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Best laid plans … Alas this ride ended up being far shorter than anticipated. Combination of wrong gear and an old health nemesis made me turn back. To say I am disappointed is an understatement.
I did enjoy riding some excellent roads for a couple of days. Riding south via My Lindsey I want to tell you most of the road over the range is now excellent surface. The lower section was mostly good already and the section north of the border gate had been resealed in recent years and now they have hot mixed many of the other corners north of the border as well. South of the border has long been some of the best road available to riders from Brisbane so now its becoming one superb ride. One of my firm favourites.
Whilst talking of this area I can’t help but again be amazed at how many people ride the rather poorly surveyed and bumpy Lions Road and miss nearby what is one of the best rides around. I wonder what is is about the Lions Road that has made it so famous? I met a guy at Ebor from Melbourne and asked him where he was riding to. He replied to the Gold Coast, so I said I know the roads there very well what route was he taking. He said he wanted to ride the Lions Road and then via Canungra to Nerang and was coming back via the Pacific H-way. I tried to mention he will be missing all the fantastic roads in that area to ride and rattled off a few good ones and alternate routes north and south but nope – he was adamant the Lions Road was the one he came to ride. Sigh well like I said somewhere before – some people you just can’t help.
After Mt Lindsey and a nice run down the Summerland way to Casino I had to tackle the mindless ride from there to Grafton on the 2nd part of the Summerland way. This is a seriously boring road but you have to mind your speed as the local unmarked patrols realise people get the urge to pass the distance quicker.
Into Grafton and because the weather was so perfect I decided to ride to Armidale via Ebor and enjoy the superb roads often referred to as Nymboida (a small town in route) but which is properly call the Armidale Road. Once unsealed and one lane – now the ascent southbound is a wonderful piece of road. Then a little bit of narrow stuff then into Ebor.
I tried for a coffee at the Fussipots cafe as recommended to me but they close Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Worked out ok as I chatted to the owner of the Ebor petrol station about his amazing collection of memorabilia (take a look next time – it’s a seriously valuable collection) and then detoured to see the Ebor falls in full flow – also worth a visit.
Next I got to ride the Thunderbolts way – twice, as I turned back from Gloucester… Anyway the thunderbolts is a terrific ride, sure the section south of Walcha is a bit straight forward for awhile but this section has great high country pastures to look at and can be covered rather quickly – if you wanted to… Then you have the roller coaster road full of mostly well surveyed curves with just a few left over from the old road that are all very clearly signposted. Its a long road but it goes by so easy.
Superb cafe operating in Walcha called Graze on the road that goes to Uralla – excellent food and coffee.
On my way back I visited Gurya then cut over to Ebor (that road was nothing special) and went down the Waterfall Way to Dorrigo. Reason was despite needing to get home the weather was beautiful and I dearly wanted to ride this road which is for me close to perfect. The scenery is inspiring, the road well surfaced and each corner is a masterpiece in surveying having just the right radius for near anyone on any style of bike to enjoy. Seriously if you have not ridden this area (its an easy overnighter from Brisbane) then you really should consider it. Just be sure to take warm gear with you any time of the year – it was very hot in Brisbane that day and warm in Grafton yet very cool up in the highlands – felt like a winter morning here in Brisbane.
Just another note on that – I have found the main problem riding in the cold is stopping the wind. Now I have a couple of shirts/jerseys that are designed to be a windbreaker but neither have the windbreaker material on the back thus the cold air can sneak up under your jacket and chill you to the bone if riding all day in cold air like exists south. My Cortech jacket is extra long at the back but still seems to allow air in at the rear sometimes. So my advice is if going south to the mid north coast highlands in anything except summer with our typical Brisbane winter riding gear then stop in at a outdoors shop and get a wind stopper jersey to wear under your jacket from an outdoors type shop. While there get a Buff or a regular scarf if you have not already got one to stop the wind flowing down from neck area. And if you have only light weight leather gloves then consider your options there. I have a light weight waterproof wind breaker gloves which double up if it rains (as I hate riding in bare hands or soggy gloves) and there are cheap decent items available – don’t only look in bike shops.
Well I didn’t really take many more photos as I came back via Lawrence and up the boring Pacific Highway which while brain numbing is the quickest.
Looking ahead now to when I can complete this ride I am thinking it will need to be after winter so perhaps towards the end of the year. Perhaps I shall revisit the beautiful Waterfall Way in the mean time for a weekender.
I found the K+N air filter and the catch can I installed gave a noticeable improvement in throttle response. I tried everything to tune the off idle and mid range lag with the sports muffler fitted but after about 12 months of fiddling gave up and went to a full Micron system. That worked incredibly well on the 9 engine but was insanely loud.
Something I have noted with Buells over the years is it is very difficult to get any brand sports muffler to work by itself however replace the header pipes and bingo it all flows right.
Still waiting on Remus to provide the correct instructions for fitting the Powerizer.
Looks like Ecmspy2 now works for '08 models, although still in beta, and more involved than I'm prepared to get at this stage.
I fitted a Remus pipe, not so much for extra performance, just so my bike sounds better (or as good as) my girlfriend's SV650!! The mid range and top feel the same – perhaps a little better, but from a dead stop it sometimes feels a little flat. I was hoping the powerizer would rectify that, among other things. Disappointing to hear it never performed for you.
Your right about the boots, another reader also commented that the strap can be pushed into shoe to adjust smaller. (but unfortunately not larger) I guess the particular shape they have doesn't suit my foot.
I'll tinker some more – see what I might come up with.
Keen to get out and do some riding but no chance at the moment (but on the mend) Been updating some posts while stuck at home.
Guyra = Cold (winter or summer)
On a semi-related note…
Those "useless" boots you got from AlpineStars, I think I saw a pair in Springwood Team Moto Honda yesterday. The non adjustable plastic thing was adjustable, but not obviously so. When unclipped, look at the underneath and you should see little ridges, like on a zip-tie.
Else…
Went for a blat up to Queen Mary Falls. I seemed to have taken photos of the same things you did. And that landslide thing near the top of the mountain, had water flowing over it – waterfall. Yes, I encountered cows.
Great run that one. Apart from some loose gravel in the middle of the lane when going up the mountain, thoroughly enjoyable.
Michael
Bugger and to boot Fusspots was closed!!! Oh well next time, and you are right the area between Ebor and Dorrigo is a beauty, we spent several days there over Christmas and enjoyed the roads on the Guzzis.
Mike
Hi Ben,
I had one of those devices on my XB9S but it never once worked as claimed. Perhaps the ECM Spy is worth looking into – it never existed when I had my Lightning or I would have tried it. I am leaving my exhaust standard on my new Buell as it seems difficult to extract extra higher rpm power (and improve the exhaust note) without loosing some of the much more important midrange drive.
G'day Chef,
I was also hoping to make the Buell Muster too, but tried to fit a Remus Powerizer two days before leaving. Bad idea!
If all goes well mid next week I will head down and ride Nymboida, Thunderbolts and the Oxley.
The Lions Rd really is a goat track in comparison to the Mt Lindsey Hwy, and not overly scenic when riding. Perhaps the historical aspect of the road attracts people from out of the area?
The resurfacing of the Mt Lindsey Hwy north of the boarder is great. Big smiles when I saw that!
Hope your health has improved!
Ben.
and great blog!
If readers didnt notice elsewhere i got the boots to fit using bigger straps but unfortunately still not right on my feet so have been shelved for all but small 1/2 day rides.