Well this was my first official Far Ride bit I have actually being L.D. riding for some years going to and from Townsville to Sunny coast on a semi regular basis.
I first started that 1264 km ride on a Honda CD 250!! That was amazing in and of itself as far as I am concerned.
I first became aware if FarRiders from our very own Lionel at out ST National rally in Toowoomba and it peaked my interest somewhat that there was a recognized sport for what I already did!
Anyway back to the Eungella ride.
The ride there:
JC and I were the first couple to register for the ride and decided that we would accompany each other on a circuitous route from Tsv to Eungella and back in the timeframe.
As we are neither early birds we decided to go down the coast road and come home via the inland route.
As per usual my procrastination got the better of me and it was late on Friday night that I was farting around trying to find things I thought I would need to take with me so I did not get a fantastic nights rest.
Woke up to total darkness thinking ….. oh my god I have slept in and then looked at the clock ….. it was only 0345 AM!!! Check that alarm is set and then go back to sleep.
Phew.
Woke up at the required time of 0510 AM ( Phew again ) and had requisite cup of coffee and some food in the belly and then off on the trust 1999 Honda ST1100A.
Met up with JC at the servo for the collection of the start docket a bit of a chuckle about the early hour and short discussion on which way and who was leading ….. I volunteered JC to be front man as he had the GPS and had done a FR before.
Trying to get past the road works on the southern edge of Townsville is like trying to find your way out of a maze without directions…… Main Roads has some questions to answer I believe! JC only took one wrong turn in the maze of cones, bollards, signs both appropriate and contradictory so he did an amazing front man job!
The early start is nice as seeing the sun rise is a rarity for me as I “know” the sun never rises in my part of the world until at least 0730 am!!!
The sun rise was as picturesque as any I have seen in a book and my trusty old IPhone camera did not do the beauty any justice at all.
What surprised me though was the total lack of wild life …. both alive and dead! We smelt the odd dead one but in reality I think the little rain we have had in the last few weeks has made some good feeding away from the road which made life somewhat easier on the stress levels.
I tend to be a bit of a lead wrist and was getting a tiny bit toey to go past the speed limit as I don’t have cruise control like JC does and my bike just seems to “sit nicely” at about 115 kph so there was some definite throttle adjustments going on ….. but as always seems the way for me when I get impatient with the speed of the vehicle in front it always seems to be a good thing because we passed about 5 police cars on the journey down and if I had been leading I think I would have also contributed to the coffers of the Qld police slush fund!.
Thank you JC!!
We hit some rain just South of Bowen and I had rain pants that were NOT water proof! Some rodents had nibbled a few holes right in the crutch! Not a nice feeling as one feels cold water seeping in and around the lumpy bits of my nether regions! What a sight when I took my water”proofs” off at the chalet …. Looked like I had let go the bladder mid ride!
The run down the highway was pretty standard with not too much traffic going either way but then the turn off to Eungella via the Mirani – Mt Ossa road!
This is a sweet road full of twists and turns, dips and rises and some really really beautiful roads. This is where I saw the riding prowess of JC! Was an effort to keep up with him as he took the twists and turns like a professional on his ST1300. It was all I could do to keep up with him as he smoothly negotiated the road.
Such FUN!
We then turned off on to the Mackay – Eungella road where we saw a couple of FR bikes stopped in at a news agents and then as we motored along we came up behind about 6 other LD riders. Was a really cool feeling of riding basically by yourself for so long to slowly meet up with others as you got closer and closer to the end point.
What this also showed me was the impeccable timing of JC’s planning. Had I done the planning by myself I would have either arrived WAAAY too early or have farted around so much that I would have run late!
Up the mountain range we go at a very slow pace because there were a few tin tops in front but also because the road was as slippery as ……. Well put in your own inappropriate simile and know it was really slippery!
As we crested the top the fog was really nice and gave it that classical rainforest feel with the sun trying to poke its head through.
A short time looking with envy at other bikes and listening to stories of near miss, wrong turns and rain was deeply satisfying.
Line up for check in.
Done
Order drink, coffee and some food and sit down and enjoy.
The ride home:
We stayed at the chalet until 1400 and then donned the helmet and I followed a speedy JC down the hill until we hit the flats and JC did his usual 103 kph set on his cruise control ….. again thankfully because we had not gone more than 5 kms on the flat and lo and behold there was a boy in blue with those low profile lights which did not look like a cop car until it would have been too late. Again I thank you JC!
This time we went the inland road home via the Peak downs Highway past North Eaton, Nebo/ Glenndon turn off out past Collinsville and then back to the Bruce highway just north of Bowen.
This was some beautiful country side with nice gentle curves and hills with sweeping valley off to our side.
What I was not prepared for though was the size of one of the mine sites we passed. The spoil mound must have been about 4 – 5 km in length and at least three times as high as the big dumper trucks!
Through Collinsville ….. lovely place to drive through! No need to stop there I think!
Now in the country side JC lets his hair down …. Metaphorically and physically! Was quite nice to lift the speed to a casual 115 kph out through the hills and was quite funny to see his locks of hair being tussled by the wind!
A short distance further on we stop so JC can clean his visor and tidy up his long locks. He then puts me in as front man. How fantastic it was to be riding with nothing in front.
It was an uneventful ride all the way home with some beautiful sunsets, dodgy IPhone video and photographing, watching out for animals …. Again of which there were nearly none ….. just a few dead ones and the odd cow off to the side but nothing to worry about.
Now it’s dark and I don’t have big spotties but that did not seem to matter as the road was clear and the ride was comfortable.
As we were getting home I noted on my speedo that I had only done 989 kms. I know that we should not use the speedo as our actual trip meter because they often over / under read but our computer planning said we were going to do 1026 and I did not think that my speedo was that much out! So when JC and I split to go in different directions at the main lights in town I did an extra few laps of the night club spot and a ride down the esplanade and managed to get back to my house just as the speedo turned over 1000 exactly.
What a great day!
Post script:
JC emailed me with a few photos and a quick line stating that on his Garmin he had clocked up 1006 km so I know that my extra trip was a good thing to do as I probably live at least 3 – 4 km shorter that JC does …. All is well that ends well!
A great day meeting new people, getting my first FR done and havi9ng an incident free time.
