Part 2 of the long-promised ride report for my road trip on Scarlet to and from the Tamworth VJMC Blue Ribbon Weekend! Read Part 1 here.
Day 2 – Friday
On the Friday morning, I packed the bike again. All the bikes in the background belonged to my host – I’m not sure how many of them work!
We rode to meet up with our riding companion for this leg. He rode an Aussie-Trike – essentially a VW Beetle engine in a custom frame with a motorcycle front end.
We left sometime after 10 am and stopped in a place called Dungog just before midday. As we only stopped long enough for a toilet break I chose not to share photos of that with the world.
Another hour along the road and we stopped for fuel in Gloucester. I’d only used 7 Litres over 166 km so was pretty happy with Scarlet’s performance on this leg of the ride, although the speedo was still not entirely reliable.
We had a pub lunch in Gloucester at a place called the Broad Axe Bistro, then it was off to Walcha along Thunderbolts Way and through the Great Dividing Range. I’ll have to take more photos next time. Scarlet was struggling up the hills unless the fuel tap was in the reserve position but otherwise still going strong – the indicators were working fine since the switch contacts had been cleaned. We stopped at Carson’s Lookout for me to top up fuel and for all of us to check our oil levels. We recharged with coffee from a thermos and protein drinks, then I took my first ever panorama shot with a smartphone. Click it to see a really big version!
After a few more performance issues with Scarlet and unexpectedly stalling before Walcha, it was decided that I should lead for a while as I had been falling behind. After I hadn’t seen the others behind me for about 30 minutes I stopped as I didn’t have mobile phone numbers for either of them. It turned out they were only a couple of minutes behind me – surprising how far that seems when riding on winding country roads!
We made it to Tamworth by a little after 5 pm, just as the shadows were starting to lengthen.
I finally remembered to take a photo of the bikes when we stopped at the caravan park my riding companions were staying at.
My host for the night met me at the caravan park in his car and I followed him back to his house on Scarlet.
Two other forum members had lowsided their bikes that afternoon – thankfully no injuries other than pride! After I’d unpacked, changed out of my riding gear and shared tales of motorcycle woes over a refreshing ale (or was it lager?) we walked to the local bowling club for dinner. We walked back again and as far as I can remember I was out like a light.
Just as well, as I had another full day of riding ahead in the morning…
END PART TWO
Fred Builds Bikes 