IR- Bathurst

It's an early start...6:30 am at Northgate, but we are having lunch at Bathurst tomorrow. Looks like just a few of us will brave the NorthWest route to that famous country town, were Mount Panorama dominates the horizon and plenty of hearts were broken...hearts??? no: records!
Our Brockie did a few laps of that course and made us all proud. A couple of years ago we circled the track the day he died. That was a sad day indeed.

Saturday, 27/09/08
However, today we got to do a couple of happy laps. I could see that Mount Panorama sign miles before we even got there. It was almost like a magnet, the closer we got, the more the bike seemed to turn into a fine tuned racing machine...maybe not, but it certainly sounds quite good.

Time to make a move...yes, 6:30 for 7 was a very early start, but I was not late...

Bringelly was our first stop to pick up some more participants



A quick stop at Lithgow

On top of The Mountain

Michaela and Pete taking in the view.



Can't quite remember who that was...

Someones MySpace close up

Pete at the start of Conrad Straight







Skipp returning from his lap

Lunch at The Chifley

...was it something I said?

Abercombie Creek 'getyabreathback' stop over

Skipp's Grid Photo.

That's the way home...(thanks to Skipp for this shot)

We returned via Goulburn, but unfortunately after lunch I had lost my mojo and started to stiffen up and held back. The one thing I can always be sure of is that once you are officially a starter on an IR ride, they will wait.

Gravel scares me just like diesel does. I've noticed that I again take my right handers not far enough to the left when I set up these days and the main reason is that I am terrified to take a gravel induced slide. A lot of it has to do with my lack of clear vision and once I get myself a better eyewear solution, I should feel more comfortable.

I've also noticed that when I ride behind a few people I can anticipate the corner speed much better (doh!), but as soon as they draw away from me (you buggers!) I flounder in uncertainty. A couple of times today I momentarily freaked because I could not see where the road was going after the crest. This was in a wooded area, where once the road dropped out of sight and there was no corner speed indicator, I relied heavily on other visual clues, such as the tips of the road markers and tree clearings. Twice I had to pull back hard to give this old brain its moment to compute. Once that panic sets in, logic takes a holiday. Yippee!

I'm on holiday! my work is not done, but I'm no longer slave to the bell.

This one is for 'midget', who used this place as her local swimming hole during childhood. When we passed through here on an earlier trip it was as dry as a bone and Skipp tried out his 'dora' on the dry creek bed. There was a lot of hoohaa from us street bike riders watching him from the safety of the wooden bridge at the time, but slowly people are starting to see the benefits of the dual purpose bikes... however...see, the water is flowing again, midget! That should bring a smile to your face.

One of the most interesting facets I had previously missed about the track is that it is actually dotted with some most skillfully maintained gardens. In the centre of the course, right up on the hillside, is a winery...Peter Brock's Special Patch...now we are talking!

On our way home, as there was only five of us left on Picton Road, we were targetted by a maverick highway patrol, I assume that he must have approached the group at high speed, as I was constantly checking my mirrors to ensure that the tail rider was right there. He was pushy and rude and I felt at one moment as if he was attempting to run us off the road, as the outside lane he was in was about to merge. Then he overtook the rider in front across double lines and sat right up close behind the lead rider for a couple of kms. I'll remember him and if I ever have a chance to tell him off I will! What a waste of my good tax money!