Yarra Ranges Ulysses
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Miserable morning, memorable ride

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Miserable morning, memorable ride Empty Certificate, patch and logoes

Post by toneli Mon Apr 15 2013, 21:39

Just thought I'd let you all know that the "awards" from the Iron Butt Association arrived today. Just 15 days after the ride, and even fewer days after the report was submitted.

Sounds like they're doing really "good" at getting the certifications done at the moment.
toneli
toneli

Posts : 22
Join date : 2012-11-24

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Post by Peter R Sat Apr 06 2013, 21:25

Hey great effort Tonelli. Sing out next time you come up with a brainwave like that, i may be foolish enough to accompany you! You travelled some great countryside there, sounds like my idea of fun... Well done!
Peter R
Peter R

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Age : 64
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Post by bruce j Fri Apr 05 2013, 21:09

Congratulation Toneli cheers It IS an achievement. Joffa and I were officially welcomed in to "the club" a bit over a week ago, after doing ours in September last year. I noted the Standard 10 ute. My first 2 cars were Standard 10's; the 1st was hand painted with red house paint! Crying or Very sad Catchya!

bruce j

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Join date : 2012-11-11

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Post by toneli Fri Apr 05 2013, 18:18

Four thirty in the morning, Sunday, March 31, 2013. How miserable is the weather! Rain, or was it an excuse for rain? Roads are wet; rain is light; just like a "Scottish mist". The night is pitch black. No moon. Thick clouds. But plans had been made. Sunday to ride; Monday to "revive".

Opportunities for long distance rides don't come around every weekend. And this was Easter Sunday; a day when most people don't travel. The roads would be empty or nearly so. The day before Easter Monday. The day before many would be returning to their homes. So, regardless of the weather, hoping for light traffic, great road surfaces and trusting the weather man's forecast, the ride was on.

Admittedly the plans were conjured up in a relatively short time. Last minute changes to the ride route reflected such planning. Nevertheless, opportunity was knocking. It had to be good to go! This was to be another "all-dayer", another attempt at a SaddleSore 1600K, another 1610 kilometres in less than 24 hours.

Sometime had been spent "googling" possible travel routes; routes that had a fair amount of the 110 KpH speed limits, relatively untraveled and hence "unbusy" roads. Roads with a good surface. Not through the hills or mountains, where the roads could be windy and relatively slow.

The ride route was to be from Croydon Hills to Seymour via Yarra Glen and Yea, then on through Albury to Tarcutta; from Tarcutta cutting across to Wagga Wagga, then on to Hay via Narrandera. From Hay the route would go south to Deniliquin, Echuca and Bendigo, over to Horsham via St Arnaud, and down to Melbourne and Croydon Hills using the Western Highway and freeway. Total kilometres needed to be over 1610 to qualify. Some last minute tinkering to ensure the 1610 kilometres had the ride finishing at Coles Express/Shell on Maroondah Highway, Lilydale rather than Croydon Hills.

Ride regulations require a witness for both the start and the end of the ride. Service station receipts confirm start and finish times. And here is where hasty planning became apparent. The witness forms signed off by the service station attendants had the original start/finish service station names and addresses on them! Duh! Fortunately one's spouse can also act as a witness. The better half woke up at 4:15 am to see me off, and was waiting up for me at 12:30 am on Sunday, April 1, April fool's day! Wonder whether there is any significance in that? I have been known to say that motorcycle madness gets into one for these long distance rides.

The ride up Mount Slide was pretty uneventful. The Scottish mist was still around. It couldn't get any worse, could it? Just the other side of Glenburn it started to rain! Dark night, wet road, rain. No other traffic meant an increased risk of wild life on the road. Not good! Yea came up in about an hour, and Seymour in another 30 minutes or so. The road into Seymour was dry. I stopped to "report in" to mission control (my wife), and advised her that the road was now dry. All would be OK. How wrong! Just a few kilometres further north, it started raining again! Fortunately the rain didn't last long. By Glenrowan, the service centre on the Hume Freeway, the rain had stopped and the sun had climbed over the horizon to set up the day.

Freeways and concrete slab pavements don't provide the most interesting of ride routes. But when time is a factor and speed limits are higher, the choice is a no-brainer: freeway every time! Yet even for their monotony, there are sights of interest to enjoy: the rolling hills and accompanying plains between Seymour and Glenrowan, the hill climb, and the view from the top of the hill, before dropping down into the Ovens River Valley in which Wangaratta is located; the hill climb somewhere between Chiltern and Barnawartha; and the huge distribution centre, Logix, just before getting to Wodonga. And then there is the new freeway by-passing Albury. Makes the drive through Albury such a breeze.

Leaving Albury one travels through the locality of Table Mountain. It is interesting to observe how the old Hume Highway, once called Old Sydney Road, and now Bowna Road, runs directly though the north western reach of Lake Hume, with the current highway/freeway routed around this reach. My sister resides on Bowna Road, just to the east of the Hume, not far from the Ettamogah Pub. I must have blinked at just the wrong moment. I missed seeing the pub this time through. A quick thought, though, was given to my sister, and then on.

From here through to Tarcutta – and I've travelled this road too many times to remember – the country-side really is scenic. Those who have settled here surely must have some of the choicest land in Australia. Not boring flat plains, not rugged, precipitous mountains. Just rolling hills with stands of natural bushland and timber, but mostly cleared for sheep and cattle grazing. A delightful scene through which to travel.

There is no freeway by-pass around the submarine town of Holbrook, memories of which, for me, go back to 1957. We "over-nighted" here on our way from Melbourne to Sydney. Five of us were crammed into the cab of tiny Standard Ten ute. Today, to pass through Holbrook, one is compelled to reduce speed to a quick, seemingly, walking pace of 50 KpH to get through the town. In the 1970s Holbrook and Tarcutta, along with Goulburn and Gundagai, were renowned by road users for their road patrols. One never, ever failed to slow to the speed limits through these towns, and observe the speed limits around them.

The main roads mob of NSW have eventually bitten the bullet for Tarcutta. There is a very nice, and very new concrete slab, super smooth surfaced freeway by-passing the town. Had I known – read as "researched the route better" - before departure I would have delayed a fuel re-fill until Wagga.

The Sturt Highway cuts into the Hume about nine kilometres north of Tarcutta. Here my journey took me westward towards Wagga, Narrandera and Hay. The road to Wagga left a fair bit to be desired. I expected better. Traffic volumes travelling east from Wagga and then north (?) suddenly increased significantly. Not to mention the traffic travelling west towards Wagga!

The Sturt Highway to Wagga pretty much follows the Murrumbidgee River valley. One can see tracts of agricultural land – sheep country, as well as some stands of long lived eucalypts, maybe river gums. The town of Wagga seems to go on forever, and with it the 60 KpH speed limit. This does serious damage to one's average speed and time intervals. Eventually out of the city limits and back on the open road. Speed limit is 100 Kph. But only for around 25 or 30 Km if I remember correctly.

A recent NSW government review of roads and their associated speed limits concluded that some of these "out the back" roads are worthy of a 110 KpH speed limit. While "researching" my travel route I "googled" speed limits on the Sturt and Cobb Highways and found the "locations" of these higher speed limited roads.

Halfway point, or thereabouts for this ride was somewhere around or near Hay. The road from Wagga to Hay proved better than that from the Hume into Wagga; less traffic and a better, smoother and more consistent surface. Traffic volume was also less. There were, though, a few semi–trailers and B doubles.

The Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA), the food and fruit bowl of New South Wales is entered soon after Wagga. Main towns in the MIA include Narrandera, on the Sturt, Griffith and Leeton, the latter two towns being creations of the MIA, I am advised. Crops in the irrigation area include cotton, rice, wine grapes and various orchard fruit, amongst other things. While travelling the Sturt one can see these crops in the fields adjoining the roads. One also notices the road-side signs advising one not to take fruit into the MIA. If caught there is a minimum penalty of $200.00. Eventually the signs become more demanding so a stop was in order to consume my two remaining bananas before I was forced to bin them and pay up! Anyone is planning to travel through this area, needs to remember to leave your fruit and veg behind and purchase same in the MIA.

Leaving the area around Narrandera one becomes very conscious of moving from a fertile agricultural area to something that approaches inhospitable salt bush country. You travel from cropping lands to pastoral. But these pastoral lands must be such that fertility is measured in acres per sheep rather than sheep per acre! It is very much Salt Bush Bill's country. Pity his pub, the Ettamogah, is so far down the road outside Albury! And the emus come as bonus!

I turn south, on to the Cobb Highway at Hay, heading for Deniliquin and Bendigo via Echuca. Just south of Hay I noticed a funny arrangement of star pickets out in the scrub. Couldn't work it out. Turned out to be the long necks of a flock of about six emus sticking up above the salt bush.A little further down the highway, I came across another flock of them, about 15 or 20 in the flock this time.

But there is a an even nastier, more dangerous hazard on these roads; the domesticated cow! Yep!
The long paddock exists down the verges of the Cobb Highway (and the Sturt west of Hay, I understand). The drovers are supposed to have their signs out warning of livestock. But one herd I came across had either out-travelled their signage or the drovers didn't do what they should've done!

A comfort stop and a couple of villages and I was passing through Deniliquin and then Echuca. This section proved to be the quickest section of the whole trip. It's amazing how much time travelling through a regional town at the 60 Kph speed limit can take. Wagga, Deniliquin, Echuca and Bendigo. But especially Wagga, Echuca, Bendigo and their likes are towns to steer clear of if one is trying to do a SaddleSore or IronButt ride.

The last stretch of the run, from Hay to Bendigo proved a little interesting if not worrying. My schedule called for a fuel stop in Deniliquin, but on checking odometer and distance to Bendigo I figured that I could make it to Elmore, about 40 Km north of Bendigo, and perhaps delete a refuel stop. Got to Elmore easily, but got side-tracked and distracted. Just as I was leaving the out-skirts of the town I realised I meant to re-fuel! Bummer! A quick check of the road signs for distance to Bendigo indicated I had another 40 odd kilometres to travel. That would be a pretty good maybe. Not long out, though, the low fuel warning light came on. With some quick, approximating mental arithmetic calculations I figured the remaining fuel could be good for around 80 Km. But not being one to relish walking for fuel, I checked the next village for a servo. Nothing in that village. Kept going with fingers crossed and hoping, and with an eye open for a servo in the next village. Nothing!

"Come on Bendigo, where are you? "

I must be getting closer to the town. Farmlets were disappearing. Commercial sites were getting thicker and larger. Car sales yards were now bordering the roadside almost non-stop, but still no servo.

Eventually! What a welcoming sight the BP servo in Epsom, Bendigo, with its enviro friendly logo, was. I didn't miss this one. Filled up and found that I still had another 4 litres in the tank!

Not being familiar with Bendigo, the ride through town was slow and tedious. All the time I was on the lookout for the turn off to Mildura to pick up the Calder Highway by-pass road at Marong. From Marong my route would take me through St Arnaud and on to Horsham.

Bendigo to St Arnaud, is really quite pleasant. There are some very nice curves and bends in the road, not much traffic, and some lightly timbered areas. There are also kangaroos to menace the passing motorist and motor-cyclist. Eyes need to be sharp, or you need good fortune riding with you.

One day I'll have to do this part of the ride with more hours to sight see. There are some interesting places to check out, St Arnaud, Tarnagulla (cemetery and history), and Murtoa with an inland lake and parkland to explore. Each of the "towns" shares part of the old gold rush history of the area.

I was now heading west and riding directly into the sunset. And it wouldn't set nearly quickly enough. What a pain it is when the sky is so much brighter than the road surface.

On my SaddleSore 1600K done last December (2012) I ended up with a very dry and noisy chain that slowed me down for around 200 Km. On this occasion, even though the complete ride would be only half as long, I made sure I took along a can of chain lube. I'd been threatening to use it from Hay. Horsham gave me the opportunity. By Horsham I'd managed to make up a bit of time (only a bit) on my schedule so took advantage of this slight time gain to re-lube the chain.

It was just on dusk when I left Horsham. The sunset at my back, and the looming night sky to look forward to. The areas surrounding the road from Horsham through to Ararat and Beaufort, these days, are home to many types of wildlife, including kangaroos. Warning signs are a-plenty. Disregard them at your own peril. Or, you can adopt strategies that minimise the risk.

The ride down from Horsham through the lightly timbered and hilly areas around Stawell and Ararat, and into Beaufort was a real pleasure. The night air was clear, cool and dense. The stars were shining brightly. Most of the traffic was moving at a pretty good rate. Those that weren't didn't seem to know how to use their high beam headlights.

Just out of Beaufort there seems to be a bit of a swampy area. And suddenly the air temperature dropped. It was quite cold from here all the way to Bacchus Marsh. (Followed up my suspicions on Monday and found that Ballarat experienced a temp of about 9 degrees around the time I was passing though). No stops between Horsham and BP service centre at Ballan. By the time I arrived at Ballan I was really ready for a good hot shower.. Had to settle for a hot "four n' twenty". Fill up fuel, down the "four n' twenty", and do a bit of "stretching" and walking about to get circulation moving , and then back on the bike for the final assault on the 1600 Km.

The bike seemed to be really enjoying the dense cool air of the night. It was singing beautifully down the decline to Pike's Creek Reservoir, the ascent back to the top of the hill and then through the Pentland Hills coming into the Bacchus Marsh by-pass. Very enjoyable. From Bacchus Marsh into the city and on to Lilydale, was done very carefully. Late night. A reasonable amount of traffic, freeway travel and freeway speeds.

At 11:57 pm on Sunday, I passed the turn off from Maroondah Highway to our home. But, to ensure I covered the complete 1610 Km I thought it prudent to "go the extra mile". So on to Lilydale. Filled up at Coles Express/Shell servo, paid my money and took possession of the receipt. The end time recorded on my receipt was 00:09 on Monday, April 1, 2013.

I'd made it! Sixteen hundred and ten kilometres in less than 24 hours. And, according to some, an April fool to boot. javascript:emoticonp('Very Happy')
toneli
toneli

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