The Lions TT

[Cormanus]

Day 1: Pomona-Kyogle

349 kms
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The inaugural LionsTT was scheduled to run over the first weekend in October 2014. Pterodactyl and I became founding members in June or July and I went on the July founders ride. There's a report [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=3443]here with details of the history of the Lions Road.

Pterodactyl couldn't make that weekend, but we managed another ride along the road and other parts of NSW during August.

The first part of my ride wasn't exciting: straight down the main highway to the Gold Coast where I was to meet an old acquaintance I hadn't seen for at least 35 years. We had an unmemorable lunch (turkey, brie and cranberry sandwiches lightly toasted) in a chain café on Southport's trendy Tedder Street.

I cleared out about 1330 and set off towards the Gold Coast hinterland so I could ride through Natural Bridge, Chillingham and Murwillumbah on my way to Kyogle. I'd been the other way across that road earlier in the year and really enjoyed it. A few straight bits, lots of twisties, a spectacular view as you cross the border from Queensland into NSW, and then the final winding road around the hills leading to Kyogle. I find the south of the Border Ranges amongst the prettiest bits of Australia and the quality of the roads means that riding a bike here is bliss. Even though the surface on the final bit of the Murwillumbah-Kyogle road leaves a bit to be desired, it's still a hell of a lot of fun.

I had the camera out and managed a few shots on the way.






Just across the border looking south-east towards the NSW coast—




Mt Warning


It was a glorious day and I had a glorious ride, arriving in Kyogle just after 1600 to find Pterodactyl enjoying his first beer at the Commercial Hotel—for some reason a favourite Australian pub name.

We set up camp under a tree at the Kyogle Showgrounds, parked the CBs under cover, and returned to the Commercial for very ordinary beer-battered flathead and chips. There was no Shiraz! On the way home we stopped at the Exchange Hotel (another perennial Australian pub name) for a cleansing ale. There was an acceptable band playing.


Sleep was not hard.

[redbirds_imp]

Looks like a fine adventure. Love the pics.

[Cormanus]

Day 2: Kyogle-Rathdowney-Canungra-Murwillumbah-Nimbin-Kyogle

309 kms
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Given that the Lions TT was not due to be run until Saturday and Sunday, and Day 2 was Friday, it is not now clear to me why we had chosen to arrive on Thursday evening. Because we could? To get a good camp site? Who knows?

Anyway, there we were with a day to kill, glorious weather and excellent motorbikes to ride. My original suggestion had been that we ride a loop from Kyogle south to Grafton; west up the Gwydir Highway to Glen Innes; along the New England Highway to Tenterfield and then east along the Bruxner Highway to Casino and back to Kyogle. In the light of the day, the 7 hours of riding involved seemed a bit hard so we settled on riding the Mt Lindesay Highway to Rathdowney and then seeing where it took us. We decided to avoid the Lions Road lest it be filled with enthusiasts practising their weekend moves.

We set off westward and were enjoying the ride when we rounded a corner and found people fighting a grass fire on the roadside. We stopped to help finish putting it out. The people who owned the property were both 86 and were glad of the help, I think. A chap we'd met the night before was there helping. He had a Kawasaki 1400GTR with the most amazing collection of electronic mods I've seen. There was an additional switch board on the bars that controlled God-knows what from radios to modulated lights to other devices that he chose not to explain.






We had a great ride along an excellent stretch of the Summerland Way and the Mt Lindesay Highway on which we were to spend a bit of time over the coming days. At Rathdowney, where we met Enzo on an earlier ride, we ate a belated and pedestrian breakfast of eggs and bacon.






We decided to head north and then east so I could show Pterodactyl the Nerang-Murwillumbah-Kyogle road I'd ridden the day before.

The stretch from Rathdowney to Beaudesert is straight and fast and not all that interesting, but the road improves on the way to Canungra. Some of it, even though it's essentially a busy commuter route is quite spectacular, particularly the stretch from Canungra to the Nerang-Murwillumbah Road.

I’m not a particularly fast rider and posted speed limits are generally OK for my style of riding. I generally don’t have a problem with them. Except … the Nerang-Murwillumbah Road from where we joined it to the border of NSW which has a ridiculous limit of 80 kph. While, in a car, it would be hard to drive it at a greater speed and—for me at least—most of the corners have to be taken slightly more slowly, most of the road is high quality and sticking to the limit makes overtaking impossible in the couple of places where you can. Nevertheless, it’s a great road even though the surface and quality deteriorates towards the border. The surface is worse on the NSW side of the border but it's still heaps of fun and the views towards the coast and of the border ranges are magnificent.

The road from Murwillumbah to Kyogle was better on the second day. For the hell of it we took a detour through Nimbin, a town living on the memory of a music festival in the 1970s. The roads leading to it are a motorcyclist’s delight and we enjoyed them. Lots. We stopped in Nimbin for coffee before heading back to Kyogle for beer and a good meal in the local Chinese Restaurant.
Some photos of the post breakfast ride.

[the Ferret]

Awesome to have a " free day" just to ride about isn't it?

That Ptero is a snappy dresser isn't he. Reminds me of one of my riding mentors, Bob Johnson. The guy lived in Langlitz leather jacket, gloves and pants. Heck of a rider! Took me on my first out of state tour in 1969. We were both on 350 Hondas, he a CL me a CB...all the way to Indiana lol ( the next state west of O hio)

Love the pics!

[emptysea]

I can't even fit my arm into Dianese gear mostly. Kudos for being svelt. LOL

Great report and pics. I will have to figure out how to get over (or under) there someday to ride and camp (and eat and drink) with you all. You make it sound fantastic.

[Cormanus]

EmptySea, you're most welcome any time. I'm sure Pterodactyl and I could roll out for a ride or two with you. There are some great roads to ride.

Ferret, how the Pterodactyl achieves such sartorial brilliance from such a modest tent is a never-ending source of amazement to me.

[Rocky_imp]

Great report. Lovely country

[Cormanus]

Day 3: Lions TT Day 1

156 kms
[url=https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zwzS5Q1Lo7Yk.kDzgDEkrzxbQ]

This was the big day: the first day of the inaugural Lions TT. While you could be forgiven for thinking ‘TT’ stands for time trial, it doesn’t. Because of a requirement that road rules be observed, ‘TT’ means Tourist Trial. The organisers’ plan was to close the Lions Road to traffic for two days to allow bikes travelling north to south free use of it. But, because the road runs over the Queensland-New South Wales border, two police forces had a say in how things would proceed. The Queensland Police (who, together with their current political masters, have what may well amount to a pathological aversion to anything on two wheels powered by a motor) refused permission to close the Queensland side of the road to traffic.The organisers decided to accept the reduced road and start the actual event from the border.

The day dawned fine and warm with an excellent forecast. We had a cup of tea and watched bikes in singles, twos and groups of varying sizes roll out of the camp ground and head for the start at Rathdowney.

Our plan was to enjoy the ride to the assembly point in Rathdowney, register, eat, have our bikes checked and then proceed to the border for the start.

The ride to Rathdowney over the Mt Lindesday Highway was magnificent as usual. The Summerland Way out of Kyogle starts straight and flat but the corners gradually become more frequent and tighten as it begins the climb to meet the Mount Lindesay Highway. Pterodactyl was much better focussed than me and I saw little of him after the first corner. He was smiling quietly when I joined him at Rathdowney.

We arrived to lines of bikes and bikers; registered; ate some breakfast at the local pub where the landlord was cashing in on the activity. The kindest thing I could say is that he should have hired a cook. We had our bikes checked; attended a briefing; and joined the aimless milling around waiting, waiting, waiting, for things to happen.

Here’s some photos I took while we were milling around.













The word went around quietly that we should be careful how we started out as the constabulary were being vigilant to make sure we all observed the markings on the Mt Lindesay Highway as we crossed it. There was, apparently, no thought of them helping by stopping traffic to let groups of bikes across. The word also got around quickly that we were being held up because the Queensland Police had decided to stop every bike on the way to the border and breath test its rider.

Other Saturday rides were passing through Rathdowney and, as I walked up the street to get coffee, I saw this glorious specimen.


When, a few minutes later I looked again.


They were breeding!

Eventually we set off towards the border, were duly breathalysed, passed (or failed, depending on your perspective, I guess) and made our way to the border. The test site was right in front of a camp ground which was full to bursting. I presume this was done so as to provide a free spectacle to the campers.

Here we are looking up at the border, waiting to start.


Pterodactyl and I had deliberately gone in the final group, determined not to hurry too much, just enjoy the ride and stay out of the way of those who wanted to give it their best shot. Bikes were started at 30 second intervals and I watched Pterodactyl vanish down the hill. After his performance on the way over, I was sure I wouldn’t see him again until the finish. I set off sedately enough but got a bit enthusiastic when it dawned on me I could have the road all to myself and didn’t have to worry about meeting a car on a blind corner. I was quickly overtaken by a chap and his pillion on a large Triumph disabusing me of my fantasy of demonstrating to Marc Marquez exactly how this riding business really worked.

To my surprise I caught Pterodactyl, at which point I curbed my enthusiasm and followed him at a reasonable sort of pace to the finish.

By then it was warm and, deciding to forgo another attempt at the road, we returned to Kyogle for a well earned glass of beer and an afternoon nap.

I can’t remember where we had dinner; it was probably the Commercial Hotel. There were lots of bikers and lots of talk about the day. We learned there had been two offs, neither serious and that one dickhead decided it would be fun to pull a wheelie in front of the NSW constabulary. He made no friends and is unlikely to be riding the event again.

[Elipten_imp]

OMG! That gold 750 is exactly like the one I will receive from my best friend in the near future. It has not been run since the early 80s.


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[the Ferret]

Lot of neat bikes there. The two 750 sohc's, the Rothman Honda ( neat livery) I see a European Seca 650 ( always wanted one of those),a lot of Guzzi's, ( is that a early v750 behind the Seca Yamaha?) , the black and white Bonnie looks nice.

Quite the eclectic gathering