Escaping the Lyons Den (with the Lyon)

With Mawson alive and well we prepared to leave the Lyon’s Den. We will be treveling with the Lyon for a time.

Sunken Miles, ready to leave the Lyon’s Den

Barry (left), Raman, Oli and Donnie (right), ready to hit the road this morning

An old bridge on our climb into the hills heading west a little north of Townsville

The stream beneath the bridge

Being back on the road is great. It’s really exciting to have Donnie Lyon with us as well. A friend of Donnie’s, Barry, is also with us. Raman and Donnie rode together while Barry and I rode ahead but separately. Barry isn’t into riding two abreast. Its a little like a dance and quite graceful once the two riders get into the rhythm.

The bike is a new machine in several ways. Power is definitely increased and the motor smoother in operation. We will se how fuel economy is. The new Barrett exhaust is a lot louder. I did try it without the baffle as Rob recommended and all I can say is I put it straight back in. Much too loud. I can keep it quiet if I control the throttle so thats good being able to still be reasonably discrete if desired.

All in all the bike feels great. Its certainly good to have it back together and running.

Waiting for Donnie and Raman. “They are taking quite a while. I wonder if something has happened”.

Gee, to think it was only yesterday avo I fired my bike up for the first time after the rebuild and we are now over 400km from Black River. I feel like we are in the middle of nowhere.

There was quite a lot of sandy drifts on top of hard packed road base which made for lots of fun sliding out of corners however Raman came unstuck on a corner and hit the deck. As a matter of fact Donnie narrowly avoided running over him as he fell off in front go Donnie.

Raman came out of it ok but the panniers look…”a little second hand” as Donnie put it.

Raman inspecting the damage

He is carrying a little more weight at the moment as I divided the food in half, he has water in his big bladder(I have tended to carry most of the water) and he took the cook stove that I have been carrying. This combined with a propensity to ride at the pace of those around him may have helped precipitate the accident.

Reshaping SW Motec side boxes

A little concerning is that he didn’t adjust his riding behaviour and went down again. This time he was’t so lucky. Rather than low siding as he did the first time, he high sided. Apparently he isn’t sore let alone significantly injured so he is still very lucky in my opinion.

This time it was on the left side.

Left side box after “reshaping”

Raman rides harder than I do. We each have our pace and I have learnt that it is my job to ride my bike, not tell him how to ride his. Raman will ride his bike. I have been amazed just how skilled he has become. Personally I feel less inclined to push it so much but we are pretty well match really and I am grateful for his part in the trip. I hope he learns to accept feedback and apply self regulation. 

Tonight we are camped at Oaks Rush in Kidstone, an old mining town. There is very little hear other than the old mining mess hall which is now a pub of sorts.

We are camped in the old mining gym. Its pretty damn remote out here. We’ve seen very few vehicles and the roads are long and dusty with dry country stretching as far as the eye can see in every direction. This is North Western Queensland.