Researching, Learning, Procrastinating: MotoRacing Information Sources

Friday night on the net - tossing up between going out and doing the socially acceptable thing, or staying home to watch live-timing of MotoGP free practice 1 at Jerez. I assume all my readers are in a similar position.  Right?

If you're reading this in anticipation, having checked out last week's entry and wondering whether I have anything valid to say - I assume you are someone for whom MotoRacing is more than just a pretty race and occasional social event.  I assume, like me, that you have an interest in what is going on - the information as well as the spectacle.

If not, you're probably best tuning out for a few weeks.

As promised, I will gloss some of the sources I use for information on MotoGP - my knowledge of news sources and writers might not be special, but it is enough to satisfy me, and should be more than enough for most fans.

Anybody willing to share their information sources I would love the input -see the comments section below, or however else you might prefer.

MotoGP.com

This is the most obvious stop, and should usually be your first stop.  Please, though, don't make it your last stop.  As I wrote in my notes on these sources, it is 'so good, yet so bad'.

The site is dedicated to MotoGP (+125s and 250s - these last two seemingly becoming sidelined with the new site layout), carries reasonably timely news, has summaries and previews (quite general in nature), lots of interviews and articles on what people have said, extras like videos and articles on rider equipment and tracks etc (usually quite basic and uninteresting).

For the keener, the site maintains a live timing system which is simple but effective - when it works - and a pretty good database of results in various formats (e.g. lap-by-lap analysis - mainly in pdf).

For the richer, willing to subscribe to membership, there are a pretty good range of videos of interviews, on-track-laps, highlights and other footage, and of course live-streaming and replay-streaming of all races.

This all sounds pretty good, right?

Well - much of the site is geared towards encouraging you to take out a membership, and that which isn't is held together by a frustrating structure which is of use only to the casual netsurfer.  It is a real pain to navigate, exasserbated by the hugely image-, ad- and flash-heavy pages which take forever to load what will likely be a few sentences you want to read, a simple link or a single picture.

 Unfortunately, forking out for a membership does not solve these problems, more often than not adding 'unsatisfied expectations' to the list: having signed up in 2008, I never will again.  I found myself writing numerous complains letters about faulty videos and live timing (among other more minor irritants), requesting some sort of partial refund - never getting a response of course, and not really expecting one given the difficulty of contacting them at all - and using virtually none of the services I paid top dollar for.

I have heard of people happy with MotoGP.com, and if you spend a lot of time on YouTube watching random videos, are lucky enough for the site to work, and have some $$ to burn, then it might be for you.

Personally, I still download the pdfs of practice/qualifying lap-by-lap results and analysis (invaluable in determining the pace that riders are actually able to lap at), and the news articles I subscribe to via RSS.

There is a reason that many MotoGP news sources are more-or-less rewritten from this site, as passionate as I am about its shortcomings.

www.moto-live.com

An ESPN-run site (apparently), with a variety of general (apparently original) news stories, on both MotoGP and WSBK.  It is solidly MotoGP focussed, and I can't find any WSBK-specific sections (just the odd article).  I don't bother with the news as it generally covers little original ground, and the RSS feed never worked for me.  But that's not why you use moto-live.

When I get the shits with MotoGP.com's live timing (often), this is where I end up.  The system is a little archaic, frequently refreshing a page with basic rider details and order, but it has always been very reliable.

The site offers premium-memberships (quite cheaply, especially in comparison to MotoGP.com), and I think this is the site I have had recommended for coverage of GP races - when I get off my arse I will look into it and probably subscribe this year.  (Ping me if you want an update.)

Crash.net

A pretty good source of general MotoGP news, a worthy alternative first-stop over MotoGP.com - I unsubscribed from updates, however, as the general news seemed largely to double up on what was available at MotoGP.com

HighRevs.net

Quite a basic, unoriginal, infrequent (and poorly written) MotoGP news feed - I love the RSS, however, as the feed text is a proper summary, and is very convenient on the mobile phone when I'm away from real news.

MotoGPMatters

http://www.motogpmatters.com/

I love this blog, it is awesome.

The site is run by David Emmett, a journalist with a genuine passion, who writes his own summaries (based upon on-site or telecast action and other information - not rehashed motogp.com articles like many minor news services) and previews, and frequent genuinely insightful, provocative and well-considered articles.  He would not suffice as a primary news source, but as a primary point of discussion he should be your first stop.

His site contains a few other less-interesting sections, though also a seemingly decent forum (not yet having joined) for enthusiasts like us.

My only real complaint is that I haven't been reading it for long enough to make a proper comment on it.

MCN

Motorcycle News

British bike-mag's online presence - heaps of articles, all mixed together in news feeds, often of dubious quality and where not they are often mere placeholders for articles in their magazine.  People seem to read through these (the articles are linked to often enough), but don't set your sights on enlightenment.

Other Info

Australian Foxtel TV guide

https://www.foxtel.com.au/whats-on/tv-guide/default.htm

Because we can only dream of a day when MotoRacing is broadcast live on free-to-air.

Missing?

I just realised how little good WSBK (or any SBK) sources I refer to.  No wonder I'm so far out of the loop.

Well, only 35 minutes now until FP1 - I think my social life can deal with a little more postponement.

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@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)

2009 - a Moto-Racing Junkie's Introduction

What do you know - the 2009 racing season is well underway and I haven't posted a single entry on it.  Well, while I have your attention, I will make grounds rectifying this deficiency.

MotoGP - the 'big league', the 'premier class', the 'F1 of motorbikes' - is a bit of a late starter.  The first round of the year was a couple of weekends ago in Qatar.  A relatively novel calendar entry, the track is in the middle of the desert, and runs in the middle of the night (for telecoverage reasons I believe). In the end, it was delayed a day for novel reasons as well - rain!  Rain is wet by day, but under lights it was an unprecedented danger.

In the end, the inevitable occured one day late: Stoner won, Rossi was the only who kept up the appearance of competition, and Someone Else came third (Lorenzo in the end - third-place qualifier, and the only real expected pointy-end challenger with Pedrosa injured).  Pedrosa and Hayden struggled with injuries; Edwards and Dovi showed signs they need to be taken seriously; De Angelis surprised everyone by staying on the bike (and got a top-six place as a result); Vermeulen and Kallio will be looking to build on positive results; the rest were uninspiring, in particular Gibernau, Melandri and rookie Takahashi (wtf is he in MotoGP for?).

Stoner has dominated preseason testing and round 1 in no uncertain fashion, and should he manage to shake off the pressure from Rossi and his inner deamons the result will be emphatic. There is little doubt of a top-two result for the Great Man Rossi, and it feels like the rest of the field are fighting for third place.  Dovi, Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Edwards have once again had positive starts, and Kallio, De Angelis and both Suzuki riders (the other Aussie Vermeulen and Capirossi) are making habits of exceeding expectation.

The field heads to Motegi (Japan) this weekend for round two, and the expectation is that Stoner will be setting the pace come Friday afternoon.  Fortunately for the Aussie contingent we have a rare afternoon timeslot for this round, so take advantage of it while you can and get yourself back into the swing of things (I assume nobody got up to watch the 4am Tuesday Qatar race?).

Far as the 125s and 250s go... well I haven't paid much attention to the 125s yet, but the 250s Qatar race was gripping - and with some bad results from big names the championship is alive and kicking.  Watch Barbera (first at Qatar), and a few MotoGP hopefulls in the making in Bautista, Simoncelli (2008 250 champion), di Meglio (125 champ was it, or was that T?), Pasini and Talmasci, also family names like Faubel, Pesek, Debon, Locatelli and Luthi, hoping to finally put a good season together.  Riders like Cluzel (2nd at Qatar) and Wilairot (Indonesian/Thai/something) are always around to spice up the standings.

The World Superbike championship (WSBK - production-based machines) is the dark night in a sense.  When it is not being led by an Aussie (Bayliss or Corser in recent years) it receives little public attention and irregular television screenings.  It has a cult-like status among racing fans, however, many of whom much prefer it to the occasionally urbane chastity of the world's fastest bikes - and for good reason.  I personally am a little turned off by relatively unappealing machinery (GP bikes are sexxy), but they are fast no matter what way you look at it, and the racing is always hot. Round 1 was at Phillip Island this year, and those of us lucky enough to attend enjoyed some rivetting racing.

We are much further into the WSBK season, with round 3 up this weekend (the Netherlands, somewhere - presumably Assen?), and some solid headway into the championship (with two races a round there have actually been six races already).  'Nitro' Noriyki Haga is opening up a worrying lead over American Ben Spies (for a number of years relatively uncontested 'AMA' American SBK champion - and head-turning MotoGP wild card), who has often looked the goods with some very fast times and good consistency.  His results have been more explosive than Nitro Nori's, however, with a number (three? or was it only two?) crashes interspercing some convincing wins.  Neukirchner and Fabrizio have wed some good times with surprising consistency to round the top four, as a few big names appear to be struggling on new machinery (Corser and Xaus on BMW, Nakano and Biaggi on Aprilia).  A second Aussie in Broc Parkes is struggling to make much of an impact on a green-looking Kawasaki, and I just noticed John Hopkins with one more championship point on a Honda (that's how bad his season has been).

If anything, the world's best racing is probably to be seen in the World Supersport (WSS - 600cc productions) races.  You have to hunt to get news on this championship, but if you can get into it the close racing and strong Aussie contingent (Andrew Pitt and Ant West tied for 3rd with French Laverty, Aitchison 7th and McCoy the leading member of an ininspiring two-man Triumph lineup) should prove rewarding.

On which note, why the hell haven't I been following it?

Somebody tell me how the Australian Superbike Championship is going, because I would like to think that somebody pays attention to it.  I know a few who enjoy watching the racing (sporadic coverage on Ten/SBS I believe), and many pay attention to the results, but it's sad it is such a private series in a country with such a strong auto-racing interest.

Anyway, that's my start-of-season rant.  I won't be investing heaps of time into writing about these series, because frankly I don't see the point in doing what others are already doing - and much better than I ever would.

I will make the effort, however, to write a few articles over the next few weeks to help you along the way.  I will try to make these weekly commitments.

First up, I'm planning an article on where you can get your racing-info fixes - the hot blogs, useful websites and timing and video hotspots; if I still haven't given up after that I will tell you a little about one of the ways I personally enjoy a race weekend, by putting money on the line - both the places to do it, and a few of the tips I have learnt to make the most of it (I averaged 5% returns per round of the MotoGP for most of 2008 - a hell of a lot better than my stock portfolio).

Until next week.

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@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)

Mid-March rainwatching

As you may have noticed, the blog has gone quiet, quite quiet.

Partially, I have been a little busy (thankfully, finally!) here in Melbourne, between work and grad applications.  I haven't been blogging much, or otherwise spending heaps of time online without a reason.

Mainly, I haven't been riding!

I did do WSBK at Phillip Island a couple of weekends ago, which was pretty good - stayed at a place rented off friends of friends, actually got to visit Cowes and wander around the Island a little.  The racing was incredible! - Especially the supersport (Aussie's 2 and 3 in the end, but that wasn't decided until halfway down the straight).  It's convinced me of the merits of WSBK, which I might just get in to watching this year.

Compared to MotoGP?  Well it was annoying that I couldn't recognise any of the riders - though if you need me to tell you about a WSBK weekend you probably wouldn't recognise all the MotoGP riders either, would you? As for the atmosphere?  I have not heard anyone yet that favours the MotoGP weekend, but I think WSBK is overhyped.  There are far fewer people, and as much as that makes it easier to get a good seat on race day, it is nowhere near the spectacle.  It is novel being able to ride around the track, and to oggle all the machinery on display is great, but to be honest it doesn't factor into the weekend all that much. I think, being able to move around and still actually see means if you could only attend one day, WSBK might have more value, but if you can do more of the weekend - and can wander around on Friday or Saturday instead - nothing beats the GP.

So - not riding much;

looking forward to the start of the GP season.

Thank you for hanging in with me in these times, lean for all of us (and now that I have some work that should hopefully be changing).

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@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)

Courting Phillip Island

I am rapt not to be in the vast group of riders who have visted the Island - but only seen others ride around.  I have ridden the Island!  And a fulfilling and interesting day it was.

I wasn't sure, at first, how I would go.  Having a dedicated racebike, I have enough tracktime, but not for years on the SV.  I didn't know how fast I would be able to ride it.  But I should have had faith!  The SV handles every extreme, from inaccessible 4wd tracks (I never did write about that adventure, did I...?), to the fastest circuit on the GP calendar.  GREAT bike, for those who didn't pick up on it.

Whilst I had a pottery first session - slow even by 1st session standards - I did get into it in the second.  I had been thinking about asking to be moved down into the slower group, but with growing ease with the race-track context, I was becoming as comfortable at full speed as I am with the SV on the road.  And I wasn't being left behind either, despite having (probably) the slowest bike in the group!

The only real bugbear I had was braking into T4 (Honda): it is not that the SV couldn't, or wouldn't, but again and again I realised too late that to actually stop the thing (from faster than I realised - 180+ on a fast run) really required a fistful.  Spoiled by the stopping power of the GSXR, actually manhandling the lever was hard to get used to - the result being that in the first two sessions I ran straight on four times.  It is a great spot to have the back entrance to the pits!

The third session though is when the fun really started.  The level of comfort I was riding with made me really conscious of how utterly uncomfortable I am on the GSXR.  It might be faster, but it doesn't do it with the same familiarity.  On the SV, I knew how it would wiggle, I knew how to hold it, push it, let it go, to lean forwards or backwards, how to get off and get on it, how the front skips on bumps and the rear wobbles under power.  It was like being at home!

I was actually entering corners quite quickly, feeling the front threatening to go, skipping, rather than bumping, over surface irregularities; the rear was sliding on the downshifts into two; finally, I could feel myself pushing lean angles I'm not used to (on the SV), getting frighteningly sideways, but feeling 100% there.  Most of the time.  Not all.

Most of the time, but not all - is not always good enough.  My old friend caught up with me, and my rising confidence this time convinced me not to just run straight on.  Halfway through T4, way off line, I found myself still with my hand resting on the brake, needing to get the bike properly tipped in to get it through to the exit.  I wasn't going too fast, and had plenty of lean to spare, so I let my fingers off the brake and

The front end didn't like it at all.  There is one rule with the SV, above all others: play nice, and BE SMOOTH.  The pogo-stick excuses for forks do not take kindly to inconsiderateness, and they responded by prompty disappearing from under me.

There are few things more annoying than stuffing up and dropping a bike, but really once the adrenaline wore off I had to admit I was quite lucky.  If I had made a mistake through T1 instead, and one of those bumps had pushed the front too far... well it would have been a lot more damaging at 200 than at 50 or so.

Even then, the damage was remarkably minimal.  Considering myself now a veteran of the crash, one look at the damage drew only one question: where can I find a brake lever?  Surprisingly, not a single SV/GSXR of an appropriate year at the track, but I did manage to track down a racer/mechanic at Rhyll who had a lever lying around which 'might' fit - fit it did, and with only one session lost I was back out there to confirm the SV really can do anything.

Sadly, the crash made me paranoid about running into corners on the brakes.  I don't trail heavily (usually), but braking and turning have always overlapped for me (for a couple of years at least), so avoiding doing that really screwed around with my entries.  Sure, I was still going fast - fast enough to remain in that group - but not as fast as I would have been.  The afternoon was spent working on my consistency, working out the track, and trying to push the SV in ways I was comfortable with.  More of a pleasant post script to an exciting morning than a continuation of the day's work.

And the morning really Was exciting, not just because it was fun, but because I really was doing good work.  The SV at times was being pushed way beyond its standard zone of operation, and I moreover was pushing it into territories that I don't normally push it.  Even the GSXR I have never felt comfortable enough to push like that - never have I thrown it into corners, feeling the edge through the front rather than from what I know it will do, pushing it on the entry rather than just trying to get it quickly through to the exit.

I guess the crash brought about a sobering awareness of why I Don't ride like that - while I think I would have been safe if I was at 100%, I wasn't, and on the road you can never bank on 100% - riding like that is never safe in the public domain.

I'm not in a position at the moment to be thinking about another trackday, and at any rate I need to do a lot more riding on the road to ensure I will be able to take full advantage of another opportunity, but it was a seductive taste of actually progressing on the bike, and I don't know what exactly will come of the aftertaste.

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@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)

Climbing the Back of the Beast: Mt Buffalo

Short day ride, 4/1/09

A little bit of time to myself and I decided to take up one of my listed 'short day' rides: up Mount Buffalo (and a loop over to the Kiewa Valley). A few kms down the highway the sign to Buffalo pops up, and a minute off the main drag it becomes clear where the road is headed: a great granite rockface appears from between the trees.

My first glimpses of the mount to be scaled, Buffalo. From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

The cliffs become more and more imposing as you draw towards the park entry. I was so absorbed in the spectacle, and the tittilating implications those rocks had for the slowly tightening road, I failed to stop for a good photo of the cliffs from their base. I encourage you to make the trip so you can do so yourself! It becomes hard to believe that the road will actually scale the back of this beast, but scale it does.

The road snakes lazily through the tall eucalypts of the foothills of the granite outcrop before skirting across its face, ducking in and out of its crevices and providing distracting views of the valley just left. Soon though the view disappears behind a forest of trees, and with the cliffs skirted it is time for the road to climb the back of the Buffalo - the real fun begins. The view is not missed: between the cyclists and the road there isn't much attention left for it. The road is tricky and engaging, with variation between tiny hairpins and violent esses, and on good days a fair amount of traffic as well, both two and four wheels. The surface is good, and guaranteed to leave you grinning when the road widens and speeds up as it flattens out on the Buffalo plateau. The good stuff climaxes opening out onto a flower-matted plain at the turnoff to the historic chalet.

The turnoff leads back to the top of the granite walls that were our first aquaintance, and a good spot to stop and let the adrenaline cool off. The view extending out over the Ovens Valley is amazing, and standing on cliff edges you can only wonder - and be thankful - how they managed to snake a road up here. I've included a whole bunch of photos; in a spot like this they all turn out good!

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

The plateau is quite flat, and the road which weaves across it is too straight to give in to your lecherous urges and retain any semblance of sensibility. A good time therefore to relax and enjoy the scenery. The only bike I saw on the mountain was an enduro parked on this lake. The cool, calm waters would make a great place to camp of a summer, especially if it's as warm as it has been.

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

The plateau is peppered with granite outcrops which command you to stop and gawk for a minute. The Horn itself is further along, but coming across this outcrop is inspiring enough! Call me strange, but I've always enjoyed relaxing after-the-fact as much as anything else, and cruising the top of Buffalo is a great way to do so.

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

Past the snowfields - one bald hill with a few lifts - the road turns to dirt. Quite good travelling too, tight and twisty and a whole lot of fun if you want to put your red goggles back on. It does push the limits of a roadbike though: this road brought the first ever time I've found myself wishing for a gear 0, and some of the tight stuff is bumpy enough to cause genuine concern. You might also have to dodge a bit of oncoming traffic - which you won't necessarily see until it's right upon you - but you can't let that spoil the fun.

All too soon the road turns into a parking lot overlooking the mountains to the west: Mt Buller is out there somewhere, and a whole lot of peaks with random names and no residents. It's also high enough that the vegetation is twisted snowy gum with red and white bursts of wildflowers and grasses edging the road and pathway.

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

Having come this far I figured I'd test the hiking potential of my boots by climbing to the top of Horn (the high point of Mt Buffalo), so I've snapped a few photos for you of the view along the way. It's quite breathtaking being up here, half because of the ranges spread out in every direction, half because of the eery atmosphere that the trees bring, and a third half because of the smooth granite mounds which characterise the area. BREATHTAKING INDEED. I also managed to snap you a couple of shots of the rocky plateau, including a great one of the dirty, twisting fun that makes the final section of road.

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

Looking back down the road from above. It's even tighter than it looks! From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

The most memorable part of the trip was yet to come however. Back at the top of the climb up the mountain a track diverges (to the right if coming up the hill). It is marked as 'rough 2wd track', but don't let that put you off - the surface is much better than most of the areas gravel roads. So off I pottered to see where it would go. There is something special about riding off along a track like this, something special about riding off the road, having grass and flowers tapping at your boots. I was almost self-conscious of botherring the butteflies, birds and bees by riding through their homes. It's tracks like this that make motorcycling more than just enjoyable, but special. Memories like this will outlive the tarred climb. Memories like this are worth writing home about!

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

If you're a dirt-road nancy you are missing out on these wilderness adventures: go out and get yourself used to it, because you don't want to have to turn back at the best part of the trip.

The road didn't actually go anywhere, other than 'away', not that it mattered. It was a little sad to get back to the tar, though the sadness was soon dismissed as the road plunged back down the mountain. Knowing what to expect I was in no mood to waste time, and waste I did not! By the base of the mountain I was too engaged in catching my breath to remember I was suppose to stop for a few photos of the cliff faces, though I did have to push on anyway.

The rest of the day was spent looping across the range between the Kiewa and Ovens valleys. There is some straight stuff through the valleys, but with all those hills around a healthy lust for the twisty stuff does not go too long unanswered. It is so easy to fall in love with this area.

'Riding off into the distance.' From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

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@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)

Lucky Me!

I realised something out on the road today. I was thinking about how lucky I am to be able to ride the roads that I do. And I realised - I have been thinking this a lot lately! So often, I sit back, I look at the view - perhaps to recover in between focussing intently on the next bend - at the road ahead, the hills to either side, the eucalypts lining the road (I love eucalypts by the way!, in all their splenderous, disorganised variety, they make a lot of the atmosphere of many locations)... and am not just enchanted, but struck, amazed, at how wonderful it is to be able to do what I am doing. Really! It happens all the time. And it really is nice.

The realisation led to a thought, in its turn, about this blog. I know what I can write about! I can write about more than just what I do, what the roads are like, what the view was like... what I can write, is a blog which shares these experiences. A blog which attempts to explain why it is that I am so lucky, to express what it is about riding that is so... worth writing about.

So that is my angle. I certainly hope I make you jealous. : ) But if I inspire you to find - to make - for yourself the same opportunities that I have, then you can hardly complain. Or if I merely inspire you to feel something of what I feel then that will just the same, be a job well done.

At the end of the day, if I can understand how I could be so lucky, or if I can understand what it is that inspires me so, then, well then I'll be the better for it as well.

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@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)

Ascent and Descent and Ascent and Decent to Heaven: Scaling the Victorian Alps (Falls Creek and Mount Hotham)

Half day ride through Falls Creek and back over Hotham, with sidetracks. 1/1/09

First things first: you're missing out.
Second things second: I'm not!

After a relatively relaxed getup on New Year's Day I decided to spend my day off on what I had been pining for: riding. I had ridden some of these roads on the way to Phillip Island (Hamish crashed here on one of the best of them), and driven in a few days earlier, but such experience only served to whet the appetite. With the morning gone I decided on a shortish loop which hopefully would include enough good riding to keep me going until I could organise a proper day's roadwork.

Headed towards Mt Beauty, at the base of the climb to Falls Creek, I encountered the Tawonga Gap for the first time in fine weather - ah, what fond memories! While relatively short this is one of the area's most beautiful roads (if you can avoid the occasional bumps or gravel and surprise bends) and an excellent warmup. A quick stop at the top provides views of the Mt Beauty at the top of the Kiewa Valley, and of course the mountains beyond that which are my real intent.

Lookout: Jill warmed up... I'm not the only one looking forward to the day's ride. From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

Mt Bogong to the left is Vic's highest peak - no road access, but I do plan on walking it - Falls Creek is up the mountains to the right, and in the middle Mt Beauty; not actually a mountain... From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

At the base of the run down - steeper and nearly as fun - I happened upon a sign too good to refuse: "Car and Motorbike Racing, turn left". A look at the mountain, a look at the clock, and hell, I'm on holiday: racing it is!

I managed to find the covert entrance to the track a few kms down the road - a track which could not have been put in a better place. The Kiewa (/Tawonga?) Valley offers views across the riverplane from the road, towards the range on the other side, largely untouched by pine plantations (unlike the Ovens Valley where Bright is).

If you haven't yet, and you get an opportunity, I highly recommend stopping at a local dirt track event. The racing isn't as tightly packed (or fast, our loud, or...) as at a roadrace event, but its relaxed charms make up for that. The number of hilariously random stacks is high.

The Hairpin: wet and slippery, tight and boggy - predictably made for great viewing whether or not the competitors made it round unscathed. From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

Not as high though as the family involvement, which lends a great atmosphere. There can't have been more than 30-40 competitors for the whole day, but there were hundreds camped on the hill, including families on and off track. Right in the middle of this photo is the smallest racer I've ever seen, a girl well under double-digits in years, who actually fit ergonomically onto a pocket bike:

Looking out over the Mt Beauty Car Club track in the Kiewa Valley. They're so small you might not see them, but yes there are kids in this shot! From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

Watching the smallest ones get swamped by a pack of bigger kids on bikes big enough for me to ride, one leg out, without flinching - I think I was more scared than they were. It's a great thing to see. A few shots to send back to you, though, and I was soon on my way. Daylight only lasts so long and I had riding of my own to attend to.

The road up to Falls Creek looks scrumptious on the map, but I don't know that I expected this! Leaving Mt Beauty the anticipation built with every obligatory "obey weather condition signs" - with nothing but sunshine in the sky they had all been switched to a simple 'slow down', which I read as implying they expected us to go fast. A km of warmup esses gave way to the serious mountain work as the road snaked up to the alps. Bend after bend after bend gave way to more corners, hairpins, esses, and everything but straight road. The road between Mt Beauty and Falls Ck stretches for 37km, and not one of those includes a straight any more than a hundred metres long. Pleasure - technical, twisting, picturesque pleasure.

A warning to the potential traveller that the mountain does have its tricks! The blind, tightening hairpins are not oddities, they are the norm. Whilst the traffic has been quite light, even in the peak summer period, the mountain is very popular with cyclists. There are also a few bumps, not large enough to be a serious threat, but invisible enough to be a sharp surprise. The road is, in short, technical and challenging: if you haven't got your head screwed on you could see yourself doing a Hamish, but if you do it will be a ride you won't forget.

The final challenge is of course keeping your mind on the road as you climb through the variations in alpine environment. The forests of dead trees (2003/6 bushfires I presume) have a mystic quality which ensures you can't forget where you are. If you find yourself distracted you're much better stopping for a photo than dodging cyclists with only one eye on the road.

From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

Falls Ck is a cute little village tucked into the mountainside: unlike Hotham it sits just at the top of the treeline, rather than at the peak. Continuing up to the plateau the road turns to gravel, and all of a sudden flattens out on a beautiful, giant lake (Rocky Valley Reservoir). I pushed on here, but if you continue reading you'll find some photos of the plateau from the next time I visited in a later post.

The gravel at first seems quite tame (wide, flat, well-graded road), but the abundance of large-stone loose crap on the top makes the treck down to the bottom of the mountain on the other side remarkably tedious on two wheels, and means it is difficult to appreciate the scenery.

It is a relief to reach tar at the bottom, and I was greeted by a Mitta-Mitta river tributary quite similar to the Tambo between Omeo and the coast.

From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

The beauty of the countryside was matched only by the quality of the road: I had no idea how good this section was going to be! For 35km to Omeo the road twists and turns beside the river, only opening out into faster sweepers as it enters the plains near Omeo. Nearly 150km into the day I had ridden barely a handful of km in a straight line. I had climbed into heaven and descended down the other side only to find myself on roads no less spectacular. This really is a wonderful place to ride.

I finally hit some relatively open road - the climb to the peak of Hotham from the Omeo side is all sweepers rather than twisties, though with open alpine views my only complaint was with the remarkable drop in temperature. Whilst not as enchanting as the area was last time we were here - riding through the snow - the climb is still worth doing.

From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

Mt Hotham is quite high, much of the road is skirted by these spooky, stunted-looking dead forests. From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

It doesn't show up well in the photo, but there's something stunning about the big rock that makes the peak of Hotham. From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

Having made reasonable time I was able to take a few shots of the wonderful area across the top of Hotham, which offers great views of the bald mountain tops and snaking road, with dashes of summer flowers and shorter greenery.

From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

Mt Hotham from the North: looking back towards Hotham provides some great shots if you're prepared to stop. And yes, I have gotten around to removing all the Christmas garb. From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

flowers: A pathway I think may be beyond me... From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

Roadway to Heaven: if there is anywhere you would rather be you need counselling. (There's something fun about being able to ride straight off the road to the edge of a cliff!) From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

The run down the mountain from here was once again the source of the same twisted pleasure the region is famous for. So much so that I never took my eyes off the road (except to confirm that the SV pulls 200rpm beyond redline), so no photos for you.

You will just have to ride it yourself!

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