59. Thunderbolt (Crash Site) Revisted

For those who have been following my blog, you would already know I recently crashed on Thunderbolt way about 20kms before Walcha and a long way from home. Not exactly a plesant experience.

Anyways... I decided to get back on the bike and re-do the trip again... but this time finishing up on my bike instead of the chopper.

Route: Sydney - Putty Road - Dungog - Gloucester - Walcha - Port Macquarie - Anna Bay - Sydney
Total Distance: 1,136kms
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/gqVM 

We started the morning reasonably early and headed towards Thunderbolt. Here's some of the amazing scenery down Dungog and into Gloucester.

The trip to the crash site was not what I would call fun and the road condition on Thunderbolt way is terrible - must have been bolted by thunder so many times the surface is an absolute shocker! But still, it was a worthwhile trip. It was beautiful up that way.

We arrived at my crash site around 2pm and "surprisingly", they now have a rough surface sign which wasn't there before.

And for the second time round, I FINALLY made it to the Oxley! I started off the 35km/hr corners very poorly but once I got into the groove of things, the riding picked up and the fun began! I absolutely enjoyed the road. If you have never been here, it is definitely worth the visit at least once!

We arrived in Port Mac slightly later than expected and had dinner at The Corner restaurant. Food was AMAZING - especially their toasted cheese and truffle sandwich!!

I was pretty tired by 8pm and we both decided to call it an early night.

Day 2 was the coastal road home and sand boarding in Anna Bay! It was so much fun!!!

I finished this trip with the biggest smile on my face! Looking forward to the next adventure... 

58. Equipment Review - Scala G4

Riding a motorbike is dangerous and challenging as it is and I'm sure there are some out there who are totally against the idea of streaming music and chatting while riding.

But each to their own I say.

For me, the scala G4 has been an awesome companion on the long weekend road trips. I pair it up with my Iphone 4s. It keeps me awake on the long stretches of straight road, allows me to communicate with T (planning lunch stops, fuel stops, bathroom breaks etc) and makes it easy for my Mr to get hold of me.

Having used it consistently over the last 20,000kms, I have to say I am overall quite happy with this product.

Both T and I use ear plugs on our road trips and we have no issues in terms of the sound quality projected by the headphones.

The mircophone also works well to eliminate wind noise and John (the Mr) usually ask if I'm already off the bike. 99% of the time, I'm still on the bike.

The transition between music to talking to your ride buddy is quite simple... you can start talking (more like yelling) into the microphone or simply press the A button as T and I recently discovered.

The system also works reasonably well at adjusting the volume automatically.

In terms of battery usage, it lasted about 12.5 hours (music and chit chat) on one of my road trips before it died. Scala advertise the talk time as 10 hours.

For me, mine survived near zero temperatures and heavy non-stop 8 hours of torrential rain.

In terms of reliabilty, I would rate it ok only. The scala I crashed it never had any issues but the replacement I bought recently malfunctioned (only one headphone was working) which was a little disappointing. It was however covered under warranty so no issues there.

Price wise, you can get a single Scala for $248.85 or the Powerset (2 scalas) for $438.85 from Ryda. Service at Ryda is also quite good.