29th BMW ICICLE RIDE 2009 Report

[oldwolf]

In the last 20klm's, I reckon Luke saw some of my worst riding as I was fighting to stay awake/focussed, ignore cramps, see the road on occasions, pick the right lines, and push through that.

Yeah Stefan
I was feeling the same way. I havent pulled an all nighter on a bike for close to 30 years, and was feeling every minute of it. Mind you it had to have been the best "crazy fun" Ive done in a long time too.
I didnt make the decision to do the ride til about 10 past 10 last night, then just thought why the hell not. Had some fun, and rode with some great people. I probably wont do it again, but you never know. Matt, Kat , and Shane explained it well so I wont bother.
Suffice to say, there was a good turnout, 165 bikes with 175 riders/pillions, (we were told). Everyone seemed to enjoy the ride, and no one fell off or broke down enough to warrant being picked up by the support vehicles.
Sorry if its a bit vague, but havent slept yet and am feeling just a wee bit tired.

[User#6]

Originally Posted by oldwolf

I didnt make the decision to do the ride til about 10 past 10 last night, then just thought why the hell not.

It was awesome to see you there Steve!!! I'm so pleased you made the last minute decision and joined in the craziness...I hope you had a great time and enjoyed yourself. I was so tired at the finish that I could barely string a sentence together when we were chatting, but we'll have to catch up for a cuppa sometime mate.

[[NOC]]

Steve it was great supprised too see ya there bud.. really was... there were a few ripples in some of the backroads.. lol just after anakie.. lol everybody would have felt it in that bend or got sideways.

[Jedi]

Originally Posted by KAT

Oh and a couple of interesting points Luke reminded me of - just so you understand how difficult the navigation was - the support vehicles got lost and in the last leg one of the ride leaders got lost - so what hope did we have

That's not quite what i said to you this morning, my love. The support vehicles convoy didn't take the first turn of the first leg. I thought we were lost, but they knew where they were going.

[[NOC]]

Originally Posted by El Duderino

Well I've slept for most of the day and feeling more refreshed now!

Lastnight was epic to say the least!!! I always knew it was going to be a long and difficult ride, especially on a 125 through areas I'd never been to. There was every type of road and environment included, ranging from tight technical sections to fast flowing or open areas. Smooth roads, bumpy roads, wet/greasy roads, dry roads, up n down hill, + and - cambers, freeways to scrawny backroads, etc. You name it, it was there!

It was fantastic catching up with so many of you to share in the adventure, and thanks for your support and encouragement. I'm sure we all enjoyed ourselves and were thankful to get to the finish line after such a long and challenging night riding together. I had a blast riding with you all and look forward to doing more rides with you in the future.

There were so many memorable moments that I hardly know where to begin...

Riding through a forest area coming over a sweeping left-hander crest, only to discover a greasy, short n sharp downhill right-handed off-camber corner, lined with armco gave me an early surprise (thankyou Mr Brembo!). During the first leg I had some visibility issues with my visor, but had the chance to fix things at the first stop. After that I went to get fuel, pulled up at the servo and realised my pillion seat had vanished, oh crap! Amazingly one of the organisers found it for me!

I think Kat had a good view of this, but a bloody cockatoo dive-bombed me while I was doing about 100...realising it was going to hit me in the chest, I had a split-second to duck down and it smacked HARD into my helmet. AGV-1, bird-nil! That gave me a fright, but was laughing to myself for ages about it. Further along the guys in front of me came to an intersection and everybody peeled off in different directions, which confused everyone behind and u-turns were aplenty. After a while I got separated, found myself very alone, and wondering if I was going the right way. There was roadkill lining the sides of the roads, so paranoia kicked in and cruised along. I ended up picking up a straggler and we teamed up, found our way to Torquay where we picked up a few other lost souls...it was purely my knowledge of Geelong which got us to the servo for the main break!

I had 2 mins to fill up with juice before heading off or get left behind (yep no break for me!), and we went on our merry way once again. About 50klm's later a warning light came on my dash so I had to pull over and fill up the 2-stroke reservoir...I cracked the shits royally, and was asking myself "what next?", as I watched the entire convoy roll past while I was struggling to get the lid off the 2-stroke bottle! Big thanks to Luke for holding the torch and letting me have a couple of minutes break! Having spent nearly the whole night on the bike with scarcely a break, I was feeling a bit mentally and physically fatigued, and was happy to ride the remainder of the journey with the support vehicles and just coast it to the end. In the last 20klm's, I reckon Luke saw some of my worst riding as I was fighting to stay awake/focussed, ignore cramps, see the road on occasions, pick the right lines, and push through that.

Shortly after all the B&S people left, they did the award presentations and much to my embarrassment I won the 'Hard Luck Award'. So many people came up to congratulate me in astonishment that I took the Mito on the trip in the first place, overcame a few setbacks, and got it across the finish line. I have to admit it wasn't the most ideal bike for the trip, but a few people mentioned their surprise at its speed and ability. There were many sections where the bike just chewed through corners and loved every minute of it. Sitting in that aggressive riding position for so many hours has left me with aches and pains all over, but have no regrets and am wrapped that I did the ride! Everyone needs to do this ride at least once in their life!

Glad they found ya seat mate, lol forgot they had the awards for this... congrats though
You know when you meantion about getting hit by a bird.. lol all i was thinking that scene in wildhogs.. lol.. good laugh..

It was great too catch up with you... lol interesting riding the brisbane ranges and some of the backroads at night... since I usually do them during the day time.. lol... heading down to Geelong or Torquay.

Hopefully catch ya there next time

[Jac]

Well that was a great ride report guys and girls. Glad you all had a great night and lasted the distance.

Its hard work l know trying to last the distance in such extreme weather, but you all did it...so congrats to you all

Great shots partner as usual

[biz]

Originally Posted by El Duderino

Well I've slept for most of the day and feeling more refreshed now!

It was fantastic catching up with so many of you to share in the adventure, and thanks for your support and encouragement. I'm sure we all enjoyed ourselves and were thankful to get to the finish line after such a long and challenging night riding together. I had a blast riding with you all and look forward to doing more rides with you in the future.


I think Kat had a good view of this, but a bloody cockatoo dive-bombed me while I was doing about 100...realising it was going to hit me in the chest, I had a split-second to duck down and it smacked HARD into my helmet. AGV-1, bird-nil! That gave me a fright, but was laughing to myself for ages about it.

Shortly after all the B&S people left, they did the award presentations and much to my embarrassment I won the 'Hard Luck Award'. So many people came up to congratulate me in astonishment that I took the Mito on the trip in the first place, overcame a few setbacks, and got it across the finish line. I have to admit it wasn't the most ideal bike for the trip, but a few people mentioned their surprise at its speed and ability. There were many sections where the bike just chewed through corners and loved every minute of it. Sitting in that aggressive riding position for so many hours has left me with aches and pains all over, but have no regrets and am wrapped that I did the ride! Everyone needs to do this ride at least once in their life!

Matt, Stefan, Kat great ride reports ...

Matt for all the photos

Stefan - on winning an award!

also thanks for the giggle about the bird

I'm just hoping Steve sleeps well as he hasn't slept all day, and allnighters are harder the older you get, and he'd been out for one of our great nieces 2nd b'day party during the arvo. And we had just got home from dripping into our sons house warming when he made the last minute decision to go!

[craigthomson]

Well what can I say, it was a great night/morning, had heaps of fun. Was great meeting everyone at the ride as well. Many thanks to Shane for the modification and installation of the Strom hand guards on the GS, definitely made it easier, but I was still wishing for heated grips on the last leg. I appologise for my shocking riding for anyone who was behind me, I just couldn't feel my hands or use them for that matter, makes for an interesting ride .

I have to say, I'm very impressed that Stephan did it on his 125. Top effort there

Definetly will do it again next year , and now I expect the same from everyone else

I only took a few pictures, and here they are:

[[NOC]]

Jeez craig looks like the Caffine had set in on me.

[[NOC]]

For those wanting the ROUTE for this ride, I have just finished going through all the GPS data of the ICICLE 09 tracks saved on my Garmin GPS and converted it to routes data.
Download the attached zip file and extract the .gsb file from that.
icicle09route.zip

You will need to open the .gsb file in mapsource and upload the routes to your garmin device.

There are 3 routes, numbered in order. Route3 note there is a section that might loop due to the fact the road is not complete on the map its the section between Straughton Vale Rd and Bacchus Marsh-Balla Rd meet. Trust me its there we road on it.. lol