Should also read in pissing down torrential rain with no wet weather gear for 250km !
Day off today, and had the dilemma of chosing between running new race tyres in on the ducati, or taking the TTR out for an adventure. TTR won.
I left goulburn early and the sun was shining. I got to Taralga which is 50km away and the sun was still shining.
From here i took a turn and went on Wombeyan Caves Road http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wombeyan_Caves_Road which is 83km of dirt and has had a lot of flooding of late, so the track was very exciting. This is also when it decided to bucket down with freezing pouring rain, and i had no wet weather gear. Oh well, it turned out to be a breathtaking ride. At no stage did it let up either.
I got to Wombeyan Caves, to find that the good road to Mittagong had ROAD CLOASED signs blocking it. I asked the ranger at the station "just how closed is that road there" to which he replied "not very for you".
So i bought a coffee off him, and went on my way. The road was awesome. It had countless large football size and bigger boulders everywhere from landslides, but this added to the thrill as the road is on the edge of a cliff a lot of the time. You wouldnt want to make a mistake on this one.
I got to Goodmans Ford which i was told was underwater and i may have to turn around and come back. When i got there it wasnt luckily, so i kept going.
I made my way back up the other side of the mountains, winding and sliding the tail out on corners which was fun. At the top and near the end (or start if you start Mittagong end) there was a tunnel carved out of the sandstone. It was very interesting.
There was a viewing point, but due to the rain I couldnt see anything. Ill have to go back on a day that is nice in the morning and nice in the afternoon too
from here it was a pretty cold and boring ride from Mittagong to Goulburn on the freeway. Ill have to check out another route that is dirt.
I ended up getting 115km out of a 5 litre nomad rear tank, and then switched to my main. I was impressed with this, as i was on the throttle a lot.
Got home with 240km showing on the clock, and what looks like half a tank in my main tank.
very happy with the TTR it performed awesome in all settings on the trip.
oh yeah, i stopped at a servo and pinched a bin bag and put holes in it for my arms and head and rode home on the freeway. lesson learned. take a jacket.
Loved reading this post this morning...on a cold and wet morning in the UK it is great to see the pics and read of your ride out! The beauty of the internet! Pleased to hear the TTR was up to the job!!
Roll on the great british summertime and some chances to ride out in the warm, to nice places and to enjoy adventures!
Great report, thanks. I had a wet 45 minute ride in to work and was glad I was kitted up. The tank seems like its working well, I assume it was still tightly mounted when you got back?
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Pete Brown
Keighley, West Yorkshire
'94 Yamaha TTR 250 Raid (with Open Enduro headlight, grrr...)
Well done on getting a ride in. The weather is atrocious in Sydney and surrounds.
It must have been wet up there..... I got myself a $120 jacket from MCA just a ****ty rjays one - warm as toast and dry and fine for dirt roads and the like. Not gortex BMW safari style. But fine by me to get a bit dirty.
Hey Dave, that sounds like a fun ride except for the getting soaked bit, I haven't been down wombeyan caves rd for a long time, inspires me for another look around there
How do the pirelli's sound and feel on the road, my current tyres sound like damned tractor tyres on anything but dirt firetrails, I need some new ones mine are starting to get shedded.
Also which extra tank did you buy, I looked at the nomad site and the one you have looks like the 5.8 ltr one, did you find the extra weight on the back noticable at all
Cheers, Steve
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2004 TTR250 - Highway Dirtbike Hand Guards, 38mm Bar Risers, D606 Front & Rear, Opened up Airbox with Twin Air Filter, Re-jetted Carby, B+B Bash Plate & Frame Guards, DIY 3mm Alloy Tail Tidy, 14/47 Gearing.