guys, I'm glad you enjoyed part one :thumbsup
I was going to give it a while until posting part two, but :think1 since people are keen to read it I'll post it up later tonight :grin

Thanks for reading :-++

Cheers
Shiney
My Ride: 2023 ST1800   :thumb
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I like shiney things :grin
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Offline Cerebral Knievel

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Re: Shiney’s 2013 Rally Ride Part 1 of 3
« Reply #10 on: September 08, 2013, 08:17:19 PM »
Nice work Shiney. Good memories  :wink1
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Offline Sabie

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Re: Shiney’s 2013 Rally Ride Part 1 of 3
« Reply #11 on: September 09, 2013, 11:02:43 PM »
I got a mention  :eek .....I'm famous... :hatwave

Nice job Shiney......good write up great photos  :thumb
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Online Shiney

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Re: Shiney’s 2013 Rally Ride Part 1 of 3
« Reply #12 on: September 10, 2013, 12:02:05 AM »
Nice work Shiney. Good memories  :wink1

I got a mention  :eek .....I'm famous... :hatwave

Nice job Shiney......good write up great photos  :thumb

Thanks guys, it was a pleasure riding with you both (the 4th D and the Famous Sabie) :-++ :-++ :-++
My Ride: 2023 ST1800   :thumb
OzSTOC #104   STOC# 8512   IBA # 59142
Find me in The Who's Who of OzSTOC!

I like shiney things :grin
One of the Dave, Dave, Dave and Duncan crew 8)