comment on the weather....

This isn't really a ride report....

more a comment on the weather...

Yesterday started out as a beautiful day (in Canberra anyway)....

Left home at 930 heading for Bungendore on the red bandit.... Made sensible time there along the newly surfaced Macs Reef Rd. I've said it again, and I'll probably never shut up sorry, love being able to overtake in short spaces. Never get stuck in traffic.

Started to get kinda grey once past bungers, but nice temperature.... not hot... a few days back I went on a KLR ride through various forests - in high thirties, geez that sure wears you out.

Sat behind a couple of cars playing piggy back - amazing that someone can overtake someone else and then sit right in front of them. It was tail gate city (ie not even enough room to fit a bike) at 100kmh. Stupid. We were coming into Tarago so I just let them all head off in different directions, and turned left to Goulburn.... 

It's a nice open ride along that road. Not very twisty, but pretty country and a good enough road. Just as it starts to get boring, it's over and you are in Goulburn...

One thing I love about riding on Christmas day - EVERYTHING is closed (except for the petrol station praise the lord   ) . Adds an air of quiet you don't usually get.

Well nothing is EVER quiet on my bike with its tiny little exhaust, but you get the idea....   

Pretty much exactly 100km from my front door to the fuel stop. They sell 91 and 98... still undecided whether premium makes ANY difference.... put 98 in cos I'm still suspicious of 91. Am I deluded?

It's about 40km or so to Taralga. I like this town, has a nice vibe about it. It even has two pubs (now owned by the same people though or so I hear). I'm guessing it's glory days are in the past though - the War Memorial Town Hall had its foundation stone laid by the Governor General "some" years ago! Bet you'd be hard pressed to get a GG out there these days....

The road out to there is narrow, windy and lovely. So lovely in fact that it has greenery growing through the long cracks in the surface. Nice to get back to nature.... 

Felt the big back tyre slip or bounce ever so slightly when I hit a bad spot....  fun times... 

It started to rain a little in Taralga so on went the rain pants (over my really not very water-proof dririder pants) and the thick waterproof (yeah right) gloves.

Leaving Taralga, the road is again open and windy, after a little bit you descend steeply into a river valley along a teeny road and then UP again, slow and steady until you are out and blast off down the road. A few windy roads through the country and past clearfell logging (always my favourite). More traffic than I thought, but pretty quiet really). You can get some decent runs though here.

Almost exactly 100km from the petrol station I turn right towards Shooters Hill. If you continue on you get to Black Springs and then Oberon, but this direction is actually a better road (!) and avoids the suburban slow areas.... so you save time and it's nicer....

Once you get past the turn off to the correctional facility, the road is the best condition that I've been on all day.... flat, wide and smooth... the fact that it goes "nowhere" is interesting....   

Usually I allow the bike to erm relax a bit here, let it have it's head so to speak.... But today the rain was setting in, my visibility was decreasing AND because it was nice and cool hey there's a kangaroo, oh look there's a mother and baby roo just hanging out in the middle of the road... and some sheep....  so a gentle cruise this time....

I think it's about twenty kms up this road and it ends.... (oh passing through Shooters Hill at 1250m which holds no significance for me cos I'm on a 1200   ). Right would take you to Jenolan Caves down STEEP AND WINDY roads, and back out the other end - slow and dangerous but really very very nice. But today it is left.... it's raining and my fun ride is starting to become a bit of a slog....

Couple of ks up this road (towards Oberon) and then right onto Titania Rd.... This joins up to Duckmaloi road, which I really like to ride, good surface and nice sweepers, but today water is running all over the road and boo... how good are Pilot Road 3s in the wet really? Anyone?

Considering that just a couple of days before I was about to die from heat exhaustion, today I had to stop and put a jumper on. Putting wet thick gloves back on is always annoying....  I even went so far as to put on my heated hand grips (!!!) but apparently there is a problem with the wiring cos they turned right back off again. Oh well....

At this point you rejoin the Jenolan Caves Rd, and FOG. Thick fog. Visor not happy. Glasses the same... There wasn't much traffic, just a few local drunk drivers (hey its christmas ok) doing 70, so no probs.

A real shame though cos the corners I can actually ride fast I'm doing 80 on, but that's motorcycling right!!!

Anyway eventually onto the main highway towards Katoomba and it's 80 and 60 all the way. Bottle shops are all closed (Canberrrans must be more alcoholic) but luckily my friends are well stocked and we even put a fire on!

Off come all the dripping wet riding bits and some wine and beer later.... it all becomes yesterday...

Today is sunny. So where am I going now???

Nice riding
As for fuel. Quality 91 is what I use. Because in my bike 98 makes no difference to power or economy. It does hot idle smoother but thats it.
Other bikes with mods might be different.
My VTR on the other hand barely idles on 91 and that has less compression ratio than the Bandit. I'd love to be able to get non E10 95 in this area but I can't.

2wheelsagain wrote:Nice riding
As for fuel. Quality 91 is what I use. Because in my bike 98 makes no difference to power or economy.  It does hot idle smoother but thats it.
Other bikes with mods might be different.
My VTR on the other hand barely idles on 91 and that has less compression ratio than the Bandit. I'd love to be able to get non E10 95 in this area but I can't.

so... how do you define "quality" 91?

do you mean just non ethanol flavour, or is there something else?

stu wrote:

2wheelsagain wrote:Nice riding
As for fuel. Quality 91 is what I use. Because in my bike 98 makes no difference to power or economy.  It does hot idle smoother but thats it.
Other bikes with mods might be different.
My VTR on the other hand barely idles on 91 and that has less compression ratio than the Bandit. I'd love to be able to get non E10 95 in this area but I can't.

so... how do you define "quality" 91?

do you mean just non ethanol flavour, or is there something else?

BP, Caltex even Shell all have good 91. Buy the others if you must and I do sometimes. United throughout Gippsland isn't too bad but you do hear horror stories sometimes. Whether its fact or fiction we'll never know. Its always a mate of a mate etc.
I run United E10 (98 ron) in my Captiva and get better economy than using regular 91.

2wheelsagain wrote:

stu wrote:

2wheelsagain wrote:Nice riding
As for fuel. Quality 91 is what I use. Because in my bike 98 makes no difference to power or economy.  It does hot idle smoother but thats it.
Other bikes with mods might be different.
My VTR on the other hand barely idles on 91 and that has less compression ratio than the Bandit. I'd love to be able to get non E10 95 in this area but I can't.

so... how do you define "quality" 91?

do you mean just non ethanol flavour, or is there something else?

BP, Caltex even Shell all have good 91. Buy the others if you must and I do sometimes. United throughout Gippsland isn't too bad but you do hear horror stories sometimes.  Whether its fact or fiction we'll never know. Its always a mate of a mate etc.
I run United E10 (98 ron) in my Captiva and get better economy than using regular 91.

I just put in a couple of tanks of 91 (even shell despite the amazing tales I have heard about it not being very good) and the bike ran the same, if not better, than on 95 and 98.... so good. Cheaper and better.

This was my route on days 1 and 3, stopping at Katoomba.

http://goo.gl/maps/5UouD

Day 2 was a gentle cruise around this area:

View Larger Map