Being the sometimes adventures of Clint and Charleen Lovell, motorcyclists
of Brisbane, Australia

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Where we are in 2010
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FarRide East #12 Nambucca Heads

05-02-2010 Friday

We had been planning this for months. I am now a part of Team FarRider, a committee of five who were appointed by Davo Jones to take over FarRiders, "just in case".
My job is handling the website and organising the eastern rides.

So with arrangements made for our first big FarRide this year, to be run concurrently with a Tasmanian event, we were really looking forward to the weekend. Charleen had the Friday off work so we could rest up and get ready to do an overnight 1000+ ride from Home to Nambucca Heads.
Then I got a call from Charleen. She had been hit in the rear on her bike while waiting at an intersection. No big damage, but being hit by a car always hurts and she had strained muscles attempting to prevent being pushed over into the path of oncoming traffic. Scary moments indeed.

Friday morning, instead of being the relaxing day it was supposed to be, was taken up with visits to the doctor and bike shop and wrangling insurance companies on the phone.
The doc gave her the OK and with a few anti-inflammatories on board, Charleen was feeling a little better.
Change of plans though. First with the bikes.
Whilst inspecting the CB1300S for damage - it was slight - I noticed the rear brake pads were non-existent. It had been missed at the Honda Shop service two weeks prior. Not good for a long ride and we were still unsure if the bike was OK or not.
So Charleen decided to ride the little CBF1000 (Biffer) while I would take the trusty old GoldWing.
Next the route and timing. With little relaxation through the day, we decided to do the ride in two stages with a motel sleep in between. All within the rules as they are simply to do 1000+km in 24 hours and hit a checkin window of 12:00 to 12:30pm.

We left earlier than previously planned and headed west into the afternoon sun towards Toowoomba. The forecast was for possible thunderstorms and occasional showers. We had packed the wets.
First fuel stop was at the top of the range in Toowoomba. Just a fill and dash as the next one at Boggabilla was too far for the Biffer's 350km range. Here I tangled with the Garmin. It doesn't like being switched off, on and off again in quick succession and goes into a setup mode, from which it refuses to exit whilst plugged in to power.
So we went through Toowoomba and out the other side without GPS. That's OK, I know the way, but it was supposed to be recording our track and distances, and letting us know how long to the next stop.

Once out on the open road, I managed to get it out of the cradle and hold the off button long enough for it to shut down, then start up again.   We were off again.

Through the vast plains of grazing and broad acre farming we went with not a worry from the setting sun in front of us. It was invisible behind the big black clouds. There was a beaut storm building up.   Soon lightning was striking the ground not too far away, getting me worried about the two shiny aerials pointing at the sky from the 'Wing.
We pulled up to don the wets and no sooner had we started out again when down she came. Nothing to do but ride through it. Luckily, by this were quite close to Goondiwindi and so our path turned to the south and away from those big black clouds.

After Goondiwindi, our fuel stop at Boggabilla, just over the NSW border came up quickly and we pulled in to see another FarRider also fuelling up. Alan had come through from the Gold Coast and, like us had recently dragged on his wets. His plan differed from ours so we bade him safe riding and headed south along the well-worn Newell Highway. This is a major truck route between Brisbane and Melbourne and we met plenty of them coming at us on the windward side of the road. This always delivers a blast of air that can be felt in all vehicles, but is particularly strong against bikes. The big GoldWing holds her own quite well, but the light little Biffer gets quite a buffeting.

For 200 kilometres we battled on through the occasional rain squall into the darkening evening, getting thumped by trucks every couple of minutes. One patch of roadwork appeared where they had left it with a clay surface, so we slip-slid our way for a couple of kilometres battling to keep the bikes upright. Slight pressure on the throttle to keep power to the rear end. Don't overdo it as slowing and transferring weight to the front is fraught with danger.
Through that one safely and five minutes later an oncoming car flashed frantically. Sure enough, a creek was up and about six inches of water across the road.   We ploughed through, Charleen filling her boots with overspray making her feet soggy, which will last all weekend.

We finally reached Narrabri in fairly heavy rain and I spied the only motel in town that has undercover parking. Don't care what the rooms are like, but to be able to get off the bikes and unpack in a dry spot is great.   I headed out for some fast food dinner while Charleen opened up the room.

Warm meal, warm shower, dry clothes and we felt much better. Time to hit the sack for an early rise. We were just over half way.

06-02-2010 Saturday

4am and the alarm buzzed, slightly different noise from the thousands of trucks that thundered past during the night. We were up and under way by 4.30. Outside it was still raining.
Wets on and we pulled out from our dry undercover park and into the wet night.
The bloke at the Narrabri Shell thought we were nuts and no matter that we were on our way to meet lots of mates, we should just turn around and go back to bed. Obviously not a motorcyclist. We revel in this stuff.
On to the Boggabri road and the rain pelted down but petered out after only 15 minutes. Hah! Take that Garage Bloke!
The road even dried out and so too did our visors and we could see again. Charleen's feet were still wet though.
Through Gunnedah the early grey dawn appeared in front, but once again we were not worried at travelling in to the sun, it was well obscured by cloud.
On through Tamworth and up the Moonbies on to the New England Highway. I like this part of the road. It climbs up to the dizzying height of 1800 metres - quite high for this country - and the road has some great sweepers to keep a rider interested. Much better than the long straights of the Newell.
All too soon we were at Armidale and pull up for fuel and a quick snack. We still had more than two hours up our sleeves, but we lost a lot of that last year in the final section and didn't want to be cutting it that close again. After all I was supposed to help out Team Jones on the checkin.

The next section is always a joy. Through the hilltops to Ebor, then turn right and run the ridgetops on smooth roads into Dorrigo. Then the plunge down the mountainside of Waterfall Way, albeit getting stopped at two sets of lights due to long time road damage. We were aware of these lights and had factored them in.
After the second set, we chanced upon Gaggs on his GTR1000. We had seen him earlier in the day. So we pulled up for a chat and to place the FarTH in an out-of-the-way hiding place.

The FarTH is another game we FarRiders play. FarTH, small FarRiders sticker, encased in plastic and with a large blob of blu-tac is placed somewhere and the lat/long coordinates are recorded and posted on our website.   This "treasure" is then searched out by another rider and taken to another location. Photos are always taken and posted with the location message. I had picked up the FarTH outside Gatton previously, apparently not long before another FarRider got to the location and had carried it here.

All photographed and coordinated, we completed the run through Bellingen and out on to the Pacific Highway. We finished the ride two hours early and in rain once again.

The rest of the day was spent greeting old and new mates, helping out Team Jones on the checkin table, having lunch and MCing the shortest ever FarRider welcome.

Then it was check in to the caravan park and the smallest onsite van we have ever seen, then return to the pub to spend an enjoyable evening with the bunch of maddest motorcyclists we know. Some of the pictures will show everyone smiling after such long rides in pouring rain and knowing the next day they will be back in it again.

07-02-2010 Sunday

Sure enough, Sunday morning saw the rain pouring down again. Ah well, we need to get home so run out and pack the bikes, don the dampish wets and get under way. We waved at a few late stayers breakfasting on the pub balcony and made our way out to the Pacific Highway for a slab-ride home.

The rain stayed with us mostly as occasional showers but we could see that creeks were up and often running bankers just under the various bridges. All the Northern Rivers looked swollen and if it keeps up, flooding will lock up the country for a while. Best keep going.

Stopped for fuel and a drink at Ballina and it had been dry now for a while and starting to heat up. So we stripped off our sodden wets, actually now wetter on the inside, and packed them away. Whilst enjoying the drink, another shower passed over, then the sky looked clear. Beauty.

Up over the range we went and through the lovely weather. Until we got to the Byron Bay overlook and there was nothing but grey clouds and rain on our path. But what the heck, we were only an hour or two from home and putting those wets back on wouldn't be much fun either. So it was head down and ride through it.
We came out again at the Gold Coast and had a pretty good run home from there.

All in all a great, if soggy, weekend and always great to catch up with our FarRiding friends.

We didn't take any photos on the way due to the weather, but here's a few Charleen took at Nambucca Heads.