Tomorrow is the start of my first FarRally, or RTE (Ride to Eat). There were lots of rules to consume, planning to be done, to many/much to go into here. The relevant part for today though is that I've chosen my start location, Illabo NSW, and today I'm heading for Gundagai.
My Super Tenere needed a new front tyre the Heidenau K76 was done and felt really dodgy on the road. The Heidenau K60 was a little over half worn but I decided to step outside the off road capabilities and asked Clive to put on a brand new set of Michelin Pilot Road 3's (Trail on the rear). I'll talk about them separately.
So I left for Gundagai about 3pm and with the new tyres and soon realized I had no idea how they would affect the difference between ridden k’s and Google Maps K’s for the trip and also the fact that I hadn’t taken into account the difference anyway (noob). Nominating distance was part of the rally process, so on the way to Gundagai I rode the inside circumference of the bends, cut every corner I could and calculated the difference between the odo and Google for the ratio to be applied when I had to calculate the total k’s by the odo on day 2.
I was already feeling the stress. I was going to need to ride this way all weekend to keep the k’s as low as possible. I don’t know if it works, it just seemed like a good idea.
The evening was coolish and I only planned one stop before Gundagai, Marulan @ 324ks or so from home. Heading up to the Southern Highlands I was reminded that last time I rode any real distance on the ST was in the heat of summer so another layer was in order at the first stop.
The Super Tenere just munches up the miles, the 520kms just passed by without any fuss or dramas. I arrived in Gundagai around 8pm in time to check into the motel and hot foot it to Woolworths for some instant food for dinner and breakfast. I stayed in a Deluxe Queen Room at the Gabriel Motor Inn. New, air conditioned, clean and recommended if you are looking for a decent place to stay ($115).
Good to be back on the road and really looking forward to the next two days. No huge distances to cover but lots to think about and keep me busy.