You can read an online report I wrote about our
participation in the Challenge here:
Ron & Kathy's 2009 Postie
Bike Challenge
Or download a PDF copy here:
Ron & Kathy's 2009 Postie
Bike Challenge
Or download the photobook I created here (58Mb):
Ron & Kathy's 2009 Postie
Bike Challenge
You can see some videos that other Challenge participants have shared at the following links:
Videos at YouTube:
Postie Bike
Challenge 2009
Our aim was to
raise $5,000 for
who have
well established domestic and international programs of providing safe,
decent and affordable shelter to underprivileged families in need.
We raised $4,700 in sponsorship from family, friends and work colleagues and we raised another $2,300 by selling our Postie Bikes!!
Photos taken by Ron and Kathy Leslie
The map below is the route we actually travelled as recorded by our Garmin eTrex Legend GPS ...
You can access an interactive version
of the whole trip here
...
2009
Postie Bike Challenge Route
... or the individual days below.
Visit the Official
Postie Bike Challenge
Website
Our Preparation Checklist ...
| 1 | Register for event | ☺ |
| 2 | Create website and update regularly | ☺ |
| 3 | Get sponsorship | ☺ |
| 4 | Do Stay Upright "Dirt Skills Riding" course | ☺ |
| 5 | Buy soft handgrips | ☺ |
| 6 | Buy sheepskin seat cover | ☺ |
| 7 | Make cover for milk crate and work out how to secure it | ☺ |
| 8 | Book flight, accommodation and hire car for Brisbane | ☺ |
| 9 | Arrange flight, accommodation and hire car for Melbourne | ☺ |
| 10 | Purchase travel insurance | ☺ |
| 11 | Try and work out route using clues from official PBC website | ☺ |
| 12 | Work out likely temperatures along the route | ☺ |
| 13 | Setup link on SPOT Trip Manager to track our trip | ☺ |
| 14 | Organise for Postie Bikes to be collected at the end of the Challenge | ☺ |
| 15 | Install software for updating website on EEE laptop computer | ☺ |
| 16 | Work out where friends may be able to meet up with us along the way | ☺ |
| 17 | Work out how to mount SPOT Messenger and Garmin eTrex GPS on Postie Bikes | ☺ |
| 18 | Make sure that all battery operated gadgets only use 'AA' batteries | ☺ |
| 19 | Read the PBC newsletters and all the notes about how to care for a Postie Bike | ☺ |
| 20 | Work out what stuff we need to take (or can't live without)!! | ☺ |
| 21 | Put in leave application | ☺ |
| 22 | Verify SPOT Messenger is working correctly | ☺ |
| 23 | Work out how much stuff we can fit in an 80 litre duffle bag!! | ☺ |
| 24 | Work out what else will fit in a milk crate (apart from a 5 litre fuel container, two 1 litre water bottles and lunch) | ☺ |
| 25 | Fly to Brisbane | ☺ |
About us ...
We've been keen motorcyclists for more than 30 years and currently own two Honda GL1000 Goldwings, two Honda CX500s, a Honda SL175, a Honda NT700V Deauville and a BMW GS1150 Adventure.
We are members of the Australian GoldWing Association, Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club, BMW Motorcycle Club (ACT), ACT Veteran, Vintage and Classic Motorcycle Club and Ulysses.
After many years of procrastinating about participating in the Postie Bike Challenge we decided that 2009 would be the year in which we finally did it!!
About this year's challenge ...
The direct ride from Brisbane to Melbourne is about 1,700kms. There is no point in taking the easy way when you can take the adventurous - 3,300km (including 1,000km of unsealed roads) - way at a top speed of 70 km/h!
The inspiration for the 2009 route comes from an attempt by the organisers to combine and contrast the feeling of riding in the outback to that of riding through the New South Wales and Victorian high country where we should still catch glimpses of the snow capped mountains.
So far 42 riders (8 of whom are women)
ranging in age from 20-something to 70-something have decided to take on
this year's challenge!!
While most entrants are from Australia, the United Kingdom and New
Zealand are also represented.
The map below is our guestimate of this year's route (and where we'll be staying each night) based on the information provided on the Postie Bike Challenge website ...
We've also put together a chart to show the average
minimum and maximum temperatures during the month of October along the
route.
Map showing relative sizes of Australia,
the United States of America
and the United Kingdom.
Proudly sponsored by ...
Many members of the
Australian GoldWing Association
Friendship & Family Across Australia
Know exactly where you're losttm
with
GPS equipment from GPSOZ
(Who have kindly donated a handlebar mount for our SPOT Satellite
Messenger)
Members of the following
motorcycle clubs/groups:
Australian CX500 & CX650
Register
CX/GL MCC (UK)
CX500 GL500 Transverse Twins Discussion Forum (USA)
Plus we've also received lots of sponsorship from our very generous family, friends, work colleagues and associates!!
Monitoring our trip progress ...
You'll be able to
monitor our trip in real-time
courtesy of our SPOT Satellite Messenger.
We'll provide a link for our "Postie Bike Challenge" just before the start date ...
In the
meantime you can check out our
December 2008 trip to Tassie
as recorded by
our SPOT Messenger
Official Itinerary
For those of you who live along or near the route we'll be travelling you're most welcome to come along and cheer us on as we pass by or, if possible, stop and have a chat to us when we take a break (which it will always be time to do if we see someone we know!!).
| Date | Leaving From | ~Kms |
| 4 | Brisbane | 426 |
| 5 | Goondiwindi | 463 |
| 6 | Bokhara Plains | 353 |
| 7 | Hungerford | 307 |
| 8 | White Cliffs | 434 |
| 9 | Hillston | 411 |
| 10 | Tumbarumba | 196 |
| 11 | Jindabyne | 207 |
| 12 | Omeo | 251 |
| 13 | Heyfield | 236 |
|
Estimated distance travelled (kms) |
3,284 | |
* We'll be leaving from Brisbane Exhibition Grounds, Building 11, The Avenue, Alexandria St, Bowen Hills at about 7:00 AM
Visitors to this page since
26 July 2009
Website designed and created by Kathy Leslie