NRMA Rescue

2010-04-23T19:48:00.005+10:00

Well it happens...some days are good and some, not so good. Today was one of those 'not so good ones'.

Coming out of a nice tight perpendicular right and onto the highway as I was leaving Nabiac, NSW (home of the National Motorcycle Museum, more on that later) I found myself in 'full tilt and ready to boogie'! Those readers out there who lived through the 60's (my older friends told me about it) would know what I mean.

Being as sure as I could be (without actually seeing them mind you) there was some 5 or 10 cars screaming upstream toward me as I impatiently looked for my window, coasting closer and closer to the highway edge as I did. This was all the excuse I really needed!

So when the window opened, so did I ... dropping to the right, I nailed it.

Seems this bit of a 'wild hare thing' caught me as I looked at the world from what was as close to an absolute right angle as my BMW K1200RS would take me, and saw nothing but a long gently winding highway as far as I could see.

With throttle wide open and from my near 90 degree world the bike behaved well... interestingly, and so did I. First it went up a bit and sideways as it did. It then straightened somewhat without much pulling and pushing from me, figuring the bike and the laws of physic knew there way from here, I opened the throttle even more (thinking of a Bronco Billie Buckin Brad... 'when in doubt power out') so as Newton, Einstein, Copernicus, or maybe it was Goldman- Sachs or Lehmann Brothers, would say... what goes up must come tumbling down.

But not so in this case, at least for the moment. Up came the front end even further! I'm talkin - looking at the big blue sky 'up'! I clamored up and held on like a bear climbing a tree hoping to stay on board as the gas tank (sorry petrol tank) came to my chest and the needle rapidly headed to red-line.

This I believe is when all the serious trouble started..

It doesn't happen often, in fact those who've ridden with me will attest, I'm a relatively conservative rider, so when the front end comes up high on this heavy water cooled K...well it's an event!

Unfortunately this particular event ended in less glory than others.

For some unknown reason I now ignored Bronco Billies very sound 'power out' advice so the front end (and I) headed back down to earth, at a pretty rapid rate I might add . Upon landing I regretfully grabbed a handful of brake for the next 'event' of the day...

The back of the bike and I were now heading for the windscreen!

Not really interested in showing off any further for anyone who might be watching, I let go the brake, clicked up, and dropped the clutch to get the hell out of there figuring the more distance between me and the incident would mean it never really happened!

Having put the bike through all sorts of groans and pains like this on a number of occasions I thought this was just another 'test' of the durability of BMW. Everything seemed fine.

That's when the next 'event' of this very 'eventful day' happened...

There was an interesting growl from below and behind me, then the rear made noise like marbles in a blender and the whole bike shuddered from side to side like I was riding a flat tire.

As a famous Australian once said, I nearly pissed my pants!

But the bike still continued along! Crunching grinding and wobbling I limped my way to the nearest roadside turnoff and called the NRMA, who then took over my life. Within 2 hours they had a mechanic out to assess, put me up in a motel, arranged a rental car for me the following morning, and had the bike put on a flat bed heading back to Sydney...all at their cost! They were incredible. The cost of the Premium Care policy to do all this was $239 per year, and they threw in a Navigator!

If you've been following this blog you would know that I was heading to an international motorcycle meet in Noosa but never made it. So me and my newly rented Ford Commodore, or whatever it is, are now meandering back to Bowral instead.

I thought of heading to the conference event in Noosa anyway putting on my bike hear and helmet and walking into one of the international motorcycle traveling presentations but somehow it wouldn't be the same!

The following day I drove up to Port Macquarie determined to have a little R and R before heading back to the grind. Interestingly the whole east coast was lashed with rain, giving my rented car a royal wash, but not me!

Day 1 - Getting the hell out of Dodge!

2010-04-22T18:09:00.004+10:00

I tend to do a number of these trips each year so I have most of my gear sitting ready and a list to check off to make sure I brought everything I intended.

Usually only takes about 30 minutes... well usually. What has happened over years of traveling by motorcycle is that I've learned that I tend to over pack and by the end of week 1 I'm packing up and mailing stuff home from the nearest Post Office while en-route! For short trips such as this one though, I tend to do better. I have a list consisting of:

What I will wear when on the bike
1 set of trousers, shirt, and shoes to wear when I'm not!
A toilet bag with shaving stuff, tooth paste, shampoo and aspirin.
Cameras, computers, mobile phone, chargers.
Bike roadside repair stuff

It's that simple!

I'm looking forward to this years annual meet for Horizons Unlimited as last years was a bit of a wash out due to torrential rains. It was held in Mitta Mitta in VIC. lots of interesting speakers and people to meet but lots of rain too.

After the event I rode down to the VIC bush fire area to view the damage and carage from a few months before, in burnt out King Lake, Marysville, and the rest. I found the local businesses that were trading happy to see people coming and spending. A large part of their income down there feeds on logging and tourism and both were pretty hard hit as a result of the fires.

There are some photos on my website. Click HERE go to my gallery on TwoWheelTouring

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Trip Blog - Bowral NSW to Cooroy QLD

NRMA Rescue

Day 1 - Getting the hell out of Dodge!