RATS RiDE To NABiAC

By Merv Bone, Member #3663

Like most good rides it starts with someone saying “Lets go to ???”.

This ride started with Roger Bylett saying “I think the Rats should go to the motorbike museum at Nabiac”. Who’s Roger, well he was a test rider and writer for the Australian Motorcycle News back in the 80’s.

Phil Gresham’s R1250RT

The Rats are a group of guys who go riding once a month, from various backgrounds, some of which are BMW club members also. The date was set, the long weekend in May. Roger started with emails showing a route down the Pacific Hwy to Taree and back along the Oxley and up the New England to home. This was to cater for those who still worked. Six weeks from departure the east coast was hit with heavy rain, flooding and Taree was hit hard. Land slides cut off Dorrigo from Bellingen and the Oxley Hwy was also cut as a massive landslide took out half of the road. One week from departure and our group of 11 had split into 4 groups. Roger, head organiser, and 2 others decided that the long weekend was going to be wet and they didn’t like riding in rain. Who believes the BOM. The 3 younger guys who were still working would leave late Friday and go west staying over night at Tenterfield. Paul Skerman (BMWMCQ club member) and his wife Viki were riding around the wineries of the Hunter Valley and would meet us in Taree. That left Phil Gresham, myself and old mate Greg who rides a Can Am Spyder to leave Friday morning, rain, hail or shine and find as many twisty roads as we could.

Friday 30/4. I met Phil at Yamanto Maccas at 7.30am. It was a lovely 14°C and fine so Phil took a photo of our bikes, the golden arches and sent it to Roger with the words “You should be here cream puff”. We headed to Boonah and onto Rathdowney to pick up Greg at 9am. Another photo to Roger then headed down the Mt Lindesay Hwy to Kyogle and on to Casino where we stopped for fuel. So far the day had been perfect, a pleasant 19°C, sunny and great twisty roads. The Summerland way (B91) through the forest is another enjoyable ride. In the distance we could see the storm clouds building so a quick stop to put on the wet weather gear which was a good move as the heavens opened up as we entered Grafton. Lunch was at the Crown Hotel on the back deck and watching the rain. The rain stopped as we rode down Armidale road to Nymboida. The pub that Russell Crowe once owned is now privately owned and now closed. Near Clouds Creek we had to stop for roadworks. We found out that this section is being straightened and they only open it for 7 minutes each way at 11am and 2pm. Fully open from 4pm to 8am. No mention of this on the NSW roads site. We timed it well with only a short wait before travelling through. A left turn up Tyringham road as we climbed up the range and into Dorrigo. The traffic was steady due to the light showers and a few more vehicles than normal as the road from Bellingen was still closed from the landslide. Our accomodation was the Railway hotel/

motel. All bikes covered and parked up for the night after an eventful 430km ride. Phil took another photo and sent it to cream puff Roger. A reply came back “Enough with the photos”. Phil showed me a lovely pic of the bikes under cover with blue skies and a fluffy white cloud. We had grey clouds and nothing like his picture. Phils reply to me was “Oh I have an app that can change things like the sky etc”. We showed Greg and all had a laugh. That night we had a few drinks and a lovely meal at the Heritage Hotel just up the road.

Saturday 1/5. A yummy breakfast at the only cafe open at 7.30am, the Ambos were here too. On the road by 9am with a top up of fuel and some advice from a local, “Take it easy as we have had a few motorbike crashes lately up here”. Phil and Greg had not seen the collection of old trains and carriages out on Railway Street so I took them there. Sadly you can not get a close look. Another photo to Roger of the trains in the mist. The ride down the mountain on Waterfall way (B78) is fantastic and the engineer must have been a motorcyclist as it has flowing curves, banked corner and a lot of twist/turns to enjoy. A short distance into this enjoyment it slowed to a crawl as a line of traffic was following an old guy in a A200 Benz out on a Sunday drive. Didn’t he realise it was Saturday, anyway it allowed us to enjoy the great scenery, valley’s with low fluffy white clouds and mist. Lush green pastures from all the rain and clear blue skies. Eventually we manage to get by the rolling road block and enjoy a few more curves then came more mud and roadworks. A left turn at the intersection with Armidale road and continued to Ebor and onto Armidale. Through town and onto Uralla and onto Thunderbolts way to Walcha for fuel and lunch. The 3 young guys were to meet us for lunch but they had

Phil on Hill St Walcha

only made Warwick on Friday night due to heavy traffic and roadworks. They were in Guyra so we didn’t wait for them. Before leaving Walcha I took Phil and Greg to Hill street. This street has many trees full of autumn colours, reds, yellow and orange, when mixed with the green pastures and blue sky make for great viewing. Another photo for Roger with no modification needed.

Barrington Tops Lookout

The temp had climbed from 12°C this morning to a pleasant 19°C as we arrived at the lookout at Barrington tops. The view was lovely so another photo to the cream puffs back in Brisbane. Thunderbolts way is another good twisty mountain road, a bit rough in patches and roadworks with a limit of 80ks for most of it. Only 1 Highway Patrol sighted about 50km out of Walcha. Down the range and into Gloucester,

then Nabiac and up the A1 to Taree to our accomodation, the In Town Motor Inn arriving at 4pm. Another 420k easy day. Paul and Viki Skerman greeted us with a raised glass of wine which he had brought from the Hunter Valley. The 3 young guys arrived at 4.30pm so they made good time or we were slow enjoying the view at Barrington tops. Only 6 weeks earlier Taree was flooded and businesses near the river suffered damage, the pub being one of them. No food service but cold beer so it was across the road to the Italian restaurant for dinner. After a delicious meal it was back to the pub for a few more drinks before returning to the motel.

Sunday 2/5. Breakfast at the Brown Sugar cafe for all and then it was time to ride to Nabiac. Paul Skerman was ride leader and in true form all back roads out to Wingham, Burrell Creek, Krambach to Nabiac. About 60km all up through the countryside but I must say some of the roads were in very poor condition because of the rain and flooding recently.

Phil’s bike and the trains at Dorrigo

The motorcycle museum opens at 10am and will cost you $15.00 entry. If you have not been, put it on the must-do list. There are hundreds of bikes and a few old cars as well. It had been 10 years since my last visit and they have sorted the bikes into various makes, BM, BSA, Triumph, Ariel, HD, Kawasaki including a Z1300, sorry my weak spot, you get what I’m saying lots of bikes.

After about 3 hours it was time for lunch, one quick group photo, and yes this one was modified by Phil and sent to Roger and the cream puffs. On with the wet gear as the heavens opened for the short ride to a cafe not far away. We had lunch and watched the rain fall, then it was up the A1 back to Taree. A lazy afternoon, some had a nap, some washed their Spyder, some gathered at our front door and drank all my bourbon, then it was 4pm. Skermie said “its 5 O’Clock somewhere” so off to the pub we went. Dinner that night was Chinese and very nice it was. We had a few bottles of wine left over from dinner so we enjoyed them in the parking area of our motel before bed.

Monday 3/5. On the road by 9am and out to Burrell Creek, Krambach, Gloucester and up the range to Barrington top lookout. Another Kodak moment of the stunning view before heading down the twisty’s to Walcha with pies for lunch at Uralla. Greg advised us to stick to the speed limit from here to Tenterfield as the NSW Highway Patrol were hot and he was right, 4 marked and 1 unmarked to Glen Innes. The most HP’s for our whole trip. No problem for us as Phil Gresham was leader, with his new 2021 R1250RT adaptive cruise control set at 100, all was good. I enjoy the New England at this time of year, cool, clear days with the Poplar trees a golden yellow. Guyra had the lowest temp of 13°C. At Ben Lomond they are building a massive bridge structure to remove some of the sharp 60kmh corners and make it more safe. By 3.30pm we were in our rooms at the Great Central Hotel after another easy 390k day. Paul and Viki stayed in the Bank Guesthouse across the road and Greg in the motel behind the pub. We all met in the bar at 5pm before enjoying a

lovely meal. The local rump steak that I had was walking around the field last week I reckon, it was that tender, Yum :) Now you may think that all the Rats do is eat and drink, not so, we discuss important stuff too. The young guys were having trouble keeping up with Phil and I thru the twisty’s. They ride sports bikes, a Ducati and a Triumph triple and with youth should be able to keep up as we were not going hard at all. Phil pulls out his phone and proceeded to quote todays figures to the group, max speed 102, Max engine speed 4115rpm, tyre Front 38 psi, Rear 42psi, Max left banking angle 36°, Max right banking angle 34°, Fuel range left 276km. He didn’t need to use the heated seats or grips today, not cold enough. Both sports bike had way too much air in the tyres for the rough conditions and neither riders like right hand corners. Their corner lines were not good and we convinced them that they needed more training.

Tuesday 4/5. Just 4 of us for this leg home, the 2 young guys, Phil and myself. On the road by 8am, fine, dry, and 12°C. At Tenterfield we turned right on to the Bruxner Hwy (B60) travelling to Tabulam. A new bridge has been built since I was here last, nice. Phil turned left here and followed Tabulam road along the Clarence river to eventually join the Clarence way. What a rough, potholed road that was. The ride up thru Old Bonalbo to Woodenbong also rough and we found more mud and roadworks. Oh well our bikes were filthy, what’s a bit more crunge. Lunch was at the Pitstop cafe then it was onto Summerland Way and the Mt Lindesay to Rathdowney, Boonah and home. Another 400k day but not so easy because of the very poor road conditions. I’m glad I was riding a GS. The Triumph now needs new fork seals as they began to weep. As the line goes “The best laid plans of Rats (mice) and men” our group had a very enjoyable 5 days away with some challenging conditions and would do it again in a heart beat. What happened you ask to the cream puff Rats? Roger and Nathan rode down the New England and back the following weekend with fine weather so they say. David didn’t go as Sydney was having another “China Flu” cluster and he was flying to NZ soon and didn’t want set foot in NSW.

The Rats at the Nabiac Motorcycle Museum