I'm back from a 2450km return trip with my mates to WSBK at Phillip Island. What a blast, a most enjoyable 5 days of riding, racing, mateship and overdoing it. We left at 6:00AM on Thursday, and planned a long trip crossing the Great Dividing range to the coast via Kangaroo Valley, and back again through Braidwood to Jindabyne in the Snowie Mountains where we bunked for the night. This included around 65km of dirt road, good in places, bad in others with large gravel that felt like you were riding on marbles. This is what happens when you leave route planning to the blokes on GS's. They couldn't see a problem. At one time we came up to a 5km section that was being graded, with a 2 foot pile in the middle of the road, and me on the wrong side trying to keep above 90kmh to avoid the corrugations. Mimo was not a happy man in his ZX-10RR. Jindabyne was a good stopping place for the night, with good food and beer, and a free place to stay in our mates ski lodge. Up early again on Friday for the long haul to PI. Again over 35km of dirt, it was much easier the second day as you adjust to the bike moving around and you get used to letting the bars do what they want without trying to correct them. Not many photos on this section as we were trying to cover distance. Until we got to this place. THE BONANG. 105km of windy road with no cars at all, as there is dirt to get there. [video=youtube;ARq9xYoP-eI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARq9xYoP-eI[/video] Sadly my Gopro stopped working after 5 minutes so I missed the best part, belive me it is a fantastic road of mostly 35 to 45kmh corners for 105km. Left, right, left, left, right, left, right, right, left, you get the idea. Belive it or not, we ran into this bloke who had ridden this bike over 1000km, mostly motorway to get there. Fuel stop, 5th for us, 11th for Cyril in his Tuono. More to come
We stocked up as we got to our rented house at PI for the weekend. 30 beers and a bottle of Bourbon in the GS top box, I knew they were useful for something. All in for the night. All in for the night. Looks a bit suspect doesn't it? Let the games begin.
[video=youtube;r1C0PAQB3Nc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1C0PAQB3Nc[/video] We sat at Doohan Corner for practice and qualifying.
And Siberia for the races. [video=youtube;cUjyJHQa-ms]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUjyJHQa-ms[/video]
Its where you get the most sense of corner speed on the track. There is lots of sliding and wallowing in this section, specially once tyres start to go off. [video=youtube;LwGVswQpJZg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwGVswQpJZg[/video]
The best sounding bike is the Aprilia, the worst is the Ducati before it revs out, when its coming out of the pits it sounds like a bucket of bolts.
All good things must come to an end. On Monday the group split, Jamie and I had to get back in one day as we both had too much work. We hit the back roads to the Victorian border, then the motorway all the way home, 1050km in one go with minimum stops. We covered 300km before the sun came up. Lunch stop. Last leg was only stopping for fuel every 320km. Talk about sore arse. Thats me on the floor after 13hrs on the saddle with 1 and a half hours to go.
Awesome write up/pics/vids Oz! I hope I get to go see a race at PI one day. One of my favorite motovloggers, RidingWithTom, usually videos his trips there for the MotoGP and it looks like a great time! Here's one of his PI vids if you've never seen it - complete with fat boobies and a crash at the end :glee: [video=youtube;YuzLnXNzXs8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuzLnXNzXs8[/video]
View attachment 41478 Looks a bit suspect doesn't it? Hmmm...I'm reminded of the infamous scene from Wild Hogs :glee: [video=youtube;MUkaLaHym6o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUkaLaHym6o[/video]
That was one heck of a trip!! Not only was the travel there and back awesome you had some exceptional racing.
Wow, Just wow. Not so sure I could take my vfr down a dirt road of those lengths, very brave of you all. Epic on of those adventures to have a life time of great memory's, thanks for sharing. I had heard it was quite warm too 40c plus = 104. wow. Yea there's something about listening to the Aprilia run huh. Agree, Ducatis are sweet down low pulling through, but wide open sounds like a strangling duck.
Holy hot tub....uh, I mean adventure!! Thank you for sharing your write up and photos!! So awesome you got to enjoy some racing time too! How far did that little moto travel? Tiny little thing! I laffed much about the GS planners and your poor Viffer in all that dirt and rock. Many times I've traveled down those types of roads or just passed them and said NOPE! Good on you for tackling it successfully without too much death grip. It's my opinion we all need ADV. Looks like you all had an amazing time with super roads and activities!! Thanks again for sharing!!