Ockerstrom has gone down south for Chrissy so I rode a little way with him. We rode through the Blue Mountains down to Hartley and along the Cox's river road with a little easy dirt and up to Hamden and on to Oberon for an espresso. Well that bit was easy, but the next bit was the roughest bit of back road I can remember riding. Oberon to Rockley is about 34 kms, 28 of it was hard packed base with embedded rocks, all covered with 1-3" of sandy gravel. If that wasn't, enough it was corrugated the whole way. Bloody hell! At a few points the vibration near had my hand shaken off the bar!! The continuous corrugations were worse than any I experienced out back of Broken Hill ( my favourite city)
The Strom survived just fine.
So if you want to brush up your dirt skills, this is a good road to practice on. It really is rougher than any twin track I,ve ridden and probably single track too. My suspension is set up for sealed roads but .......

Saturn 5 ..... Now with loose fillings.

I've told you before Saturn, don't trust them Mexicans

A tough call on the Lad taking you down there Sat,not good enough,black stuff for you or mild off -take care and all the best wishes for 13, every now and then when the conditions prevail get the wind in your hair.

Pics? you want Pics? Your kidding me!! My only thought was to get off the road and back on to any thing but that!! It was a shocker and really I didn't want to stop and have to start again, just press on and finish it. I have ridden a lot of dirt roads in NSW and some in Vic. and S.A., but this was hard going on a Strom. Then again as much as I like the dirt back roads, I'm finding it more difficult as each year passes. I'll post this as good training for the younger brigade. Zip ties on the forks showed I'd bottomed out but who knows how many times....lots!!
Ock. headed on to east Melbourne and looked for every bit of dirt road he could while on the way. I'm not sure how much he found but I doubt he'd find any more this rough but no doubt he'll post a report before long.

Saturn 5

Thanks Chops and Windy. I have unfinished business down Albury/Wodonga way Windy. A year or so ago I set off from Tom Groggin to photograph every bridge along the Murray. All was good till I got to Albury (except the camera strap around my neck let go and smashed the camera on the road, I saved the card) By Albury I was crook as well as picking up a stomach bug from a hovel of a hire cabin at Khancoban. Looking for accommodation in a hurry was no deal as some Aussie band had a re-union there and 12000 fans had booked the whole district out. I finally collapsed in a motel in Wagga Wagga!!!
I'd like to continue with the photographic plan one day so maybe I'll get to meet up with you Windy and perhaps you would join me for a way. But not untill the cool months. I've always preferred to travel in winter as I think it is more comfortable.

Saturn 5

Without knowing your riding ability it is impossible for readers to visualise what you are talking about. Your actual description of the road could be virtually any road in the forests around Melbourne in late summer and I suspect most recently gravelled roads in rural areas in the rest of the country most of the time.
I guess we will just have to wonder.

You can,t visualise by the written discription? I thought it was pretty clear. Next time I,ll stop and take a shot just for those who don,t comprehend the written language. In a novel or a comic or Playboy, do you only read the pictures? Gimme a break!

Saturn 5. ... Sin binned!

Sorry Brian,

I've never been that way before so didn't realise it was so corrugated.

And my front mudguard catching on my improvised "highway pegs" had me going straight ahead out of a causeway that had a left hand bend on its exit, you missed the excitement of seeing my antics trying to stay on the road (you did come back and see how close to the right hand edge of the road I got before managing to stop ).

I have limited pics and have covered lots of dirt so far, I will post some form of report when I get back.

__________________
Ock. in Oz
Australia, NSW, Windsor
ockerstrom@rocketmail.com

Member of The McGrath's Hill Mob.

Shiro Nakama Ju San

White '09 V-Strom DL650ABS, Blue '87 Kawasaki KLR650 [Sold]
Green '94 Kawasaki KLE500

"Normal" is only a cycle on the washing machine.....

If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.

No need to say sorry Ock, I was as keen as you to take this road, a bit of a surprise eh? Your little mishap was that the front bottomed out once too many times. Hardly surprising though. Cattle grids didn't help much either.
Pleased to hear your trip went well. See you next year.

Saturn 5 .... shaken and stirred!