Monday, November 9, 2015

9 November - Home from the Snowy Ride

After a couple of miserable days (weather wise) yesterday was brilliant. All the gear had pretty well dried out, the sun was out, hardly any wind and the ride home promised to be an enjoyable one. After a quick breakfast in Jindabyne I rode out towards Dalgety and Bombala. Of course, hundreds of other riders had the same plan so for the first hour or so there were bikes everywhere. This is the first time I've shared the road, over a number of days with hundreds of other riders. Based on this sample I'm of the opinion that while 90% of motorcyclists are rational and considerate riders, on this occasion at least about 10% seem to be idiots with no consideration for anyone else on the road. On many occasions I was passed by riders at 130-140 km/hr over double lines, over crests and around blind corners. Then, when confronted by the inevitable oncoming vehicle they expect to push back into the left lane endangering those of us who are riding lawfully. I'm not an experienced rider, but I have clocked up over 100,000 km in the past five years and I can honestly say I have never been frightened by a car or truck, but I've had many potentially dangerous situations caused by other motorcyclists. It is no wonder that during the 2014 Snowy Ride, there were numerous accidents including three fatalities. So much for my little rant - feel better now. After an hour or so I had the road pretty well to myself and it was a sheer pleasure to ride to Bombala (with a fuel stop) and then on to Cann River and lunch. Then, back on the bike again and heading west on Highway 1 towards Orbost. Had a quick detour to have a look at Marlo and then it was on to Paynesville where I was staying with friends.

The following map gives an overview of the whole trip. (Double click to make it legible)
and this map shows the actual Snowy ride component.
This morning, after a very pleasant visit with friends I left Paynesville to return home just after noon.
Despite some inclement weather, looking back on it the whole ride was a blast. I rode with a group and we really enjoyed our coffee stops, lunches and dinners and plenty of bottles of red wine. Thanks guys.

The total distance was 1400 km

4 comments:

  1. Hi Theo
    It seems that there are dickheads in everything and these clowns riding like that giving us all a bad name. This is one of the reasons we stopped going to the snowy ride after 4-5 years. It's sad 3 people lost their lives this year. Glad you had a great time despite the rain and excellent posts mate.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Chiller, if I do the ride again next year, I'll just stay an extra day and ride home quietly afterwards.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A sad state of affairs when fellow motorcyclists are the worst danger we face.

    I've had another rider pass me on a blind corner and try and move over on me when I was a new rider. They were headed to the same location at the coast and Troubadour gave them a hell of an earful when we arrived.

    ReplyDelete

If your comment is a request requiring action from me, please send me an email on the link provided. While I check my current posting for comments, my blog software does not notify me when comments/requests come in on past posts.