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Finke Spectator Ride to Alice
Finke Spectator Ride to Alice
Players: Pounce, Tommy, Husq Mike, Jacko, Collin, Martin, Biggsy and Jack Are you tough enough to race the Finke ? Maybe yes or maybe no, until you see it first hand you will never know ! So we, a group of 8 rode to Finke and back in 15 days. Traversed 6900km across the Great Central Road and detoured on the return leg via the Gun Barrel Hwy Day 1, Hyden was the meeting point where we all came together. 1x KTM 690, x4 Suzuki’s and x3 Husky701’s. All prepared and loaded for remote travel and camping. Day2, Adventure came to us quickly, we had rain, abandoned the bike trailer, shared a beer in a pub with a horse and over indulged in booze by the camp fire. Day 3, Brought us more challenges with the 701’s rolling into Tjukayirla Roadhouse on fumes. Opel fuel from BP @ Laverton reduced our range by 30%. Roadhouse was already closed by 2pm on this public holiday . Fortunately for a small fee we coaxed the owner to open the bowser and fill us up. $480 later 8 bikes continued on their journey. Day 4 - Onwards, We lost track of time and just rode, camped, talked bullshit around the campfire and had a fat time until we made it to Alice Springs. Jacko’s bike was particularly happy to get to Alice for some urgently needed TLC. At Alice we rested up and got into the spirit of the Finke race by attending the Street Party, Machine Examinations and Prologue. Day 8, we packed our bikes, stocked up on food, booze and headed out to the 40km mark to camp and watch the Finke Race. Day 9 and 10 was spent on the track watching the cars and bikes blast at full throttle to Finke and back. This was when most of us had the realisation of just how crazy you have to be to race a bike on this track. Day 11, was the death of Mikes bike due to electrical drama’s. After limping into Curtin Springs just at the right time an opportunity presented itself to load his bike onto a truck heading back to Perth and avoid any further delays through track side repairs. So decision was made by Mike to call it quits, load the bike onto the truck and fly himself the long way back to Perth via Melbourne. The rest of us were now focused on making up for some lost time and pushed hard to Warburton. Day 12, We made it to Warburton at lunchtime, fuelled up with +30 litres each to tackle the Gun Barrel Hwy and head out into the unknown via Heather Hwy. The remoteness and vast emptiness come upon us quickly as soon as we pointed our noses heading North on the Heather Hwy. Pushing hard through the sand and corrugation into the late afternoon we made it to the Gun Barrel Hwy and set up camp for the night. It ain’t a Highway but an overgrown twin track. Day 13, Exhausted from the previous days ride the focus was on 450km that lay ahead of us to Carnegie Homestead. Each rider rode at his chosen pace, some pushing hard and others taking their time to smell the spinifex and embrace the remoteness. All in all, we made it safely to the homestead by 2pm with zero drama’s. Day14, Was the beginning of a two day Cannonball Run back to Perth. The gravel roads were spectacular and fast flowing so the focus was on munching through the miles with some riding into the night to get that little bit closer to home. Day15, We all made it home Big thanks to Pounce for thinking up this ride, planning it and leading us on a great adventure So many great memories and stories shared around the campfire Jack                                      |
