ozstoc – OtterPotter.Net

Overnight Ride to Eat (RTE) to Moora – June

The local WA chapter of OzSToc (well, about 8 of us) is saddling up again and heading to Moora in early June. My plan is to take off mid-morning on the Saturday, stop off at New Norcia and Bindoon, and camp at the local caravan park in Moora.

On Sunday, no plans yet – I expect a ride will eventuate to make the trip home interesting through to York if nothing else is arranged with the group.

View Moora overnight RTE in a larger map

I’m not fully committed to an overnight stay yet since if I do I’ll want good weather for pitching the tent. It’s not worth the effort (me thinks) if it’s bucketing down.

I hope I do camp though. I’ll be using my new Drift HD Ghost (which I don’t know I’m getting for my birthday – wink) so the more I can use it the better.

Mumballup Run

A great day on the bike. It was a little wet until we reached Serpentine, but after that it was dry. Quite cloudy which helped keep the temperature down in the humidity.

Our ride leader had a little fright. Riding second behind him, I saw Turtle managing a rear wheel lockup in a moment of panic when 3 dogs appeared at the side of the road. Luckily I’d seen them early (‘cos I was riding to the left of the lane and had better vision up the verge).

200 km and we reached Mumballup. It’s really just the pub and a postcode.

I had to scarper once I’d had a rest and a drink as I had another 4 hours of riding to do. Most of the others stayed for what I heard was a very nice homemade burger.

The road on the way into Mumballup and the roads west of Boyup Brook were very nice to ride on.

A little gravel in some places but Ok. I did have one moment though: it was mostly 80 zones with lots of twists and turns, & peaks and gullys. A brief lack is attention had me entering a turn a little too “hot”. Luckily there wasn’t anyone else around otherwise it would have been instant crash-test dummy as I crossed to the other side is the road under heavy brakes. A puckering moment.

A quick stop to drop off abandoned Easter chocolates in Busselton and then back home.

Surprisingly, the calluses I’d built on the trip to SA (only 3 weeks ago!) had all gone. After 600+ KMs my bum wanted off.

Mumballup RTE

RTE == “Ride To Eat”.

Organized by Turtle. I’ll be detouring via Busselton to drop some stuff off at Hope’s on the way home.

This Sunday….

View Mumballup RTE in a larger map

3 Dams

Went for a ride visiting 3 dams in Perth with some fellow OzSToc members:

We left the highway in Serpentine at around 8:45 in almost perfect weather.

Continue reading “3 Dams”

Fridge Magnet – crap!

I forgot to get the “I drove across the Nullabor” fridge magnet in Caiguna on my return trip. I know I wouldn’t need to do it again to buy the magnet, but I’d already be half-way so I might as well. 😉

Stinky helmet

Bug splattered and full of stale sweat from those horrible hot days on the Rally.

I removed the cheek pads and then discovered everything else is glued in. Ellie found a way of washing it… just drown it in a bath of shampoo.

It’s now drying… hopefully I’ll be able to where it on Tuesday when I go back to work.

I’ve done it

I finally arrived at 4:00pm. First thing was a shower. Tonight it’s my own bed and pillow. Yay.

Total distance…. drum roll please…

Before

After

7,551 km.

Will I do it again? Yes. I loved every minute of it. Next year OzSToc will be held in Ballarat – only 600km further than Middleton. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll have the leave available.

Kalgoorlie to Perth

After touring Kal for a bit I headed west.

My bum was now starting to feel like it had done a few rounds with Mike Tyson, but it was the last leg and I wanted to get home today. So plenty of stops.

I thought the road to Southern Cross was bad when I received a text from Gavo saying it was bad on the other side. Great. Thinking back on it now, I didn’t realise Main Roads have perfected corrugated bitumen. Absolutely atrocious.

Ps. Gavo rode from Eucla to home in 1 day – about 15 hours in the saddle. Ouch.

Rather than taking the usual way in to Perth I figured I’d detour via York. The road wasn’t the best (to York) but the high speed twisties hopefully rounded out my square tyres from the Nullabor.
🙂