Cheers mate for filling in the gaps. I guess that's what too much grog does to some people. On the other hand, all it does to me is make me tired & want to sleep.
Had a good sleep in Nyngan, didn't want to get out of bed. No idea what temperature it was but woke up feeling like this.
After a warm wash up I set off. It was probably a lovely spring day for country New South Welshman but the wind chill factor was really biting through my makeshift winter gear. My Bear Grylls instinct kicked in and I considered Han Solo-ing open one of the many roadside cows and taking shelter. Instead I pulled over for a red bull and used the exhaust warmth to get the feeling back in my fingers.
I rolled into Tottenham around 10AM looking forward to a hot meal but instead I found a ghost town (pictured above). There was one corner of shopfronts in the town, mostly empty. There was one cafe (closed), one pub (closed), one arts & craft/souvenir shop (closed), one mechanic/servo (closed), one police station (closed). The post office was open so I went in to ask for directions but there was no one to be found. Finally I went to the supermarket, same deal, no cashiers, no shelf stackers. The town was lucky I wasn't a thief.
The further I rode the greener the scenery got and the twistier the roads got. I couldn't enjoy it as much as I should have with stiff joints and hands, taking regular stops to get the feeling back. One tip that really helped for the entire trip, mostly throughout the more unkept roads, (I'm sure most of you know this one already) is to keep an eye ahead on either the white line marking the edge of the road or just the edge of the road itself. Lots of bumps I hit I couldn't see until close as they were the same colour as the road, however it was much easier seeing a fluctuation in the shape of the white line or road edge. I got home in Canberra around five PM and had a long hot shower. As you can see the bike and my new helmet need a good wash. All up from door to door was 4099km, so about 700km less than my original plan, but that leaves the east coast open for another trip. Preferably in summer.
Music wise my setup worked perfectly. I have two iPod shuffles (the clip kind with the buttons) loaded with around 200 songs each. I clip it onto the bottom of my shirt and run the headphone lead up inside. This way I can easily play, pause, change song, change volume whilst riding with gloves on and without looking, just reaching down to my side. One was loaded with heavier stuff (acdc, iron maiden, led Zeppelin etc) and one with not as heavy stuff (pink floyd, creedence, the doors etc). If anyone wants the full list feel free to ask. Anyway depending on the mood of the leg I can switch out which I'm listening to and have the other one charging in my bag.
Now im living in a new state I'm excited to start learning my way around, so far I've only seen the one road heading in but it looked great for cruising around on, I'm sure there will be lots of good roads to explore.
thanks mate, totally enjoyed the write up and pics
Great commentary and photos too. Glad that you made it in one piece, & all the best with your new life in the ACT. I understand that it gets pretty cold over there, so some warmer riding gear wouldn't go astray.
If I were to do the trip again the only thing I would do differently would be to have ordered some winter gear. By the time I'd been to the three Darwin bike shops and realised there's nothing for cold weather available (because there's no cold weather in Darwin) it was too late to order anything online. I still enjoyed my last day and half in the cold however I couldn't ride at my full capacity as I had stiff joints and therefore less control than I needed to ride properly.
Actually another change would be to have had company, it was great to meet up with some forum members and random riders on the road but doing the whole thing in a group or even one other person would have made the whole trip slightly more fun. Especially those lonely rest stops out in the middle of nowhere.
My gear carriage setup worked well. I'd strap the swag to the back of the sissy bar on top of some adhesive contact and foam matting to prevent paint wear. Then strap my bag to the front of the sissy bar on top of the passenger seat. I could still easily access any items I needed from the bag and it wasn't noticeable behind me so didn't change my regular riding position.
My tool roll I will modify after this trip. I don't know if anyone has the same one but it's pretty common and doesn't fasten very well. The opening is covered by two small side flaps then a large top flap. I'm certain at one stage I caught a glimpse of an Allen key bouncing out of the side as I hit a bump as it sits slightly open when closed. I will be attaching some adhesive Velcro to the two side flaps so that when the top flap is closed there is no opening for tool loss.
All up the trip cost me $827.54. That includes all fuel, snacks, meals, accomodation and alcohol. Fuel ranged from close to $2 a litre to about $1.50 a litre, but sometimes there was no 98 or 95 available so I had to use the 91. About half that cost was fuel, then $90 accomodation, quite a few red bulls and mrs macs pies, pub meals on two nights, reasonable night on the piss in Winton, a few beers at interesting pubs, $35 worth of thermals and gloves in Bourke and a six pack in Nyngan. It would have cost more if I hadn't taken five of my own meals along, and could have cost less if I had taken more. But then I would have missed some great pub meals.
Definitely keen to start meeting local riders, I saw there's a veterans poker run on next month so I will most likely go and check that out.
Great write up Rob. Inspirational -- especially the pics from the middle of nowhere. I reckon you will like the roads in and around the ACT. There is also a good biking community here and it's very much a bike-friendly town WRT parking, usually reasonable coppers, and the lane filtering trial.
Out of interest, how did you find riding the Fat Bob that far w/o a screen and with forward controls? I'm surprised how good mine is to ride at highway speeds. See you around on the roads. Your FXDF should be obvious. Cheers.
JFE - The bike was very comfortable for the distance. A screen definitely would have helped against some of those strong cross winds and taken a bit of a chill out of the last day, but I wasn't sitting there wishing I had one. Saying that I didnt go any faster than 130KMH the whole trip so if I was sitting at a higher speed I might have wanted one. My seat was comfy the whole way, I think my particular model came with a good seat because I've seen people buying it for other bikes, my mate got one for his wide glide after trying mine. The forward controls were fine, made for a good relaxed position. Occasionally I'd change it up and sit upright with a 90 degree bend in the elbows and my feet on the passenger footpegs, being able to change the position helped get the blood flowing and not stiffen up in one position. I would happily do that trip again or equally long trips without getting a screen.
Last year I rented a Street Glide in Singapore and rode up through Malaysia and Thailand. It had a great screen and was a very comfortable ride for long distance, however heavier and didnt handle as well as the fatbob for things like dodging roos, potholes and parking. The fatbob may not be considered a touring model however it carried all my gear and was comfortable enough for me.
Nice. I've found my FXDF to be good on the highway so far (small trips). Only drama has been getting used to forward controls and leg movement to keep the blood pumping. I think the Fat Bob is a underestimated tourer, noting that wasn't its primary design brief. I've started planning a trip to Nth Qld during winter in 2016, and I'm hopeful that, like yourself, I can live without the screen.
Re: Canberra ride, I will start a post on it in the ride area of the Forum. Perhaps a lunch/beer run to the Loaded Dog Pub at Tarago could be a good start.
Hope you been enjoying the Canberra mornings with the temps circa 2-4. Bit of a change from the NT.
