Riding The Red Rollercoaster - Australian Outback Riding Technique

[The bikes were two Honda NX650 Dominators]

In the Australian Outback there is a requirement to leave a considerable gap between bikes on dirt roads, but I felt Andy was too far back, travelling too slowly.
My relief at seeing him appear in my rear-view mirror soon turned to concern. He was too close to the edge of the track.

The two foot high sand drift along the edge of the track to Mungo National Park New South Wales, was not a good place to ride a heavily laden 650cc overland trail bike.
As I peered into my mirror the bike and rider following disappeared beneath a mushroom cloud of blood red sand.

Day one. Lesson One, never close the throttle in sand.

Both Andy and the bike survived largely unscathed, the sand drift actually not a bad place to tumble off a bike, in retrospect. Minds suitably focussed, we became better dirt riders by the hour.

The first effect of being on non-bitumen roads is that the front wheel moves.
It twitches with every stone, tries to follow a rut and would quite like to sink-in and stop in sand. The initial queasyness of riding a bike behaiving in this way soon eases when you discover the technique of holding the power on, always, and maintaining a vice-like grip on the handlebars.

A motorbike is not steered as such, it is always a question of subtle body-movements with very light touches of the bars.
On loose ground, it is the rear wheel which largely causes direction changes, the front can buck and twitch, if you hold the power on and point that front wheel roughly where you want to be, it works.
It's a miracle, but it works. Mostly.

Creek crossings provide the added excitement of not being able to see clearly the rocks and pot-holes you are about to encounter.
We'd keep a thumb over the engine kill switch, as an immersed bike with it's engine running will take in water, leading to catastrophic fluid-lock in the cylinder.

Corrugations are ridges a few centimetres high which run across the tracks and cause a horrible hammering vibration. Thankfully our bikes have a lot of locknuts and threadlock retro-fitted and held together.

Most Outback roads are deemed closed in wet weather, riding them risks heavy fines (1,000 dollars per wheel). Occaisionally we'd encounter wet dirt roads and they are truly scary for the heavy two-wheeler.

The natural weaving of the bike through the soft stuff is exaggerated by the nicely lubricated mud. The back wheel has to deal with the tread pattern becoming clogged, creating a slick tyre.

There were many, many times, particularly on the last day, that I thought a mud bath was imminent.

In the dry, talcum-powder fine bulldust is kicked up by vehicles. We referred to riding second as 'In The Grey Room'. The high incidence of kangaroo, wallaby, feral pig, emu, bulls, camels and sheep provide a uniquely Australian challenge.

But meeting the challenge was the most enjoyable part of the trip.
When the track was just loose enough to cause you to hold every muscle tense for hours on end, stealing a quick glance at the view, or ducking under an eagle, or a flock of Zebra Finches, you felt truly in touch with the land.

So many tracks provided sheer motorcycling bliss. A handful of vehicles per day, sublime surroundings and always the promise of more over the next rise, or tomorrow, or next week...

Paul Jenkins.
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Read the full story of bikes, camel wrestling, road trains and see photos of this dazzling, strange land at: www.keylimeaustralia.com/redcentre