Author Archives: Cliff

Well It has been a while since I have been for a ride. I guess having just relocated from NSW back to SA has made my time at home busy and this could be why. Although there may be another reason.

On November 25^th last year I received a call from my son, Sam. It was 07:30am. It is not an unusual time as he is a shift worker and had in fact just got home from night shift.

However the conversation started with “Dad I have some terrible news” Our neighbour from Cobar and good friend John lost his life while riding home after work the previous night. He had been passing 2 cars when the leading car turned right in front of him.  I have not bothered to find out who was in the wrong. A man and good friend had lost his life.

He left behind his wife and 4 children.

I had just relocated my family the week before and was to leave for work in a few days. I was unable to return to Cobar for his funeral.

I returned in January and found his wife had not been coping well but was getting good support from friends and family. I guess no-one knows what to say to the spouse of some who had recently been killed on the road. I seen Angela (Johns wife now widow) out the back lane of our cobar houses. I passed on my condolences and then said “I’m sorry Angela I don’t know what to say” I was at a loss for words. Angela’s response was simply “That’s okay Cliff, I don’t either”.

My wife has since been busy finding excuses for me not to go for a ride. I accepted this and new it would just take time before she would realise that I needed to fill the gap that not riding left. I went for a short ride 3 weeks ago of about 150km. So I guess that will be my plan for the next few months. Just to get the confidence of my wife so she isn’t panicking to much while I am away riding.

I guess we all have tales of mate who have lost their lives on the road.

In the end we just have our memories of the good/great times we had together.

Ride on John, you were a good man taken to soon.

I decided that it had been a while since I went for a ride. so I was up and got a few chores out of the way the dress up for a ride.

As I left I said to me wife “don’t expect me back soon as I’m going to have a good ride. So off I went to enjoy great riding conditions. I had a full tank and left directly to the Myponga water reservoir.

My plan was to get a picture or 2 for a game plated by FarRiders. International Global “Wildcard Tagathon”. Not that we need one but it is a good excuse for a ride.

I arrived at the Myponga Reservoir and was pleasantly surprised by the twisties. Not that I am ever going to shorten my foot rests grinding them of around the bend but cornering is a skill that needs practice 🙂 .

Lots of cutting and rises and falls. nice section of road.

Then a brief stop for a picture I planned on.

The I it was off to the next location. It’s not that I needed another picture of a dam wall but more, why not. Mount Bold Reservoir was next on the list.

There was a walking bridge at the base of the dam just downstream. looked like it would be a challenging walk.

The road leading up to the Mount Bold Reservoir was a single lane, one way road (Thank goodness). A few of the bends needed your full attention.

I thought I had been out for a couple of hours just poking along so I may go up the road a little further for a coffee before heading to the Adelaide hills. So off to the Clarendon Bakery for a Coffee 🙂 .

I pulled up outside the bakery and wondered in. I was eyeing off some tasty looking cakes behind the counter when I reached for my wallet. Oops! I never leave home without my wallet, well until now. I’m kinda glad that I was going to pay before and not after my coffee. I would have been very embarrassed. A quick call home to my wife confirmed that I had left it at home and it hadn’t fallen out of my pocket.

Seems my ride was not quite as long as I had intended. Best head home. I copped quite a ribbing from my wife after I got home but I did get out for a bit of a ride at least.

before getting home for the first time ever I have had to give way to a Train at the Crossing.

regardless of the fact that I had to go home prematurely I enjoyed the ride.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our move back to South Australia started on Thursday November 15^th with the uplift of all our household belongings. I worked back a day as Flights were difficult out of Kununurra and meant I would have either had to overnight in Perth or Darwin. Leaving a day later meant just the one days travel and the day in lieu will be handy to take down the track sometime.

I arrived at Goolwa on the Friday night and my wife and youngest son arrived Saturday evening.

Monday the removalist truck arrived. Busy unpacking for 2 days and I decided that it was time to go for a ride.

Wednesdays at Goolwa means the local group of riders don their riding gear and head out for a ride. I prefer a longer ride and was a little worried that they would just ride 30 minutes up the road for a Latte and then head back.

I took my Vstrom and fuelled it up at the BP service station as they have premium fuel. I do prefer to run the higher octane. Then it’s off to the meet spot at another service station.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left Goolwa just after 10am and headed for McLaren vale for a coffee.

The lead rider took all the back roads to get there. Some great roads, all full of curves and bends. I had never been on many of them, so I will need to go back sometime to retrace them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped for Coffee at McLaren Vale and had a chat with the other riders. They were interested in the new rider in the group and asked me all the usual questions. They all seemed to be great fellas. I did know one of the rides. Don French. He is a member of FarRides and is a young 80 years of age. Don owns 2 bikes. A BMW K1200RS and a Kawasaki GTR 1400. He believes that Age is all in the mind and thankfully he says, I only started to think 18 years ago.

Don Had electrical problems on the BMW and had to meet us at McLaren Vale on the GTR.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised when they asked if I would continue on with them for lunch. I had thought they would be returning to Goolwa.  So we headed off to the Macclesfield Hotel for lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After have a Chicken Schnitzel Burger for lunch we rode back to Goolwa via Milang and Claytons Bay.

Once back in Goolwa some of the group headed to the local brewery for a cleansing ale. I joined them but opted for a coffee.

It was a great little ride. Only rode 185km but it was with great company. I’m looking forward to the next ride.

 

I have named this FarRide “FarTrot”

I had about 4 different plans made for this ride and in the end I used none of them and planned a 5th route on the Friday morning.

On the Thursday I had to go to the Doctor as I had a problem with an ingrowing toe nail. It had been troubling me for over 3 months and was now becoming quite infected. The Doctor prescribed a course of antibiotics. Yep that will fix the infection but I have a reaction to antibiotics. They tend to loosen me up a bit my regular habits become a lot more regular.

I had planned to ride from Goolwa to Cobar via Renmark. In the end my wife talked me into returning to Goolwa on the Saturday afternoon to drive my car to Cobar so I could drive her car back to Goolwa to Register there as we are moving back there in November.

So with a little quick planning I came up with a FR12 Gold that I had registered for.

My ride started from Goolwa and I grabbed my start receipt from the BP service station 15:56 and off I rode. I had planned to head north from Goolwa up through the Adelaide hills and then head through to Port Pirie. After heading towards Strathalbyn I turned towards Meadows about 14km from the start of my ride. These roads are normally bliss to ride through but with battling the wind as far as Hahndorf I made the decision to get onto the south eastern freeway and head into Adelaide and then up to port Pirie from there. This was not a major change to my plan really but I thought it safer due to the amount of debris blowing off the trees. I had been thinking that one bit of bad luck with a limb falling into path was not worth the ride up through the hills, no matter how remote the odds were.

The ride into Adelaide was made in heavy rain but once off the freeway the weather eased heaps and it was a comfortable ride through to the northern outskirts of Adelaide. Once out of the town limits and riding north with the gulf not to far to my left I was again battered with heavy cross winds however I was still able to make good time and was arrived at Port Pirie to refuel and have something to eat. I was booked into the Hotel at Wilmington but they had told me that the kitchen would be closed by 8pm I knew I would not Make it until after then. So  it was food from the pie heater. Always worries me just how long the food has been in them. Anyway I thought after visiting 3 loo’s to get this far I may as well eat. Anyway the food was ok. I talked briefly to a lady in the roadhouse dining room and she had asked if I was on the bike outside and if I had ridden from Adelaide. Yep that was me. She said that she had made a remark to her husband that she was glad not to be on a bike as they were watching me getting knocked about by the wind.

Well time to head to Wilmington. I left the roadhouse and into the darkness of the night again. I tried to find Davo’s  plaque on the way to show my respects as I could not make the ride earlier in the month. Alas I could not find it in the dark. Next time. So off I head through Horrocks Pass. No wonder it was one of Davo’s favourite sections of road. It had not rained for some time here and the wing now behind me had well and truly dry them. I enjoyed  it . Stopped at the top for a FarChallenge picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was then just a short ride to Wilmington and I arrived at about 21:00. As  walked in the door I was greeted by a lady said “Hi, you must be Cliff. Yep that’s me.

The place was rockin’. The locals were have a good time. The owner asked me if I would like to park my bike around back locked in the yard. I said that would be good but I planned to leave early so would need to get my bike out. “No worries mate I will show you were I hide the key. Would have to recommend this place to anyone riding through. Friendly people and the bed was very comfy for a hotel. When I woke at 5am I really didn’t want to get out. But I did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the road again before 6am heading south towards Clare. I really have to go back sometime to explore the area better.

Neared James town and took a snap of a wind powered generator. This area is littered with them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fueled up at Burra and met Fellow FarRider Nerfarm FR 206 and his Wife (now an exFarVirgin) Annette FR 619. After refueling  headed south to Kapunda and passed through a town called Marrabel. spotted an interesting Statue an stopped for a quick picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Refueled at kapunda although I really just needed the corner docket. (+ another  loo stop)

Then onto our checkin and RTE location. Renmark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

101 riders completed the FarRide successfully. There were a few who didn’t make it due to breakdowns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

completed My check in but I hadn’t completed my FarRide. so back on the bike but had to pull up before I left town. you can guess why. another loo stop. this was starting to get beyond a joke.

eventually left town and headed south to Pinnaroo. from there I took a right and headed west towards Murray Bridge. stopped at Sherlock to get this photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

rest of the ride was fairly uneventful and I only needed to stop one more time. Fuel docket at Goolwa.

FarRide 12 Gold successfully completed. total of 1,266 km ridden.

Feb 18^th – Nambucca Heads “The Wall”

I Fuelled up in Cobar and grabbed my start receipt for the FarRide. Time stamp on the receipt was 12:31. Perfect for no start receipt before 12:31.

Left Cobar and headed north to Bourke. Fuelled up at Bourke then headed South East to Nyngan then East to Denman.  It started raining at Dubbo so I pulled up and put the wets on. Arrived at Denman about 8:45pm and I book in there for the night at the hotel. Nothing flash but clean. I even managed to get a meal before the kitchen closed.

Up at about 5am and on the road by 6am. A bit of misty rain but soon cleared up.

Sunrise photo around Singleton.

Pulled up at Telegraph Point for fuel and a short rest as I had plenty of time prior to check in.

Stopped at A servo at Nambucca heads for a finish docket.

Arrived at The Wall and checked in. Time to take a look at a few of the other bikes.

And this was on the finishers list as having done 1032km

A 1942 Harley.

I recall Als (the owner) making the attempt 2 years prior and missing the check in by 15 minutes due to a failed battery. He had ended up putting a 6 volt dolphin torch battery in it to complete the ride.

Check out the seat. True Iron butt material eh.

Some more bikes parked up for lunch.

109 turned up for the FarRide RTE.

Shared a table with several other FarRiders. Malcolm has many IBA rides under his belt and is in his mid 70s. An inspiration to us all.

Time to move on. Many of the FarRiders stay for the evening and enjoy the companionship of the others. I’m sure it is a night of laughter and B.S. just to see who can tell the best lies J. I have stayed back a couple of times but tend to get board so I decided I would keep going after lunch at these rides.

I rode up towards Coffs Harbour turning off to ride up waterfall way. Its a great ride up through the twisties to Dorrigo and then onto Armidale.

I had to make several stops along the way to retention and lube the bike chain as it was showing signs of wear.

I pulled up at Coonabarabran for the night and rode home the next morning. Run out of lube for the Bike chain and pulled up at Warren and bought another tin. By the time I got home the chain was making a terrible sound. Glad it held up at least to get me to Cobar.

Completed 1,287km for the FarRide 12 Gold and a total of 2,215 for the weekend.

My spot unit didn’t perform all that well. But you can see my general track.