22/10/2011
Up early after a good nights sleep and a forecast of slightly cooler
weather, I was looking forward to todays riding.
Leaving West Wyalong and turning my bike in the direction of Wagga Wagga,
the road was smooth, in good condition and the weather was clear with a cool
breeze, perfect conditions. Before I
realised it, I had passed through several small towns (and the mandatory speed
traps) and reached Wagga Wagga. After
fueling my bike and grabbing a drink, I checked the time and realised I had
plenty of time to complete the remaining kilometres and make it to Bethanga
before midday. With a lunch appointment to look forward to, it was off
again. Leaving Wagga Wagga, it’s onto
the Olympic Way to Albury. I haven’t
been on this road since the late 70’s and couldn’t remember what it was
like. After a few minutes, the memories
came flooding back…not rough, just constantly up and down, like a mild chop on
the water. Cruising along and starting
to drift off with the constant vibrations, I took a break at The Rock and
checked the bike to make sure nothing had worked it’s way loose. Everything seemed OK, but little did I know
the next 50kms had in store for me.
Leaving The Rock, the road became even worse, really shaking the bike and
testing my ability to concentrate. 4km south
of The Rock, my handle bar mounted Go Pro camera decided it had had enough and
the mount snapped, dropping the camera between the handle bars and the bike
windscreen.
I checked my mirrors, made sure the trucks behind me were far enough back
and jammed on the brakes, stopping just as the camera fell onto the road
Camera and case weren’t damaged, but it now ment I could not capture any
video until I could find a replacement mount…nothing too major to worry about,
it’s not like the bike is broken.
Camera thrown in the saddle bag and it’s off again. In an hours time I’ll be sitting at the
Bethanga Pub having lunch and laughing about the camera breaking. 10km later, the road caused another
failure..my GPS mount failed.
Fortunately, it was only the plastic mounting ring..the GPS stayed
attached, just sitting at a 90 degree angle.
I pulled over in a truck rest stop to remove the GPS and have a
drink. Bad move..if you’ve ever been
near a fly blown sheep carcass, you’ll known what I mean. It seems a truck had
stopped there a few days before and dumped 3 sheep that had died. The smell was horrendous, and the flies were
even worse. GPS was removed, safely stowed and drink forgotten about. Off we go again…what else could go wrong ??
It is said that things always happen in 3’s. I can confirm this is
correct. Not long after getting back on
the road, I noticed my tent had moved a little on my rack. Nothing unusual as a
little bit of movement happens when the straps loosen. A few minutes later I noticed it had
moved so much that it was no longer
visible in my right mirror. I checked the left and it was still there, but it
appeared to be way to the left and hanging down more than usual. As I had just
entered Yerong Creek, I slowed down and pulled into a side street to sort out
the problem. When I stopped and looked back I knew today was not my day….the
rack and sissy bar were at a 45 degree angle…the mount has failed and left a
large gouge in my guard!!!!!
( see Note 1 below for reason for
failure)
So here I am, on the side of the road, in a small country town, miles
from where I want to be, trying to work out how I’m going to get the failed
rack and sissy bar, my tent and mattress packed into already overstuffed saddle
bags. After about 20 minutes I had removed the rack and sissy bar, repacked the
saddle bags as best I could and, with sleeping bag, tent and mattress attached
to the pillion seat, started heading off to my lunch appointment. No sooner had I started off, I stopped
again…the wind was blowing the tent and mattress around too much to consider
leaving them on the bike. With much reluctance, I removed the tent and mattress
and placed them beside a tree with a note saying “Help Yourself”.
By now, I realised I was not going to make my lunch appointment, so I
opened up my hexamine stove, made myself a coffee and had a good hard think
about whether this ride was really one of my better ideas.
Finally back on the road, and knowing that nothing else could go wrong, I
rode on to Wodonga to check in with the guys setting up for Sunday’s Bike
Fest. After a quick introduction and
finding out what was going on over the weekend, I headed off to find a
replacement tent. After much searching
in both Wodonga and Albury, I finally gave up looking for a tent and decided to
book into a motel – easier said than done as there were a lot of “events” going
on in Albury over the weekend. Sixteen
motels / hotels later, I was finally able to get a room..nothing flash, but
better than sleeping under a tarp.
Once the bike was unloaded and I’d had a couple of cool, refreshing ales,
I went over the bike and checked that nothing else had fallen off. All other bike parts were present and
accounted for, however, I did have to tighten 18 bolts …even the windscreen
bolts that had been sprayed with Lock Tight had worked their way loose !!!
I knew the road was bad, but I didn’t think it was that bad. The road once again was the OLYMIC WAY
between WAGGA WAGGA and ALBURY. You
might want to avoid it in your travels…I know I will in future!!!
Note 1 :
I discussed the failure with the supplier when I returned home. He was shocked to see what had happened and
between us we workout out the possible causes for the failure:
·
Incorrect mount was supplied – correct mount was
supplied without charge;
·
Incorrect fitting – I DIDN’T FOLLOW THE MOUNTING
INSTRUCTIONS !!!! If I had I would have realised I had the incorrect mountings.
·
Overloading – I PUT TOO MUCH ON THE RACK !!!!!
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