Dargo via Omeo         Saturday 4th - Sunday 5th  December, 2010

Tim Emons (leader)

Honda CBR1000

Dennis Lindemann

Honda CBR600

Misho Zrakic

Honda CBR1000

Pina Garasi

Honda CBR600

Damir Djikic

Honda CBR1000

Marty Thompson

Kawasaki ZRX1200

John Rousseaux (rear)

Honda CBR1000

Cliff Peters

Kawasaki ZX10R

John Willis

Honda XL1000

Peter Feistl

Suzuki GSXR750

Ben Warden

Honda CBR954

Robert Langer

BMW R1150GS

Kurn Bridgeman

Honda CBR600

13 bikes, 13 people

 

When Peter Jones dangled the carrot out there asking for an MSR weekend ride to Dargo I knew I couldn’t resist, especially as the long daylight hours this time of year meant I could throw in a side trip to Omeo on Day 1 and Licola on Day 2. Peter, of course, was busy feeding the chooks that weekend and couldn’t make it along. Peter Hill had recommended we stay at the Dargo River Inn as opposed to the Pub, so I made some enquiries, put together a route, and booked it in.

 

Pierre Ong had been looking forward to the ride as he’d bought a Ventura rack for the 1098 and was keen to put it to use – and I was keen to see the only Ventura clad 1098 in existence. Unfortunately, I only got to see the bike as it was being stripped down during my pre-ride spiel after Dennis had noticed a steady flow of fuel pouring out of the bottom of the carbon-fibre tank, all over the exhaust pipes. The problem couldn’t be remedied, and a trailer was arranged – end of ride for Pierre.

 

Marty Thompson rolled in at Berwick and asked for permission to join us – perfect! He could take the space that Peter Jones had reserved and then vacated which was then filled by Ern Reeders, who had cancelled at 7am this morning due to his wrist playing up. To top things off, Marty volunteered to do the write-up. Brilliant! This didn’t eventuate (read on...), so here I am a month down the track trying to cut through the post Christmas / New Year’s haze and put distant memories to paper...

 

We took the freeway east to the Tynong turnoff, then the usual back road to Longwarry, across the freeway and onto the Old Sale Road for our first taste of corners for the day. I waited with Misho at the tricky U turn at the bottom of Wilkes Road for a second corner marker to come through. Peter Feistl appeared, passed both of us and kept on going. He looked surprised when I passed him at the next T intersection – must’ve thought he had blurred vision making one yellow Fireblade look like two. Onward through Willow Grove and Yallourn North for a short break in Tyers.

 

This was only supposed to be a short break, but we were missing Robert, Cliff and John Rousseaux. After a wait, John appeared to inform us that Cliff’s rear axle nut had worked loose and he’d stopped to sort it out. He waved John on and arrived in Tyers soon after. Nobody had seen Rob for quite a while. Ben and Marty decided to backtrack while I led the rest of the group onward, but just before they left Rob pulled in, having hidden somewhere off the road to answer a call of nature.

 

I took the usual back roads to Lake Glenmaggie which was looking fantastic after the huge amount of rain in recent months. A nice blast around the back of the Lake, through Maffra West Upper, and across the plains through Boisdale before hooking into the last couple of obscenely high speed sweepers just before Briagolong.

 

This was intended to be a late morning tea due to the limited facilities, but with the delays so far experienced it was already time for lunch. Good food and coffee, just limited choices and a long wait. The weather was warm and steamy, but there were dark, threatening clouds gathering in the direction we planned to head.

 

Once the last of the food had been consumed I made the call and we headed off, hoping to enjoy Beverleys Road before the rain hit us. It turned out to be a false alarm – the road was dry, and as satisfying as I’d remembered. More back roads from here passing through Iguana Creek, Wuk Wuk, Flaggy Creek, Wy Yung and Granite Rock, bringing us out for just 6 km of highway before veering off again from Sarsfield to Tambo Upper and into Bruthen for our next break. Most of this leg we were heading directly into the darkness of swollen storm clouds ready to burst. We eventually reached wet roads, but somehow missed being dumped on.

 

Marty pulled into the servo and found that his radiator had sprung a leak – both he and the ZRX were covered in coolant. Special radiator goo was administered, and he decided to sit out the Omeo loop while waiting for it to do its job. Pina left the CBR600 here to get herself a fix on the back of Misho’s blade, and quite a few dumped their excess luggage behind to take full advantage of the ensuing 210 km loop of twisty nirvana.

 

The corners start just far enough out of Bruthen to get the tyres up to operating temp. The rest is a blissful blur of grippy surface, sweepers, twisties, the odd short straight before setting up for the next corner, quick glance at the beautiful scenery along the river, oops - headlights in the mirror are closing in, focus on the road again... As the tighter stuff was dispensed with and the road opened out, the heavens opened and gave us a five minute wash down. Judging by the torrents of water and mud flowing across the road in a couple of places, it was lucky we weren’t ten minutes earlier! The rain soon stopped, the damp passed and we were back on dry roads.

 

To avoid the feeling of simply going up the road to Omeo and coming back again, I took a left at Swifts Creek and climbed further into the hills to Cassillis, then left again towards Dinner Plain for the four or five km of cracking fast sweepers to stop for a break at the lookout. Damir extracted a snap lock bag of liquefied chocolate bar from under his seat. I believe this was about to be discarded when Pina and Cliff spotted it. Cliff didn’t hesitate to dive in with his fingers while Pina found a “clean” stick on the ground to scoop up the chocolate fondue with.

 

Robert Langer and John Willis dropped their tyre pressures here and switched to “Charlie and Ewan” mode in preparation for their version of  The Long Way Down” – Dargo via the dirt.

 

Ben went for fuel in Omeo and realised he’d misplaced his wallet, last sighted on one of the tables at lunch back in Briagolong. Funds were borrowed, tank filled and off we go again. The 96 km back to Bruthen was over in a flash. Damir gave a big two “thumbs up” as we pulled in to wait for the others, obviously enjoying the ride.

 

Marty had come halfway to Omeo and rejoined us on the way back, but decided to head home from here in case the radiator goo didn’t hold overnight, leaving him stranded in Dargo. The rest of us made our way back to the Bairnsdale Dargo Road for a quick visor clean before attacking the last brilliant stretch of road into Dargo. I announced that it was ok to pass the leader here and before I knew it, Cliff had geared up and taken off, soon followed by most of the others.

 

It made a nice change chasing bikes instead of just watching them in my mirrors, and I slowly progressed through the ranks until I caught sight of Cliff with Ben seemingly glued to his tail, closely followed by Dennis and Misho. It was a brilliant sight to watch – these four smooth and  skilled riders hitting corner after corner at an ever increasing pace through the hills, well and truly in “the zone”. I had to work hard to keep them in sight, eventually running wide over the centre line on a sharp left hander, then reprimanded myself for it and tried to back off – but the corners demanded more, and soon I was pushing again and loving it!

 

Rob and John were already looking showered and relaxed when we arrived at the Dargo River Inn, and reported a most enjoyable ride across 70 odd km of dirt.

 

Plenty of conversation, big juicy steaks, beers and laughs. John Rousseaux had knocked a few down and was keeping us well entertained. Dennis found himself a new best mate – one of the inebriated locals had taken a liking to his Bintang singlet, but couldn’t understand what we were doing here if we weren’t shootin’ or fishin’.

 

We retired to our comfortable beds and were kept entertained by a horde of drunken loons blaring country music, doing donuts in their customised 4x4 trucks and revving up chainsaws, all night long. As the morning mist cleared it revealed bodies in swags dotted around the place, and a hardy few still slugging down cans of Bundy & Coke on a mattress they’d set up under the pub verandah.

 

The full cooked breakfast supplied with the accommodation package was superb, with only a handful of us able to stuff it all in. We swung by the General Store to collect Ben and farewell Lyn before blowing out the cobwebs on the Dargo Road once more. Conditions were damp from the heavy overnight mist making the roads appear slippery, but Cliff didn’t seem to notice and I gave up chasing him before long.

 

Beverleys Road was just as good going this way, and soon Ben was re-united with his wallet where it had waited for him at the Briagolong Cafe.

 

Ben had planted the seed in my head the day before in Bruthen that “the leader’s rear tyre wouldn’t make the distance”, which I thought was absurd – it was almost new (ish). Of course from that point on it was eating at the back of my mind. By the time we reached the Licola Road I was actively trying to limit wear, and applying the throttle more gently on corner exits. This works fine on fast sweepers, but once we hit the tighter stuff I started waving others through so as not to hold them up. Still, I couldn’t resist the side trip out to the end of the bitumen on the river road. These are all brilliant roads that are a blast at any pace!

 

After lunch we made our way back out. I waved Dennis and Misho past and followed for a while – as long as I only use the throttle at full lean the tyre should be ok... But Dennis was riding like a cat with its tail on fire with Misho right behind and they gradually drew away.

 

A few corners later on a tight right hander I saw tyre and oggy knob skidmarks disappearing into a settling cloud of dust off the side of road, and Misho was pulling over up ahead. Dennis had managed to dismember an unsuspecting bird with his mirror and, as payback, it threw him off the road! I always knew birds were evil. Rider and bike were both “minor cosmetic” and were back en route to Tyers for our next break.

 

We skipped the Tyers loop and headed directly to Noojee via Icy Creek to call it a day. Brilliant roads, great company, and no dealings with the law resulted in a top weekend (for most). Thanks to John for looking after our rears, and all who came along to make the weekend such an enjoyable experience. 1012 km Berwick to Noojee, plenty more to home...

 

Tim Emons