Monday, December 19, 2016
Sunday, December 18, 2016
The Great Alpine Loop day-trip 2016
RIDE REPORT
I arrived at Cranbourne McDonald's exactly 4:45am and soon after both Brian Lee and Kesara Himawan Randeniya arrived together. I initially suggested that we leave at 4am but Brian who is a veteran of this sort of thing suggested that's a bit ambitious so who am I to argue :D. Kesara is on a 2013 Yamaha XJR1300 and Brian is on a 2011 Suzuki GSF1250 which he fully kitted out with cruise control, plethora of electronics, hand grip heater and .... a fridge ✌. I am on a 1990 GPZ900R which is completely stock except I fitted dual-sports tyres.
You know you're in for an interesting ride when your bike is 900cc and it's the tiniest of the bunch! Good thing I got rid of my R6 otherwise I would have a serious size envy.
Weather was a big deciding factor as the Alpine is so far away from Melbourne that both can have a completely different forecast. This time there was a huge gap in the system to ensure perfect blue-sky throughout!
We made our way to Bairnsdale and quickly disposed of this 3-hrs straight bit. In retrospect this was the hardest part of the ride for me! 3:). Halfway towards Bairnsdale I saw the XJR rear tyre slid on a roundabout. Later on we would learn why!
Finished munching Macca breakfast we went up to Omeo. This is the start of the 'good bit'. The road is as I remembered it 10 years ago. Fast with great visibility and awesome lean can be had! We noticed that the XJR was not up to the pace which is interesting considering it is the gruntiest of the bunch and Kesara sheepishly mentioned he had sprayed his tyre with tyre-shine :P. Well I must admit that the tyres do look nicely black and shiny >:O but it felt like oil when you run your fingers through them! We then doused the tyre with petrol to very little improvement so I guess the XJR pilot needed to just ride it off!
Off we went again towards Bruthen to fill up. All of the bikes were doing 300km easy before reserve and to (not much) surprise my puny 900cc had the worst fuel economy. I suppose that's fuel injection and 20yrs of mechanical engineering for you. I was distracted by my earplug while filling in and sprayed a liberal amount of petrol on my EYES... it felt burning sensation and I ran to the toilet and run water on my eyes for few minutes. Thank god it subsided otherwise that would have been the end of the ride for me (or worse!)
Just before Omeo we took a detour via Cassilis. The road here is amazing with great undulation so I went to warp with the intention of taking photos. 5 min... 10min ... 15min later ... no bikes! So I went back and found both guys just about to depart from what seems like a stack!... minor cosmetics on the XJR and thankfully nothing serious. Next time don't spray the tyres man!! :'(
Instead of the usual GAR Hotham run, we took the road to Mitta Mitta. What can I say about this place except don't die before riding this road. Tight, constant radius cornes km after km with amazing views. Traffic were nearly non-existent although the one which appears seems to take a liking to making it a one-way TT track >:(. Brian could elaborate further on his 'near incident' and I was surprised that not a curse word were uttered, such a polite man!
We stopped tried to scrub XJR's tyres again with wood and rock to no avail. Continuing, We stopped at Mitta Mitta for a long and relaxing lunch by this time the perfect & sunny blue sky had reached in the mid 20's and we took off our warmers. Such a beautiful little town.
Arriving in Tallangata to refuel again, we decided to do the big extra run because ...why not! We made the loop to Granya which to me felt like 3 black spurs stringed together! Nice constant radius corners but plenty of blind turns to keep you awake. At this stage my GPS, camera charger, and usb power bank are all stuffed so Brian took the lead to Albury then Beechworth. Stopping at the bakery we had dinner and by this time it's 6pm already.
We made a sensible decision to opt out king valley to avoid animal risks and went home through Alexandra - Buxton. Visibility was poor due to riding towards the sun. By the time we reached the Black Spur it's completely dark and it was an eerie experience to ride that forest at night. It's awesome.
We waved goodbye in Ringwood any I opened my garage door exactly 11:15pm. So that's 18 hours and 1,047km door to door. For my GPZ a total 60L ($90.43) of fuel was consumed which amounts to 5.7L/100km. Not bad.
Pictures (and hopefully videos) are coming. What a fun and memorable day. Thanks to Brian and Kesara and everyone here for the local tips on good roads for making this the ultimate weekend ride!! 💪
I arrived at Cranbourne McDonald's exactly 4:45am and soon after both Brian Lee and Kesara Himawan Randeniya arrived together. I initially suggested that we leave at 4am but Brian who is a veteran of this sort of thing suggested that's a bit ambitious so who am I to argue :D. Kesara is on a 2013 Yamaha XJR1300 and Brian is on a 2011 Suzuki GSF1250 which he fully kitted out with cruise control, plethora of electronics, hand grip heater and .... a fridge ✌. I am on a 1990 GPZ900R which is completely stock except I fitted dual-sports tyres.
You know you're in for an interesting ride when your bike is 900cc and it's the tiniest of the bunch! Good thing I got rid of my R6 otherwise I would have a serious size envy.
Weather was a big deciding factor as the Alpine is so far away from Melbourne that both can have a completely different forecast. This time there was a huge gap in the system to ensure perfect blue-sky throughout!
Finished munching Macca breakfast we went up to Omeo. This is the start of the 'good bit'. The road is as I remembered it 10 years ago. Fast with great visibility and awesome lean can be had! We noticed that the XJR was not up to the pace which is interesting considering it is the gruntiest of the bunch and Kesara sheepishly mentioned he had sprayed his tyre with tyre-shine :P. Well I must admit that the tyres do look nicely black and shiny >:O but it felt like oil when you run your fingers through them! We then doused the tyre with petrol to very little improvement so I guess the XJR pilot needed to just ride it off!
Off we went again towards Bruthen to fill up. All of the bikes were doing 300km easy before reserve and to (not much) surprise my puny 900cc had the worst fuel economy. I suppose that's fuel injection and 20yrs of mechanical engineering for you. I was distracted by my earplug while filling in and sprayed a liberal amount of petrol on my EYES... it felt burning sensation and I ran to the toilet and run water on my eyes for few minutes. Thank god it subsided otherwise that would have been the end of the ride for me (or worse!)
Just before Omeo we took a detour via Cassilis. The road here is amazing with great undulation so I went to warp with the intention of taking photos. 5 min... 10min ... 15min later ... no bikes! So I went back and found both guys just about to depart from what seems like a stack!... minor cosmetics on the XJR and thankfully nothing serious. Next time don't spray the tyres man!! :'(
Instead of the usual GAR Hotham run, we took the road to Mitta Mitta. What can I say about this place except don't die before riding this road. Tight, constant radius cornes km after km with amazing views. Traffic were nearly non-existent although the one which appears seems to take a liking to making it a one-way TT track >:(. Brian could elaborate further on his 'near incident' and I was surprised that not a curse word were uttered, such a polite man!
We stopped tried to scrub XJR's tyres again with wood and rock to no avail. Continuing, We stopped at Mitta Mitta for a long and relaxing lunch by this time the perfect & sunny blue sky had reached in the mid 20's and we took off our warmers. Such a beautiful little town.
Arriving in Tallangata to refuel again, we decided to do the big extra run because ...why not! We made the loop to Granya which to me felt like 3 black spurs stringed together! Nice constant radius corners but plenty of blind turns to keep you awake. At this stage my GPS, camera charger, and usb power bank are all stuffed so Brian took the lead to Albury then Beechworth. Stopping at the bakery we had dinner and by this time it's 6pm already.
We made a sensible decision to opt out king valley to avoid animal risks and went home through Alexandra - Buxton. Visibility was poor due to riding towards the sun. By the time we reached the Black Spur it's completely dark and it was an eerie experience to ride that forest at night. It's awesome.
We waved goodbye in Ringwood any I opened my garage door exactly 11:15pm. So that's 18 hours and 1,047km door to door. For my GPZ a total 60L ($90.43) of fuel was consumed which amounts to 5.7L/100km. Not bad.
Pictures (and hopefully videos) are coming. What a fun and memorable day. Thanks to Brian and Kesara and everyone here for the local tips on good roads for making this the ultimate weekend ride!! 💪
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Long-distance riding takeway list
Spare $200 cash
Tissues
Flashlight
Panadol + Imodium + Bandaid + zyrtec
water bottle
map/gps
battery bank
Ear plugs
Plastic bags
Hat
rain suit
Gaffa tape & Zip ties
Bicycle pump
Tubeless repair kit
Basic tools (screwdriver, plier)
Chain lube
Spare key
brake fluid
first-aid kit
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Monday, December 12, 2016
Eildon - Jamieson Rd with ZX10R and ZRX1200
Reefton - Eildon - Jamieson (500km)
Time tracking for meeting points:
08:20 depart
09:20 Emerald
09:50 Launching Place
10:05 Warburton
10:30 Bottom of Reefton
11:00 Marysville
11:40 Eildon
18:00 Arrive home
Monday, December 05, 2016
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