Snowy Ride 2012 Report. - Stromtrooper Forum : Suzuki V-Strom Motorcycle Forums

mikeyoda · #1 11-04-2012, 06:54 AM

1508 Kays in 4 days door to door. One day had a rest, and did only 100 klms for that day, due to some family issues needed attention.

Report:

Route :

Melb-Yea-Wodonga-Tallangatta ( Free camping by mitta mitta river ( pigs point campground)) Recommend....

Tallangatta- Khancoben ( hotel, sort family stuff out) good pub and hotel $50 a night basic but clean. Recommend

Khancoben-Lake Wellington ( Sale) Free Camping on the banks of the lake ( Marlay Point recommend)

Sale- Melb

Weather Pi%#ing down on the ride up Thursday, till after Yea.
Cleared the rest of trip with cool mornings, and dry sunny days.
Awesome.

So many bikes and so many gs1200 and stroms. Good to see.
Went alone and met a mate for 15 minutes up top , but prefer to ride alone.
BIKE was fantastic. Not problem at all except for chain lube, which fell off the back, oky strapped on because I was being lazy, and I couldnt buy any up there cause it was all sold out.

So many cops not funny , however from Khancoben to Thredbo was MAD

I left 8am for the 84 klms to the top.
Very Very scary. Too many boy racers all coming head on ..
I wont do that leg again on the Snowy ride- too dangerous IMHO.
Will do that section again any day , just not on the Snowy ride day.

Any one know where all those ambulances went to . Counted Three in a hurry on SAT? So guess there where some major offs. I think I got Breathalised 3 times, and saw cops on average every 1/2 hour on a road somewhere on the Sat. Marked unmarked, on bikes you name it.

Loved the Monaro highway on the way to Sale.

Good ride, if have not done it , go for it next year.

Cheers
Mike

UBS04 · #2 11-04-2012, 09:40 PM

I heard from a police motorcyclist that a motorcyclist was killed north of Knancoban. In a local paper it said it was an accident at 1pm sat, a 60 yo went 10m down an embankment. (check other forums to verify)

From dalgety to jindy on fri afternoon, 2 guys passed us at blinding speed...so there are always a small % that are not managing all the risks.

Down via culburra (thurs overnight) then via bega and brown mt Friday. At nimatabel two went via cooma on black stuff, and two of use via dalgety on the 12km of dirt. The roads that way r very scenic and generally quite

Sat- enjoyed the Honda demo rides, but no cbr600rr this year. We stayed away from Thredbo to knancoban this yr as it was spooked from a jan death.

Sat arvo was the great ride to charlottes pass and photo of bikes with snow and walk down to creek. Home to Sydney via adaminaby, tumut and then on the Hume.

Summary:
Stay in Thredbo next yr
Use a sena smh-10 intercom with one of our group. 9/10
Vstrom 2004 is still a great bike. Every time I ride it I talk myself out of changing it. With a standard screen and madstrat, the wind protection is equal to my friends fully kitted gs1200.

MountainLagoon · #3 11-05-2012, 03:07 AM

Total ride 1560km, great weather Friday to Monday, fantastic roads, both tar & dirt.

Thu - Day 1 - 426km – Blaxland’s Ridge – Picton – Moss Vale – Canyonleigh (dirt) – Brayton (dirt) – Bungonia – Merilla – Gunning – Gundagai
Fri - Day 2 – 311km – Gundagai – Tumut – Batlow – Tumbarumba – Elliot Way – Cabramurra – Khancoban – Thredbo
Sat - Day 3 – 287km - Thredbo – Charlottes Pass – Jindabyne – Dalgety – Myalla (Dirt) - Hudson’s Peak (Dirt) – Cooma Berridale – Thredbo
Sun - Day 4 – 259km – Thredbo – Adaminaby – Tumut – Wee Jasper (Dirt) – Yass – Crookwell
Mon - Day 5 – 276km - Crookwell – Abercrombie (partly dirt) – The Lagoon – Tarana – Lithgow – Blaxland’s Ridge

Thursday we rode through a very windy storm front blowing Goulburns top soil out to sea, we rode to Gunning without riding on any major roads or freeways. I had fun dodging sheep and getting my pillion to open & close paddock gates through Canyonleigh/Brayton dirt roads; we rode around the bulk of any rain, then gave up the dirt tracks and rode the freeway run to Gundagai.
Friday – Absolute 2 wheel magic, perfect weather, no traffic to Tumbarumba and only one car and one truck on the Elliot Way all the way to the Talbingo Reservoir rest area. On the way to Khancoban we started to dodge the Friday arvo crowd taking their boats to the Lakes and also just slipped past one logging truck on a blind corner, I’m glad we were on a bike to squeeze between the trucks long trailer and the cliff face !!!! At Khancoban we found where all the bikes were hiding!! so from there to Thredbo there was plenty of bike traffic. We checked in for a nice dinner and a look over some maps.
Saturday – The Snowy Ride – I could have spent all day just riding up & down Charlottes Pass but I wanted to do one of the recommended dirt sections of the ride (in pink on the Snowy map) so we headed for Myalla, only one other bike was on the track (a Tenere) this dirt road was hard packed base with small gravel stones and long sweeping corners that climbed around Hudson’s peak. I rate this road as very easy, even my pillion enjoyed this dirt road (that’s how good it was) the southern highland scenery was spectacular!!! We opened the throttle through the dirt to Cooma then made it back to the Ski Tube just in time for the mass ride followed by beers & cheers at Thredbo.
Sunday – We rode around the lakes and stopped in to ride the dirt loop around Yarangobilly Caves, this road is one way so the threat of oncoming 4wd's was gonefrom the back of my mind with just the wombat & roo risk left, then back on the tar and onto Tumut for the Tumut to Wee Jasper dirt track, this track is a bit rough at the Tumut end and with all the blind twisty cut backs it was bit challenging but I would still rate it as medium difficulty as it has a solid base covered in large-medium gravel, we managed to dodge the wombat carcass around a blind corner and the oncoming 4wd’s (my pillion was not impressed with dirt power slides over corrugations and swerves to avoid large pot holes) We stopped at Wee Jasper to check the tyres & bike then onto another great tar road of the ride, the Wee Jasper to Yass run, the returning traffic from the Snowy Ride kept away from these sections so we had the road to ourselves, then on to the Crookwell pub.
Monday - The dirt sections from Crookwell to the Abercrombie River bridge have been graded last week so it was a mix of tar and fun dirt ride. After the bridge the northern dirt sections are a little rougher but I still rate all sections as easy for the Strom. Then we cut across through The Lagoon to a Tarana Pub for lunch, then home via Bells of Line Rd.

Note: With my wife and luggage on board I was treating the dirt roads with extra caution, esp the blind corners and blind crests, when I had a clear line of site through some corners I could let the Strom eat up the dirt country roads.

We chatted to the highway patrol officers at Jindabyne while we were having our morning coffee, they advised that a rider went over an embankment and broke his legs but he is otherwise OK. Their exact words were….
“95% of the riders here this weekend are doing the right thing, it’s the other 5% we are worried about” they also said that a lot of incidents over the weekend are caused by inexperienced riders on unfamiliar roads as well as the small percentage of riders who treat it as a racetrack.
Seriously!!! This would have to be the wrong weekend to push your luck with more bikes’s and police in the area than at any other time of the year.

I left my 10 Watt LED lights with the wide beam lenses turned on all weekend to try to help improve visibility of my bike for oncoming riders, they drew a lot of positive comments from other riders at our stops, the main theme of the comments were “They are very effective and a lot more noticeable than just headlights, but not bright enough to be a nuisance” this was a perfect field test…they work well to improve your visibility … proven.

Great ride and great event, cheers to all the Strom riders who waved back

MountainLagoon · #4 11-05-2012, 03:09 AM

Day 2 pics

MountainLagoon · #5 11-05-2012, 03:11 AM

Day 3 pics

MountainLagoon · #6 11-05-2012, 03:13 AM

Day 4 pics

MountainLagoon · #7 11-05-2012, 03:15 AM

Day 5 pics

graham downunder · #8 11-07-2012, 11:04 AM

Yes it was another great weekend . We road from Jindy round the big loop and back to thredbo then back to Jindy like normal . Unfortunatly there were a few idots who were realy stupid like overtaking me while I am going around a 45 degree bend , he almost ran off the otherside of the road he clipted the white line on theedge of the road. Another one undercut me on a slow hairpin bend,then nearly took my front out as he went around the rider I was having trouble slowing up for . These boy/girl racers are a real PIA ,they want to watch out as a lot of riders had video cameras running ,it would not surprise me if the Police got to see a few videos and sent out tickets in the mail ,serves dumb barst... right . I always come away a better rider but this year I was nearly tempted to go and "introduce myself "to some of the idots .
Next year I think you will find a LOT more POLICE and they are not going to be so nice to the idiots .

v-chops · #9 11-07-2012, 04:34 PM

Thanks for sharing everyone, and glad you all made it home ok

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