So I’ve done 75,000km on my Super Tenere now, almost trouble free. The more I ride it the more I am drawn towards the roads less travelled. After having dipped my toe into an Adventure Bike course I got distracted by other bikes and more Iron Butt rides but now my focus is coming back to “Adventure Riding”.
So the Super Tenere now finds itself with an SW-Motech Bash plate replacing the OEM one. I’ve added Bark Busters (Storm), Pivot Pegz, and guru Clive from MotorcycleBiz has given it a complete overhaul including the timing chain, all fluids, blah blah blah, too technical for me. All that with a new set of Heidenau K60’s and digging out my Tech 7’s it was time to re-dip the toe.
I decided to take it to the Watagan Mountains and ride some easy gravel roads that I’ve previously ridden on a TTR-250 and my trusted but gone KLR-650. A familiar route out past Mt Sugarloaf, Mulbring towards Quorrobolong got me to Heaton Road and in sight of the mountainous National Park.
I stopped just before the gravel at Watagan Forest Road, turned off the traction control and ABS off (sneaky switch) and up I went. The first thing I noticed was that they’d recently done some work on the road so it was in great nick.
Not too sure of where it went I decided to take a different route to normal and turned right with Watagan Forest Road rather rather than heading towards Mt Falk Road and Cooranbong. This took me deeper into the Olney National Park towards “The Pines” camping area. Here’s a quick pick just before The Pines turnoff.
It was a coolish morning and I was out early because of a mid 30’s forecast. I ducked into the Pines to have a peek, plenty of campers on the long weekend up having breakfast. It’s a great little spot if you are in to camping. Following that road you head towards Martinsville but not being keen to finish the fun on the dirt I turned right to head further south towards Wyong.
The road here tightened up and there was little sign of regular 4 wheel vehicle use, lots of low trees and branches overhanging the road and at 195cm tall standing on the pegs my head was ripe for the knocking. It was a little more technical for a muppet like me but there were plenty of opportunities to stop and take in the view.
There were patches where water/mud were across the road but only one tiny sphincter moment with a bit of sideways action. Goannas and Brush Turkeys only shared the road with me as I continued to wind my way across the top of the ridges and then descended towards the Hue Hue Road near Dooralong.
Frankly, not being used to riding in these conditions I was considering a rest and maybe some breakfast. But the temps were soaring towards the predicted temperature for the day so decided to punch out on to the freeway and head home. With the traction control on, ABS on and Cruise Control on I was riding into our driveway before I knew it. Smiling when I walked inside, feeling like I’d done a light workout, happy I didn’t bin it and already planning my next foray into the dirt. Here’s the route, only 162k’s or so all up but nowhere near the 3:51 Google suggests.
