The Cormanus Chronicles - The Three Strikes Ride

[Cormanus]

Chapter 5

In which Pterodactyl breaks for home and Cormanus rides deeper into the smoke
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[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qE9y4nn7sVhTLD-zkZfgY1MDvoZwxEMb&usp=sharing]Link to Map

Fire meant the Snowy Mountains were inaccessible. For me, that meant a choice of flat routes. Pterodactyl and I rode the reasonable straight road to Harden, refuelled and then rode the glorious road to Jugiong. It’s gently hilly with lovely, sweeping corners; a delight for a spirited ride. We had coffee and something to eat at the Sir George Hotel in Jugiong before Pterodactyl set off for home and I turned south onto the main highway to Gundagai.
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Leaving Boorowa for harden. The haze low down is smoke.

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On the highway between Jugiong and Gundagai. It’s strangely deserted.

I left the highway at Gundagai and rode west a little to Wagga Wagga. It was smoky and hot and getting hotter. Coming into Wagga I looked down and noticed my throttle grip had slipped outwards. I gave it a mighty forward twist to push it in. I felt a snap and suddenly had a ridiculous amount of free play in the throttle. The local Honda dealer assured me it was a plastic lug inside the throttle grip. He didn’t have one in stock which turned out to be a blessing as that wasn’t the problem at all.

I rode on, retraining the muscles of my right wrist to manage a throttle that felt very different. If you rolled it right off, there was about 50 mm free play before it started to engage. After a while I got used to it and never rolled it right off.

It got hotter and the smoke increased as I got nearer to Victoria. Fires raging through the Snowy Mountains and fanned by easterly winds were belching smoke westward. I rode for too long on the highway until I turned off at Benalla and made my way to Alexandra.
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Approaching the New South Wales Victorian border it got hotter and the smoke got thicker

Aussieflyer had been in touch during the day and would ride there to meet me the following morning. Noroomtomove had also decided to ride to meet us later in the morning.

In the conditions, I was touched that they’d make the effort.

Chapter 6

Strike One. Cormanus is led a merry dance
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[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qE9y4nn7sVhTLD-zkZfgY1MDvoZwxEMb&usp=sharing]Link to Map

I stayed in the very comfortable Corner Hotel in Alexandra. It didn’t have a car park, but a number of bikes were parked at the top of a gravelled car park next door. I joined them, although I rode right to the top of the car park. In the morning I went down and strapped on my bags. While waiting for Aussieflyer I decided to move the bike to a nearby concrete pad, hoist it on to the centre stand and oil the chain.

Nah … as I tried carefully to get the back wheel up onto the pad, I lost my balance and the bike took a nap. It was a slow tumble and my large bag cushioned much of the blow. Luckily the riders of the other bikes were loading up and a couple of them helped me pick up the bike.

Strike 1!

I didn’t know it then, but I’m now sure it was an omen. With hindsight’s glorious wisdom, there’s also a lesson about a low-speed transition from gravel to concrete or seal where there’s a lip to be negotiated being problematic.

Aussieflyer appeared; we took coffee and set off. He’d planned a wonderful ride and let us along pretty, winding roads to Healesville. The country changed as we got further south. Although it remained smoky, there was evidence that there’d been rain.
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During the course of the day I saw a great deal of Aussieflyer’s bike from this angle

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Aussieflyer and his mate have done a wonderful job on this bike. It not only looks good, but also sounds fantastic.

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Somewhere on the road to Healesville.

At Healesville we met noroomtomove and immediately rode north along the beautiful Black Spur to Marysville where we had lunch.
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The Black Spur

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Lunch at Marysville

Then it was up to Lake Mountain.
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Making sure noroomtomove doesn’t miss the Lake Mountain turn off.

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Conference in the Lake Mountain car park

And then on to the brilliant Reefton Spur road. It’s a great surface with splendid and constant turns, all through wonderful scenery. One day I must get someone to drive me through both Black and Reefton Spurs in a car so I can have a really good look.
I hope you will forgive a momentary digression. I was born in Melbourne, Victoria and my mother hated the place. It’s possible she got excited about some of the ski slopes to the north and east, but certainly not the city and environs. As a consequence, I grew up believing Melbourne was, as Ava Gardner was alleged to have said “a great place to make a film about the end of the world”.

Of course, it was all prejudiced rubbish. Melbourne is a great city with lots to offer. Some say it’s worth visiting for the coffee alone. For the purposes of these chronicles anyway, just to its north is some wonderful riding country with which Aussieflyer is well acquainted and through which he led noroomtomove and me. It has some equally wonderful riding further east in the Snowy Mountains about which I’ve written lots, but we were locked out of that due to fires.

Somewhere near Yarra Junction, noroomtomove peeled off to the east and Aussieflyer led me over the beautiful Mount Dandenong and into Melbourne.

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St Kilda Road which follows the shore line of Port Phillip Bay. The observant will see the BP service station where we paid a truly outrageous price for fuel so I could have a full tank when I left the ferry early the following morning.

A quick beer at the port and Aussieflyer rode off into the evening. I boarded the ferry to Tasmania.

It had been a wonderful day; a reminder that there are some truly beautiful roads within easy reach of Melbourne.

Sorry Mum.
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My floating hotel.