Towong Thursday 25th-Sunday 28^th January, 2007

Paul Southwell	Honda CBR1000	Danny Hawker	Suzuki GSXR750
Ben Warden (leader)	Honda CBR954	Clifford Peters	Suzuki GSXR1000
Misho Zrakic	Honda CBR600	Ron Johnston	Suzuki GSF1200
Dave Ward	Suzuki GSXR600		7 bikes, 7 people

Peter Feistl is going to generate a proper article for next month’s magazine. Here are a few statistics and miscellaneous thoughts.

Danny Hawker crashed on Day 1 as mentioned in the Whos News when he ran over a snake and lost control. Police, ambulance and tow truck attended. Photos on our web page capture the “atmosphere”.

Dave Ward came as far as the end of the Happy Valley Road before heading south and home the long way heading down to Mt Beauty and across the Tawonga Gap to Bright, Harrietville, Hotham, Omeo and home. He did about 900 km for the day in time to go to work the next day.

Ron Johnston heard there was a spare bed and headed up Friday night arriving at about 1 am Saturday morning, riding the last two days with us.

Towong Fuel Statistics for Ben’s Honda CBR954

Date	c/litre	$	litres	Odom	km/tank	km/l	Comments
22nd Jan				62,979			Flemington Rd
25th	116.90	13.42	11.48	63,169	190	16.55	Yea	Day 1: 755 km
"	119.90	14.84	12.38	63,391	222	17.93	Myrtleford
"	132.90	19.60	14.75	63,616	225	15.25	Mitta Mitta
26th	124.90	18.21	14.58	63,840	224	15.36	Khancoban	Day 2: 541 km
"	126.90	17.13	13.50	64,037	197	14.59	Jindabyne
"	125.90	14.72	11.69	64,217	180	15.40	Adaminaby
27th	132.90	17.00	12.79	64,406	189	14.78	Walwa	Day 3: 585 km
"	125.90	21.60	17.15	64,665	259	15.10	Gundagai
"	124.90	19.31	15.46	64,914	249	16.11	Khancoban
28th	132.90	19.80	14.90	65,139	225	15.10	Mitta Mitta	Day 4: 815 km
"	119.90	17.77	14.82	65,357	218	14.71	Myrtleford
"	123.00	17.12	13.92	65,590	233	16.74	Bonnie Doon
Averages:	125.58	17.54	13.95		217.58	15.64		674 km
Totals:		210.52	167.42					2696 km

Petrol: The above table is the fuel consumption statistics for the ride. I haven’t filled up since Bonnie Doon so can’t give the last figure. The total km for the trip, door to door, was 2696 km in 4 days averaging 674 km a day using 167 litres of fuel with an average consumption of 15.64 km/l.

Distances: This distances sound worse than they really are because it is a lot easier to do large distances per day given that there are no traffic lights, you roll out the door and immediately go to cruising speed, the scenery is brilliant and we were on the road before 9 am and not back till around 6.30 pm. The Day 1 distance is inflated by 80 km because by the time I figured something was amiss (Danny’s crash) I was 40 km down the road!

The weather was sensational with not a drop of rain, unlike Melbourne. Temperatures for Corryong were 33, 34, 26 and 24 for the period. Skies were mainly cloudless. The first two days were basically hot. On the second day we headed for the Snowy Mountains and altitude to better cope with the hot conditions.

Accommodation costs for three nights, including 3 breakfasts and one evening meal came to $137. This contrasts with the $210 spent on petrol.

Food: the first two nights we pre-booked into the lower pub at 7pm, taking some pressure off on getting back from the ride and working out what to eat/cook. On the first night we took advantage of the fire-fighter special rump steak and vegetables for a bargain $12. The second evening we cleaned up in the raffles, winning the major prize of a fish platter (kilo of prawns, dozen oysters, whole snapper, whole smoked trout, various unknown fish fillets, and that orange/white fish filler. We also won a hamper of vegetables and fruit in another raffle. This food became the major component of the Beef and Reef BBQ on the last night provided by Ron and Sarah, our hosts. Sarah went to town creatively and we had rice dishes, ratatouille from the garden, home-made bread, baked potatoes, pesto sauce. Brilliant. Bread and cereal for breakfast each day saw us well fed and away early with no need to stop.

Fires: Day 1 route took us 62 km along the fire ravaged Mansfield to Tolmie to Whitfield road. The road had signage indicating that it was closed but we managed to get through okay. Alas, on the way home it had a human guard at the Mansfield end blocking all traffic. Rather than taking the 10 km of dirt indicated we headed back up to Moyu and cut back to Swanpool. This added about 80 km to the day and made for a late finish around 8 pm. We were pretty sore and sorry by that stage!

Animals. There were lots of echidnas including two or three around Tolmie right through to Greta South and the Flowerdale road. Peter estimates he saw eight. Not only were there echidnas to be avoided, but due to the drought farmers were grazing livestock along the verges, desperately searching for fodder. Cattle and sheep were a given but throw in horses and goats and it gets a bit lively. A large cow stopped me dead on the Dartmouth Dam Road, staring me down, before losing its mojo and tried to beat a hastie exit, losing grip on the slippery tar, hooves and legs flying everywhere. Then there was the large, heavily muscled grey kangaroo just after Walwa heading back to Granya. Again almost stopped before it darted across my path and then proceeded to have a drag race with me along the other side of the road. Ron met him later. Of course, a kamikaze magpie splattered itself all over the right fairing at speed on Day 1, entrails frying onto and staining the muffler. Closely following Paul finished him off as he dissolved into a mere puff of feathers. Day 4, not 3 km into the ride, and a large white cockatoo decided to leave his mate and fly into my path, shredded by the front wheel. Did I mention the locust plague?

Tyres. Tyre wear, as usual, was apocalyptic. Peter, riding his 1000 km old GSXR750 managed to destroy his rear tyre by about the end of day 3. Ron turned up on dodgy race tyres which would not have passed scrutineering anywhere. By the time I reached home my near new front Pilot Sport was chopped out on the sides. All the Pilot Power rear tyres fitted went the distance without any dramas and I expect to get 4500 km at least out of my set. Paul’s rear was getting low.

Of course, I did manage to score a puncture mid-afternoon Day 3, 50 km from civilisation (pressurised air) at Tumbarumba. The bike had started sliding around on the Rosewood Road and initially I thought it was gravel. Some quick testing with the throttle saw my heart sink, suspicions confirmed with the tyre pressure gauge reading 30 psi and a spin of the wheel indicating a nasty staple through the middle of the tread. Rather than wasting Peter’s CO2 bottles I limped back to Tumbarumba and inserted a liquorice red plug with 100 percent success. The tyre was perfect for the rest of the weekend.

The big dipper. Stoimen set a new land speed record on the Jingellic to Tumbarumba big dipper last November and when Paul went past me at least 60 km faster, it had to be big. It seems $2.99 is the maximum price.

Wheel bearings. Back in Melbourne, in search of a heavy clunk, most noticeable at low speed, and a general vague feeling on the last day, I set the bike on the stand and raised the front wheel Monday night after riding to and from work. I half suspected the steering head bearings to be loose. A shake of the wheel and a visual inspection showed dramatic movement at the axle. Replacement wheel bearings at $30 fitted has to be one of the cheapest mechanical repairs on a bike. Back on the road after one day.

Overall: top roads, top weather, top blokes. A truely epic ride with nary an incident apart from the snake, which as time passes will pass in to legendary status.

Ben Warden