2011 Snowy Ride: The Ecstasy and the Agony (Part 1: Days 1 and 2)

For some time, I had been hearing from my riding mate Marcello about a yearly pilgrimage he makes with friends to the Snowy Ride. This is is a motorcycle event run annually in the Alpine Region of NSW with the aim of involving motorcycle riders from all over Australia to raise money for Childhood Cancer Research. The ride (3,115 registered riders this year) is based out of Thredbo and is conducted on the first Saturday in November. Marcello and his mates usually take a few days off either side to make a bird of it by taking in as many winding roads in the wider alpine region as possible. This year I tagged along and did not regret it. Read on...

The rough plan for this ride was put together by Marcello, and involved five days of riding almost every great road between Sydney, Snowy Mountains and Northern Victoria. My riding mates on the trip were Marcello on his Moto Guzzi Sport 1100, Tony on his Honda Blackbird and Richard on his Yamaha R1. I would be riding my Suzuki 1250 Bandit. This was quite an interesting mix of bikes, while all quite different,
ended up quite evenly matched over the course of the trip.

Day 1: Sydney to Thredbo

Rider's routes taken:

• Richmond to Mt Victoria (Bells Line of Road)
• Mt Victoria to Goulburn via Oberon
• Cooma to Thredbo

With a pretty long ride ahead for the day, the intrepid riders met bright and early at 7 am at the BP at McGrath's Hill for the off. No-one was complaining though, as the day promised to be a real beauty, with some lovely roads ahead. As I set off, I was blissfully unaware of the drama that lay ahead...

The first rider's road was the well-known Bells Line Of Road, which climbs up into the Blue Mountains from Richmond. If you stick with it, you will eventually come to Lithgow. However, we took the detour into Mt Victoria. The Bells road is a beauty, mostly well surfaced and many lovely climbing turns. Unfortunately, it is heavily speed limited with lots of 80 and 60 zones. Tony was feeling a bit peckish along this route and we stopped at a closed country food stop, with hopes of waking the owner up, but no luck was had.

No food here

One thing to mention early in this report. I was riding with a crew who do enjoy their food and coffee stops. On this trip there would be not be any quick stops. We were going in style baby!!

It was only a quick squirt up the Great Western Highway to our turnoff to Hartley and Oberon. Once past Oberon it was a terrific riding all the way downhill to Goulburn. The ride takes you along many scenic ridges with lovely fast sweepers. You also pass through quite a bit of state forest and logging areas. There is one section about 20km north of Taralga where you do drop down sharply via a single lane cutting style descent. Lots of tight turns there. Overall, I cannot recommend this road highly enough.

It was while at a roadworks stoppage along this stretch of road that we met a non-motorcyling pair of 'wild hogs'.  Marcello quickly grabbed a camera to record our meeting.

Richard, Wild Hog #1, Wild Hog #2, Brad
(pic courtesy of Marcello)

We rode into Goulburn and filled the tanks and made a decision to head to Braidwood for lunch. As we exited the servo, with the sign to Braidwood clearly sticking out like dogs balls just to our left, our lead rider Marcello promptly exited right at the behest of his trusty Tom Tom GPS. I decided to instead trust my sight, exited left and ambled off towards Braidwood, confident that Marcello with the other guys in tow would eventually catch up, which they did.

We lobbed into Braidwood for a well-earned lunch. The primary discussion at the table was deciding which way would we be going to get across to Cooma. No major road available, that's for sure. My printed map indicated lots of unsealed roads, but Marcello's trusty Tom Tom was indicating much less dirt. So what to do? Let's ask the locals! They will know for sure. Well, three different 'locals' gave three differing answers, which was not too confidence-inspiring. We decided to trust the last bloke who said only 6 to 10km of dirt, and off we went, blissfully unaware of what lay ahead.

What we were blissfully unaware of is that there was in total, about 45km of unsealed road in the section from Ballalaba through the Deua National Park to Numeralla. Two things about this road. One, it is bloody dusty and two, the road has very sharp-edged rocks jutting from it. Now, sharp-edged rocks and 250kg road bike with 110 kg rider and half-worn rear Pirelli Diablo Rosso do not mix well, and the inevitable happened with 10km of dirt still to go -- I got a flat tyre. In the middle of nowhere. A flat tyre. Shit...

Marcello and Tony had motored off into the dusty distance, but fortunately Richard was behind and pulled over as I explained my predicament. He set off to try to catch the others to let them know. I knew he had no hope of catching them quickly as there was no fast riding to be done on that road! As he pushed on in pursuit, I turned around and found a shady spot to see what the damage was. With the tyre so dusty and dirty, I felt that there would be no hope of locating the hole. However, a half-inch split dead centre tends to be a tad obvious! Oh well...

Off with the seat and out with the repair kit. Fearing the worst, ie. that no way could I plug that hole, I plugged away anyway and then slammed all four of my CO2 cartridges into it. The tyre went up to about 28 PSI. With trepidation, I set off with everything crossed; toes, fingers, eyes, everything! I eventually came across my riding buddies who were dutifully heading back to my rescue. A quick chat told me that there was about 10km of dirt left, so away we went. I expected to be back on the rim at any moment, but amazingly, the plug held and I made it all the way to the bitumen and then into Cooma. Yay!!!!

I pulled into a car tyre service centre and got some much-needed air. A quick inspection had me thinking that I was looking at someone else's tyre. Surely this bare carcass was not the same tyre that I confidently predicted would go the planned 2,500 km distance of the trip? After only about 350 km it was shot. I could not believe that a tyre could go off that fast. Bugger. I looked at my watch, 4:10pm, Friday afternoon. Hmmmm....

"Mate, hehehe, any bike shops around here that do tyres?" Well, yes, he thought that there may be one, in a shed on an industrial estate on the edge of town. So I 'confidently' set off, after telling the guys I would meet them in Thredbo, haha. Surprisingly, I managed to follow the bloke's directions and found the shed with the bike shop in it. Even more surprising was that they had a Michelin Pilot Road 2 available in my size. And most surprisingly of all, those bloody champions had that dear, sweet, beautiful tyre mounted and me back on the road (with wallet suitably lightened) before 5pm! Awesome service and a huge relief. The business is called MGM Industries on Polo Flat Road at Cooma. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

The little run from Cooma into Thredbo via Jindabyne was just the 'scrub in' the tyre needed and I pulled into the forecourt of our lodge at Thredbo just before sundown, to be greeted by my pals waving from the balcony above, and all holding a nice cold brew. Made it!


Safely 'lodged' at Thredbo



The trusty steeds

Day 2: The Snowy Ride

Rider's routes taken:

• Thredbo to Charlotte's Pass
• Jindabyne to Bombala via Dalgety (The Snowy River Way)

This was a day of absolute madness. The day dawned perfect and all roads around Thredbo; North, South East and West, were soon filled with over 3,500 bikes going in all directions as riders travelled around to the various checkpoints. For the Snowy Ride, you get a card that you then have stamped at these checkpoints and at the end of the day you put it in a draw for the prize of a Honda motorcycle...nice!

Our journey started with a small suprise as Richard's R1 was found with a flat rear tyre. It seems that I was not the only one to get bitten by Marcello's dirt road. He coasted down  the hill to the Thredbo servo where the mechanic there extracted what looked to be a sliver of bone from the tyre. We all agreed that the bone was probably from a dinosaur, as that was most likely the last living creature to travel over that road before we did! I pulled out my trusty plug kit and fixed the hole and the tyre was pumped up in preparation for the day ahead. It only leaked a few psi's each day for the duration of our trip.

We took the run up to Charlotte Pass, which is a beautiful piece of road that climbs from Jindabyne almost all the way up to Mount Kosciuszko. I suspect that several speeding laws may have been broken on this road, something that was to be frequently repeated throughout the day (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more!).

Climbing up to Charlotte's Pass

The checkpoint was not quite at the Pass, and we pulled in down a steep driveway to the Chalet, where may hundreds of bikes were already parked.

Marcello's Guzzi Sport 1100 is a bit of a magnet in situations such as this and this time was no different. He was soon approached by the video team of the organisation and was then subjected to a short interview 'on camera'. Our riding buddy Greg did his best to worm his way into the interview as well, but you could tell that his Ducati SP3 did not have the same pull. Bad luck son! As expected, I was not approached to provide my opinion re the advantages of being the proud owner of a Suzuki Bandit, so I slipped away back to my bike where I posed for a pic for my own records, and also snapped a couple more for the record.

Me! Me! Interview me!

Richard and R1



Tony + Blackbird looks like he is only one there!



Marcello & Greg being interviewed



After all the adulation, we jumped on the bikes and did the last couple of k's up to the Pass for a look-see. Very nice indeed!

Charlotte Pass

Looking back

Brad & Richard + transport

Already it was becoming clear that we were going to be behind schedule, so why not go further behind and stop for a coffee at Greg's 'special location' just back down the road at Perisher. Very nice it was too.

Coffee, sunshine and friends. Awesome!

The next destination for the day was Bombala, taking the Snowy River Way via Dalgety. This road has fast sweepers with fast connecting straights (did I say fast? nudge, nudge) across open high country with very few trees. We certainly made the most of it and zoomed across the countryside. There are a couple sections of new roadwork which slowed us down slightly, but overall, a very nice fast journey.

Not far out of Bombala, in an elevated open area beside the road, stood an abandoned lounge suite. We all seemed to notice this oddity as it became the topic of conversation during the food break in Bombala. A decision was made that on the return journey we would stop for a pic with all of us sitting on the lounge in the middle of nowhere.

Time had slipped by quickly and there was no way we would be making it back to Thredbo by 4pm other than to take same route back, so we set off. We arrived at the abandoned lounge and setup for the pic. Greg was asked to park his Ducati in front to act as a tripod for the camera. However, due to his 'sense of humour' and bad photographic ability, the result was a blurry pic of his bike and not much else. Not exactly the pic we all had in mind!

Greg, you ruined it!!!! Not funny!!!

Fortunately, I did take a couple other snaps to fill in the gaps:

Is that Stig I can see?

Worm's eye view

After that it was back at warp-speed to Thredbo for a few refreshing ales, then back to the lodge for more excellent food and company.

Parked at Thredbo

Tony and Marcello downing some well earned refreshments

Continued...

2011 Snowy Ride: The Ecstasy and the Agony (Part 2: Days 3, 4 and 5)

The ride continues...

Day 3: Thredbo to Lakes Entrance

Rider's routes taken:

• Thredbo to Khancoban (The Alpine Way)
• Khancoban to Tallangatta (Murray Valley Highway)
• Tallangatta to Mt Beauty (Gundowring Rd)
• Mt Beauty to Bright (Bright - Tawonga Road)
• Bright to Bruthen via Mt Hotham and Omeo (The Great Alpine Road)

A day to remember. It proved to be my (up to this point) greatest and most enjoyable single day of riding. We managed to string together some of the nicest and most varied stretches of rider's roads that it is possible to do in a single day that covered approximately 550km. Add to that some unwanted drama and you have all the ingredients required for a memorable day indeed...

It was again a beautiful sunny day that witnessed our departure from Thredbo. Our riding group had dwindled down to three; Marcello, Richard and myself. Tony had to be back in Sydney for the start of the week, and I think Greg had prior commitments also (probably had to go back to that couch to get a better shot). Never mind, three is a nice compact group for a big day in the twisties.

Ready to rock and roll

We were all pretty high from the previous day's unmolested efforts at high speed travel across the Snowy, and the mood continued through the national park section from Thredbo to Khancoban. This road is one long technical stretch of climbing and falling turns, in the 35 - 70 kph range. I was perfecting my slow-in, fast-out technique and really enjoying the low-down punch of the Bandit's torquey 1250 motor. This thing can really boost it out of a corner!

We wound our way down to the Murray River at Tom Goggins Station, then headed off into the wild ranges towards Khancoban...and towards a fateful encounter.

Thoughout the trip, we had been alternating the lead rider and in a testosterone-filled moment I pushed to the front. We were not exactly hanging around and stayed tightly together. Corner after lovely corner, brake/throttle back, choose line, into turn, through apex and blast out, ready for the next turn only tens of metres away...bliss! It was just after one of these lovely corners, 50km from the nearest town, that I blasted out into a short straight. Suddenly up ahead - like Ned Kelly appearing out front of the Inn at Glenrowan - out from the undergrowth stepped one of our boys in blue. Oh shit. My luck had run out.

There was nothing to do but pull over and assume the position. Marcello and Richard dutifully pulled over as well and parked a 'respectable' distance away from us as I awaited my punishment. He held up the radar gun and I saw that he had clocked me at 8 km/hr over the 100 k's. "Oh well, that's not too bad" thinks I, except that he informed me I was travelling in a 60 zone at the time. Waaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!! Yeah, that's right, 60 km/hr zone in the middle of no-bloody-where. There was nothing I could do but to accept that I was a very naughty boy, buy a ticket to the Policeman's Ball and ride away many dollars and many license points lighter than I had been 15 minutes before. (Note: I will not go any further into the details of the conversation, as it is not nice to see or hear about a grown man crying and grovelling, hehehe)  Unfortunately for me but luckily for the other two, I was the leader at the time. We were all blasting along at the same speed. Marcello remarked later that he was the most fortunate as he only had one point left on his license. At least I was travelling with full points on mine at the time (sadly depleted now).
[EDIT 14/12/11: This has since cost me three months suspension of my license for 30+ km/h over, dammit!]

At times like this, you can go one of two ways. The first and most natural thing to do is to dwell on the misfortune and let it ruin the day, the trip... everything. The other is to say 'shit happens' and then get on with enjoying what very few people get to enjoy; blasting the hell outta some of the greatest roads on the planet! Well, for me, it was the former for about 30 minutes, then I moved onto the latter and gave it the berries for the rest of the day. I am so glad I did. There were even better roads ahead.

We came into the open at Khancoban and squirted west along the very nice Murray Valley Highway to Tallangatta for fuel. Then it was a turn to the south for the run to Mount Beauty. The standard road to get there is via the Keiwa Valley Way. However, we detoured via the lovely little Gundowring Road which runs parallel, but the other side of a meandering Sandy Creek. This road is a hidden beauty, sometimes single lane, as it hugs the creek, passing by several farms. The southern end is particularly nice as everything closes in on you, with creek to the right and sloping banks to the left. We rejoined the Keiwa Valley Way just north of Tawonga.

From there it was west again over a lovely pass to Bright. This 30km section of road has it all, from tight climbing turns all the way up, to fast sweepers down the western side towards Bright. I love this bit of road and I consider it a real jewel.

Looking down from the range towards Mt Beauty

At the crossover

We then hit the Great Alpine Road just south of Bright and headed in there for fuel and lunch. There was a classic and hot rod car day on in the town and all  the cars were pulling laps up and down the main drag of Bright as we sat in a cafe eating lunch. Once again, 'Marcello's Magnet', the Sport 1100 drew a few admirers, with one bloke on a pushbike taking an exceptional interest in it, and one even lying down on the ground to check it out.

Bright

Two show-offs: one green and one red

"If you get real low on the ground you can look through under
the red bike and see that awesome blue Suzuki Bandit"

Feeling refreshed, we headed off south along the Great Alpine Way, our next notable destination being Mount Hotham. I was really looking forward to this section and was not to be disappointed. The two sides to this mountain are completely different when it comes to the type of roads. On our approach from the north, the climb is tight and twisting with excellent road surface. A real challenge with spectacular views and instant doom if you make a mistake and plummet hundreds of metres down the steep mountainside.

It is a real thrill to be pushing so hard into tight but nicely surveyed corners, when you know a mistake could spell the end of you.

The ride down the southern side is faster in that the corners are more sweeper-like. The road surface is excellent. Up and over Hotham is a wonderful and rewarding experience, not to be missed and repeated as often as possible IMHO.

Stopped just south of Mt Hotham summit

Don't miss a corner or you are a goner. More road visible in background

Panorama

Made it. Richard and Marcello, loving the climb up

At Mount Hotham itself, we pulled in for a bit of a stretch, a chin wag, and a few pics at the top of the chair lift.

Mt Hotham chair lift panorama

Two very satisfied riders

We then proceeded to descend from Hotham Heights down the fast sweeper filled road into Omeo, thinking that nothing could be better than this. We were wrong again.

There is a beautiful section of the Great Alpine Road from Ensay through to Bruthen, with a lot following the Little River for a large part of the way. This road is a rider's dream, with one magic sweeper after another. There are several beautifully-surveyed large radius 180 degree turns that are to die for, and are connected by high speed sweeping turns. Yes, they are that good. Ride this road.

I was breathless by the time we reached Bruthen. I could not believe that we had been riding all day, and were yet to find one crap piece of road or boring stretch. We pushed on to Lakes Entrance on the coast and stopped for the night at the Central on the Esplanade. This place was very nice and has a very nice bistro and the beer was delicious. We even found a chef who was proud of his coffee making, and had a kindred soul in Marcello. Life could not get any better than this... or maybe it could? What about tomorrow?

Day 4: Lakes Entrance to Batemans Bay

Rider's routes taken:

• Orbost to Bombala via Delegate (Bonang Highway)
• Bombala to Narrabarba (Monaro highway, then Imlay Road)
• Bega to Tilba Tilba (Tathra - Bermagui Rd)

The Day 4 route planned to take us over some other highly recommended roads, and after a nice breakfast we got away early and rode on to Orbost for fuel. Orbost marks the southern end of an exquisite 100-plus kilometre road that winds itself up via Bonang and over the border at Delegate and on to Bombala. There are a couple of well photographed road signs on this road, one at each end of the fun part. We stopped for our own pics at the 90km winding road indicator and then away we went to see if it told the truth. So, how is this road best described? How about 'bloody fantastic!'.

Not just the tail, this is the whole bloody dragon!

This road is incredible. It contains corner after perfect corner, ranging in speeds from what would be 35km/hr indicated up to 70km/hr. They seem to be well surveyed and I do not remember even one decreasing radius turn amongst the many hundreds on this road. The most amazing thing of all (to me, anyway) was that there are almost no speed signposted corners over the whole distance. And yet there was no time that I felt uncomfortable because of it. These turns are just that good. Forget your 'Tail of the Dragon' stuff, this road has got it all baby! In fact, it even has two stretches of gravel in the middle near the NSW -Vic border, totalling about 14km in total.

Guzzi at end of section of dirt (pic courtesy of Marcello)

There is no problem getting through these sections on road bikes. Just take the normal precautions and probably avoid if wet. I have once previously ridden this road, but from the opposite direction. It is definitely a better run from south to north, in my opinion.

Richard on gravel

Here comes Marcello

Just over the border into New South Wales and just before Delegate, we came upon an old restored settlers hut from the 1800s. It was in the perfect place for a stop so that we could all tell each other what a fantastic road we had just ridden. The old hut is very interesting and worthy of a stop in its own right.

A couple of early settlers outside their hut

Manly works requires a manly pose

The old settlers hut

We jumped back on the bikes and headed onwards. Just after Delegate, we turned right into Craigie Range Road for a shortcut through Craigie and Mita and across to the Monaro Highway. There we turned south again for a short run, looking for the turnoff to the next rider's road on our list: the Imlay Road. This is a road created specially for the logging trucks that service the state forests that lie between the Monaro and Princes Highways on the NSW south coast. This is another awesome road, the main feature being endless high-speed sweepers, carving through forests of pine. There was very little traffic on the road apart from the odd logging truck, with the 'trucks entering' signs being the main clue to the main traffic users of this section of road. The road surface itself was pretty damned good, and much better that you would expect for a road that carries fully laden logging trucks. Our direction saw us generally travelling downhill as we fell from the inland heights down to sea level. I would imagine that wildlife may be a bit of a hazard on this road, especially at dusk and night. We finally hit the Princes Highway about 20km south of Eden, turned left and motored northwards.


We hauled our hungry bodies into Eden and stopped by peaceful Snug Cove for a late lunch of burgers, fish and chips. We still had quite a bit of distance to cover to get to the scheduled overnight at Batemans Bay, and so did not dally too long.

Lunch stop at Snug Cove, Eden

I was expecting this next section to be highly trafficked and a bit boring, but Marcello had once again done his research and we detoured up the Sapphire Coast Road to Tathra, then took the Tathra-Bermagui Road up to Tilba Tilba once again on the Princes Highway. A very nice stretch of road indeed. From there we motored up the highway via Narooma and Moruya and into Batemans Bay. Again, I was surprised to find some nice sections of road on this stretch as it cut through several hilly and forested areas.

After a bit of a mixup at the bridge across the Clyde River, we backtracked into Batemans Bay and pulled into the Clyde River Hotel for the night. This was not the end of the day though, as I had earlier in the day let on to Marcello and Richard that it was actually my birthday. We went out for a nice restaurant pizza and the guys refused to let me pay for anything. Marcello even arranged for a fabulous birthday cake complete with the correct number of candles (minus 50). Thanks guys, that was very nice of you!

A fantastic way to end a fantastic day. Thanks mates!

Day 5: Batemans Bay to Sydney

Rider's routes taken:

• Nowra to Robertson via Kangaroo Valley (Moss Vale Rd)
• Robertson to Albion Park (Illawarra Hwy / Macquarie Pass)Stanwell Park to Sutherland via the Royal National Park.

Sadly, all good things must eventually come to an end, and so the final day of our ride together dawned. But just because this was the last day did not mean we were not going to pack as many windy roads in as possible.

We crossed the Clyde River and did not take the Kings Highway turnoff (a very nice road in its own right), as we had other fish to fry this day. We ran up to just north of Nowra and turned into Moss Vale Road. This is another lovely ride with some steep climbs and takes you up though Kangaroo Valley and on towards the Illawarra Highway which connects the Hume Highway to the Princes Highway. Our route took us via the Fitzroy Falls Reservoir and along a beautiful country lane, Pearsons Lane, which has a real closed-in feel to it as the narrow lane winds through the lovely green springtime countryside. We then turned right on the Illawarra and pulled into the famous Robertson Pie Shop for the obligatory pie.

Anyone for a pie?

After chomping down our pies, we were ready to take on the Macquarie Pass, a famous bit of road that takes you back down the range to Albion Park. This road has some extremely steep and tight U-turns as it winds down, but in other places is quite fast and sweeping. Lovely!

Then it was up the Princes Highway and into Woollongong,  followed by a very slow journey up the coast road through Bulli, Coledale and then to Coalcliff. The ride to  this point was a bit frustrating as it was very hot and the traffic was just dawdling along. We stopped just short the Coalcliff bridge for photos. This bridge is a bit of a landmark as it is built out from the cliff and over the coastline.

Panorama shot

A closer look

As stated earlier, the traffic along here was beginning to give us a case of the shits, so we devised a plan: First, ready ourselves to take off. Then we would let a car go by and wait for a large-ish gap. As the next car finally approaches, take off in front of it. This would allow a nice gap between us and the car in front for a little 'enjoyment' of this run over the bridge. The plan worked a treat, and we (he he he) 'proceeded' across the bridge and on up the rise to our next stop just up the road at Stanwell Tops.

Stanwell Tops sits atop an escarpment that overlooks the whole coastline to north and south. It is a very scenic and a popular place for bikes to pull in either before or after a run through the Royal National Park, which is immediately to the north. We could not get past the waiting ice cream vendor and enjoyed a refreshment while enjoying the view.

The boys at Stanwell Tops

The view

And so, ladies and gentlemen, with ice creams suitably dispatched, we mounted our trusty steeds for one last enjoyable ride as we took the road through the National Park, still keeping to the same rules we applied all the way throughout the trip... ride fast and give it the berries! We hauled into Sydney, filled tanks, shook hands, then went our separate ways as we filtered into the morass that is Sydney traffic.
                                                                          ~
I had a brilliant time, and I am sure the other blokes feel the same. It was really enjoyable to have such a great bunch to ride with. We were all pretty evenly matched, and all bikes gave a good as they got. We covered more than 2500 km on the trip, most of which were absolutely brilliant fun. I must thank Marcello for putting the awesome route together and Greg for his help in obtaining the accommodation in Thredbo.

Roll on next year!

Mission Possible II, The Return of the Comboyne Cabal (incorporating the Ragged Fringe Rally)

They say anything is possible, and I think we proved it this year on the annual Mission Possible ride to the  MGOA NSW's Ragged Fringe Rally: For a moment there, we all thought Lawrence would never get out of Wingham and that he would forever remain there -- just some crazy old bum in yellow, wandering around muttering out aloud about 'bad roads' and 'potholes that would swallow an elephant'. Read on...

Full story coming soon!