Ride Report Transcontinental Insanity Feb 2014

8/13/2019 Ride Report Transcontinental Insanity Feb 2014

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TRANSCONTINENTAL INSANITY RIDE

By Karl Pirchmoser February 2014

The long awaited call occurred at1100hrs on Friday, 8th

I grabbed my boots, jacket and helmetand was driven to the CFMoto dealer inDubbo where a shiny red CFMoto650TK was parked, waiting for me. Isavoured the moment, walked insideand was greeted by Bob, the NSW/ACTManager. Craig and I were given theopportunity to attempt a ‘Transcontinental insanity ride’ on a

new CFMoto 650TK. The ride wouldcommence in Byron Bay NSW, proceedto Denham WA and return to Byron Baycovering over 10,000 kilometres.

February 2014,only a week before the Transcontinental

Insanity ride was to be attempted.

Bob discussed a few features andstartng sequence of the bike, I listenedintently however I just wanted to takeit for a run. The bike had been speckedup as requested except tyres; theywere replaced with new OEM.

I filled the tank to the brim withpremium fuel; I headed off towardsBurrendong Dam trying to determinean approximate fuel range as Craig andmyself were uncertain of the bikesrange and the actual plan still uncertainuntil we can accurately determine fuelrange.

I farkled the bike without aestheticallydamaging it, would have loved totransplant some HID’s however this

was impossible without punching holesin the body work. Three RAM mountswere fitted allowing GPS, Spot andEtrex to be fitted allowing us to monitorour progress. One cigarette lighter wasavailable, it is not located in an idealposition and an auxiliary fused powercable was fitted allowing 3.2 amps topower devices and an electronickangaroo deterrent.

The transport leg to Byron Bay would

occur over two days, stage one was todepart Dubbo at 1700hrs and travel toArmidale. Next morning the final leg

would occur to the starting point forcheck-in at the motel.

Five Kilometres South Glen Innes

Lionel had previously volunteered to bethe photographer on the trip and hadalready booked in; we planned to goout to tea that night when Craig arrivedfrom Newcastle. In the meantime weheaded off to the local supermarket andbought a few suppliers for the trip.

Byron Bay Lighthouse

Disaster, 1300hrs I received a textfrom Craig, he broken down on the

roadside. I get another text at 1737hrs,the bike at dealer being unloaded. Craigrings a little later saying a faulty




accelerator sensor was replaced, eta2230hrs. I leave the door unlocked,light on and a snack for him.

Lionel and I go out for Thai and relaxfor the pending ride, it is an early nightand we are starting to get into the

mindset of the ride.

Day 1 (1,951Km)

The alarm goes off at 0310hrs, itdoesn’t take much to wake me. I jumpout of bed in anticipation for the startof this exciting and historical ride thathad previously been ridden by 'Davo'Jones on his famous GTR in 2009.

Bikes loaded, the three of us head tothe lighthouse where Clint, Crappy,Bart and Greg are waiting to assist withwitnessing and sign the necessarydocumentation to validate the ride.

After the documentation wascompleted, we all head off for a departreceipt from an ATM terminal, I get onefrom Westpac at 0414hrs, we are about15 minutes late as we got a bit excitedtalking to fellow riders at the

lighthouse. Off we go, the bikessnaking along the roadway towardsCasino then up the mountain towardsTenterfield. I take the lead as weapproach the winding section, the TKtakes the corners easily with ten litresof spare petrol and both panniers arefull, the GTR’s pannier liners fit nicelyinside the fixed TK panniers. I push thebike fairly hard into the corners, itbehaves predictably and feels like a

sports bike and we make up almost 15minutes on the mountain section.

A quick jerry refill at Tenterfield, saygoodbyes to our escorts, Clint, Crappyand Bart.

The run into Glen Innes is smooth withvery little traffic; we approachDeepwater and are greeted on the sideof the road by a Dalek. We continuetowards Armidale when a bike

approaches rapidly from behind andTony tails us into the Airport servicestation.

We refuel, have quick chat, a bit slowbut this is our first stop and we are stillgetting into the groove. We depart andproceed towards Coonabarabran andrefuel in the town limits on the southside of town leading out. I have found

jerry can refills save between four andfive minutes over service station refills.If refueling is carried out in the 50 or60 zones, more time can be saved ifavoiding 100/110 kph zones forrefueling.

TK has excellent cornering capabilities

Gilgandra is the start of our regular fuelstop sequence with the Coast to Coastrides; the temperature is about 37degrees. We arrive, refuel and stock upwith water and head off to Cobarthrough Warren for the next scheduledstop. The bike is responsive very easy

to ride and has ample overtaking powerand torque even when fully loaded.

A quick stop as we enter Cobar for aphoto, my partner threatened mebefore I left not to take another photoof the Cobar factory; I laugh to myselfas I park the TK and take a photo toadd to the collection. 1613hrs is printedon the fuel docket as Craig pays for thefuel with a credit card and obtains tworeceipts, we settle into a provenrefueling process. I wash visors,




headlights and purchase water oranything else as required.

Lionel is riding the Honda ST1300 withgreater fuel capacity, greater range andmore horsepower and has moreflexibility with refueling. Lionel decides

to fill at the BP as we take up twopumps at the shell, we depart and seehim relaxing on a bench enjoying somerefreshments. We pull in and hesuggests we continue as he will catchup.

We pass Wilcannia, it’s still very warm,I am continually sipping water and werefuel north of Wilcannia in a rest area.Craig gestures to fill in the shadebehind a road train. We pull over infront of the semi, dump the fuel intothe tanks and head off, anotherblistering refill and arrive at Broken Hillat 2000hrs. We are met by a welcomingcommittee, Kwaka and Liz, thanks guysthat was real nice. We refuel; move ourbikes from the bowsers and Lionel pullsinto the servo for fuel. After a fewminutes we say our goodbyes and headoff to Yunta for a quick meal. Duringthe trip I have in my tank bag muesli

bars, dried fruit and barely sugar. Thisaddresses hunger issues and fromexperience I tend to weaken and looseconcentration between one and twohours after sunset. To overcome this Islowly eat something and I find thispushes me through the danger barrierensuring my alertness andconcentration is maintained. This is ourfirst meal of the day, we order, enjoythe burger and refreshment, thank the

console operator and head out the dooras a truckie warns us of kangaroossouth of Yunta, he said he ran over six,I thank him and head off.

Lionel pulls his Honda in front, the roadlooks like daylight for at least 500metres with the light spilling over intothe paddocks on each side, and wetravel at the speed limit of 110kph. Weride a tight formation, and rotate

positions maintaining formationmaximising available light as we all rideon high beam. Craig passes a kangaroo

on his right hand side, he disturbed it,it bounces almost instantly to my right,I attempt to ride around it however itchanges its path again; I align the TKand run straight into it, from previousexperience it is important not to brake

but maintain smoothness ensuringstability. I didn't feel much as Ilaunched over the animal landingheavily with a 'tank slap', I struggled tobring it under control with slightdeceleration and rear brake featheringuntil the TK came to a halt. The bikepulls to a halt on the wrong side of theroad, Craig has well and truly gone andhis white light snakes into the distance.My first thought, ‘dam, I can’t finish the

ride’. I know what damage kangarooscan do as I have hit several before.Lionel pulls his beast up on the edge ofthe roadway, I kick the side-standdown, grab my headlight from mypocket, do a quick recognisance,nothing obvious missing or broken, Iride it so it's facing Lionel's bike formore light. Lionel is as white as asheet, I asked in an inquisitive manner,'did I run over it' and he replied, youdid the right thing, lined it up and justwent through it. I carried out a moredetailed check of the bike, shockiesappear straight, some blood and bitshanging off the base of forks, goodmovement, and alignment seems OK,fur and dust on front guard but intact,fur and dust on plastics and rearpannier but all seems intact. Craigarrives and mumbles something as Ihave a habit when it comes tokangaroos; every time I go out I seem

to hit one. A couple of months ago afterreturning from an IBA ride, I killed onewhilst riding a 125cc Honda not farfrom this location, it hopped straightinto me.

Bike seems good; I take the lead, Craigis a few metres behind projecting lighton the left side of the roadway, Lionelat the rear spraying the whole areawith light. The lights on the TK are far

from adequate for long distance nightriding. Add a second or a third bike and




the area becomes more illuminated andsuitable for night riding.

Lionel tells me later after we discussthe incident that he worries because if Ihad fallen off he would have run overme.

We refuel at Port Augusta about thirtyminutes inside our plan. Thereceptionist at the Motel opens securitydoors and we ride our bikes into asecure area. We unload and settledown for the night. I’m still feelingpumped and pretty happy with thebikes performance and front endstrength.

Craig and I share a room; we both had

initial reservations about sharingfacilities due to restrictive time framesand the need to be efficient. Withouttrying, we worked in synergy, no timewas waited and everything was doneand we were settled in our beds. Thirtyminutes later I was plagued with legcramps, I was adequately hydratedduring the day, had ample electrolytesupport but I had to walk the legcramps out in the car park. It took

close to thirty minutes to clear themand settle back into bed. I had to sleepon my back otherwise they would creepback. Craig said I snored during thenight, I didn’t hear a thing and sleptwell.

Day 2 (1,856Km)

The alarm chimes, we are dressed,bikes packed within 30 minutes and we

head towards Kimba at 0655hrs, acouple of stray kangaroos are spottedbut pose no threat. I had been runningan electronic animal repellent thatarrived from America about two weekspreviously. The device is designed toattract wildlife’s attention and makethem look around; it has a range ofapproximately 250 metres. It is hardto determine if it actually workshowever when wildlife is on the run it

certainly won't stop them. We arrive atKimba and take a few photos, Kimba ishalfway across Australia and both Craig

and I don’t have fond memories fromnumerous rides through the town.

As we approach Wudinna, Craig pulls infor a quick photo of the granitesculpture as he usually passes throughin the dark of the night. He has been

after a photo for a while. The sculpturerepresents early settlers in the region;it is eight metres high and took about17 years to create.

We pull into Ceduna, fresh and refuelboth bike and jerry cans. Purchasemore water and off again not lookingforward to the 42 degrees expectedduring the day. Craig and I havepreviously travelled this area when itwas close to 50 degrees, I can assureyou it is not pleasant and appropriatehydration is so important.

The ride into Penong is relaxing and mymind starts to drift, in no time we arepassing through Penong. The first thingthat visitors notice is the dozens ofwindmills placed on your left side asyou approach from the east. Morewindmills are peppered throughout thetown. It should be noted that the Caltex

is now open 24hrs a day; apparently ithad been open for some time. I havepreviously passed by and seen lights onwith occasional semitrailers parked outthe front but presumed it was alwaysclosed. The restaurant/takeaway shopadjacent to the Caltex is not open24hrs.

I find the run from Penong to theNullarbor roadhouse a little boring, atnight I have often seen dead wombats

scattered about twenty kilometres outfor a further thirty kilometres, noproblems with visibility during the day.We pass Nullarbor roadhouse, I avoidstopping here, their premium fuel nevergives me the range of premium fuelpurchased elsewhere and time iswasted due to the need to surrenderyour driver’s license before theattendant turns the fuel pump on, wefuel a little further up on the side of the

highway. There are several roadsleading to the cliffs and are worthy of




investigation as the scenery isabsolutely wonderful.

The long, long road

As we approach Border Village wenotice that the entrance is a badly worndirt road peppered with pot holes andgravel, caution is needed otherwise it iseasy to bottom out the suspension orpossibly come to grief. Border Village isthe gateway to Western Australia fromthe east. Lionel has already refueled,Craig and I refuel, the bikes tanks onlytake about 15.55 litres when empty,

they are rated at 17 litres however theside stand has the bike leaning fairlywell over making it impossible to fullyfill the tank to capacity. The otherissue with the bike leaning over so faris when fully loaded, it can be difficultto lift to the neutral position when inthe saddle. We go inside for a bite toeat and we are about 30 minutes aheadof schedule. It is often suggested thatrefueling at Eucla is beneficial as fuel isabout 10 cents a litre cheaper,unfortunately there is limited pumpspace, re-fuelling can be slow and theyhave no premium fuel, I also finddriving off the highway I may loose myrhythm and this always takes time toget back.

We head off again, it has cooled downand riding is very enjoyable. We pass afew road trains and the TK has amplepower to punch pass them safely; the

wind shear has minimal impact excepton fuel economy as we push the bikespast the long road trains. The rider is

often subjected to contrasting airmovement, often you are leaningtowards the ocean counteracting thegusting winds, as you pass the semi-trailer the bike is dragged into a neutralor opposite direction and when you

pass the semi the bike has to bequickly leaned into the wind againotherwise you find yourself on the edgeof the road on the left hand side of thehighway. This can be really hard workespecially when it rains. I am riding aLAMS approved bike and find it hasmore than enough power and torque tosatisfy the need of any long distancerider even though I have both panniersfully loaded and carrying ten litres of

fuel on the rear rack. I find the postureon the TK excellent; slightly leaningforward, no back strain and theergonomics of all controls suit me.

South Australia and Western Australiaborder

We are mindful that night is nearing;we stop at Caiguna, refuel with liquidgold at $2.22 a litre, purchase morewater and head off, darknessapproached and encompasses us, wearrive at Coolgardie at 0200hrs, fifteenminutes outside our schedule. We settleinto the motel, Craig and I share aroom, a quick shower, focus on ourtasks and settle down for five hourssleep. Lionel has the luxury of a roomto himself.




Cruise control helps

Day 3 (1,319Km)

The bikes roar to life at 0705hrs, whenthe starter motor is engaged it appearsto be lacking ‘oomph’ however the bikestarts up easily. we still have a coupleof hours of darkness to travel and itwouldn’t take much to modify the lightsto make them adequate for nighttouring. Provision of driving lightbrackets maybe as an aftermarketaccessory would certainly make thisbike competitive with other long

distance tourers. A few scatteredkangaroos are seen but cause noconcern as we churn up the miles forour destination. One of our majorconcerns during the trip is tyre wear,the front is wearing fairly evenly,obviously more wear on the inside edgedue road camber. The rear is aconcern; we stop for fuel at Merredinand re-access our rear tyre status. Bothbikes are wearing identically and

interestingly to note the bike I wasriding has nitrogen filled tyres insteadof atmospheric air like Craig’s.

We had no option, we decided to take aslightly shorter route and go inland tosave a few kilometres. The roadnarrows slightly however the scenery isfantastic and the road undulatescontinually through the countrysideproviding excellent riding at 110kph.We take note as we pass road gangs

preparing to seal several kilometres ofroadway by posting road work signs ofthe pending delays. I make a mental

note not to return and find analternative route. Our next stop isMoora, as we pass through some littlesettlements, we are confronted byspeed Signs Ø (Zero with a slash throughit). This reminds me of the old prima

facie limits that applied in NSW allthose decades ago. Unfortunately Idon’t think it means, ‘now go for it’.

Interesting speed limit sign

We arrive at Moomba, I brake suddenlyto avoid a semi pulling out and myfront brakes are now useless. Not sureif disks are warped or pressure releasevalve is activating under braking,anyway they cannot be relied upon. Werefuel, order a meal and strategise atyre replacement. We estimate that we

have only a thousand kilometres left onour rear tyres. I'm starting to worry;our trip is under threat due to tyrefailure due to premature tyre wear.CFMoto prepared the bikes exactly toour specifications except for the tyres;they were replaced with new OEM muchto our concern. We had travelled about4,500 kilometres in total with thesetyres under normal conditions, they arenow worn out. That’s if you can call 20plus hours riding a day normal. Weorder lunch, I ring Bob from CFMotoand ask if he can source some tyres at




Geraldton, he said he would get back tome ASAP. Things are getting critical, Imaintain my composure and internalisemy concerns whilst I wait for a callfrom Bob. Our stay at Moomba waslonger but we needed to know what

was happening with the tyres and Ididn’t know what telecommunicationswas available outside the town area.Lionel speaks to some locals andsources the most direct routeminimising tyre wear. Craig wasprocessing our change of refuellingissues at Denham. We are working likea well oiled machine. The servicestation closes at 1900hrs, with a tyrechange we will miss that timeframe,and we had planned arriving 30minutes before closing time. Bob ringsabout fifteen minutes later, he comesgood, made arrangements to have thetyres fitted at Sun City Motorcycles andhas paid for them, the only issue is thecorrect size tyres were not available.He spoke to his technical departmentand they approved the fitment of thenext size tyre. We head off chasing theclock; we spent too much time hereand needed to ride smarter, less andshorter breaks. Lionel was a little slowgetting away and he was going tocatch-up.

Geraldton is getting closer, thetemperature is close to 32 degrees andthe clock is ticking down as we arrive atthe bike shop in Geraldton. The bikesare wheeled to the rear and themechanic commences working onchanging tyres. I speak to the

salesman, he says one of themechanics is on lunch, dam this willnow take twice as long. We burn over90 minutes, here, Craig's has a newrear Michelin PR2 fitted and I have arear PR3 as we head off. Some seriousStrategising will now occur if we areable to complete the ride on schedule,or complete it at all. We head north,Craig is on reserve, my fuel gauge isinaccurate when it gets under quarter

full and just shows one bar until theengine splutters and stops wherever itdesires. A sign says there is fuel ahead,

great, we follow the sign but can’tlocate it, frustrated we backtrack aboutten minutes to where we had previouslyseen a BP. Bikes are refueled and wehead north towards the ‘OverlanderRoadhouse’. The road undulates as we

work our way along the roadway,occasionally we can see the ocean. Aswe enter Northampton we are stuckbehind a slow moving semi trailer, he istravelling less than the speed limit, itseems to take forever to get throughthe town and finally we are presentedwith overtaking lanes and we takeadvantage of them. This was a greatrun up the West coast, I have neverbeen here before and really enjoyed the

countryside, weather fantastic,temperature great and I take a fewpictures on the run. Lionel passes meand gives me some hand gestures,after a minute I realise what Lionel issaying and do a ‘U’ turn. I retrieve theglove that I dropped some kilometresbefore and continue to enjoy the ride,the TK requires very little effort to ridelet alone maintain the posted speedlimit, and speed creep is a real issuethat I battled with throughout the ride.It is very hard to hold the TK back, it just wants to go. We pull into theOverlander, fill our tanks to the brim,Craig rings the owner of the motel andthey agree to obtain 20 litres of petrolfor us. Without this fuel it is doubtfulwe would be able to continue toDenham then return in the early hoursof the morning to Geraldton on oneload of fuel.

Denham, the most Western point of Australia




The Overlander re-opens at 0700hrs(WA time). Another less favorablestrategy was to fill Lionel’s fuel bladderin addition to our jerry cans and rideslowly hoping to make Geraldton, itwould be touch and go, anyway things

worked out for us.We arrived Denham at 2050hrs, we justsee the sunset, grab a few photos, goto the pub and get a couple ofwitnesses and a receipt from the till. Noexternal ATM tellers are available toDenham; this may cause us some griefon our departure. We book into themotel, it’s windy, sand and salt appearsto cover everything. We had planned togo to the pub for a meal however lost

time obtaining witnesses, refueling. Theowner had placed ten litres of fuel intotwo jerry cans facilitating refueling; thismade things much easier with therefueling. The owner asked us severaltimes to be careful on our departure inthe morning because of the largenumbers of kangaroos betweenDenham and the Overlander. We assureher we will be careful and head for ourrooms. Because of the earlier tyre

change, we had lost just over an hourand this would cut into our rest time.We opted for muesli bars and energybars. Craig and I shared a room, whatno towels, quick enquiry you need tohire them. Craig came back with threepool towels, no charge. Quick shower,pack and arrange my gear for a fastdeparture to save time in the morningand off to bed for a few hours’ sleep.

Day 4 (1,838Km)

We meet out the front of the motel at0425hrs, no depart receipt wasavailable, we each send a spotnotification to indicate a depart time, Imake a phone call to Craig for a secondconfirmation and for a third I Check-inon Facebook hoping that should provideenough evidence of our actual locationand depart times. We head off in total

darkness; Lionel initially leads travellingat the speed limit. The kangaroos havelittle respect for anything as very few

vehicles travel this road a night. Itreminded me of Tasmania where littlewallabies just shoot across the road,the difference being these are grownkangaroos that stand higher than thebike rider. One or two bounds and they

are gone, Lionel almost gets wiped outas two kangaroos head straight for hisside but they miss and disappear intothe scrub on the side of the roadway.Craig swerves and it tail just brusheshis fairing as it side steps headingtowards me, I lock the rear wheel andsteer around the rear of the kangarooand continue. Several more werespotted but we just focused on thegoal. We pass the Overlander andcontinue refilling some kilometres laterwhen my bike splutters and stops onthe side of the highway in totaldarkness. It feels great to have a quickstretch and the re fuelling only takes afew minutes and we are on our wayagain heading Southward towardsGeraldton.

Lionel and Craig

We arrive at Gull 440 at 0400hrs aboutthirty minutes inside our schedule;things are running pretty well to plan.Both bikes average out using about thesame amount of fuel at every stop.Craig and I have very similar ridingstyles. We stop for breakfast, I havetwo egg and bacon toasted sandwiches,coffee and a chocolate milk. The eftpos

terminal freezes, time is wasted tryingto fix it, I am moved to anotherterminal, time is ticking away, and




Craig is waiting for his change while hisattendant leaves him and tries fixingthe eftpos terminal I was at. We chewup our credited time, as we depart afriendly guy warns us of police activitywithin Geraldton, we thank him and

depart heading south. Forty fiveminutes later I am feeling a little tiredand need to empty my bladder; I pullover and signal Lionel to continue anddo a quick dance, not pretty but I nowfeel ‘brand new’ and continue. Aboutfifteen kilometres later Craig has pulledover, Lionel thought I was out of petroland Craig had waited, I slow down andwe continued. It’s interesting to notethat a four minute stop takes many,many kilometres to catch up; it’s allabout the Overall Average (OA). I’mfeeling completely refreshed ready forthe next leg and we continue headingtowards Northam. We take the scenicroute, Craig’s GPS indicates a differentroute to mine, I gesture mine isdifferent but we continue, manykilometres later we discover manyroads leading off however signage doesnot show any roads to Northam. We gopast another turnoff; I pull over andsignal Craig this is the one and followthe GPS. The road undulates aroundthe countryside, smooth long sweepingcorners. This road seemed to go onforever and was one of the highlights ofthe trip. Exhilarating, fantastic fun, thebikes were exiting to ride, this wascertainly a ride I would not forget, wefinally enter Northam from someobscure side road. We pull in for fueland chat about the ride, as I start filling

the jerry can a squeal comes over theintercom, ‘place the fuel container onthe ground before filling’. We obey ‘shewho must be obeyed’ and continuerefueling. I tried ringing Lionel and lefta message, no doubt he was taking anadventurous route also. We later findout that he became geographicallydisorientated I believe he may havecompletely bypassed Northam. We graba snack, some water; the temperature

is about 30 degrees and continues onour way to Norseman. We arriveNorseman at 2050hrs, a few minutes

outside our schedule. The mainroadhouse at Norseman has changedtrading practices. From 2200 to0700hrs they only take cash. Wouldyou believe it only cash. We opted onthe initial leg to fill up at the Caltex just

around the corner, they also have a fairrange of hot food to select from. Wecontinue on our way to Caiguna whichis our next scheduled overnight stop.

Stay alert, don't miss the turn

This last stretch into Caiguna was adrag, we finally arrived at 0126hrs, andwe refuel and unload our gear into therooms. I purchase a burger with the lotand proceed back to the room. Wow,not a good idea, I was unable to eat theburger intact, I ate most of it in

sections but couldn’t finish it. I have ashower and hit the sack and go to sleepwithin moments. I think Craig was afew minutes behind me.

Day 5 (1,709Km)

The alarm chimes, again. Craig and Iare up and packed within thirtyminutes. I fit wet weather gear as it is

drizzling; heavy dark clouds cover thesky, we help Lionel with his gear anddepart at 0630 right on the dot. Thedrizzle continues for a while and slowlysubsides, the air is still and a fewkangaroos are spotted but are nothreat. The country side is starting togreen after the rain. The air is still andcrisp as we push through. I have beenon quarter of a tank for over thirtyminutes and decide to pull over and fillthe main tank on a straight section ofroad; funny most of the road is




straight. Craig also pulls over and startsrefueling.

Craig filling up on the plain

The sun is rising and everything is still,this is unusual and then the windsstarts building up, this has an obviousimpact on our fuel consumption. Thewinds are continually changing directionhowever not as bad as other trips, thewind is manageable and does not affectthe enjoyment of the ride. We pass acouple of vehicles as we arrive atBorder Village feeling great and to mysurprise there were huge puddles ofwater over much of the ground. Iweave around them and pull up at thebowser and fill my tanks. This is a short

stop and a guy wants to talk about hisBeemer dressed in only jeans andlightweight top. He is off to Adelaideand obviously not appropriately attiredif it starts raining again. Another guysays he has ridden a naked 650 andwas really impressed. He asks wherehave we come from and where are weheading, I tell him, he and his matelooks off astonishment makes mesmile. I’m polite, keep the

conversations short and we head offtowards Penong winding the TK up tocruising speed. It is warming up, wecontinue and the country side is asgreen as I have seen it. We pull intoPenong with almost empty tanks. Wehad pushed the bikes maintaining thespeed limit, only adjusting for wind andhills as we were running for economyand efficiency endeavoring to makeheadway on time as much as possible.

Lionel is waiting for us and orderscoffee's for us. We refuel, wash visorsand go inside for a quick coffee as we

have a few minutes spare. We end uptalking a little longer than planned. Aswe depart I notice the windmills arespinning flat out and we continuetowards Ceduna. Our original plan wasto stop at Ceduna for fuel, I have

learned there are many advantages ofchanging plans on the fly as long asthey are calculated, thoroughly thoughtthrough and not ad hoc, it is very easyto make poor decisions when things aregoing wrong and you are not thinkingclearly. Our changes were to improveefficiency and challenge ourselves. Westop at the inspection station, havenothing to declaim and continuetowards Wudinna. It was estimated that

37 degrees would be reached in thearea however it hadn't felt that hot. Ihave to stop about 25 kilometres Eastof Ceduna for a nature break. I notedthe time, leave the bike running as Iplace the TK on the side stand, do whatI have to and efficiently pull away righton four minutes. I sit the GPS on 115kph only backing off slightly on the hillsto conserve fuel. It took me over 60kilometres to catch up with Craig. I hadto run efficiently as this was a long legespecially with the wind and I had nospare fuel. Craig later said he hadslightly backed off allowing me to catchup. We bypass Minnipa, we are nowcommitted to make it to Wudinna. Totalefficiency was the goal and we arrive inWudinna at 1715 hrs on fumes, peoplelook as we high five each other, thiswas a fantastic leg, we were bothpumped, not only had we savedrefueling, we made up substantial time

by running efficiently. After the usualprocesses we headed off, I always findthe last 30 or so kilometres leading intoKimba slow and find I loose focus andconcentration. I eat a muesli bar tobring me back on-line and focus onwhat needs to be done. We passthrough Kimba and our next scheduledstop is Port Augusta.

Another fast stop, next stop is Davo's

plaque, I had to pull up about 5kilometres from the servo, and my spotindicated low battery status. Once I




replaced the batteries I met the othersfor a 'banner shot'.

Kimba, half way across Australia

Funny how things work out, we wereconcerned that we would run out oflight however lighting was perfect for a

banner shot. The hills were lit by softdiffused sunlight showing all theircontours and character. Unless it isdark, I always stop here and pay myrespects. We spend a few minutes hereand head off through Horricks. Theroad is still wet, we exercise somecaution but this was a stretch of roadDavo loved, we all know why.

Banner shot

Darkness sets in as we pass Oroorooand head towards Yunta for our nextscheduled stop. I hate this section witha passion at night, eyes peeled; Lionel'slights illuminate the area like dayhowever the kangaroos on the hop stopfor no-one. We stop at Yunta for a restand hamburger. We are ahead of timeand spend about 40 minutes here. Acouple of guys caution us regarding the

wildlife; we thank them, refuel andattack our last leg before we spend thenight in Broken Hill. It was an

uneventful ride through the plains andinto Broken Hill. Keys for our rooms areunder the door mats, we unload anddecide to extend our depart time byhalf an hour to 0900hrs EST.

Day 6 (1,531Km)

We pack and are ready to go, Lioneldecides he would like to catch up andmeet us in Cobar. We refuel at theShell service station and head off indarkness, my mind is wandering, I'mfeeling a little down as I realise thepilgrimage is coming to an end. I reallydon't want it to stop, the bike is anabsolute pleasure to ride, I only have

slight tenderness to my butt and mywrist is painful possible due to the tankslap earlier and by holding the throttlefor extended periods. I start eatinganother muesli bar, drifting off isdangerous. A few kangaroos are seen, Iwas riding in front of Craig, I'd spot thewildlife and it was stationary, but whenI passed it I spooked it and it moved. Isaw a small emu on the edge of theroad, no real threat however after I

passed an adult emu emerged causingsome concern to Craig. We had a greatrun, weather fantastic and greatcompany. Craig and I had sharedaccommodation on all but one night,even with long days, tight schedulesand un-planned issues, we got alongextremely well. I don't recall any harshwords or raised voices at all. To behonest, I feel the ride was enhancedriding with someone with an almost

identical pattern and style, it enhancedour efficiency and promoted safety.

We arrived at Cobar 15 minutes outsideour schedule; Lionel should be rightbehind us as I re-fuel I thought. Ayoung guy speaks to me as he isrefueling, he has a trailer and says heis going to Wilcannia to pick up abroken down bike. My heart stops; Iask is it a red Honda, he says the guywas going to Byron Bay. He pulls out a

piece of paper with contact details ofhis job and it was Lionel. I gesture toCraig and pass on the bad news and




push my bike away from the bowser. Iring Lionel and it goes to messagebank. I wait a minute and ring again,he said he had to get a load of fuel atWilcannia and when he tried to startthe bike it just wouldn't go. He was

sure that it was an electrical problemand not fuel. We spoke for a fewminutes, I suggested that he get a fewwitness forms signed for the ride. Craigand I discussed the problem, we weredevastated, and had lost our drive. Wehad a coffee and toasted egg and baconroll and continued, we realise that weneeded to refocus on the ride. Weknuckled down focusing on maintaininglegal speed and tidiness in allprocedures. It was starting to warm up,39 degrees was expected today and wecontinued traversing the undulating andflat roads toward Gilgandra. This was afast stop, we had made up substantialtime and continued, and traffic wasthickening and slowed our pace slightly.I took the lead as we approachedTamworth and punched through peakhour traffic refueling on the northernside out of jerry cans.

Deepwater Dalek

A lightning fast refuel at Armidaleairport puts us even further ahead withour plan. We continue on the NewEngland Hwy through to Tenterfield andempty as much fuel as possible into thefuel tank taking the weight from therack hopefully improving handlingthrough the mountains.

I know the road fairly well however

lighting of the TK around corners isvery poor, on sharp right-hand cornersthere is complete darkness leading

around the corner, left had corners arenot much better.

Tenterfield on Casino road

Our progress is much slower than

expected and I am getting a littledepressed at loosing so much time.Approximately half way down themountain a bike flies past us with athumbs up, first thing I thought of washere's a knight in black to save the dayas it was really hard going with thestandard lighting. I found out later thiswas Michael (Crappy), he looked like amachine on his bike, fast efficient andknew what we needed. Wow, he took

the lead and things were looking good,we were starting making time up again,he illuminated the whole road andguided us through to Casino and ByronBay. What an exhilarating fantasticride, it was mind blowing, havingtravelled thousands of kilometres onisolated roads then suddenly heavilytravelled roads was initially verydaunting. Michael led us through to theWestpac terminal where we obtained a

sign in receipt at 2016hrs.We congratulated each other; get thewitness forms signed and headed to thelighthouse car park to officiallycomplete the ride.

What a bike; the GFMoto 650TK isresponsive, reliable and a comfortablebike that would suit anyone requiring along distance tourer. It is capable ofeasily chewing up over 10,200kilometres in less than six days.

This was the most enjoyable andmemorable ride I had done!

Documents

Ride Report Transcontinental Insanity Feb 2014