SCDR QLD 01

Spokkie · Oct 21, 2024, 11:12 AM

PART 1

SCDR QLD 01
Stanthorpe Queensland 5th October 2024

This ride will have the check-in at the Brass Monkey Brewhouse, Severnlea QLD. Check-in is from 11:30am to 12:00pm. Please present your docket with the start date / time circled / highlighted. The date / time must not be prior to 12:00pm 4th October 2024.

I accidentally stumbled across this group one Saturday morning whilst surfing facebook. I was replying to a woman who had asked if there were any long distance riding clubs. I was pleased to see a number of past FarRiders & Iron Butt Association members commenting. When somebody mentioned this Southern Cross Distance Riders group, I immediately clicked on the link and found it similar to the old FarRiders page. After looking over the site I signed up. Looking a bit further I discovered they were about to hold their very first QLD ride to Stanthorpe on October 5. I was very excited, and after a quick chat with Sue I registered myself to do a 1,000km/24hours.
Over the next few days, much to my wife's dismay, I found myself being fully immersed in this whole long distance riding journey. I spent quite a lot of time catching up on the forum. Reading stories about riders I've known from my previous FarRiders days in WA. Some very sad and tragic stories of friends who have since ridden on. And others that are still around. Whilst catching up on who would be attending the Stanthorpe ride, Ray asked for someone to do the check-ins. Which consists of checking everyone's start dockets, and making sure all those who have registered for the ride actually arrive safely and if they don't, phone calls need to be made to ensure the safety of those riders. As I have previously done many FarRides in WA I thought I could do it so, I volunteered.

Pre ride preparation
Now you've got to remember, I haven't done a serious FarRide since before we left to do a lap of Oz in the caravan back in 2015 Thats 9 years ago. Can I still manage a serious long distance ride, will my body hold up to it?
Over the last few years I've not done a lot of riding and even less long distance riding. I was beginning to think maybe it's time to sell the bike and put my efforts towards doing up the boat and getting back into fishing.
At this time of year (winter/spring) in Bundy, my work is very quiet so I have been taking the opportunity to do a few longer rides in my local region. It turns out I still have a serious passion for long distance riding. However, if I'm to get back into this long distance riding thing there needs to be a few modifications done to the bike and to me as I'm a little older and seriously lack ride fitness. My camping gear hasn't seen the light of day for years and needs to be looked at and possibly upgraded.
Recently, while doing several longer local rides I've discovered a few things. The first thing I've noticed is after about 4 hour of riding my knees being bent in a certain position on the foot pegs begin to give me considerable pain. So I'm going to need to invest in a set of highway pegs, this allows me to stretch my legs straight forward so I can alleviate the constant pressure on my knees. After a bit of online searching I came across a set that i'll have to purchase out of America and they aren't cheap. The second thing is my butt gets quite sore. That's right, I don't have an "Iron Butt" anymore. Even though I have a sheepskin seat it helps only so much. I'm going to need to dig through a few suitcases to find my 'LD Comfort' shorts. They are designed without seams, so no painful pressure points and they wick moisture away. So no sweaty jocks. They are brilliant.
The next thing is to sort through my camping and travel kit. I purchased the Lone Rider tent last year which is specifically designed for bike trips, so I can tick that off my list.

If I'm going to be sleeping in a tent I'm going to need a good sleeping mat. I dug out my old themalite self inflating mattress I used to use. Sadly the valve had totally disintegrated after many years in storage. So it's back to the internet and research begins again. After heaps of research online I've found the Sea to Summit Etherlite XT sleeping mat would suit me, but in the mean time I'll just use my backup air mattress. My old sleeping bag is still in good condition but it's really suited for warm summer conditions. I really need a light weight warmer bag, so it just may get an upgrade to the Recon 4 gen 2. After discussions with Sue, I think I won't reactivate the Spot tracker because of the costs now involved in doing that. I'll just use the existing Life 360 app which Sue & I have on our phones. There is still a few other things yet to work out, like the tank bag, do I use the top box or use the space for carrying the tent? What about electronics and charging phones, watches etc. and there are plenty more things I still haven't even thought about yet.

The ride plan
The next stage is coming up with a ride plan. Stanthorpe is only 544km from Bundy. Do I ride there and back on Saturday which gives me my 1000km? Or do I leave lunch time on Friday and do about 500km then complete my final 500km by lunch time on Saturday at my check-in location at Stanthorpe? What routes are open to me to be able to get my 1000km done?
Over the next few days consisting of many hours of scanning WikiCamps to find places to camp safely and Google maps calculating distances and working out distances between fuel stops. The big thing is calculating a good route that allows me the arrive at my destination at the right time. We have a half hour window to check-in, if you miss it by even a minute, it's classified as a non finisher and that sucks big time considering how much riding you may have done and still need to do. I've designed my own tailored spread sheet with built in calculations to help me with things like fuel, accommodation and food costs. Travel times and distances and other things. After quite a bit time playing around with different plans I came up with plan A, B and C. It's good to have a few back ups ready as things can change on the day like weather.
After settling on plan A, I needed to send off a text to a friend who lives in Stanthorpe to see if I could use a piece of his yard to camp the night. It turns out he has a guest quarters I could use instead of sleeping on the ground. That would be great as I don't have to carry so much stuff with me then.
After settling on a ride plan I slept on it for a few days but I felt uncomfortable with it so back to the drawing board to re-work the plan. It ultimately was the same route but the start time changed which now had me sleeping Friday night now at Wandoan, 570km away halfway between Taroom and Miles. Another text needed to be sent to my friend to cancel my sleeping arrangements in a nice comfy bed. Now I'm forced to go through my camping kit again.

Travel kit
Next was deciding what I was going to do about Friday nights camp, was it the Lone Rider tent that I've not used yet or the tried & faithful swag? What food and fluids do I need to take?
I did a couple of test runs with the LoneRider tent on the front lawn with the air mattress in it. Now let's see if I can fit it on my bike. Do I leave the top box on and use it to put stuff in or do I take it off? I tinkered around for ages fitting then re-fitting, it was better I I left the top box off. So I added the back of the bike a ground sheet, tent, air mattress and another bag with sleeping bag and clothes and don't forget the camp chair. I spent a while working out the best way to occy strap it all down. There is a limited amount of tie-down points on the back of the bike.
The tank bag and camelbak hadn't been used for a while so they got a once over and seemed to be in good condition. I'll fill the camelbak with nearly 3 liters of Staminade this keep me hydrated, it sits nicely in the tank bag and the drink tube exits the front of the tank bag and is connected by a retractable cable. I usually take a drink as I come into a town and slow down to 60, I can flip my helmet open grab the drink tube and take drink, then let it go and it retracts back into its position. I'll add a couple of cans of Redbull as substitute coffee. I use them to help keep my staminade cold and skull them down when I have a fuel stop. A couple of muesli bars or similar and a bag of sweet lollies. On top of the tank bag fits a waterproof clear sleeve that has a simple ride plan so I can have a quick glance to see what my next destination is and what time I should arrive plus where I plan to take my fuel stops at.
The left saddlebag has my wet weather gear, assorted cloths for cleaning the screen and helmet. An emergency jumpstart device. I've learnt that cold nights can have an effect on the battery and there has been several times my battery has died in a difficult location. I keep a roll of toilet paper just in case, assorted cable ties, gaffa tape, spare occy strap, torch, knife, torx Allen keys suited for my bike, roll of tie wire, 2 emergency tie down straps, bottle of Rain x, earplugs, emergency rations.
The right saddlebag contains 12 volt air compressor, tyre repair kit, digital tyre pressure gauge, first aid kit, Jetboil, 1 liter of water, quick dry towel, sleeping bag liner, head lamp and a small pillow. I also had a Suimin, a tin of tuna and beans and 3 Up and Go's for breakfast.
So all up the bike was carrying a fair bit of extra weight. As the bike already comes in at 358 kg it's a big bike to manoeuvre around.

Spokkie · Oct 21, 2024, 11:16 AM

PART 2

Friday
I hate waiting around. I just want to get going. But before I could depart I had a message to say the club shirt I ordered with 'Spokkie' embroidered on it had arrived. I couldn't believe it. It arrives on the day I depart, excellent. So I zoomed around to the shop and asked if they could sew on the club patch for me too... no go. So back home and out with the sewing kit. Patch on... with a minor hiccup, I'm not the best at sewing but I have to say I've always sewed on all my riding patches. Done! Now I have the official club shirt, hat, patches and stickers. I'm feeling the part. But I've still got a few hours to wait around and pace the floor.
The weather all week leading up to Friday was horrible. It was blowing a gale and it was raining on and off. I was dreading the thought of riding in this wind but come Friday morning it had cleared up beautifully.
The ride rules clearly state my start docket cannot be prior to 12pm Friday. It doesn't say I can't start my ride earlier and pick up my start docket at 12pm along the way, as long as I complete my required kilometers within 24 hours.

Having said that I departed at 12am Friday morning from Bundaberg BP. I headed in the complete opposite direction than my destination, North.
My first leg would have me riding on the dreaded Bruce highway. I was going to be glad to be off it. I passed by the site where a month prior a truck carrying 42 tonne of Ammonia Sulphate hit a 4wd killing the driver and the truck catching fire and eventually exploded. The explosion could be heard 100km away and it left a hole in the ground several meters deep. Of course there was nothing left of the road and it was closed for 5 days until it could be rebuilt. Nasty.
Things were going fine, I was on track and hitting my time markers. I was exiting Calliope when the traffic came to a standstill. I could see the line ahead went for a long way and I had no idea what the hold up was until a Ute coming the other direction stopped alongside of me and said "Mate, your going to be hear for at least a couple of hours, there has been a terrible accident and the road is blocked on both sides" WHAT!! My head was spinning, what am I going to do? I'm not familiar with the area, I don't know any other routes around this blockage. I know, I'll ride down the other side of the road and see how close I can get to the accident and assess my situation from there. So I travelled at least a couple of kilometers until I got to the very front. There were two fire trucks, police and a ambulance was just leaving. The guy in the first vehicle in the queue told me he'd been here for half an hour already and had no idea how long it was going to take. So here I am sitting on my bike in the blazing sun in full leathers beginning to cook and frustration was getting the better of me. I texted my wife so she didn't panic, I knew she would be monitoring my progress and to her all she knew was that I'd stopped for no reason. I also texted Ray from SCDR in WA to inform him that my progress has hit a wall and I didn't know if I'd now make it. I looked at my maps and thought I'd have to turn around and head back south to Stanthorpe. I certainly wouldn't make it in daylight that way either. What if I just ask the head cop if I could squeeze through to gap in the crash, I'm just a on a bike I could fit through, so I walked up and asked the question. He wasn't all that impressed with me I must admit, he said all those people in the cars on both sides watching and waiting would be furious if I was let through, but when I told him my situation and I didn't want to be riding in the dark risking myself he kinda got my position. He said if I push my bike through he'd be ok with that so I raced back to my bike and rode up to him. He took one look at me and my bike and said I'd never be able to push all that up hill through the gap. He walked me through and I'd ride very slowly being careful not to get a puncture with all the broken glass around.
I'm through!! And I've only lost half an hour. I'm ecstatic to be back on track. The speed limit up here in this part of QLD is only 100 km/h. I knew I'd needed to try and make up that missing half hour so I increased my speed to 110 km/h. I rode through Biloela and onto my first fuel stop at Banana. I was scheduled to arrive at 3:39pm, I arrived at 3:20pm so I was ahead of my scheduled time. I was relieved to be stopping for a short break. I'd been riding for close to 4 and a half hours and I was already beginning to feel the pain. My knees were in a great deal of pain, my shoulders and neck were sore as were my wrists and hands. My butt and lower back were surprisingly not too bad. I put that down to those incredible LD Comfort shorts. Still, I was in pretty good shape and keen to keep going.
A quick 20 litres of fuel and an oil change. (toilet break) I had a quick snack and skulled down a can of warm Red Bull. As I did I couldn't help think of the commercial 'It gives you wings'. I don't know about wings, but it would certainly give me that caffeine fix that I would be needing for the final two & a half hours.
Around the Theodore area, the sun was already getting low in the sky and I had to put up with it obscuring my site. This wasn't too much of a drama as it soon was heading South.
The highlight through this final leg was riding through the Isla Gorge National Park. Very pretty and I got a good look as just as I came to the double white lined section of the road I came up behind two trucks carrying concrete railway sleepers. It was very slow going up though the range. Of course this once again slowed my progress.
The only cop I saw besides the ones at the crash was just as I was coming into Taroom. I passed through Taroom right on 5pm as the shops were closing. I had 69km to go before I arrived at my camp spot of Wandoan. As it was going to start getting dark at 6 and I had 44 minutes to get there, I had hope that I still had a chance to set up the tent in a little bit light. I was very mindful of the possibility of wildlife causing me grief.

Camp site
Not sure what time I arrived as I was focused on getting set up. As I rode into Waterloo Plains Environmental Park I rode past the bowls club and it sounded like the whole town was there having drinks after work. All those that were on the outside balcony watched me as I cruised by. I wonder what they thought? I found a nice green spot down near the water besides a large gazebo. Nice, I thought to myself. This looks like a peaceful spot. I passed by several caravans that were well into happy hour and camped just up from me was a couple also in a tent, they had a lovely campfire already underway. I quickly unloaded the bike and begun to set up the tent. Fortunately it's pretty quick and easy. By the time I was done there were the last rays of sun available to grab a couple of photos.
It was at this time I discovered the size and number of mosquitoes. They were trying to lift me off my feet and drag me into the water. With that it was time to zip myself and the bike into the tent. I had already blown up the air mattress and my casual clothes were in the tent too. I changed into something comfortable, lay down on the mattress and began to reply to text messages and phone calls. I was surprised to see I'd missed a heap of video calls from Pastor Hurst in WA. He had sent me a video of Josh & himself doing laps around Bathurst. It turns out as they were passing through they decided to do a couple of laps and call me from on top of Mount Panorama. Lucky them. I contacted Sue, all was well with her and the dogs so with that done I thought I'd better have dinner. I really didn't want to go back outside amongst the mozzies to boil some water so I decided to eat my Vegemite sandwiches that I was supposed to eat for lunch. That'll do. For dessert I had a fruit cup. I knew from previous experience to open them very carefully so I didn't spill any of the sticky liquid in the tent. As I carefully peeled a small section back it squirted a stream of liquid straight out at and all over me. GREAT!! The only casual clothing I've got and I'm covered in it. So off with those clothes and all I've got left is my thermal I'd brought just in case it was cold. It wasn't, but they would have to do. It was around this time I began to realize that the air mattress I was sitting on was now flat. NOOOOO. There is a leak in the air mattress. I blew it up again and this continued throughout the night. I lay there thinking, I definitely need that new mattress. The night was long and noisy. The locals were obviously out at the bowls club having a good time and their dogs were barking incessantly. Note to self; don't camp next to water again, the wildlife had fired up, frogs and crickets were trying to outdo the other with their calls, the water birds were racing each other across the water and the spectators on the sidelines were cheering them on. The worst was yet to come. Around the 2am mark I had to have another oil change so I put my thongs on and ventured outside. A group of hoons instantly mugged me and tried to drag me off into the water. I'm telling you, they breed monster mosquitoes out that way. The only roo that I saw on the whole trip was a small wallaby several meters away. It looked bemused at me as I was trying to have a leak and wave off the mozzies in my ill fitting thermals. I quickly zipped myself back in the tent, blew up my mattress again, zipped up my sleeping bag and prayed I'd get a little sleep as I had a huge day tomorrow. Not so. The flying foxes were returning from feeding on whatever they eat out here. It sounded like a decent sized colony that had a lot of young. If you know anything about these horrible creatures, they are incredibly noisy with their constant screeching and screaming. I hate bats.

Spokkie · Oct 21, 2024, 11:19 AM

PART 3

Saturday
By 4am I decided to get up, pack away the tent and my gear, load the bike and make tracks. This time before I went outside to face those muggers, I fully geared up in my leathers. Try getting my blood through that you suckers. I even took 5 minutes to see if I could see the asteroid that had appeared in our sky's. Nah no luck. So I got the bike packed and sat and ate a muesli bar and drank a Up and Go.
By 5am I quietly snuck out of the free camp area and hit the road. I had a huge day ahead of me. I was going to be riding 1,000km today. The thought of being on the road from 5am to 7pm was a daunting thought. I was still sore from yesterdays ride and I was going to double yesterdays ride. I couldn't imagine how painful today was going to be. Luckily for me a 4wd was passing by my turn off as I was about to pull out onto the highway, so I sat in behind him for a long while. I considered if he was in front he'd take the roo hits for me. Never actually saw any wildlife thankfully.
After an hour of uneventful riding I arrived at Miles. As I turned off the Leichhardt highway onto the Warrego highway I felt a buzzing vibration coming from my left wrist. I had to pull off the road, take off my gloves and turn my alarm off my smart watch. I forgot that I'd set it the previous evening to remind me that by 6am I need to be on the road. As I road into the town I could see the town was mostly still asleep with just a few vehicles about. I have to say I really enjoy this time of day out in the country, you can freely move about without the constant threat of some idiot in a car almost running into you. My direction changed from heading South to now riding East. The sun was starting to rise and of course I was heading straight for it. A quick 46km and I arrived in Chinchilla. This town was increased in morning activity and it was made the more difficult as I struggled to see where I was going. I had to raise one hand to try and block out the sun. It worked but my arm got increasingly sore so I had to rest it and I then was blinded by the sun. An uncomfortable 84km but at least not much traffic except for several crazy drivers in 4wd's obviously late for work or just oblivious to the speed limit roaring past me.
Arrived in Dalby BP at 7:28 with well over an hour up my sleeve already. The stress levels were certainly low as I knew I would comfortably make my check-in time by 11:30am easily with time to spare. Knowing that, I took my time to put 21 litres of premium fuel in the bike. Had a quick oil change, downed my first substitute coffee for the morning with a couple of panadol as the previous days aches had already set in. Another muesli bar and off we go again. I was surprised to see how big Dalby is. By the looks of it, it has most of the regular conveniences of all big towns.
As I got closer to Toowoomba I was a little concerned with the route I'd mapped out to skirt around this large town. I didn't want to have to go through it as it's a busy place with lots of traffic and heaps of traffic lights and people rushing around on a Saturday morning. I passed through Oakey and knew I had a right turn ahead of me soon. Since passing through here several years ago whilst caravanning, there seemed to be new bypass highways. My GPS didn't pick up on the changes and before I knew it I was in the suburbs of Toowoomba. Drats!
After stuffing around and getting lost for a bit my GPS had me heading towards Warwick. Just on the outskirts of Toowoomba I came across a huge snake wanting to cross the road. It lifted its head as if watching me pass. I wouldn't want to come across one of those whilst camping.
Instead of taking the New England highway, I went through Allora on the alternate route. Some lovely twisties along this section. As I passed through Warwick I was really looking forward to getting to my destination. I still had 69km to go and my pain levels especially in my knees were very unpleasant. The road between Warwick and Stanthorpe is a pretty ordinary piece of road compared to some of the road I'd already ridden on in the last 24 hours. I began to look for somewhere to have a short break and stretch the legs. A sign told me that ahead was a resting spot with toilets, so into the small town of Dalveen. I found the park and pulled over. A quick oil change again and a small walk, a quick feed and a big drink from my camelbak. A family also stopped and the dad came over to have a chat with me. He wanted to know where I was riding to. So I explained what I was doing and he thought I was quite mad, when I told him after I check-in I'm turning around and riding back to Bundy. He was bewildered and walked away shaking his head. I guess you have to be a long distance rider to get it.
So back on the road for the last little bit. As I was riding into Stanthorpe I saw the biggest roo, dead in the middle of the highway. WOW I bet that left a nasty dent in whatever hit that. Then it started to rain. Yay. I skirted around Stanthorpe and started to look for my turn off to Severnlea. Found it, and followed the narrow road until I sign pointed to the Brass Monkey Brew House. There should be a sign that says go slow as the dirt road had steep speed humps I guess they were used to direct water flow. I took one a bit fast and thought I might even get some air...weeeee.

Arrival at destination
I had arrived at my destination at about 10:45am. Nobody else had arrived yet. I wondered into the the brew house and was greeted by the owner who had an interest in motorcycles. We chatted for a while. I discovered that he wasn't expecting us and he only had one staff member on for the day. No problems we were a small group anyway.
Cor was the next to arrive. He was on a very nice Harley. Apparently he'd ridden all the way from WA. WOW! that's an impressive ride. He had previously done years of FarRides in the East before becoming a Westie. I'd already left WA by that time.
Next to arrive was Giggles. It turns out he now lives in Bundaberg too. Cor and I were kept entertained by his stories of his visit and ride at the TT. Whilst he was in that part of the world he completed an Iron Butt ride.
Shortly afterwards Harry arrived from Brisbane and following the tradition of past FarRiders he put on his Hawaiian shirt.
About 10 minutes left, Mark and Steve arrived from NSW, Interesting they weren't on the list that Ray had sent me prior to departure. They informed me that Ian had broken down and passed word to them he wouldn't make it.
I did the docket check-in's. Made sure everybody left at the right time and the right day. Got their mileage too.

Official group photo
I was given strict instructions from Ray before I left for the ride that I had to get an official group photo. I grabbed a passer by and he was promptly handed several phones to take a heap of pics. It would have been good if we had an official flag as well, but not so this time.

The ride home
As we wouldn't be able to get a meal because of the crowd that had arrived for a function we unanimously agreed that we'd all hit the road again. So by 12pm we were already gearing up to make our way home. Harry took the lead followed by Giggles, myself and Cor. The other two, Mark and Steve, they were still getting ready as we left. By the time we were halfway to Warwick we were well spread out. I have to say, as a long distance rider you find we don't ride in groups we are predominantly solitary riders. So it came as no surprise we had distanced ourselves from each other. I caught up to Giggles as we entered Warwick only to separate again as we took different routes. I was under the impression that Harry and Giggles were heading towards Brisbane and Giggles would take the Bruce Highway back to Bundy. I on the other hand was heading towards to Ban Ban Springs via Crows Nest.
Coming through Toowoomba was a pain. back to the stop start traffic lights and busy streets. I didn't enjoy the ride through this large town except for the stops. It allowed me to stretch my legs and give my bum a rest. I was already suffering pain. This is going to be an uncomfortable ride home. As I went through the outskirts of Toowoomba I was scheduled to fuel up. So after I put in 16.65 litres of premium fuel, incidentally the most expensive fuel for the trip at $1.98/L. I cleaned my windscreen as it was particularly grubby and knowing I would be riding in the dark. It was now 3:20pm and I still had about three and a half hours of riding to do. I slammed down another Red Bull, took some pain killers, had a snack and geared up to do the next stretch.
You wouldn't believe it, as I was pulling out, Giggles rode past so I took off in pursuit. Of course it didn't take long to catch up and I let Giggles set the pace which was a nice healthy speed. I really enjoyed doing the twisties up the hillside just outside Cooyar then before we reached Yarraman Giggles slowed down to ninety km/h. I wasn't sure what to think, but as I later found out, he didn't fuel up at Toowoomba and was running low on fuel. We departed ways at Yarraman and I'm not sure what route Giggles took from here.
The next towns ahead were Nanango then a longer stretch to Goomeri. By now I was quite sore and looking forward to reaching home. There was very little traffic along the Burnett Highway except for the occasional car that would overtake me at great speeds. I still find it unusual here in QLD that the country speed limits are 100 Km/h. I still find myself setting my cruise control to 110. Even so, I get passed by cars doing speeds greater than me. The next stretch between Goomeri to Ban Ban Springs was 74km. What I didn't expect was roadworks. Last time I came through here which probably was a couple of years ago, they were progressively working along this highway. A little caution was needed as there were long sections of loose blue metal.
As I got to Ban Ban Springs you could notice it was getting late in the afternoon. It would be dark soon and I would definitely be riding this last leg in the dark. I had to stop and give my body a rest. My knees were killing me, my shoulders and neck weren't much better as well as having a pretty sore butt. I was fully aware of the signs of fatigue and in a way I was glad for the pain as it was definitely keeping me awake. I stretched my legs with a short walk as I watched a couple of cattle trucks go by. I'd probably get stuck behind these to truck down the road I thought, which might work out good for me as they would provide a barrier between me and any wildlife that might venture onto the road. I drained the last of what was left in my camelbak and ate the last fruit bar.
The final 129km from Ban Ban Springs through Childers and on onto Bundy would take me an hour and a half. I have to say it was a pretty uneventful ride. As I rode through Biggenden I stood on my foot pegs to straighten out my legs and rest my constantly bent knees plus it gave my butt a very short rest too. The cool night air was very refreshing. I did get to enjoy the twisties to myself as I descended down the hillside just before childers. A short stretch on the deadly Bruce Highway again until the turn off to Bundy at Apple Tree Creek. Great name for a little town. They have a fabulous cafe called Mollydookers, run by some Canadians. How do I know this? They have a big Canadian flag across the front of their cafe. The Bundy Ulysses club use this as one of their regular coffee stops.
As there was minimal traffic I put my powerful spotlights on. They lit up everything ahead of me. Even when I came up behind cars with the high beam headlights or spotties on they weren't as bright as mine. I'd overtake them and put mine on. I wonder what the drivers in those cars must have thought as I lit up everything ahead of me. At last after a very long ride I entered the outskirts of Bundy feeling greatful to have made it back safely.
I arrived home at 6:45pm. Sue had the garage door open for me. I usually turn my bike around and back it down the driveway and into the garage. Not tonight I thought. At nearly half a tonne fully loaded I didn't want to take a chance of dropping my bike as I tried to manoeuvre it whilst I was feeling tired and sore. So, I drove straight into the garage to Sue's surprise. I dismounted from my faithful steel horse and gave her a thankful pat.
Home at last, after spending 13 hours in the saddle today and greatfully completing SCDR QLD01 with 1,539km done for the trip. It was time for a long hot shower, a decent feed and a well deserved sleep. I'd sort out my riding gear and traveling kit over the next few days.

ZigZag · Oct 21, 2024, 03:57 PM

Fabulous write up Spokkie, thanks for taking the time. Where do you get your travel times from? I find Google maps a bit optimistic for me. I previously used Garmin route planner set to motorcycling and found that accurate for my style of riding. I'm curious to know how you do it.
Thanks, Z

Spokkie · Oct 21, 2024, 06:48 PM

Hi ZigZag, I just use Google Maps. Worked for me really well when I did a lot of distance riding back in WA so I assume it would work for me here in QLD. The only difference is there is a lot more twisty roads on the East Coast and that possibly affects the time. I'm yet to put that to the test.

HarryR · Oct 22, 2024, 06:59 AM

Great ride report Spokkie.
It was good to catch up with fellow riders at Stanthorpe and like you I too was suffering soreness due to a lack of ride fitness. My wife just tells me it's a sign of getting old.
My ride home was uneventful with just enough traffic in both directions for me to lose you and Giggles before Warwick. As Davo once said "If you catch up to someone on the road they must be travelling slower and will hold you up."
I was lucky enough to get the green light to come through the roadworks down Cunningham's Gap and in hindsight I should have taken Logan & Gateway Mwy instead of the Tunnels. Even though it's about 20km longer I would have avoided the traffic gridlock from Kedron to Caseldine. I arrived home on my island at 15:45 about an hour ahead of my plan and earned several brownie points from SWMBO for getting home early as the grand children were about to arrive for the long weekend.
Cheers
HarryR

Spokkie · Oct 22, 2024, 07:22 AM

Words from a wise man.

Quote from: HarryR on Oct 22, 2024, 06:59 AMAs Davo once said "If you catch up to someone on the road they must be travelling slower and will hold you up."
HarryR