Run to the Border 2010

[Advwannabe]

For the last 34 years on the first Saturday in August riders from both sides of Australia have been meeting at Border Village, where Western Australia and South Australia meet. This year my friend Ed and I wanted to meet some old mates from WA and do an IBA run to celebrate.

Meeting up at a balmy 4 below at 0300 in Canberra the plan was to do 2000ks on the first day. Dealing with the cold was helped with the recent edition on heated grips and vests to both our bikes, spotlights, and new charging system components and the voltage mod to Tigger to make it all work ( thanks Sasquach)

We got off to a good start when the fog didn't roll in till we were 150miles down the road  



After many years of drought the good rains in the last two years the country is green and the cattle are fat. Good stuff.



Ed was finding some interesting angles ( I think he was getting a little bored)



The man himself. How many people do you know would set off on a 3500 mile ride on something with the ergonomics of a Speed Triple. A good man and pretty hard with it!

We had a couple of machine dramas during the day, the most significant being the Tiger's fuel consumption dropping to under 28 mpg ( imperial), a problem later traced to my last service. Hmmm last time for that dealer me thinks. We didn't quite reach our first day goal, but 1100 miles in 18 hours was a fair effort and a well earned sleep!



Outback sunrises.



You may have heard stories of the Nullabor plain in Australia. Null- Abor, latin for no trees. As you pass into the Australian bight in southern Australia the eucalyts begin to thin out in the plains. Some find it boring, others find it an almost spiritual experience. I love the open spaces on a bike, riding out where there is nothing else to clutter the mind. Ed hasn't been out here for years and was feeling the burdens lifting from his shoulders as we rode.



Till finally, no trees at all. A little scrub, almost no water and sandstone hundreds of feet thick. Lots of people died exploring out here. Finally in the middle of the plain, is the Nullabor roadhouse, where the dingos come in for a feed and you have the privilige of paying Appox $6 US/gallon for fuel.






Everyone wants to ride a Tiger!

Border village lies 120 miles further West. By the time we arrived we'd covered 1800 miles on two days.



One for Mustang. People have been doing Border Run for years on all sorts of rigs. In fact the bikes and Charactors alone make it worth the trip. We had about 100 riders this year, from brand new BMW tourers to ancient BSAs ridden the whole way under their own steam.



Would you do this to a Duke?



The pudding. On the very first Border Run one of the riders bought this pudding to eat, forgot and it went home in his saddlebag. He kept bringing it back until the sauce dried up and the pudding rattled around in the can. Finally someone encased it in resin when the can started to wear out! The pudding has made everyBorder run and is an Aussie riding legend. It is handed from person to person during the year, can only travel by motorcycle and must return to BR each year.

After a feed, long bull dust session and probably too many Emu bitters we retired to our tents. It's a fair way home from here!

Picking up a couple of extra riders we headed home Sunday morning. By this time the forecast had changed and we found ourselves riding into these



Stopping to get into our wets, while we were busy writhing into our wets and amusing ourselves watching our friend Phil getting angier and angier with his gear a guy on a granny glide rode up, got changed and rode off while we were thinking about it. Amatuers!


As you can see, by the time Phil had won his title fight with his wet weather gear the storm had moved on. We needn't have worried, most of the next 1200 miles were wet anyway.

3600 miles in four days and while Tigger guzzled some fuel, it didn't miss a beat and I reckon was just as comfy as the ful tourers. Looking forward to 2011 already....

[Mustang]

What's the steel gaurd for ?
pushing slow pokes on tiggers out of the way or for roo's

[Advwannabe]

I noticed their absence on a lot of the big rigs I saw in the US last year, but I'm sure I saw some trucks with them?

A lot of them are actualy made of Aluminium. They call them 'Bull bars' and they fend off Bulls, roos, camels, emus, horses, donkeys, pigs etc.

I guess your interstates are better fenced than our highways...

[TheMule]

Great pics! Sounds like a terrific time plus you've got the best color Tiger.