Today’s plan was to head home!

Last December I drove from Canberra to Kandos via Taralga and Oberon. I remembered the road between Taralga and Oberon was particularly nice, and the motorcycle atlas supported my memory. I’ve been wanting to ride this road ever since I bought a bike.

I left Bathurst early – around 8am. It was cold, but the township was sunny. 10 minutes out of town was another story entirely – relatively thick fog. I persisted for a while but with only a tinted visor, riding an unknown road was not much fun. I pulled over to the side and read a book until the fog lifted a little.

The second attempt wasn’t much better. I think I went a km before it was foggy again, and the road was far too nice to miss. I pulled into a rest area and wished I had a thermos of tea.

Rest area outside Bathurst

Half an hour later I tried again. Success!!

The road between Bathurst and Oberon is nice, but the road out of Oberon is better. It’s a mix of long sweeping curves and lovely straights, with gorgeous views of hills and cows and wattle trees.

Between Oberon and Taralga
Between Oberon and Taralga
Between Oberon and Taralga
Between Oberon and Taralga

I was in the groove of the curves and learning how to move with the bike and lean in and out of the corners. It was lovely. The road is smooth blacktop and in great condition.

All of a sudden there was a sign that trucks should use compression braking (or not use it – you know what I mean). Yikes! The next section of road was a very steep decline (maybe 15 degrees) with patchy pavement, broken road, horrid curves and a hairpin bend that was in such bad condition I went around in first gear. And a car up my tail (I pulled over and waved them past early, which was a great idea). I managed it slowly, but it was not at all fun.

Across the causeway over Abercrombie River…

Up the other side was a completely different story. It was twisty and steep, but the surface was much better. It was lots of fun (of course, this might just be because I’m getting better at riding too). From there to Taralga was more long curves; and Taralga to Goulburn is mostly pretty straight.

I stopped off at mum’s for lunch and refulled. I could have taken the road to Bungendore, but decided just to zip up the highway.

Home!!!!

All up I did about 900km over the three days. I learned a lot and am riding *much* better than when I left. I don’t think anyone will tell me to relax my back again

I also learned that I could do it by myself and that I like this type of riding, which was part of the reason for the ride…

The map of the final route:

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7 Comments

  1. Pingback: My random country NSW ride: Day 2 | Blather

  2. Sounds like an excellent trip and was certainly a good write up. Well done.
    A thing you might like to consider. I always carry in one of my sadle bags a little camp cooker, mess tins and the makings of tea or coffee. I often add a tin or two of food too. (Tins keep if unused) Coffee or food where ever I feel like it.

    The “kitchen”
    Camp cooker

    • donna Reply

      Good plan. I was a bit limited on space this time as the top box and tank bag I ordered didn’t make it. I’ll definitely get a camp cooker for next time…

  3. Sounds like you had a good couple of days, but I did notice something in all of the photos………..no other vehicles! Are you avoiding something?! 😉

    • donna Reply

      LOL. There wasn’t much traffic around, except for when I was on the highway, and when the police car came up behind me when I was kneeling in the middle of the road taking photos 🙂

  4. Sounds brilliant. My ride is going to be much more cycling than your motor-cycling, but great nonetheless. Looks like you had beautiful clear weather all the way through. next time you might try a self timer to snap yourself with the bike together!

    • donna Reply

      Yes, I think I should get myself a little tripod and then will be able to take photos of myself 🙂

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