Saturday 3rd-Tuesday 6th November
Day1: Yarck, Mansfield, Whitfield, Millawa,
Myrtleford, Happy Valley, Mt Beauty, Tawonga Gap, Harrietville, Hotham, Omeo,
Orbost, 700+ km
After talking with Ben the night before I decided to make my way to Yarck via the Black Spur. Shortly after the Spur my bike stopped and it appeared to have run out of fuel. I switch to reserve and hit the starter. No joy. The black Suzuki Bandit 250 refused to start. I had purchased the bike about 10 days before the trip and was away for a week of that. I had only enough time to change over some parts and have a few rides on her before the Cup Day ride.
I got a push start from a guy passing by on a CBR1000. The bike eventually fired up and I was off and running. Figuring that reserve will take me to Yarck no sweat, I open up the throttle and go for it. About 6k's short of Alexandra the bike stops again. I'm stunned. I was sure reserve would take me to Yarck. Guess not :(
The guy on the CBR1000 comes along a few minutes later and sees on me the side of the road. He takes me to Alexandra to get fuel. A side note for anyone who is thinking of spending any time as a pillion on the back of a 2007 CBR: don't! With a numb backside I fill up his tank with fuel as a thank you and he is off. I SMS Ben that I'm out of fuel and will have to catch the group up. A guy at the servo was nice enough to take me back to the bike. I put the fuel in the bike and she starts up. I head to Alexandra to fill the tank, bitterly disappointed that I'm 1.5hrs late for the start of my first really big Club ride.
I pick up a map at Alexandra and decide to head to
Yarck, then Mansfield taking the highway to save time. I had a rough idea of
the ride itinerary from memory but did not have it printed out. Getting to
So I head back to Mansfield and SMS Ben. "Took
wrong turn and further behind. Might be able to meet up with group at Omeo or
Orbost". On the gas and no time for stopping. Only quick fuel/map stops. I
went via Benalla and Wangaratta towards Bright. The scenery here is beautiful
and reminds me of the
Just short of Bright I ran out of fuel again. I'm getting very annoyed at myself for letting the bike run out of fuel and being so far behind the guys. But I’m going to catch ’em! On to reserve and off again. What I found out later was that the bike was suffering from fuel starvation when running flat out for any more than a few minutes.
I hit Mt Hotham and the twisties and soon had my mind off the fuel issues but not off catching the guys. Half way up I'm slowed down dramatically by bad visibility. Riding through the clouds I had to crawl along watching the yellow line at the edge of the road. I was starting to feel the effects of riding hard for so many hours and was pleased to see the far side of Hotham.
At the bottom of Hotham was Omeo where I saw a bunch of bikes filling up. Pulling into the petrol station I scan for a familiar face. There is Ben. I've caught them!
A quick stop and a chockie bar had my spirits up again and the roads that followed were great. We headed to Bruthen and then Orbost where we spent the night. Ben suggested that the bike may be suffering from fuel starvation and so we checked/cleaned the fuel lines, tank cap and fuel tap. Hopefully the bike would be better in the morning!
Seeing all the bikes I've been drooling over in the magazines right in front of me at the motor inn was a real buzz.
Over dinner I met the guys and tried hard to remember names. Happy I had caught up on the first day and enjoying meeting the guys, I was certain that I had made the right choice in coming on the trip!
I spent the night on a fold out bed bunked in with
three other guys. Apparently I made quite an impression with my snoring which I
do occasionally when I’m extremely tired.
Day 2:
This day is a blur, but I recall thinking after various stretches, "Man! That last bit of road was the best I've ridden. It can’t possibly get any better than this!" Only to be proved wrong just an hour or two later upon finding the new "best road I've ridden".
The only time I came close to putting the bike off
the road for the whole trip happened early in the day, a short distance after
The end of the day saw us at Jindabyne. Time to work
on the bike again. Robbie thought that draining the carby bowls might we worth
a shot and so with his assistance, we do it. I then took the bike up to
Back at the lodge I get the low down on suspension adjustments from Misho and Renzo only to find that the suspension on the Bandit is not adjustable in any way, at least not the front suspension.
Jindabyne lodge was great accommodation with great food. I got bunked in with Peter as we have both been labelled as "heavy snorers" so that we can in the words of Ben "torture each other".
Day3: Jindabyne, Thredbo, Khancoban,
Cabramurra,
With some understanding now of what is happening to the bike, I start to ride differently. With carby bowls in mind, I ride in a manner that allows the bowls to refill periodically by throttling off after bursts of full throttle. The bike now cuts out less, but occasionally the roads sucked me in and I have the throttle to the stop for too long causing the bike to stall twice more.
The roads again are truly great and I'm getting more comfy after every hour that passes on the Bandit. Well, more comfy aside from aching backside and numbing hands from vibration and the 40 billion clutch movements required to keep the 250 anywhere near its powerband.
Heading over the top of some hills, I notice some of the guys are stopped at the side of the road. Shane has come off and the bike is a no go. Ian and I head down the hill to pass on the message to Ben that a bike is down. I recall Shane the night before talking about preferring the twisties to the high speed corners. I'm glad he is OK and very impressed at the minimal damage sustained to his leathers. I must get some of them.
Tawonga Gap and now I finally feel like I’m moving
through the corners. The road is just brilliant. Some corners surprising me
with how they tighten up and others open out to see far ahead. This makes for
some very exciting action as I switch between, "Okay, I can see around
this corner, how fast can I go?" to “Here's a blind one; need brakes or
let her rip?” Edge of the seat stuff and loving every second of it.
End of the day and I am pleased to see that my
"chicken strips” (area on edge of tyre not yet seen the road) have further
diminished in size and I'm now around 5 mm off the edge of the tyre. With a
pinch of pride I realise that I must be going round corners harder/faster than
the previous owner of the bike who fitted the tyre around 2-3000 kms before I
bought her.
Day 4: Hotham, Omeo, Bairnesdale, Dargo, Maffra, Heyfield, Moe, Hill End, Powelltown. 500+ km
Hotham again. This time I can see more than two metres in front of the bike but higher up ice on the road is making it slippery. Up top, I make a mental note "gusting winds should hit soon”. Five seconds later the bike has shifted a full foot to the left on the road and I react by leaning back into the centre of the road. To keep a straight line the bike must have been leant over a good 15-20 degrees into the wind. Rather odd, but pleasant sensation nonetheless.
On to Omeo and the road is dry as the sun has come out to greet us. Travelling down the same roads again and feeling refreshed was great. With visibility a good distance ahead, I can see a lot of the bikes zooming off into the distance. Seeing so many bikes ahead on the open road and realising that they are all part of the club and I'm riding with them is a sensational feeling. Stop daydreaming! Back on the throttle ;)
Mid-way through the day fatigue is setting in. I have to throttle off though some twisties. Dargo, a great section of road that I hammered the first half of with hair pin after pin. But, my mind was starting to lose focus, my hands, legs, back and backside were all stiffening up and I knew I had to take it slower. Remarkably, after a good lunch stop and bit of a break I was all fired up and rearing to go again. Back through the twisties and I'm on the gas again. Sensational!
We arrive at Tyers for the last fuel stop. The roads we are taking have narrowed down and the pace I think had slackened off a bit. I'm able to tack on the back of a long snake of bikes and watch the turning points and speeds etc. Eventually I lose them as I take off extra speed for blind corners. Finally the ride is over and we are grouped for the photos before breaking up and heading our own way home.
The weekend was top notch and I will remember it fondly for years to come. The organisation of the trip, the roads, the great bunch of guys on the ride, the total absence of cars and cops were all truly remarkable.
When I get home I'm totally knackered and grinning from ear to ear. I'm pleased as punch that my chicken strips are now less than 1 mm off the edge of the rear tyre and barely visible at some points. This was hands-down the best Cup Day weekend ever, and I've absolutely no idea who's won the Cup!
Jean Eldridge