2020 Aussie FJ Rally - Dartmouth Victoria

[Troyskie]

Awesome Gav.

Anyone who watches the vids will be amazed at how slow I'm going considering how superb the road is. Hundreds of corners, almost no straights, almost no traffic. No fun checkers.

We need to get a vid of how Pete or Alf take these corners on.

Thanks very much for putting the videos up Gav  .

See you in Sept (fingers crossed  )

[fj-f3a]

You are more than welcome Troy.
Don't knock yourself for being slow. After all, speed is really not everything.
Having fun is what it is all about.
Besides, we ain't really all that much slower.
Any FJ rider can easily scrape their foot pegs while riding on a proper race track like Eastern Creek, but on an unfamiliar public road, ?
Remember, Pete and Alf have an unfair advantage in living so close to such magnificent roads upon which to practice.

I am working on day 5 videos at the moment. Some may be about 30min in length, but there will not be so many as they will be edited and commented.
I do need a better camera. Something along the lines of a Bullet Camera with remote (blue tooth) mic. I think Sony does something like what I want.

Gavin

[ribbert]

Thanks Gav, aaah, what country, what roads! The Mitta Mitta valley remains one of my favourites, we are totally spoiled for riding in South Eastern Australia (that's from roughly Brisbane down) and the further South you go, the better it gets. One of the things that always sets the Vic High Country roads apart is a lack of traffic. I know NSW has great roads but they are busier.

Thanks for "trip" during lock-down, always great medicine and I can't wait to get back there in the flesh.

Noel

[oldktmdude]

   Thanks for the great vids Gav but you have to stop teasing me. Every time I watch one, I feel like putting my riding gear on and heading down there!
This years annual November ride is down in the Victorian high country but the way the dreaded Calicivirus is going, we will have to head elsewhere.
   Regards, Pete. 

[fj-f3a]

   Thanks for the great vids Gav but you have to stop teasing me. Every time I watch one, I feel like putting my riding gear on and heading down there!
This years annual November ride is down in the Victorian high country but the way the dreaded Calicivirus is going, we will have to head elsewhere.
   Regards, Pete. 

Well Pete, for your viewing torture, here are the Day 5 Videos.
Some of these videos are about 30 min long however, I was able to edit 29 vids down to 9.
I have reintroduced comments into most, but nothing too fancy.

I am starting to realise that the best way to create trip videos like these would be a combination of video and still photos of the townships / scenery.
Another criteria would be some more riding practice so eventually I can keep up with Alf and you. Makes for more interesting viewing.

https://youtu.be/CabVZlMAHHQ 0

https://youtu.be/iaOh2C-LN90 1

https://youtu.be/D4h8aCKNQQo 2

https://youtu.be/6S1RtofeyWU 3

https://youtu.be/TFCFHdwMRJA 4

https://youtu.be/2OMuABAothc 5

https://youtu.be/MMaPrRCfl7M 6

https://youtu.be/yTKKRH6OA2Q 7

https://youtu.be/z4OiMe3qk0s 8

https://youtu.be/S2jT1g72zwA 9

Enjoy

Gavin

[ribbert]

Thanks for the videos Gavin. I can prove I watched them all - your first fuel stop was Eskdale, not Exdale!
Your grand tour of beautiful Yackandandah looking for the servo was excruciating  , I was yelling at the computer, turn now, turn now, turn right...right....right
Beechworth....King Valley..... The "Whitty" café.....Whitfield to Mansfield (another favourite).....

....and this is my son, I rode to Mansfield with him then he continued on to Griffith. He told me he'd passed a bunch of FJ's just after the sky opened up.




This coming Sunday it will be 16 deg (C), windless, mostly sunny, dry and the roads will be empty – riding conditions don't get any better! If we weren't in lockdown, I would most likely be doing my normal Sunday thing and putting in a 600-700km day on those roads or on many of the equally fantastic roads all over the state. The one thing of which I could be certain is, that I would not see another bike all day (and very few cars), anywhere, not even a broken down Harley or a GS with the rider assuming that broom handle             riding position they favour. Victorians mentally park up their bikes for the Winter and don't even think about them until Spring (and even then, not in the wet).
I don't get it, and I never have, but I don't actually mind. Having the roads to yourself is something special.

Noel

[krusty]

Thanks for the videos Gavin. I can prove I watched them all - your first fuel stop was Eskdale, not Exdale!
Your grand tour of beautiful Yackandandah looking for the servo was excruciating  , I was yelling at the computer, turn now, turn now, turn right...right....right
Beechworth....King Valley..... The "Whitty" café.....Whitfield to Mansfield (another favourite).....

....and this is my son, I rode to Mansfield with him then he continued on to Griffith. He told me he'd passed a bunch of FJ's just after the sky opened up.




This coming Sunday it will be 16 deg (C), windless, mostly sunny, dry and the roads will be empty – riding conditions don't get any better! If we weren't in lockdown, I would most likely be doing my normal Sunday thing and putting in a 600-700km day on those roads or on many of the equally fantastic roads all over the state. The one thing of which I could be certain is, that I would not see another bike all day (and very few cars), anywhere, not even a broken down Harley or a GS with the rider assuming that broom handle             riding position they favour. Victorians mentally park up their bikes for the Winter and don't even think about them until Spring (and even then, not in the wet).
I don't get it, and I never have, but I don't actually mind. Having the roads to yourself is something special.

Noel

I'm guessing the usual highway patrol constabulary are off somewhere else chasing down quarantine violators?

[fj-f3a]

The final installment of videos from the 2020 Aussie FJ Rally, Day 6, Yea to home via Eildon, Jamieson, Mount Buller and Mansfield.

https://youtu.be/gy_lvDX0AsY 0

https://youtu.be/TeKnUCXPnXw 1

Videos 2, 3, 4 and 5 are unedited videos of the Eildon to Jamieson road, a road which, IMHO, is one of the best roads I have ridden. Possibly better than the Mitta Mitta road and that's saying something.

https://youtu.be/_g15SAkYgdY 2

https://youtu.be/oPIxyX991XE 3

https://youtu.be/BeyvUGKKJXU 4

https://youtu.be/3qwxHKIdhCc 5

Videos 6, 7, and 8 are Jamieson to Mount Buller.

https://youtu.be/olBuf0cQkLs 6

https://youtu.be/5fsiD7ECdUc 7

https://youtu.be/P4r382H12p0 8

Videos 9 and 10 are from Mount Buller to Mansfild, the reverse of videos 7 and 8 but edited. You do get a different perspective on the twisties traveling down dale, not up hill.

https://youtu.be/vDeGl4i4I3g 9

https://youtu.be/Bbez1HKu6TM 10

The final video is the trip home for a little humor. One minute of video per hour with one minute either side of fuel/food stops.

https://youtu.be/y-qkkv1byrk 11

Happy viewing.

Gavin

[ribbert]

The final installment of videos from the 2020 Aussie FJ Rally, Day 6, Yea to home via Eildon, Jamieson, Mount Buller and Mansfield.

.... the Eildon to Jamieson road, a road which, IMHO, is one of the best roads I have ridden. Possibly better than the Mitta Mitta road and that's saying something.

Gavin

Thanks for the vids Gavin. Yes, that Eildon-Jamieson road is a cracker. It was only sealed about 8 years ago and took about a year for the fine blue-metal to disappear. As you probably noticed, no one uses it and as such maintenance was never a priority. Before sealing it was truly an adventure riding it with terrible surface, no armco, narrow, clay, tooth rattling corrugations, exposed rock foundation and bike swallowing erosion. It's a lot more fun these days.

Not that either of us knew it at the time, but I was on that road just an hour or two before you and went back through Yea, which is where I believe you camped for the night.

Gav, you have barely scratched the surface of Vic's great bike roads.



Eildon-Jamieson Rd

That road in it's unsealed state was the first road I ever thought was seriously going to break the FJ. The bike has seen far worse since and over much greater distances and remains unbroken, what a bike!


Noel

[fj-f3a]

Gav, you have barely scratched the surface of Vic's great bike roads.

Noel

Not for much longer I hope.

Gavin