The Lions TT

Cormanus

Cormanus

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Day 1: Pomona-Kyogle

349 kms


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=https://cb1100forum.net/threads/60307/]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.
 
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Day 2: Kyogle-Rathdowney-Canungra-Murwillumbah-Nimbin-Kyogle

309 kms


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.








 
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!
 
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.
 
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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.
 
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Day 3: Lions TT Day 1

156 kms


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.
 
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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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
 
Maybe you have already done so and I just missed it, but can you explain (or re-explain) rules for this TT? Are the roads closed to other traffic? Do you register to ride? Is there a fee? I don't know of any similar event in the US that isn't eaither a professional race or an underground gathering (usually of sport bikes).
 
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Looks to me like the red CB750 might have some sort of oil cooler. Did later models have that?

LionsTT—history and rules

EmptySea, I don't think I have explained the rules. Forgive me if it's a bit long winded, but I think there's a story worth telling. As some of it is speculative on my part, you may want to skip it and go straight to the organisers' website. However, I suspect their explanation is artfully constructed with a couple of ends in mind, affecting how they tell the story.

I think I mentioned in my report on the Founders ride back in July that the Lions Road created a path over the Queensland-New South Wales border by joining two existing roads. Construction was paid for and organised by two Lions Clubs—one in NSW; the other in Queensland—when the state governments declined to come up with the money. Hence the name. The road, although a public road, continues to be maintained by donation. There may also be some local government input, but I really have no idea about that. It's scenic, twists and turns, has erratic surfaces and is seen by many bikers as a hell of a lot of fun. Pterodactyl would say, I suspect, that his enjoyment is marred by the lack of a centreline which means you have no idea where on the road cars will be when you steam around a corner.

The organisers of the event proposed to the two councils (local governments) that they agree to the closure of the Lions Road for two days to enable motorcyclists to ride it from north to south free of the danger of meeting oncoming traffic. I suspect their long-term plan has always been to get the thing going, garner some support for it and then convert it into a time trial. However here was none of that this year: it was made abundantly clear to us that we were to adhere to all the road rules and would be individually liable for any breach of them. Notwithstanding that, there was no sign of NSW police on any of the section of the road on which the event eventually ran and I suspect many riders took it at speeds far in excess of any posted speed limit. More on that in a later part of the report.

So, the answers to your specific questions are:
[li]The section of the road on which the event was run was closed to all other traffic between 1000 and 1600 on the two days of the event meaning participants had only to worry about being overtaken or overtaking as the case may be.[/li] [li]Riders had to register and sign disclaimers exempting the organisers from any responsibility, obey marshals' instructions and agreeing to comply with the applicable road rules.[/li] [li]Yes there was a fee. For non founder members it ended up being AU$179 for a weekend package which meant you could have up to two rides a day on the closed off road on each of the two days. It was AU$99 for a single day. The prices were originally AU$220 and AU$150 respectively. It was less for founder members. Any surplus funds are to be donated to the upkeep of the Lions Road.
[/li]
There were riders of varying abilities there and we had to self-select where we would fit in the scheme of things. Pterodactyl kindly chose to 'downskill' for the weekend to keep me company. There were lots of people who at least looked like they knew what they were doing and were really going to give it a shot. I did not want to be in their way!

If you look at the website, you'll see they also tried to organise some timed drags in the street at Kyogle. They couldn't pull of the necessary police permit in time and so ran some untimed runs on the airstrip in a nearby town. Given a better understanding of what they need to do, they may well get the requisite approvals for next year.

On final morning just before heading for home, my breakfast was served to me by the mayor of the Kyogle Council. She told me she was very angry with the Queensland Police for refusing permission to close the road. I didn't say it in the earlier post, but the rejection occurred far too late for there to be any chance of an appeal. She told me the NSW police were happy with the event and the local council was delighted by it. My suspicion is that the event may well always struggle to get approval from the Queensland Police. I also suspect the organisers will struggle to get either State to agree to a full-on time trial, for the simple reason that the event occurs on a public road. It might well have the unintended consequence of limiting participation to people with some sort of racing certificate. But we'll see.

For my part that's not an issue. I'll go again. It's a fun festival and it's great to ride a road, however difficult it's construction and surface, where you can be confident you won't come around a corner and meet a SUV coming towards you on the wrong side of the road.

I hope that answers your questions.
 
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Day 4: Lions TT Day 2

299 kms

I woke to the sound of rain on my tent. It stopped. Whew, I thought. It started again, but gently, so I pulled on my jacket, went outside, sat under a tree and made a cup of tea while I contemplated what the day might hold.

In the background to this photo you can see a structure with cars and tents underneath it. On the first two nights, Pterodactyl and I parked our bikes there. Irritatingly, it quickly filled up with tents—apparently some tents in Australia work only if erected under a more substantial roof.

Luckily it didn’t look like the rain would last too long as a rip along a wet Lions Road was not really appealing. I engaged in a lugubrious discussion with the bloke in a tent nearby. He was dead serious about riding as quickly as he could and wasn’t at all interested if it was going to be wet.

The rain duly cleared and we had another great ride to Rathdowney—that stretch of the Mt Lindesay Highway is really a great ride—arriving in time to hear the end of the morning briefing. In time, the first batch of riders set out towards the start and then, for a very long time, nothing much happened at all.

Eventually we were asked to convene for another briefing. We learned that a rider had left the road after a minor turn breaking an arm or a leg. They were waiting for the ambulance to get there before getting things underway again.

We waited some more. Then we learned the Queensland Police were investigating the accident—why, when it occurred in NSW, I still haven’t figured—and had recommended to the organisers that they cancel the rest of the event. We were told we were welcome to hang around so we could ride back over the Lions Road later in the day.

Much later, in the pub, we learned that a bloke on an MV Augusta was going like a bat out of hell, misjudged a ‘slight’ corner and hit a fence. He totalled the bike—bringing to three the number of expensive bikes he’d totalled in the past 12 months or so—and ended up in a paddock with a broken limb. Fortunately he was not badly hurt. I still can’t quite figure why the Queensland Police would make a ‘strong’ recommendation to the organisers to cancel the rest of the day. However, I think the organisers made a difficult and wise tactical decision in what will be an ongoing argument about the future of the event.

We also learned that two groups of riders had got through. A savvy bunch got up very early and rode to the border up the Lions Rd before it closed. They’d got in an excellent (and rapid) ride before the rider in the second group brought the whole thing to an end.

Waiting …






That 250 again …


Meanwhile, back to the starting point, Pterodactyl and I decided to clear out and do something else with the afternoon.

So off we set to Boonah where we ate before riding back to Kyogle via Beaudesert, the Mt Lindesay Highway and the Summerland Way. Again. But, hey, it’s a fantastic road. So, too is the Rathdowney-Boonah Road and the faster but mildly entertaining stretch from Boonah to Beaudesert.



By the time we got home it was pretty much time to change and head out to the Commercial Hotel for dinner, a catch up with fellow riders. But, even more important than that, we had to watch the Rugby League grand final on the TV. Luckily for us, pretty much everyone else in the place was going for Pterodactyl’s team, the Rabbitohs. Mercifully, they won.
 
Very nice ride report and great pics! Glad you did the write up and not pterodactyl LOL. The red 750 is a very early model note: the petcock on the right side of tank and the emblems on the side covers. The oil cooler is not OEM honda it's a aftermarket add on or a oil cooler from a later model honda. :)
 
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Day 4: Kyogle to Pomona

301 kms


It was Monday morning. We were up early and packed up. Pterodactyl was heading south and I north on a mission to head south again on Wednesday morning. I wasn’t going to hang about as I had to wash my gear, get the bike serviced, drive my wife to the airport and get back in the saddle again to be in Sydney for the following weekend.

Sadly—no, not really—the quickest route is north across the Lions Road. Off I went, reminding myself that there would be cars on it this time. It was a glorious day and a lovely ride. I was quickly off the Lions Road and onto quick commuter roads which had me home by lunch time. I clocked a total of 1,467 kms for the weekend.

Here are some photos of the ride.


The point at which the TT finished


You can see the road snaking away in the background


A Lions Rd bridge


Care’s needed. The dappled light often makes it hard to see places where the surface is bad


Just after this, there is a section that undulates in a way that, if you take it quickly, makes it feel a hell of a lot like you’re on the CB riding a roller coaster


An ever-present hazard on the Lions Rd


This was quite a trailer to haul


It was the final day of a long weekend and I was definitely heading the right way


Early the next day the bike went down the road for a 24,000 km service (slightly prematurely as I’d done only just over 23,000 kms). All as well, the valves were in spec, but I was warned the rear tyre was nearing the end of its life. Later that day I drove my wife and her friend to Brisbane to catch a plane before heading home to pack and fall into bed.

In the morning I would be off for the best part of a month on a journey that would take me through four Australian states. But that’s another story.
 
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Thankyou, but I think that's sloth on your part and that Ridem should explain himself.
 
That is such a cool event. There's nothing like it in my area. The ride itself, let alone riders organized enough to pull of a road project...it just doesn't happen here.

At least I can enjoy it vicariously.
 
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