Steptoes 2022 Phillip Island run

[steptoe]

It’d be a day ride for you Buddy😂

[Jonesy :-)]

Good write up mate, sounds like a great ride through the snowies, been many years since I've been down that way

[steptoe]

From Scone it was back roads down into the bylong, a very scenic ride skirted by rain clouds the whole way, it was dry where it mattered in the couple of nice tight ranges, and a lunch stop in Sofala, a well preserved gold village from ye old days,
couple of laps of “ the mountain” before heading to Jonesy’s for the night and quick swap of shocks,  a cracker of a thunderstorm overnight washed all the oil off the roads for the next day of riding.
       Bathurst to Gundagai was rolling sweepers and straights with 1 hr on the freeway to meet another rider before finally heading into the snowies for some long awaited corner time,
 I found out where Barlow apples come from, and stayed in a little town called Tumbarumba, a timber town with a huge sawmill, this was the meeting place of the 3 ride groups that would become the Blackdog group ride, altogether there were 37 bikes from adventure bikes to Spyders, Harleys young and old, modern Jap bikes,  a couple of super bikes (R1 on RossoDiablo tyres) and a GSRX 750 and
1 XS1100 of course
The smells of the Snowies are as varied as they are intense, the eucalypts were by far the strongest, lemons and what smelt like peppermint, little yellow flowers dotted the roadside. From the tight corners as we followed the curves of the mountains to open plains dotted with stands of pine trees that I suppose are used for shelter for stock, the aromas kept changing.


A rest stop was spent at the “ Southern Cloud” rest area, an early Aussie aviation accident crash site that was discovered years after the fact, overlooking a long open valley before launching into more corners.
2 more nights were spent in the Snowies before arriving at Phillip island in Bombala and Warragul,
For those that have been, it’s a great spot, getting to ride around the track is a kind of out there experience, same as Bathurst, the track is tighter than it looks, especially the right hand dip coming off the hay shed,
The Blackdog guys had organised this and a meet and greet with Tommy gun,(Edwards) in the 300 cc series, he’d crashed the day earlier and we weren’t sure he’d be up for it, but he came through and it was a great meet, as we were leaving his lead technician walked through and started chatting to us, this was a very excellent chat learning how they set the bikes and how adjustments affect them,  and how it transfers through to riding our road bikes.
All in all the ride down was bloody awesome and something I’ll be doing again, and coming home back through the mountains with the adjustments/learnt info on mine was and will be another great ride home
Pictures to be put in when I have full service

[steptoe]

The Oxley is a spot on bit of tar,  except when it’s covered in cold water🤔
              After meeting the lads I’m riding with, it was head out and point in the direction of west,
Lunch was Bendemeer at the local servo, after the sun came out at the same point that we exited the last good corner near the 110 kph sign .
         That was the last main rd we used for the rest of the trip over to Scone in the Belmore hotel, cold beer and good food as always in country pubs

[steptoe]

Day 2 saw a brekky of bacon and eggs before fueling at 8.30 and launching for Port Mac. The route taken was the summer land way to Grafton then the last hour was freeway. I stopped long enough to top up with fuel at a little place called Whiporie Ck, around 10 minutes, the rest of the 7 1/2 hrs was just rolling through a garden we call the Aussie bush,

[steptoe]

Phillip island here we come, this is the start of my ride year, the bikes have had so little attention over the last while I thought I’d better do something about it before I did something else that I’d regret later,

This run I’ve teamed up with the Blackdog ride people, the first 2 days are transport days really, just poking down to Port Macquarie to the official start point.
5 days of corners & mountain ranges, day 1 saw a short run out to EV’s for a coffee, a handle adjust ( after new fork oil) and a chat before rolling down the Bruce goat track for lunch with Doug and Angela (General).
After lunch the idea was formed that maybe a run over Peachester out to Kilcoy and the dams and coming into Brissy from the west, but I decided not to and to come through the west side of Brissy and the hills district to spend more time with my hosts for the night Chris and Narelle. I met Chris at Xmas time after several phone calls instigated by Christian about carbs, so Chris rode up to home and stayed a night whilst we set about fixing his issues,

Day one was an uneventful ride but certainly a comfortable one rolling through a green landscape on our arm chairs, I fueled up at the 300 klm mark and put 16 ltrs in,😳 the new pipes are certainly making their mark.  More to come