There’s a village called Putty you know, it’s not just a road. You’ve seen the sign haven’t you? A thousand times, out of the corner of your eye, as you zoom past the turn-off, the little sign that says “Putty, 4KM”. But you’re focussed on the smooth left hander coming up aren’t you? You’re probably on your motard lining up that MV F4 that just went past you at 200KMPH and then braked hard to gingerly walk around that last corner. You’ve had to brake so hard behind him that you almost iMicked him. Oh, you probably don’t know what iMicking someone means do you? Well, that’s a story for another time. Anyway, you’re lining up that MV, grinning at the thought of putting your 50HP engine in front of his 200HP one. Putting your dirty, spoked, supermoto wheel ahead of his pristine, gold, lightweight forged aluminium Marchesini sportsbike wheel. But just as you’re ready to take him on the brakes on the outside, you spy the turn-off to your left out the corner of your eye. The turn-off you’ve ridden 3 hours to reach. “Ah Fuck It!” you shout audibly into your helmet. Lemme get this guy, I’ll turn around and come back. So you smash some sportsbikes on the twisties and before they can catch you in the straights, you head down a mysterious trail into the bush, the jungle closes behind you and you disappear. Its how you roll. Is SuperMoto. Fucken.
The Putty Road between Wilberforce and Milbrodale, a distance of 150KM, is mostly wilderness. A true and vast wilderness. Some call it boring but I have always found it fascinating. It is astounding that 80 kilometres, as the drone flies (probably a hundred as the drone drives), from the heart of one of the mega cities of the world, you come upon a jungle so thick and a silence so deep that it would frighten most adults to stand still in there alone. A jungle so encompassing that if you clamber up a ridge and look around, all you see is an ocean of green in every direction. Ever since I first hit the Putty road 10 years ago, I’ve wanted to explore the mysterious bushland that surrounds the tarmac. So with the Husky 610 under me and a map in my pocket, I went exploring on the dirt.
I started at the Colo river, which is one of the last, undammed big rivers in NSW. It sure is purdy. Crossing the river on a wooden plank bridge, I took a scenic back road that followed a stunning orange sandstone escarpment and hit the Putty road at Colo Heights. I filled up here, to the brim, as the Husky only has a 12L tank and I had a lot of dirt riding to do. I wasn’t even sure if I had enough fuel to make it back but fuck it, that’s part of the adventure eh.
The village of Putty is, well, umm….not really a village. Its 3 old, rural buildings. I continue down the Putty Valley road, and spy houses off the road, hidden in the folds of the hills. I can hear horses, smell cowdung and see wood smoke wafting in the air. I feel time slowing down within me. It’s magic. Soon there's a climb up a steep, loose hill and in seconds, the jungle laps me up. Over the next 4 hours, I cover 120KM on dirt, do not see a single human or vehicle, never leave the jungle, shit myself with fear, piss myself with joy and come out the other end gaping at the world with very different eyes.
The trail to Kindarun is steep and rough. Kanagroos were jumping across the trail with alarming regularity and I was getting seriously knocked around due to the stiff suspension. I stopped to calm my nerves and back off the damping on the forks. I didn’t have the shock adjusting tool with me but even softening the forks made a huge difference to my comfort and confidence on the rough stuff. What I didn’t realize though, was that there were serious jumping opportunities down the trail and when I got stuck into those, I was compressing the forks completely! You must understand and be patient with me as I am only a novice at dirt riding and do not yet know shit, about fuck.
Soon there's a fork in the trail called Baxters Junction. The trail going straight up-hill heads towards Kindarun mountain and is a shortcut back to Putty Road. The trail going left heads deeper into the forest towards the Wollemi wilderness. I went left. The trail is narrow and winds through fantastic eucalypt forest before climbing to a ridge that offers magnificent views of endless mountain ranges.
After this lookout, there are some steepish downhills peppered with large rocks. By now I was locking up the back wheel all the time and getting comfortable with the bike sliding around under me. It was starting to get seriously fun and I was upping the pace. In the open sections I started hanging my leg out in the corners and leaning it a bit more. I started getting on the gas early and intentionally sliding the back out of corners, which wasn't that hard really since I was on road tyres! It was all very fun but controlled. Woohoo! The Husky was HUGELY impressive. This is what I’d bought it for and I was finally fucken riding in the proper bush!
I reached a clearing in the forest called “The 3 ways” and it was a lonely spot. A trail went off to the left called the “Hunter Main Trail”. This trail heads to the Bylong Valley Way near Rylestone through the Wollemi National Park. It was once popular with off roaders but then in the 90s, one of the rarest plants in the entire world was discovered in this area and the trail was closed. The Wollemi Pine was thought to have gone extinct some millions of years ago but only recently one rock climbing park ranger stumbled on a few stands of these growing in some obscure gorge in the Wollemi National Park and apparently it sent the BotanyNerd forums into a tizzy.
Anyway, I took a breather before continuing on. The riding past 3 ways is epic! Open flowing dirt trails in closed forest with huge downhill whups!
If I actually knew what the fuck I was doing, I would’ve been doing epic jumps and shit on this section. Not that I didn’t have fun but after doing one too many jumps I almost went over the handlebars when I came over a high crest, got some air, my feet left contact with the footpegs and I looked at a big muddy puddle under me. I shat myself, closed my eyes and left it to god and the Husky. Obviously the Husky + God combo is a lot more potent than me. I landed awkwardly in the slippery mud, my left foot landed on the gear lever instead of the footpeg and clutchless downshifted into 3rd from first. But I came through the other side of the mud still upright. I really don’t know how the fuck I didn’t land head first over the bars into the mud. God must be Sikh or something.
I got the fear in me a bit after this as I hadn’t seen anyone on the trail all day and it was pretty remote. If I fuck myself up or the bike, it’ll be a long trek out of this forest probably involving an overnight stop in a cave. I didn’t really want to be drinking my piss to survive and lighting my farts to attract attention. That shit only sounds cool when you're reading about it in someone else's book.
The fear didn’t stop me exploring an old abandoned hut, deep in the forest but. I found it to be called “Sheepskin Hut”, built in the 1930s by cattle drovers who grazed cattle and sheep in these forests. It’s a fantastic setting in thick forest and would be a great place to camp. This whole area has quite an interesting settlement history and I’ve bought a couple of books with the intention of gaining more knowledge and insight.
The fear didn’t stop me exploring an old abandoned hut, deep in the forest but. I found it to be called “Sheepskin Hut”, built in the 1930s by cattle drovers who grazed cattle and sheep in these forests. It’s a fantastic setting in thick forest and would be a great place to camp. This whole area has quite an interesting settlement history and I’ve bought a couple of books with the intention of gaining more knowledge and insight.
From here on I followed the Commission Trail along some scenic ridgelines and then all the way down to the Putty Road. Along the way there was an interesting diversion up a steep, rough track to a great spot next to a power line. It gave commanding views over a wilderness thick with mystery, including the distinctive ancient volcanic peak of Mt Yengo, which is of deep aboriginal significance.
The lower sections of Commission road are quite open and it was exhilarating to open the throttle a bit after being restricted to 2nd and 3rd gear running for the past hour or so.
I emerged out on the Putty Road near the Howes Valley at the southern end of the 10 mile. I felt like I’d been ejected into space from a constricted capsule and just stood there for a good 5 minutes taking it all in. Then I hit the tar. Tar! I couldn’t believe a road could be so smooth after being bashed around for 4 hours! I did one of the smoothest runs of the 10 mile I’ve ever done. No braking, just flowing consistent speed. By the time I filled up 11.2L of fuel in Bulga, I’d clocked up over 250Ks on the tank, half of them on proper dirt roads which were slow going. Amazing fuel mileage from a pretty performant engine. All up I did over 450Ks for the day including 150Ks on dirt, long stints at 130 on the highway, city traffic and tarmac twisties. Sure, my arse wasn’t exactly enjoying the run home on the Putty in the gathering dusk but it was nothing a bit of HTFU didn’t fix.
This bike has blasted open my world of possibilities. Fucken Husky does everything and looks great while doing it! What a great bike.
I emerged out on the Putty Road near the Howes Valley at the southern end of the 10 mile. I felt like I’d been ejected into space from a constricted capsule and just stood there for a good 5 minutes taking it all in. Then I hit the tar. Tar! I couldn’t believe a road could be so smooth after being bashed around for 4 hours! I did one of the smoothest runs of the 10 mile I’ve ever done. No braking, just flowing consistent speed. By the time I filled up 11.2L of fuel in Bulga, I’d clocked up over 250Ks on the tank, half of them on proper dirt roads which were slow going. Amazing fuel mileage from a pretty performant engine. All up I did over 450Ks for the day including 150Ks on dirt, long stints at 130 on the highway, city traffic and tarmac twisties. Sure, my arse wasn’t exactly enjoying the run home on the Putty in the gathering dusk but it was nothing a bit of HTFU didn’t fix.
This bike has blasted open my world of possibilities. Fucken Husky does everything and looks great while doing it! What a great bike.
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