My Adventure Story
I never bought a motorcycle to commute to work on, however I find myself wanting to spend as much time as possible on the bike. With a commute of around an hour each way to work I constantly find myself wanting to ride, however, the most direct route is boring so I decided to explore a little bit in Kinglake National park before and after nightshift this week. Here is the story:
I left home a little later than desired and as a result I wouldnt be able to explore the national park much tonight. From home I headed up to Kinglake via the Heidelberg-Kinglake rd which twists and turns its way up the side of the mountains, great twisty slow corners. (mostly signposted 30km/h). Got to kinglake and headed out Extons rd to Mt Robertson. Explored a little, got a little muddy and had a heap of fun before heading to work via Whittlesea.
Next day I rode through Broadford out to Strath Creek (via Murchison spur) and on to Flowerdale, a ride I always enjoy. From flowerdale I thought I would try to find a back entrance to Mt Robertson national park. I headed up a few dirt roads leaading nowhere before finding one that I was sure would be the right one. This particular road was in bed condition, was twisty, steep, rocky and had a nice 5m drop on one side. I eventually got t the top of the roughest part of the track and saw signs for the top of the hill/mountain. I had ridden up the highest mountain in the area and was parked on its peak. I felt on top of the world. I soon realised that this road goes nowhere else and I will have to head back down the steep, rocky, twisty track. Luckily I made it down safe and decided to head down Break O Day rd. At this point I realised I was almost lost but thought I's carry on and see where the road took me. Straight to a major Hwy which was good. I headed back to Kinglake to fuel up before heading into the national park the way I knew how.
The first trackk on the right (boggy creek track) looked good to meso off I went. Apparently the bridge s out from the Black Saturday fires so I thought I would go check out the creek anyway. I had a ball heading down the dirt/rock track through mega puddles and ruts and over obstacles and up and down hills. I made it to the creek and yes the bridge was out as there was no bridge.
I saw an open seasonal track and it looked fun so off I went. I came to a fork and went left down the tighter, more overgrown track. Heaps of puddles, heaps of obstacles and heaps of rutts. Did I mention I HATE RUTTS!!!!! I was having a great time until disaster struck. I got too much confidence, took a rutt too fast and stacked it :( my first stack on the new bike :( It took me the best part of an hour to get the bike up on its wheels again. Petrol spilling out the tank, rutts and vegetation in the way of a good lift position and a 180kg bike doesnt help the situation. Oh and I'm riding solo so nobody to help me :( I was thinking Magyver style and found a 20cm diameter log 50m down the track. I upended the 1.5m log the 50m up the track and positioned in eventually under the bike giving me some kind of advantage against the fallen beast. Side stand sank into the mud and I nearly dropped it again. Lucky save. I was shaking trying to move the bike onto firmer ground. Dont know if it was the adrenline rush of falling, lifting or just being completely knackered that was causing it. The bike started without any problems and inspection showed no broken anythings :) A minor adjustment for the L) mirror rotating on the handlebar and all was good. I decided to head back to something resembling civilisation and thoroughly enjoyed the mostly hill climbs back up to Extons rd. Covered in mud, sweat, petrol, dirt, and prickles (wtf?) I headed back down the tight, twisty Heidelberg-Kinglake rd and off home for a nice relaxing bath :)
This ride was 50/50 on/off road and round trip of approx 250km.
Great dirt riding through Mt Robertson national park (very challenging for a beginner like myself) and excellent road riding around kinglake and strath creek/flowerdale.
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