|
|
Honda CBR1000 |
Ha Du |
Honda CBR600 |
|
Misho Zrakic |
Honda CBR1000 |
Dennis Lindemann |
Honda CBR600 |
|
Paul Southwell |
Honda CBR1000 |
Ben Fuller |
Suzuki GSXR1300 |
|
John Rousseaux |
Honda CBR1000 |
Rob Jones |
Suzuki GSXR1000 |
|
Dave Ward |
Honda CBR1000 |
Ross Gellatly |
Suzuki GSXR1000 |
|
|
Honda CBR1000 |
Bronwyn Manifold |
|
|
Ron Johnston |
Honda CBF1000 |
Cliff Peters |
|
|
|
Honda CBR954 |
Pina Garasi |
Yamaha R6 |
The first long weekend trip for me and definitely not the
last one. What a great ride, roads and company. I guess I counted 7,893
corners, sweepers, twisties and bends during this trip, but it was probably
more.
We had sunshine most of the time with two 15 minute showers
in between and drizzle from Falls Creek down to Omeo.
The first half of the first day was familiar roads until we
left Licola towards Dargo. The roads were clean and dry, no oncoming traffic
and just left, right, left. From here on it was all new to me.
For the rare occasions where there was a straight bit of
road I enjoyed the scenery or even took a picture while corner marking. As
usual we travelled back roads no one except the locals would use with hardly
any traffic.
The road from Orbost was just hard work all the way. I was
on my own until we re-grouped. At the beginning of the “
Plenty of bacon and eggs for breakfast the next morning as
they’ll be gone after two hours of twisties anyway. What can you say about this
day. The road out of Adaminaby was just great. You could see the road ahead for
miles winding through the countryside, just smooth bitumen and sweeper after
sweeper. The rest of the day was no exception. We stopped at
Ben, Cliff, Misho and Pina and me took off to conquer the
mountain. What a great ride...again J Only tight corners
ranging from 30 – 40 km/h for 36 km uphill – constantly. There were skid marks
in every corner that Ben and Cliff were leaving behind and I’m pretty sure that
Misho and I did so too as they were a couple of moments when the back wheel
wasn’t aligned with the front anymore.
We had a quick look if the road for the Paul’s lead tomorrow
was open and then headed back down the hill again. We caught up with the rest
in the Pub and had a nice beer and steak. Everyone stayed outside on this last
night on the carpark where we had a few more drinks, cleaned the bikes and
talked either nonsense or bike. A great finish to the evening.
Up at 6.30 am the next morning and up the mountain again at
8.30 am. A bit colder today and, as we reached the top, the clouds began to
take over. The way down the other side was challenging through light gravel on
the roads and drizzle. Unfortunately the road to Omeo was slippery and even
though it was just a little bit of rain, the road was just far too dangerous to
go fast. A few tried before though and failed as the marks were showing in one
corner...straight line all the way to the end.
Much better after Omeo on the Great Alpine Road. A few more
cars on this road but a lot of fun... heaps.
We stopped in Bruthen and I was just exhausted. From here we said
goodbye to Rob and his mates as well as Dave. We made our way towards Licola
and back the usual road via Tyres,
All together: I HAD AN AWESOME TIME!!!!
I can’t describe all the images in my head and I guess it
wouldn’t come near the reality anyway. I guess the best thing is just to
experience it yourself.
Thanks to Cliff, Ben, Dave and Paul in particular for
leading this great trip and everyone who was involved in the planning. Thanks
to all the rear riders and everyone else making this trip what it became.
No real incidents and tyres no one would believe they were
new four days ago.
Dennis Lindemann