Terry had to go see a client in Wellington last Monday, and that was my last day off before I went back to work, so when he said lets take the bikes for a run I was pretty keen. Then he suggested we come home via Yeoval ... ahh yeah ... oh lets do this!!
I rode round Wellington for a bit while we looked at stuff for Terry's work then I had to negotiate two car parks on my own while Terry was busy. I did it all without a problem, oh the confidence is really getting up there now!! I tried not to get too cocky :)
So after Terry was done we headed towards Yeoval via the Renshaw McGirr Way, here's the video ...
As you can see by the video I went slowly round a lot of those bends but it really wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I even had fun on a couple of them!!
We got through that mountainy bit and had a truck on our tail, he wasn't pushing but we weren't going over the speed limit which I'm sure he was keen to do, so at the first opportunity we pulled into a bus stop where the road widened enough for us to pull over without slowing right down to a stop .. he flew past us. About 5 km's up the road I noticed him pulled over, and then Terry pointed out the funeral procession coming towards us .. oh.
We pulled up behind the truck and waited .. and waited .. I was getting hot so I got off and took my helmet off and stood under a tree, when I spotted this watching us.
There are two of them over there ...
This is the best close up I could get .. I saw a sign in town pointing back this way for an Angora Farm, I think this might be an Angora Alpaca.
Wasn't far to go to get into Yeoval.
Which is tiny but does have a Royal Hotel. I'm starting to see a pattern with these Royal Hotels, I'm pretty certain that every town in Australia might just have a Royal Hotel.
Across the road from that was the petrol station that Terry was happy to see!!
It also had this awesome mural painted by the local school kids! Love small outback towns!!
We hit the road again, this road is the Obley Road and is a part of a touristy thing called Animals On Bikes which has a whole heap of animals on bikes in paddocks or some of the smaller ones are letterboxes. They are sculptures in case you hadn't guessed, I only saw two of them on this trip tho, the first one was this one
It's a horse with gumboots on, not a great pic tho :(
We kept going and before too long the road became .. well ordinary.
Great scenery but in some places it was the worst road I've been on yet, just too uncomfortable for me to want to do it again anytime soon.
Those causeways can hurt if you go too fast over them. like I did with this first one, the next one I slowed right down!
We made it home in one piece, and I did enjoy the ride even though I have vowed not to travel that road on the bike ever again. It was a great experience and I was pretty tickled with not being too freaked out by all the bends at the start. I also did a pretty tricky right turn round the end of a median strip out of the petrol station in Yeoval that I'm pretty proud of, when I got round that corner I saw Terry waiting for me. He told me when we got home that he was getting ready to come pick the bike up for me, such confidence, but he was pretty proud too that he didn't have to do it.
When we got home and I took my helmet off the GoPro caught this shot that I kinda liked.
Then I had to take this pic ...
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| Home Sweet Home |
Looks like a fantastic day to be out riding, I've not been to Yeovel doesn't look likes theres much there but the pub sure does look inviting!
ReplyDeleteIf the road was bad and your riding a nice comfy cruiser then I'm sure i'd have gotten a bruised ass from riding that road on the R1. Some country roads are pure fun from the fact there's no one around for miles but the downside of that is that usually the road surfaces are generally pretty poor.
Yeoval really isnt a destination as such, the road from Wellington to Yeoval was pretty good, and that's supposedly the attraction, the bit I video'd was kinda fun if a bit narrow cause the edges were a bit dodgy, it was still not painful. It's the bit from Yeoval to Dubbo that's really bad, I would turn around at Yeoval and go back home through Wellington if I did it again.
DeleteI agree with Chillertek, it looked like a great day for riding. Beautiful blue sky and twisties too.
ReplyDeleteI was going to ask you if the surface of the road is what was a bother or the grade, but I think you answered that in your response above already.
I am glad you conquered the road though. There have been more than a few times when I first started riding that I avoided roads because I thought they were too difficult and then hubby would just lead me there so I'd end up following (and maybe cussing in my helmet a bit). Of course he knew I could do it and then by the time I was done I was wondering why I was so hesitant.
It sounds like your skills are improving. Good job.
Thanks Brandy, yes it was the surface that wad the issue (as it often is on these outback roads. I was worried about the grade before I did it but it wasn't bad at all. Really you don't get grades out here, I often have a perplexed look when locals are talking about the hill in Dubbo ... But I grew up in coastal area surrounded by mountains so I was expecting a mountain and got a hill ... I forget where I am sometimes.
DeleteThe day was beautiful, a bit warm actually, I might have to wear my old jacket as a summer jacket as the vents in the new one didn't really help much and I was sweating at 100km/hrs
Brenda:
ReplyDeleteIt's fantastic that you were willing to give this road a GO. See, it wasn't hard at all, piece of cake we say over here. Tsk, Tsk, taking photos while riding ?? that's worse than riding the twisties.
Glad you overcame your fears. You are growing more confident with each ride. Lovely weather, can you see we are getting envious now that we are going into winter
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
My Flickr // My YouTube
Thanks Bob, I have a little less fear to overcome now.
DeleteDepends what kind of cake you are talking about ... Some cakes are harder than others :)
Yep I was feeling that envy not so long ago.
Glad you went out there and came back with that beautiful video to share the road with us. See, it wasn't too bad, was it? We have a saying in Germany: Practice makes a master. Your confidence will increase with every twist and bend you're taking.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked my video, I'm never quite sure what its really like, I keep wanting to cut heaps out but then ending up with a longer video than I wanted.
DeleteNo it wasn't bad at all Sonja! I've hear a similar saying that practice makes perfect, I don't want to be a master or perfect (i don't believe perfection is truely achievable) but I will keep practicing cause it means I get to have more fun when I have more confidence.
Brenda,
ReplyDeleteFabulous photos - isn't it great now that the good weather has arrived in the southern hemisphere? As others have said, doing rides like that and stepping outside your comfort zone are all part of becoming a more confident rider. Kudos to you for having a go and may there be many more "stretch" rides!
Thanks for the kudos Geoff :)
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the photos, I tried to get as much blue sky as I could since the green has pretty much dissapeared now.
Yep the weather is pretty good at the moment, I really want to get some good rides on before it gets TOO hot!