The 1999 Tumut Charity Ride: Part 1

An interesting little anecdote as translated from the original Hindi by: Colonel Edmund Barton-Burroughs (Ret) Her Majesty's 7/41st Heavy Cavalry Madras Staff Corp, Punjab Horse, 2nd Bombay Division VC VD DSO (India) BSA (with side car)

The 1999 Tumut Charity Ride commenced on the morning of Saturday 20th November, with the usual rendezvous at Sutherland Police Station.   About 80 to 100 assorted touring and sports bikes, with about 100 to 120 respective riders and pillions, registered for the day's ride.  The Ultra Classic was prepared and packed for the week ahead, having undergone its 12,000km (7,500 mile) service on the previous Monday.  I'd also had a Harley-Davidson rider backrest fitted and was looking forward to enjoying the added comfort.  I just couldn't wait for this trip and had washed, polished and waxed the bike in readiness, then packed it, unpacked, repacked it…… sat back and looked at it.  But no matter what I did, Saturday just wouldn't come any sooner!

This year I was travelling with my everlasting touring companions Malcolm and Lisa on their 6 month old BMW K1200LT luxury limousine, Glenn on a Honda VFR750 and also accompanied by Tony on his 2 day old Honda Valkyrie Tourer.  We were also joined by one of Tony's mates, a chap on a Honda VFR750, but for the life of me I can't recall his name.  I dare say my memory loss is the result of prolonged malaria tablet and gin abuse when commanding Her Majesty's 41st Fusiliers behind enemy lines.   Perchance when I got my D.S.O. in India or as sceptics proclaim, "when I got my D*ck Shot Off escaping from a Maharaja's harem after dark".   But that's another interesting story and best told when members of the fairer sex aren't present.  Lamenting, I departed on the 1999 sojourn without Her Grace.   Unfortunately she could not join me this year but someone had to stay behind and maintain discipline with the household staff.  Apart from that the Rolls had developed a niggling oil leak from the final drive; Lady Barton-Burroughs has no equal when it comes to dismantling a Silver Cloud differential.  She'd be quite busy, surely.

After ride-registration it was time for the departure procession, but we let the mass of bikes move off before joining the tail end.  Our intention this year was not to ride with the commoners throughout the day but to make our own way on the 390km (242 miles) excursion to Gundagai; there we'd join the main group for the procession into Tumut.  The trip was the usual mundane 200km (124 mile) journey down the concrete multi-lane Hume Highway to Goulburn, making a brief stop for refreshments on the way.  Unfortunately, the two gents on the VFR's had to be fed on a constant basis so they could maintain energy to ride at Warp Factor 2.  I find that if I tend to push the Ultra along too quickly my fairing mounted Café Bar has a tendency to froth my double decaf espresso, not to mention causing sheer havoc with my fruitcake sitting on the Dashboard Cake Tray (Harley Davidson Part #5184628).

I had an ulterior motive for reaching Goulburn early, because there our group would be joined by Chris and Christine on their Electra Glide Sport, including Paul on his brand new Road King Classic.  Chris, a colleague of some 17 years, is the head of NSW Police Department's School of Traffic and Mobile Policing, the facility where police including Highway Patrol are trained in high speed driving and motorcycle riding.  Paul is one of the head instructors attached to the school.  The fact that these men choose Harley-Davidsons as their personal bikes I think is testimony to the marque.  For the first 200km I had to endure Harley jokes from the rest of the group until we reached Goulburn.  But once I was joined by an Evo and TC88 backup, they were remarkably quiet.  Anyway, after a quick cuppa and some of Christine's utterly incredible world famous cake, the three Harleys, the BMW limo and three of Japan's finest headed out onto the Hume Highway and continued south towards Gundagai.

On the concrete multi-lane the Ultra purred along effortlessly at a steady 110kph (68mph) set on the cruise control, a speed I find quite comfortable to be able to enjoy music in the headset with open face helmet.   I don't travel too heavily with luggage so tyre pressures were set at 250 kPa (36psi) front and 280kPa (40psi) rear.  With air suspension set at a moderate 120kPa (17psi) front and 84 kPa (12psi) rear the bike gave a comfortable ride without that "Slushmatic" suspension feel.  My road speed tended to be a little slower than the others and within 10 to 20 minutes they were well out of sight.  However, whenever we had a rest stop the Ultra always pulled in 3 to 4 minutes behind them.  Whenever I get on my bike I'm never in a hurry to go anywhere and that's something that will never change with me!

This year's ride into Tumut was quite warm and proceeded like clockwork, thanks to the co-ordination and excellent planning by ride organiser, Mr Barry Musgrave (see 1998 ride story for normal ride details).  Each year Barry puts on a great ride and I hope he eventually gets true recognition for his relentless charity fund raising efforts.  Despite Barry's wish to maintain ride numbers to a manageable level, for both catering and accommodation in the small town, as usual the mass of riders increased in 1999.  I don't think estimates of 600+ riders and pillions this year would be exaggerated.  Anyway, after a cool drink we said goodbye to the other two Harleys with the rest of us continuing on a further 45km (28 miles) to our overnight accommodation at Talbingo.  The six of us continuing on had rented a six bed house for the night from the local Talbingo Tourist Information Centre and at $15 a head, including breakfast, we were laughing.  If you're ever heading for the Tumut-Talbingo area don't hesitate to give the ladies a call at the Information Centre (02-6949-5045) and discuss lodgings for the night.  Good clean beds, hot showers, air-conditioning, TV and a 500m walk to the Talbingo Golf Club for dinner, how can you pass that up?

Sunday the 21st November dawned and with it..... rain!  Light drizzling rain at first and then a steady shower as we prepared to head out on today's ride.  Myself on the Ultra, Mal and Lisa on the Beemer and Glenn on the VFR were heading off into Victoria for another six days.  The Valkyrie and the second VFR were heading back into Sydney so after our good-byes we headed our separate ways.  Our original plans had been to head over the top of the mountains on the Snowy Mountains Highway, turn right at Kiandra, travel past Khancoban and into Victoria that way.  Our target for the day was 500km (310 miles) west to Echuca on the Murray River bordering the bottom of NSW.  With the fact we were currently at the base of the mountains and the weather looked more treacherous over the top, I decided against travelling that route.  Instead I planned to head west from Talbingo and travel over towards Wagga Wagga, a hamlet I'd never visited, and have a look for the first time at NSW's Riverina district.  I'd been over the mountains before and they'll always be there again, another day.  Glenn decided that he'd planned to ride over the top and simply could not be dissuaded from his plans.  Eventually I agreed with him that I certainly did display the traits of a blouse wearing, shandy drinking, poodle walking, fair weather rider but in fact...... these were some of my better qualities.  Agreeing to meet at the Steam Packet Hotel in Echuca at 5:00pm that day, at 9:00am the Harley and the Beemer headed west and the intrepid VFR mounted Glenn departed for the mountains.

Travelling the 147km (91 miles) westwards towards Wagga Wagga we encountered some light drizzling rain with an occasional moderate shower.   But what made that leg of the trip uncomfortable was a prolonged heavy north-easterly wind hitting the bike from the back right quarter.  But no worries.   Once we passed through Wagga Wagga we would be turning southwest and travelling about 200+km (124 miles) with this wind straight at our backs.  Just after 11:00am we refuelled in Wagga Wagga and just in time, for the heavens parted and down it came.   Really solid rain that stayed with us for the next 274km (170 miles) and took us the next five hours to complete!  With the heavy rain the wind dropped so we wouldn't get the advantage with the wind at our back now as we turned southwest just out of Wagga Wagga and set course for Jerilderie.

When we turned southwest, towards Lockhart and Jerilderie, we left the Sturt Highway which is a main trucking route.  Instead we now found ourselves on a narrow two-lane secondary road in heavy continual downpours, the type of rain that hits the road surface and splashes, disguising ripples and potholes.  We kept our speed at a constant 90kph (56mph) and hugged the extreme left of the narrow lane where we could see the bitumen surface better.  Your eyes felt like they were on protruding stalks while you concentrated on the bitumen about 40m to 50m ahead of your front wheel.   But now we had a really interesting variable thrown into the equation just for fun.   It turns out this was also a popular trucking route with big rigs trying to make up some time on the back roads.

These behemoths, some with twin trailers, would appear out of the wall of rain with about 250m warning as they travelled at increased speed to make time.  About one in five had their headlights on which gave you a bit more advanced warning.  At 250m and a terminal speed of 200+kph (124+mph) you had about 4.5 seconds before you were hit with a massive air blast and a bow wave.  I'm not kidding, these things had a bow wave like the f*cking USS Missouri at full throttle.  Just outside of Urana I passed a rig travelling at ludicrous speed in the opposite direction and the bow wave felt like a Bondi Beach dumper (definition of dumper:  an Australian term for a large wave that tries its best to kill people).  Eventually we pulled into Jerilderie and rode the bikes up onto the footpath, under the cover of the overhanging shop awnings, where we had a welcome burger and coffee break at a warm local cafe.

Back on the bikes and 75km (46 miles) into Deniliquin where the sun came out to greet us for the first time that day.  Turning south we then had a great 80km (50 mile) run into Echuca where we pulled into the Hotel car park at 5:15pm.  All the way to Echuca we skirted the western side of storms that seemed to be heading in the same direction as us.  Pulling into the Hotel car park I breathed a sigh of relief to see Glenn's VFR and to know he'd arrived safely.  The storms followed us all the way into Echuca and about one hour after we arrived, a heavy thunderstorm broke and it rained an absolute bitch well into the evening.  Struth, even the Sunday night movie was bloody Twister with that insipid young Helen Hunt woman.  This was an evil omen I'm sure.   But by then I'd been fed and was tucked into bed dreaming of my brace of polo ponies back home.

Monday morning the 22nd November dawned overcast with ominous signs of the day ahead.  We had a quick look around the old historic port of Echuca, which has been well restored without the usual tourist trappings.  In the mid to late 1800's Echuca had been one of the main inland ports on the Murray River and the old part of town has been well presented in its former glory.  I always stay at the Steam Packet Hotel if I'm in the Echuca area and I can highly recommend the accommodation and obliging owners.  And they like bikes too!  A room with double bed for Lisa and Malcolm, an adjoining room with twin beds for the old snoring bastard and myself, and a big country breakfast included - $32 a head.  The bikes have to sit out in the backyard but I can still recommend the accommodation. 

With the bikes refuelled we headed out of town and rode 100km (62 miles) west on the Murray Valley Highway to the town of Kerang.  Light rain continued into Kerang where we stopped for a quick coffee before turning southwest, into Victoria's western farming regions.  Most of Monday was spent on secondary backroads travelling through wheat growing areas as we continued southwest.  The weather alternated between light and heavy showers with an occasional period where the sun broke through the cloud cover.  These glimpses of sunlight wouldn't last long and then it was back into more rain.  Oh well, I can't complain.  All bike rides are good, it's just that some are better than others.

Central Victoria is dotted with many picturesque towns and one particular burgh worthy of mention is St Arnaud, which really captivated me.  After buying some bread rolls at the local bakery and visiting a nearby deli, we parked the bikes under an old oak tree in a most beautiful park and had a picnic lunch.  Please, if you're ever heading through that part of the country, stop and visit St Arnaud.  You won't be disappointed.  Anyway, onwards the intrepid wanderers travelled and after a decidedly damp 400km (250 mile) day we pulled into Halls Gap, in Victoria's Grampians National Park.

Accommodation had been pre-arranged by Lisa at the Halls Gap Log Cabins (03-5356-4256) where we had a six berth cabin, with log fire, waiting for us when we arrived.  Undercover parking for the bikes was most welcome and the manager even enjoyed standing around, kicking tyres and talking bikes.  A room with double bed for Lisa and Malcolm, an adjoining room with four bunks for snorebags and myself, but no breakfast - $30 a head.  The cabins are not like your normal accommodation, but are more like a small home with all amenities.  Highly recommended motorcyclist accommodation.  And while we sat out on the veranda enjoying a coffee and cigar at dusk, the kangaroos came in from bushland and fed on the lawn in front of our cabin.   I'm talking 2m to 3m away from where we sat!  Now ain't that something for a city born and bred boy like me to see......?

End of Part 1......   Click to Go to Part 2