not far but fun

[jape]

50 to 60 km ride this afternoon, it is as much as my back can handle at present but I took a camera anyway! Click on the pics and they open a bit bigger.

This is my local road. Lucky ain't I?

road..jpg

and then you turn left! or in any direction really!

local track..jpg

- It all goes on for hundreds of km of linking roads, between the main roads, all pretty much the same and travelled by locals only, on motorbike, horseback or 4WD if we are getting firewood, dumping shot enemies, looking for gold in the old stream beds ...

Its not too bad to ride, a bit slippy and rutted but we all usually go slow anyway out of respect for one another - except when we see something like this in front of us!

Woohoo ... drop a cog and rev up!

miles of this..jpg

Ooooops -

tuesday ride tre&#1.jpg

- a storm fallen tree, plenty of them, always have a chain saw in vehicle, doesn't matter on the 'bike, just find a way round.

And finally, how can you tell the local corrupt town councillor lives on this bit of smoothly graded track ?????

wider road..jpg

I hope you enjoyed that ride as much as I do on most days!

[moilami]

1695[/ATTACH]

I hope you enjoyed that ride as much as I do on most days!

Thank you very much of the pics Jape! It was very interesting to see how stuff looks there. I have to say very exotic when compared to Finland. Would be great to travel around in that kind of roads.

P.S. The "best" road leads to the most "important" person.

[stromnes]

hey jape
you are a very lucky man indeed beats the hell out of traffic lights and "wood-ducks" in there cars
well done mate

[jape]

Well when my back is working a bit better we shall have to get some of you Melbourne riders up this way. Yeah, it is pretty country in parts, a bit monotonous because it is regrowth from mining and clearance in the 'olden days' and bloody frightening in summer with the oil haze hanging over the trees, but good for rides. Once this country was huge gums, one or two to every quarter acre, now it is all thin straggly stuff. There's enough people from the city come up and steal firewood and dump rubbish that they in fact keep the tracks open for us!

[stromnes]

pity about the ignorant few that do that sort of shit (dump rubbish in bush)
definitely let me know when u feeling better would love to come for a ride up there one day

cheers mate

[CrazyCarl]

Nice little ride report Jape and thanks for the pics. Looks like some perfect roads for causing a little trouble!

When I rode around the gold hills NW of Melbourne, I remember seeing a bunch of crazy looking white trees with peeling bark. Ghost Eucalyptis or something of the sort? I always forget but shouldn't. I think I have a photo...




CC

[jape]

Seems you were riding around my way then Carl.
It may well be a 'ghost gum' (quite a few called that), unfortunately there are hundreds of eucalyptus species and only experts can tell what is what from minor variations in leaves and seeds. And then you get naming variation with different localities giving the same common name to many types and species. But, yup, there are quite a few white gums that shed bark like that, got a few on my own block. You can recognise how they add to the fire danger!

Locals collect that bark to light stoves, when fresh it is bendy and you tie it into bundles which when dry just roar into life as great kindling. Eucalypti also contain volatile oils so even when totally fresh and green they will crackle and burn. Last year as you will know 200 people died in forest fires that swept into rural areas, small communities that had no chance. Many questions asked, but basically it comes down to a simple thing, once you get past bad land management, bad fire management and population pressure - the bush burns, even needs to burn and it needs a totally fresh approach to manage how people live in it. In areas like mine which are bush surrounded, it is simple, if fire comes, you will probably lose the house so f**k off quickly before it comes. You can defend, you can save the house but it takes luck as well as skill and preparation. Last year too many 'normal' folk were just watching TV with the kids as usual, eating dinner etc. when 200kph firestorms 100 metres high just ripped through with wind changes in a hour or so, most never knew it was coming. Most had no idea at all until it was too late. So, yes the 'authorities' are under question but in truth, to manage this problem which is eternal in Australia it needs a massive rethink.

To cut a long story short, that is why I have the 'bike - a last resort for me will be racing down those tracks shown above trying to beat a fire or move away from its route. this is the view from my front yard, and it is closer behind the house! Very beautiful but I know that at some time it is gonna go .....and that most clearing or management I want to do is designated as illegal by the authorities. Another argument for an ecology type forum rather than this one, but hey, we know what we are getting into when we live here.
the block..jpg

[moilami]

Oh my that sounds like a serious problem in a way it needs for sure to be addressed properly. The first thing what comes into my mind is building watch towers in strategical places and hiring people to look for fires from them.

About the great escape, which is better, a car or a bike, that's another question. Both have pros and cons. With a car you could save some property and pick up people on the road, you could also later sleep in the car. But a car can get stuckt or blocked more easily and you can't go much off-road if there is trees blocking the way. I would however chose a bike and make sure my photographs are stored in Internet. I don't know of you but I would be better off escaping with an enduro bike rather than with a car. The photos and camera gear would be the only things I would need to save, and those I could save easily with a bike. + if I would have to do a run of my life I would chose a bike as a matter of principle - given a choise to die while driving a bike or a car I would not have to think a second which I would chose.


EDIT: One more pro bike argument: With a bike you don't waste time in saving stuff + now I think I understand why someone was so self-important in getting the "best" road.

I am thinking also could it be possible to build some kind of early warning system using electrical fire alarms. As an engineer lacking only my diploma work I see that as an interesting and fascinating possibility.

[jape]

As far as possible, I have it worked out thus - water jet/sprinkler front and back using petrol pump from rain water tank 5000 gals, 50 meter hose. Clearance of scrub every spring within 50 meters of house. Unfortunately it is illegal to cut down trees more than 10 metres from house without hard to get permits and alternative replacement plantings. I get round this because eucalypts come back from base and I say I am coppicing! A risk of a fine of $1500 per tree ... but this method gives me a yearly problem of hundreds of six meter re-growths to cut.

Trailer parked in front of house under cover ready for m'bike and tools. Camping gear and computer clothes and 42" LCD TV in car, lol ... takes three minutes to get out but then a five minute drive through bush as you see in the photos, so if the fire comes from THAT direction I can only use the bike, take laptop, tent and a rucksack of documents. Trouble is, these events can swirl in with firestorms in no time with a wind change, embers covering tens of kilometers in minutes and fireballs rolling hundreds of yards ahead of the fire that will literally explode your house! A fire we can handle, back-burning, raking, ember suppression, sprinklers, water in gutters etc. we had four small and two major fires within ten kilometers last year. The one that killed everyone was about 100 km away this time, the block I own was razed to the ground thrity years ago. Just black ash for mile after mile.

But these days we often get 'firestorms', not 'fires', they create their own weather and 200 kph winds sucking oxygen in. Partly the changing patterns oif climate but mainly mishandling of the bush for generations since it was cleared for mining, fuel, grazing etc.

They do have some part time fire-watchers in towers, not enough, and many volunteer fire crews, quite well equipped. It takes time to roll it all out, communications can be erratic with so many hills and forests, crews have to take time off from paid work for weeks at a time. And so it goes on. I could lecture you for pages on this! Meanwhile they have instituted a total regional telephone 'alarm call'. The solutions are quite simple but not easy to reach, especially as the authorities deal in committees and don't listen to we who live in the bush.

These fires cause billions of dollars damage each year or so, also in southern Europe and California where the eucalypts were transplanted a hundred or so years ago ... and they also cause major loss of life every couple of decades or so. As usual, much ignorance, stupidity, vested interests and politics at all levels play a part. We have a major enquiry ongoing, even the pollies were shaken by 200 deaths last year including many children. At the moment we all wait to see what they come up with once the political blaming is past! If anything. Meanwhile, as you say, the 'bike is the best last resort, lets hope I never have to use it. But if I do - well what an amazing ride report and what pics you lot will get from me!

[euphonius]

Jape, is there any effort to diversify the vegetation away from eucalyptus? They are invasive and grow like weeds, so other species may not stand a chance -- unless maybe they get some help. San Francisco is actively clearcutting large swathes of eucalyptus, which, as you rightly note, hails from OZ, and replacing it with indigenous species, at no small expense. One major motivation is fire safety, as well as aesthetics and a drive to get back to our biocultural roots. Was OZ always thus -- dominated by eucalyptus? Or is there evidence of other species in earlier epochs?

Oh, yeah. This is a motorcycle forum. I love riding in forests. Motorcyclists love shade on hot days. The more trees and the more shade, the merrier. There. Back on topic.