Day 4: Boorowa to Alexandra
7 January 2020
Master Map
Fire meant the Snowy Mountains were inaccessible. For me, that meant a choice of flat routes. Pterodactyl and I rode the reasonable straight road to Harden, refuelled and then rode the glorious road to Jugiong. It's gently hilly with lovely, sweeping corners; a delight for a spirited ride. We had coffee and something to eat at the Sir George Hotel in Jugiong before Pterodactyl set off for home and I turned south onto the main highway to Gundagai.
Leaving Boorowa for Harden. The haze low down is smoke.
On the highway between Jugiong and Gundagai. It's strangely deserted.
I left the highway at Gundagai and rode west a little to Wagga Wagga. It was smoky and hot and getting hotter. Coming into Wagga I looked down and noticed my throttle grip had slipped outwards. I gave it a mighty forward twist to push it in. I felt a snap and suddenly had a ridiculous amount of free play in the throttle. The local Honda dealer assured me it was a plastic lug inside the throttle grip. He didn't have one in stock which turned out to be a blessing as that wasn't the problem at all.
I rode on, retraining the muscles of my right wrist to manage a throttle that felt very different. If you rolled it right off, there was about 50 mm free play before it started to engage. After a while I got used to it and never rolled it right off.
It got hotter and the smoke increased as I got nearer to Victoria. Fires raging through the Snowy Mountains and fanned by easterly winds were belching smoke westward. I rode for too long on the highway until I turned off at Benalla and made my way to Alexandra.
Approaching the New South Wales Victorian border it got hotter and the smoke got thicker
Aussieflyer had been in touch during the day and would ride there to meet me the following morning. NoRoomtoMove had also decided to ride to meet us later in the morning.
In the conditions, I was touched that they'd make the effort.
