Unmun Dam
There was talk of an absence of autumn this year, of piling headlong from a late summer straight into winter. We did have a cold snap around the time of the Ulsan ride which prompted the Wombatters to announce an end to organized rides this year. But all the things that we love about autumn have hit in full force and the bikes beckon again for a few more weeks. The mountains are nothing short of amazing, red, green, yellow and all other shades that take your minds off the freshness of the mornings. The afternoons are again reaching up to 17 degrees, even if the unseasonably warm weather is done and dusted by 5 o’clock and it is dark by six.
Last Friday night I had no plans for riding at all and by Sunday night I had ridden a grand total of 1 hour for every 4 the weekend had to offer. Saturday was Se-yeon’s first group riding experience on her new machine as we took a slow plow through some narrow concrete roads through some of the most spectacular autumn scenery you could imagine (see attached photos). It was very disappointing that Simon’s Vulcan 500 crapped its last nappy less than 1km into the ride. We hope to see him back, bigger and better than ever for next season.
Sunday saw me riding like a bat out of hell through the single digit degree air up to Eonyang where I met Russian George and Rafael for a brisk bash up and over Gajisan, around the Unmun dam and home. It was the first time I have ever ridden exclusively with sports bikes, it was also the fastest ride I have ever done. The magna had no issues at all keeping pace, the heavy one-disk-one-drum bastards don’t pull up so super well, but they certainly are grunty enough to hold their own hauling arse UP any mountain, the steeper the better. It was a great day, it was a great weekend of extremes. I think we averaged about 35kmh on Saturday due to the conditions of the roads required to see the most beautiful mountains in the area. Sunday the colours of the leaves looked more like an LSD induced swirling blur. But there was one slow section on Sunday …
Riding home from Gajisan to Miryang there is about a 20 kilometre twisty turny up and downhill stretch. It was packed to the gunnels with traffic flowing at about walking speed in each direction. I did what any self respecting motorcyclist would do and sat on the middle white line and puttered up between my lane and the slowly oncoming cars. I reasoned that they were “leafers” (if you don’t know what a ‘leafer’ is, do yourself a big favour and watch more ‘Family Guy’). I would guess that at about 30 minutes and 15 kilometres into the traffic jam, which was starting to piss me off by this stage, the traffic just ground to a halt in my lane. The oncoming traffic was still moving but my lane had come to a dead stop and I noticed a markedly increased police presence. Reason had it that there had been an accident, the pieces of the puzzle were starting to fit together. I kept moving along the white line, the coppers didn’t seem even slightly interested in my flagrant violation of all rules and road etiquette. Rounding a particularly tight corner at about the 20km mark was the astonishing sight of about 30 coppers gathered around 2 busses. All traffic was stopped behind the busses and the oncoming traffic was being let through by the only 2 officers who seemed to be doing anything at all.
When our lane was instructed to move I had wormed my way to the front of the line and was therefore the first of us to see about 50 middle-aged men wearing identical red bandannas, sitting cross-legged across most of the road, listlessly pumping their fists into the air and dispiritedly chanting some banal slogan. They had probably been protesting all day, but looked like they had been there for weeks. Directly behind them were about 100 riot coppers, fit young men in full armour with helmets, shields and batons laying in their laps as they sunned themselves in the early autumn afternoon mountainside glory. They obviously and comfortably outnumbered the protesters about 2 to 1. Most of the protesters appeared to wish they were somewhere else and most of the riot squad appeared to be contentedly napping. I couldn’t help myself, as I inched past the languorous protesters I pulled in the clutch and let go with three or four quick lots of “BBBWWWWAAARRRP” and gave the protesters a quad-exhaust magna salute. I had hoped they would appreciate it, but I hadn’t expected them to break their robotic routine and simultaneously erupt into a huge “ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRR!!!” I also hadn’t expected 100 riot coppers to simultaneously sit bolt upright and start grabbing at their shields and batons and shit. In light of the unexpected events of the previous few seconds, I let my clutch out and set about getting the fuck out of there as quick as I could. I kept a firm eye in the rearview mirror, not because I expected trouble, just out of curiosity and before turning the next corner was able to see that, just like a sleeping Booky who has heard something that sounds almost-but-not-quite-exactly-like rattling car keys, they were laying down just as fast as they had gotten up out of their slumber. I’m not sure if I’m relieved or disappointed. I can’t figure out whether starting a riot would have made me a minor celebrity or a huge arsewipe … I guess I’ll never know.
October Ride
The official riding season is over. October has come and gone. There will be spontaneous rides between here and April, but we agreed as a group that the Ulsan ride was the end of Wombat Corea overnighters for 2007. Ulsan, what a ride! It was a funny mixture of fantastic and rat-shit. It was strange in that it was the first ever Wombat ride that took part, almost entirely, on national roads. They were out-of-the-way national roads with little traffic and nice curves (for the most part), but suffice it to say that it wasn’t a taxing ride. We had a really good turnout, 13 Womabatters cutting loose up the 25 and heading toward Cheongdo.
It was really cold first up; I mean bollock-freezing cold until about 11am. The sun was out all day (it was stunning autumn weather) but we just couldn’t feel it until well after Miryang. From Cheongdo we scooted over to Unmun. It was such a pretty ride. As mentioned it wasn’t strenuous or twisty, but it was really sweet once the sun started to have some effect.
The leaves hadn’t started to turn, but all the autumn fruits were in full bloom and we were in apple, pear and persimmon country. Miles and miles of orchards, beautiful, well maintained roads and 13 members on 9 bikes cutting a strip up past Unmun Dam, it was magnificent. Lunch in Unmun was a departure from the norm for the Wombat crew. We usually haul down some Chinese and get on the road again a.s.a.p. but due to lack of choice in a tiny out of the way town we settled in for a Korean lunch and spent a good hour and a half carrying on and reliving the year just past. We headed up to Gyeongju on a magnificent country road and out the other side over a spellbinding mountain. That’s where there good times stopped rolling.
We had a decision to make; take the direct route to Ulsan on a main road or head to the coast and putter down seaside. We took a vote on a street corner in Gyeongju: Bill and Lisa for the direct route, 10 people for the coast and one abstention. We took the coast. Suffice it to say that 13 people wanted to see the sea, but 2 of them knew what lay ahead. Democracy is well and good, one man one vote is an inspiring ideal but the same side of that coin could be described as ‘mob rule’ or ‘dictatorship of the masses’ and we must all agree that it has its limits. It stirred some new thoughts in me for the running of the club, or what loosely passes for leadership. 2 people knew what they were talking about and 11 others led us into 2 and a half hours of road works, construction zones, beach going pedestrians, unfinished roads, 30 year old roads and generally unpleasant terrain with a fantastic sea view for about 35% of the duration. We arrived in Ulsan on dusk (we planned to arrive between 3 and 4pm) and we set up camp in a yeogwan that Bill and Lisa have become specialists at picking for us. (How is it that they always pick hotels with bathrooms the size of small apartments?) Russian George and his lovely wife Marina put on an amazing open fire BBQ of marinated shazlik pork and a spread of side dishes. Music played, the night rocked on outside with a few cartons of beer from the local expat club. After the BBQ and festivities we detoured past George and Marina’s home and on to a bar with live music and cheap drinks. Parky and I headed home at about 12 due to a busy Sunday, but rumors of 3 and 4am were floating around from the others. As per normal Parky, Pat, Booky and I rode home early on Sunday morning and had another stunning ride on a somewhat warmer day.
Finally a big shout out to Simon for making it on his first ride with us, after all this time. And also cheers to Maciej on his last ride before heading home to Canada. Thanks to George and Marina and their mates for all their work putting together a marvelous show and we hope to see you guys and Rafael (pronounced RrFLl ;) again next year.
Let’s see what next year brings, I have just last week sold the magna. Parky and I are looking for a cruising change after 2 years on the muscle bike. But you’ll be excited to know though that we have, in true biker fashion, bought a station wagon.
September Ride, Mungyeong
I came away from the September WOMBAT ride with 2 points dominating my thoughts. The first one is that this country never ceases to amaze me! It’s not a big country and just when you think you have seen it all, it just gets better and better. The second is that the Wombat Riders Club is Alive and Well! Earlier this year Wombat RC was struggling to find its feet as a motorcycling enthusiasts club. We were torn between the ideals of a loose group of guys and girls who go riding for the sheer enjoyment of it and a structured, hierarchical, dedicated Band of Brothers. In what might seem an oxymoron we dedicated a lot of energy to keeping our club relaxed. Long story short, some guys have broken off and created a die-hard club of devotees (www.rottendeadmc.com and I wish them all the best with that) and Wombat RC has enjoyed a resurgence of support and enthusiasm as a laissez-faire, jocund, unstructured, unregulated bunch of mates, just the way it was originally envisioned.
The September ride took place from Gimhae to Mungyeong, at a very relaxed pace of 11 months after it was originally planned. It was a long ride, 7:45am take off, about 5:30pm arrival. It covered some of the most beautiful country you could possibly imagine and it was the most immaculately planned ride I have ever been on, bar none. A huge shout out to Bill and Lisa for a superb job done on the organization of this ride.
In what has become a bit of a Wombat RC tradition, we left Mungyeong on Sunday in two lots. Some people need to get home early on Sunday, some people simply love the morning ride, some prefer to lay in. So in an attempt to become the kings of laissez-faire, everyone does whatever the hell they like. It has never really been spoken about but we seem to do it every time and it seems to keep everyone happy, so why not?
The October ride has been planned thusly; it will start in Gimhae at some unspecified time in the morning and it will end in Ulsan mid afternoon at Russian George’s place. I have suggested following the ‘69’ from Wondong to Unmun, then moving up toward Gyeongju a bit, crossing over to the coast and following it down to Ulsan. This is a magnificent ride, but I will accept that Wondong to Unmun has been done dozens of times (although never as a group) and am seriously open to any suggestions about alternative routes. Only the start and finishing points are locked in at the moment. Another note to remember is that it will be postponed until the third week of October due to the Chuseok holidays.
November is penciled in as a Namwon ride, and will be our last big ride for the year. We may do something impromptu in December and/or March depending on the obvious factors but I won’t be planning another ride until April. Planning winter rides last year nearly did my head in.
Finally, I want to say what a magnificent time I’ve had since the summer break. Something had been missing since the Namhae ride and all that followed. But the simple format, unstructured and unsung fits me like a glove, and I think most of the other members too. Sancheong, Yokjido and now the magnificent Mungyeong rides have all proven to me that the Wombat’s got its groove back.
Wombat Corea and A.M.S.C. do Sancheong
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