Thanks Allan

Cheers
Kristy

Cheers

Cheers

Danman – 59 Club

Very jealous of you mate – a great part of the world to live!

Cheers …

I purchased a great secondhand Triumph 1050 Tiger a few months back from Eltham .
On the way home to NSW, I thought why not, its late summer and not to late in the afternoon,,,,lets take the `Long Way Home` to Albury .

Great ride .
I was a bit over careful ,,what with a new bike, big bike,strange road ..
Ive now done all of the great rides in and around the Yarra Valley and more .

I have just purchased a Helmet Cam and have made a few short vidoes attached to Tigesr crash bar .

Will try it mounted on the side of my helmet next .
Its all good fun .
Safe Riding
Scoti

It is a beatiful ride through the forest, but please be careful :)

As a bonus there is the Martian Cafe at Deans Marsh. Plenty of bikes pull up for a chat.

Did this trip yesterday, first 30mins of the trip has a lot of road works going on so lots of stop and starts, but alteast they’re fixing the road up …
once you get through all the road works the ride is quite good. be carefull macking it through Wongawallan there’s a crest hidding a hard right hand turn over a bridge.. check your speed..

Yes I have amended the ride description based on Peter’s feedback and comments. My reasons for this are noted above.

Not all rides on Motorcycle Rides are ridden by me (I am based in Victoria and unfortunately cannot travel as much as I would like to) nor are all of the ride descriptions written by me. We tend to prefer local riders who ride the roads to describe in their own words what the road is like.

It is obvious that this ride has struck a nerve with many local residents and I will reiterate, it was not our intention to mislead anyone or offend anyone with our description of this ride. Like I said above, Motorcycle Rides is all about promoting the adventure of getting out on our bikes and exploring new places to ride. It is, and will never be, a place to promote reckless riding etc. It is just not what we do nor what we believe in.

On a last note – all comments on our rides are published and hence your warnings (and the other comments) noted above will of course now be part of the information about the ride allowing our readers to be informed (in addition to making their own view of the region).

Cheers……

To me the following sentence is still making this sound like the ride is meant to be driven fast. “The roads on this route are smooth and fast, making them an excellent choice for street bikers and those looking to get a little thrill from their trip.”

You do not appear to have added any comments about the safety on the roads. Indeed your only warning is to look out for other riders on the corners looking for the same thrill.

Have you personally ridden this ride? Did you comprehend any of the comments about overtaking on double yellow lines, bad cambering, rough surfaces or the prelevance of native animals.

I join with the other locals in welcoming safe, respectful riders to the area. It’s beautiful here and people should be able to see this but for so many it’s been their last ride with death or serious injury the result.

The RTA and Police have even erected special signs warning of a 35km Motorcycle Awareness Zone. It is dangerous and Lemming Corner has been named due to the repeated accidents in this location where, it seems, no one has learn the lesson. Lemmings follow each other even to their death as do the visiting riders.

Please reconsider the wording of your article with inclusions like ‘while the road can be dangerous for those in a hurry it is a challenge for riders who are responsible and careful’ or ‘many tight corners with double yellow lines mean limited overtaking opportunities’ or even ‘wonderful scenery with possibility of seeing some local wildlife which often appears suddenly before you so appropriate speeds are the flavour of the day’.

Or would accurant and careful descriptions like these affect your readership?

Lynda, with respect I am not sure that comments like your latest actually contribute anything constructive to the conversation. I have acknowledged that the use of the previous words used to describe this ride were misleading in their intent, hence why I amended the post.

We would prefer to not have to scrape bikers’ off the road… if you can’t comply please make sure you don’t traumatise, main or kill anyone else…

Get you speed & thrills on a track somewhere – there are heaps less roadside trees, poles, rocks & cliffs on a race track.

Adrian – I take your point and I am familiar with the scenarios that you mention. Here in Victoria we have the same problem in the Yarra Valley and the Great Ocean road; bottom of the line there will always be some riders that just do the wrong thing. But I do stand by my point that when we described the word “thrill” in our ride description we did not mean illegal or dangerous riding – and we are certainly NOT promoting anything illegal or dangerous on our site. Riding a bike is a thrill – it is exciting and a fun activity, all at legal speeds.

Peter – More than happy to update the description, and I agree the use of the word “speedster” did not send the correct message nor was it our intention to be miss-interupted. I will also update the accuracy of the region / service station. Cheers for that.

Lynda – I am truly sorry you feel that way and you are of course entitled to your opinion. If you do have a moment though, please take the time to read the 125+ rides on our website – I think you will soon realise that we do not promote anything other than exploring new regions/areas to ride our bikes. This is of course in addition to promoting bike friendly businesses and events (via our business directory / events section) that often are financially dependent on riders visiting their towns and communities.

“Best Thing About This Ride
This ride is a speedster’s paradise, with wide open possibilities and beautiful scenery attracting hundreds of bikers from surrounding areas each day to push down there throttles”

This was irresponsible and promotes the young cafe racers to twist the grip without realising the state of the road and the lack of and/or incorrect signposting – or their talents in riding on a country road.

Thanks for updating it.

We are very serious about stamping out bad riding behaviour here – we are talking to the police and council constantly about what we can do to have people fined heavily for speed and other dangerous and anti-social behaviour including trespass by dirt bikes on private land that they assume is national park or state forest and that they have a right to use. If there’s a closed gate, it ain’t public land.

Two other things, the servo you mention is at Kulnura – not between the points on this ride and this valley is in the (lower) Hunter Valley, not the Northern Rivers which are well over 100km north and on the coast.

As a resident we are dealing with an increasing problem in terms of motorcylclists throughout the region. The issue is that in reality for a car driver the Bucketty – Wollombi drive is quite hideous. The car accidents in the main are due to bad roads & poor local road knowledge, rather than recklessness. Of course some drivers think winding roads are a blast & drive like loons, but for most it’s not a fun drive. Motorcycists however see these same thin winding roads, dramatic hills & a few open straights as a ‘thrill’ & end up putting a lot of lives at risk. I personally have been overtaken by motorcyclists on some horrendous corners & am yet to have a car driver do the same thing. Knowing that the region is in fact a motorcyclist black spot would it not be better to encourage a ‘different breed’ of cyclist than thrill seekers? Particularly when those thrills are not embraced by the local community & put lots of lives at risk.

Thanks for contributing to the conversation.

I am the first to agree that there are some riders out there that don’t do the right thing. As there are plenty of drivers doing the same. I don’t believe however that we here at Motorcycle Rides encourage that type of riding on anywhere but the race track. I ride every weekend and do so for the thrill of it, but do this all within the legal limits and come home safe. As too all of the riders I ride with. Life is too short after all.

Cheers,

Daniel

lynda marsh

The speed limit is 80kmh for the whole of the above ride for a very good reason. Cessnock Council roads are very bad, poorly signposted and there are no emergency services here. It is our volunteer fire brigade people – people like you – that have to attend as first response and then deal with the mental issues of this for years to come. An ambulance is 30 to 50 minutes away and we generally have the Westpac Rescue Helicopter called for motorcycle accidents.

Motorcyclists are more than welcome (I’m one and that’s how I found this place and then moved here) but we want you to arrive and get home safely. If you want to corner fast, go to a racetrack, if you want a pleasant, relaxed ride in the country and a great lunch, please come and visit Wollombi Valley.

The only thing I would add though is the lack of advisory speed and/or corner signs. For instance you go from an 80kp/h zone into a 100kp/h zone and then straight into a sharp left and there are no signs whatsoever telling you there is a sharp corner. It’s like that the whole way through the Powelltown to Neerim section. Might catch a few guys out that’s all.

On the ‘turn off to Selwyns’ bit – you can get to Selwyns on tar, but from there it’s dirt – right through to Cabramurra and occasionally very scenic.

At Cabramurra, go up to the look-out at the old town, but also go back up the hill out of town and between the dirt road to the left (to Dry Dam, Kings Cross and Selwyns) and the tar road to the right (to Tumut Pondage and Khancoban) is the road up to the radio tower – sensational views from up there!

Quite a few folk doing tours down south anyway though, and this being the small industry it is I wouldn’t want to step on any toes; quite a few of them are good mates and we throw a fair bit of business each other’s way. No point in making enemies now eh?

Cheers,

Miles

Dave.