All was going really well for Border Run 2012. All my farkles tested and working fine last weekend ( except the CB radio, which also has Dale a bit stumped ). I left Perth on time at 15:00 and had a good quick run out and over the hills. Saw the sign left out wishing us all a safe ride.
The first lot of rain hit me about 25k before Southern Cross where I had my first fuel stop. Only a quick stop as it was still persisting down. The temperure started to drop on the run thru to Norseman, so I thought it might be a good time to test out my new heated clothing. Wrong, dead as a doornail and it worked fine when I tested it all last week. Another stop to strip bits of the fairing off to make sure nothing was unplugged. Everything looked fine so I gave up and carried on. I bit of thinking music and a couple of hundred more kilometres and it hit me why it was not working. The heated clothing uses a wireless controller, the transmitter is in a fairing pocket and the receiver is in a pocket in the heated jacket. Right next to and directly between them was my mobile phone with bluetooth, GPS etc enabled. Must have scrambled the signal and the transmitter and receiver were no longer paired. Bugger, I didn't bring the instructions on how to pair them again. Oh well looks like another chilly Border Run coming up. Another quick stop at Norseman for fuel and on the road again.
It was still quite cloudy, but a nice clear but cool night. The HID spotties were picking up the roo's in plenty of time. There were literally hundreds if not in the thousands that I saw on the run thru to my "favourite" stop, Caiguna. The HID's were doing their job really well, I stayed in the centre of the road and they all ran for the bush. Thank heavens for my MCCruise cruise control, it kept my speed at a constant 110k. It is far to easy to be doing a lot more without realising it on the ST's.
Another lightning fast stop at Caiguna, and off again. Still hundreds of roo's around. I figured I had less than 3 hours before sunrise and about 3 and a half to the border. By this stage I was about 20 minutes ahead of my plan, so I figured a good breakfast at the Border Village would be a good change to my plan. Then.......................................
Aprroximately 32k's east of Caiguna I noticed something different. Up until now all the roo's were grey's and behaving themselves. My spotties picked up a "red" which did not behave. I grabbed a real strong handfull of front brakes, stood on the rear brake pedal and the ST was trying to throw me over the bars, it was stopping so rapidly. ( It is the non ABS version ), But not rapidly enough. I think little red and myself were thinking the same thing at this point, Oh Sheet!!!! Then the sound of crunching plastic and the face of the roo about 300mm from my face as it nearly came over the screen. Adrenelin really kicked in as I had a bit of a "tank slapper" going ( not fun when you are my size on an ST ), but I managed to somehow keep the bike upright.
Stopped the bike and thought, what the hell, all my lights are still working. I also noticed bits hanging where they shouldn't. Went back to look at the 'roo, anyone for roostew? He was cactus. Half my front guard was torn off and the impact knocked both the mirror covers off. I stuck 'em back on and had a bit of a look over the bike. No fluid leaks ( that I thought at the time ). The rear half of the guard looked like it was still firmly in place, so I left it on.
The bike still looked OK, so I thought I could still do my SS2000m. I climbed back on and continued on. By the time I got to the next roadhouse my right shoulder was really starting to hurt, so a few quick calculations and I decided no Border Run or SS2000m, it was only about 70k back to Caiguna or 300k to Border village ( the next roadhouse that was open ). So I did a U-turn and headed back to Caiguna at about 75kph as I still was not sure of the bike condition and it just did not feel "right". All the way back everyone was flashing their lights at me and I was only on low beam. Turns out the impact had pointed my headlight somewhat higher than normal. I got to Caiguna and used their lights to lok the bike over and adjust the headlight as low as it would go. Had a lousy cup of coffee and it was sunrise. I figured I better get going, I don't want to be stuck at Caiguna for few days. Daylight now and the bike feels ok, but not 100%. Took a chance and cruised at 110k to Balladonia. Arrived there in reasonable time and wlked inside to get breakfast. I walk up to the counter where before I said anything the girl behind the counter asks , " Did you hear anything about the motorcyclist that hit a roo early this morning? I hope he is OK" Talk about the bush telegraph working overtime! I answered " Yeah he's fine, the bike not so. You are looking at him" The look on her face was priceless. Met a few other riders heading out, had a bit of breakfast and carried on to Norseman so I could make a few phone calls. Refuelled, made a couple of calls and carried on to Southern Cross. By this stage MCCruise had really paid for itself, if I had to hang on to the throttle I would not have even made it to Balladonia, the pain in my shoulder was getting quite bad by then, but I was able to do lots of "exercises" while riding and keep it moving.
That was a long 350k to Southern Cross, Only 360k to home, Yippee! Refuelled again, and answered the calls I had missed ( thanks guys ) Carried on after a while something just did not feel right with the bike. All of a sudden a parking area showed up without a sign so I grabbed a handfull of brakes and found the first problem. When I really grabbed the breaks when I found skippy, I was pulling on the lever so hard I must have "popped" the seals in the front calipers.
When I stopped I also noticed one of the bolts holding what was left of the guard had fallen out and the guard was wedged between the mount on the forks and my lower fairing, I basically had no steering!! I had spnners on board, so I thought I would just remove the other bolt and guard and carry on, Wrong again. A ring spanner would not go on, I needed a socket and didn't have any. OK, only one way out of this try and tear it off. That was easier said than done but, achieved. By this stage I had also had the offer from Malcolm6112 to hook up his trailer to his car and come and get me. WOW, what I community we have going here! I figured I could now steer and my brakes were still working, just not as good as they should, so I thought I have come this far I might as well finish this thing.
Got going again, and guess what. It started pelting down with rain. I actually burst out laughing at this stage as I figured what a fitting way to finish this ride, and it rained most of the last 250k back to Perth. I arrived home me still in one piece, the bike in several at about 19:20 last nite. 27 hours in the saddle, 2338k in total, 1121k when I met skippy and after doing lots of maths in my head, I still could not even document an SS1600k. The only option I had for one, I missed by about 10 mins! Received another phone call from Brock with offer of help, and and had a very long hot shower, climbed into bed just after 20:00 and woke up about 10:00 this morning.
Unfortunately no pics, as the ones I took did not turn out very good and the only usable one is about 6.5Mb. The shoulder feels a lot better this morning, the bike doesn't look any better tho!
