ARR 143: Cuba Riding the Revolution; Digging Mudgee

cuba touring

riding the revolution Travelling the Cuban landscape on a modern Harley-Davidson — with Guevara right by your side…

88 | aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER

aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 89

cuba touring

STORY: RODERICK EIME PHOTOS: RODERICK EIME, LUIS MAR, MIGUEL ANGEL MEANA, SERGEY KAMENEV, MARIA ELENA GIOKA

“It seems like I’m the only member of the family who has inherited my father’s love of motorcycles and that passion helps me connect with him”

I

n truth, this story begins in January 1952 when two 20-something adventurers climbed aboard a spluttering 1939 Norton 500cc motorbike, dubbed La Poderosa (“The Mighty One”), and set out from Buenos Aires on a grand adventure across South America.

That “grand adventure” evolved into the seminal book and film, The Motorcycle Diaries, which quickly rose to cult status and set in train a series of momentous events that preceded my arrival in Havana.

The man at the centre of these events was none other than Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the Argentinean Marxist revolutionary and posthumous pop art icon who, along with Fidel Castro, yanked Cuba from the yoke of its corrupt capitalist masters and installed one of the most durable regimes of modern times.

As a mere crumb on the breakfast table of history, my own adventure was nowhere near as grand, but still tantalising nonetheless in the knowledge that all these happenings led me to my meeting with Ernesto GuevaraMarch, the youngest son of Che, and fellow motorcycle enthusiast.

“I’ve loved motorcycles for as long as I can remember,” Ernesto tells me as we sit at the bar of his favourite cafe in Havana, the Harley-

90 | aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER

themed Chacon 162 in the UNESCO-listed Old Town Centre. That’s his red 1950 Flathead hanging on the wall. “It seems like I’m the only member of the family who has inherited my father’s love of motorcycles and that passion helps me connect with him.”

Che died in a hail of bullets in Bolivia in 1967 while trying to spread more Marxist revolution. His youngest son was just two.

Nowadays Ernesto Jnr walks the streets just

like any other anonymous Cuban, his famous father’s iconic likeness on every street corner, t-shirt, postcard and fridge magnet. It’s no wonder, then, that Ernesto likes to talk about Harleys, not his dad.

Ernesto has another five ‘50s-era Flatheads at home, salvaged from former government duties like police and post office. There’s also a 1939 Norton built from parts of the original bike his father rode 55 years ago and that was used in the aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 91

cuba touring

2004 movie. Then there are the 14 modern HarleyDavidson machines owned by the tour company with the unsurprising name, La Poderosa Tours.

For a guy who trained as a lawyer, Ernesto sure has an obsession with motorcycles, restoring them and riding them. “After so many years they become part of you,” he explains.

“While I’m told there are still tens of thousands of pre-1960 US cars on the road, there are perhaps just 100 or so Harleys of the same era”

INTO THE TIME WARP For anyone who’s been to Cuba or even seen a postcard, there’s no mistaking the “time warp” atmosphere around Havana and indeed the whole island, making the Caribbean republic like no other place on earth. So how did this peculiar circumstance come about?

In 1959, Fidel, his brother Raul and Ernesto’s dad led a violent Communist revolution, throwing out the unpopular US-backed Batista government and installing themselves as supreme leaders while “nationalising” all foreign assets. The US responded by imposing harsh trade sanctions, forcing Castro to make pals with the Soviets. When the USSR collapsed 1991, the regime found themselves in a tough corner and the resolve of the people was sorely tested. Fidel resigned in 2008, handing over to his younger brother, Raul.

Cuba has struggled on but has relaxed some of its restrictions and the population’s living standing is slowly rising, mainly through tourism. Fidel died in 2016, aged 90.

The result of all this funny business is that Cuba’s progress effectively stopped dead in 92 | aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER

TIME TO RIDE

1959, leaving the country’s fleet of private cars, trucks and motorcycles the only ones on the road. Some Russian Lada and Moskvich cars were exchanged for the so-called “dessert economy” products of sugar, tobacco and coffee during the Soviet period, but these uninspiring vehicles have not fared so well.

Necessity being the mother of invention, Cubans managed to keep their much-loved US vehicles going with hybrid engine transplants,

lashings of body filler and plenty of fairy dust.

It’s no myth that the roads are alive with these old classics from the ‘40s and ‘50s, many gleaming in apparent showroom condition used as tourist taxis, while others are just holding on for dear life in sympathy with much of the city’s architecture.

The motorcycles from this era, however, are much harder to find. While I’m told there are still tens of thousands of pre-1960 US cars on the road, there are perhaps just 100 or so Harleys of

the same era. Most motorcycles in current use are obscure Russian makes, Chinese things or the once emblematic East German marque, MZ. The working Harleys are cherished and coddled by their loving owners, called “Harlistas”, and became the subject of the excellent book, Cuban Harleys, Mi Amor, published by Backroad Diaries of Germany. Every February, Cuba holds its own unofficial “Harley Days” (called a “Concentration”) at the resort town of Varadero,

100 clicks to the east of Havana, with prizes bestowed on the best bikes.

In the last few years, the embers of capitalism have been carefully reignited. Private individuals can now earn valuable income (after paying a government licence fee) from renting rooms, driving taxis, operating bars and restaurants, or developing an enterprise with foreign capital like Ernesto has done with his glamorous, Greekborn, business-savvy wife, Maria Elena.

It’s time to ride and our smaller-thanusual contingent is heading out east on an itinerary called “Fuser 1”, a seven-day, six-night excursion from La Havana to Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Santa Clara and Varadero. “Fuser” was Che’s childhood nickname, apparently bestowed on him by his rugby teammates.

“Fuser 2” is similar, but eight nights.

After the first day riding around Havana on my allotted MY12 Dyna Switchback, pinching myself and checking out the sights, the significance of the occasion suddenly dawns on me as we gather for customary photographs under a massive, eight-storey likeness of Che on the side of the Ministry of the Interior in Plaza de la Revolución. The legendary man is quite literally everywhere and I imagine young Ernesto feels quite relaxed about cashing in on his father’s image seeing how everyone else in aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 93

cuba touring

AD Cuba and many others around the world are already doing just that.

The following day we set out along Route 1, the Soviet-built six-lane freeway that runs almost all the way down the centre of the island. I say almost because somewhere around half way the money ran out and the freeway reverts to a narrow two-lane B-road. But that’s fine and the traffic is typically light. We’re soon wending our way around the few belching 50-year-old trucks, wobbly Soviet-era taxis and modern Chinese vans all going (or trying to go) much faster than they should between crater-sized potholes. Our luggage and mandatory government tour guide and driver follow in the support van.

After some 230km, we stop in the square in Cienfuegos, not far from where the abortive

94 | aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER

CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion took place in 1961. We stroll the historic plaza before setting off on the 80km to the UNESCO-listed city of Trinidad, renowned for its immaculately preserved, 500-year-old colonial architecture.

For giggles we motor around the old cobbled streets as the sun sets, drawing curious stares from locals and tourists alike. It’s warm work in the tropical sun, so the beers are welcome at day’s end, as is the music, cigars, rum and sleep.

Next we head due north across the island to the far shore, through villages and hamlets that must have been very similar to when Che and his guerillas marched through the provinces in 1958 on the path to liberation.

Roads sweep and undulate through the lush mountains of Parque Natural Topes de

Collantes before skirting Santa Clara and its busy rural plains and heading east toward the famous resort district of Cayo Santa María.

The narrow roads around here are used by all manner of transport, from vans and lorries to donkey carts and motorcycles. It’s an interesting, sometimes hair-raising ride through these parts.

The resorts in Cayo Santa María are all the property of the giant Gaviota group, essentially an offshoot of the military and on Trump’s blacklist, but nonetheless provide valuable employment to a great many Cubans. Before arriving at the resort of Melia Las Dunas, we ride across the 50km-long causeway (Pedraplen) that took 10 years to build and was completed in 1999. There are still signs of the

aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 95

cuba touring

comprehensive battering the resort took in last September’s Hurricane Irma, but the clean-up has been remarkably swift.

On our way out — and back across this incredible causeway — we stop at the township of Santa Clara, a place that has become a veritable memorial to Che himself.

It was here in the closing days of 1958 that Che and his band of 340 guerrillas, along with sympathetic locals, defeated a force of almost 4000 government troops by derailing their train and capturing and executing their leaders. It was the decisive moment in the revolution and led to the almost immediate collapse of the government.

96 | aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER

Santa Clara has preserved the site of the decisive battle by turning the train wreck into a museum and erecting a giant mausoleum to the memory of Che. When the hero of Cuba’s remains were discovered in Bolivia in 1995, along with several of his fellow combatants, they were returned to Cuba and interred in the mausoleum with full military honours in 1997. The tour groups all line up here for obligatory photos with the towering bronze statue of Ernesto’s dad dominating the scene. It’s a macabre irony to be standing here at this sacred place, high-fiving and fist pumping ourselves with the youngest member of that family in the birthplace of his mother and the burial site of his famous father.

With the spirit of that revolution still burning brightly everywhere you look throughout Cuba, it seems a natural undertaking to tour the country effortlessly astride a modern Harley-Davidson, carrying our own flag of revolution as the barriers to the world are slowly dissolved.

Che is quoted as saying: “The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe! You have to make it fall.” And in that spirit, young Ernesto is holding true to his father’s credo by leading from the front and, as part of an eager wave of minor entrepreneurs, forging a new path to the future.

Viva la Revolution! aRr aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 97

cuba touring

DOING IT‌ La Poderosa Tours offers either six- or eight-night pre-arranged itineraries or can construct customised trips to suit individual or group requirements.

Travelling to Cuba is not without its challenges and could easily occupy an entire article, so it is this writer’s strong recommendation to use an experienced and specialised agent.

La Poderosa Tours are represented in Australia by Movidas Journeys, a boutique specialist South American and Latin American agency renowned for personalised service.

For details about joining a HarleyDavidson tour with La Poderosa in Cuba, contact Robyn Smith on 1300 853 752 or visit movidas.com.au Disclaimer: The writer travelled as a guest of La Poderosa Tours, paying his own airfares and supplementary accommodation.

98 | aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER

RIDES WE LOVE: MUDGEE

DIGGING MUDGEE

NSW’s central west reveals its best roads to a bunch of old blokes on a brace of the latest Triumph road bikes. If they can do it, so can you

116 | aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER

aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 117

RIDES WE LOVE: MUDGEE

WORDS: RODERICK EIME PHOTOS: RODERICK EIME, DEB DICKSONSMITH, NONTHAPUN (MAM) CHONKEEREE, MUDGEE REGION TOURISM

A

midsummer ride in NSW’s Central West was always going to be risky weather-wise, but the Sky Gods cut us some slack. The plan was hatched with the “Grey Ghosts” months ago to ride out via the Putty Road and the Hunter to Mudgee astride a “Triumphant Quartet” comprising a pair of sensational Triples, the new Bonnie Bobber and tenacious Tiger Explorer 1200.

Of course, a ride anywhere should begin with the Putty Road, so after a fortifying Big Breakfast at McGraths Hill, the four follicly challenged riders headed north on Sydney’s arguably greatest riding road to Denman in the lower Hunter for lunch.

Unsurprisingly, the two Triples (a Street 765 R and Speed 1050 R) set the pace, with Paul in his usual lead position and the rest trying to keep up. The ever-present threat of double demerits meant his throttle hand was carefully restrained as we wound our way through the Garland and Howes Valleys northward. The magnificent river gorges never fail to thrill and with the energetic buzz of the smaller Triple singing its chorus in concert with the

118 | aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER

throaty baritone of the big Speed, the quartet’s melodious progress was easy to follow.

Instead of the common approach to the Mudgee region via Lithgow, the verdant dales of Bylong and Breakfast Creek made a superb alternate route into Rylstone that revealed excellent roads overhung by the massive Wollemi cliffs in the distance. An alternate (untested) route direct to Mudgee would be via Wollar and Munghorn Gap. With accommodation pressure on beds in Mudgee over the holiday period, it was much simpler to find digs in one the several satellite villages that complement the region and add

colour and variety to your ride. We settled into rustic surrounds at the Coomber Guest House at Carwell, on the outskirts of Rylstone.

Preferring the basic Shearers’ Quarters over the Homestead, it was a perfect choice for a bunch of travelling blokes and even the +1s got into the swing of it. In winter, a roaring fire would illuminate the outdoor undercover seating area.

Well away from the traffic and the few street lights, our only disturbances were cackling cockatoos, bleating sheep, and an ominous amber moon that threw eerie shadows through the spectral branches of a dead gum tree at the end of the paddock. aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 119

RIDES WE LOVE: MUDGEE

Our supporting 4WD came in handy for the trip into Rylstone’s Globe Hotel for dinner.

Note: Thursday night is Schnitty night!

Rylstone is blessed with a tight-knit, proactive community that hosts artisan and produce markets every month and a 20-point, self-guided historical walk you can take at your leisure. Or not.

After a hurried tidy-up and necessary ablutions, the entourage set off for Mudgee along the old rail route via the tiny siding at Lue, where the old pub and abandoned railway station create a mini ghost town. The Gwabegar railway line was opened in 1882, closed in 1992, reopened in 2000 and then closed again. Apparently a section for tourist 120 | aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER

trains will be (re)reopened this year for special heritage trains. Hope so.

It’s impossible to wrap up Mudgee’s numerous attractions in just a couple of paragraphs, so I would implore you to go see this impressive rural township of 10,000 people for yourself. The go-ahead tourism team have lots of helpful information and you can get mid-week accommodation deals via their website.

If you only have time for one winery visit, make sure you swing by Robert Stein’s off the Ulan Road, north-east of the township. Here you can see the family’s collection of 16 historic motorcycles ranging from a 1927 Douglas, through a ‘66 Triumph Thunderbird and ‘76

BMW R60. You can even buy your favourite wine, like Norton Shiraz or Triumph Cab Sav. True.

If you decide to stay in Mudgee, it’s always a fun night at Roth’s Wine Bar in central Market Street. And if you’re tempted to try one of their 10/80, Lucijet or Diesel cocktails, make sure you get a cab. You’ll need to.

After carb and coffee loading at the Mudgee Bakery, we set a northerly course to Gulgong which the Grey Ghosts remember only too well from the $10 notes in their first pay packets.

Six-dollar lunches at the Prince of Wales Hotel are a bargain, but go the fish and chips. Burgers were not so flash.

Be on your best behaviour along the main Castlereagh Highway as we had to pass a most aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 121

RIDES WE LOVE: MUDGEE

STAY AND PLAY • Coomber Guesthouse coomberguesthouse.com (02) 63794503 • Royal Hotel Capertee caperteeroyalhotel.com (02) 6359 0172 • Robert Stein Winery, Mudgee robertstein.com.au (02) 6373 3991 • Mudgee Regional Tourism Information visitmudgeeregion.com.au 02 6372 1020 • Hillbilly Cider, Bilpin hillbillycider.com.au Bikes supplied by Triumph Motorcycles Australia triumphmotorcycles.com.au Disclaimer: The riders travelled, stayed and ate at their own expense Images: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ rodeime/albums/72157690302200721

ROUTE NOTES

forlorn-looking Harley rider who’d fallen victim to PC Plod’s carefully laid trap. Henry Lawson Drive to the east is the less-conspicuous route.

Next it was time to investigate the 140km Mudgee-Hill End-Sofala-Ilford section, which is now fully sealed after the last hotmix was laid between Hill End and Sofala in 2015. And what a ride it is!

The Triples simply ate up the fresh tarmac, making easy work of the tight, well-cambered corners and short straight sections. This old rider with a dodgy coccyx sat comfortably all day in the Street’s saddle, while that same comfort was not enjoyed on the Bobber. Despite a gorgeous torquey 1200cc twin, the bicycle-style 122 | aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER

seat was not one for me to sit in all day. With its 9.1L fuel tank, lack of cornering clearance and limited rear suspension movement, the Bobber is a cool town bike but not much fun on the bumpy sections at speed for chaps like Dave and I, who could shed a few kilos.

The Tiger (Dora the Explorer) is one heck of a bike. Big and burly, it suited taller Stu and his pillion belle, Mam, who rode it imperiously for two solid days like a champ. The big brutal 1200cc triple delivered torque and acceleration at the drop of a hat and the adjustable windshield, although small, was certainly welcome. While the Tiger 800 was not tested, critics have reported it is a well-balanced, tractable machine

for regular (sub-180cm) sized blokes.

At day’s end, we lobbed at the 135-year-old Royal Hotel Capertee on the Castlereagh Highway. The old pub has undergone several renovations since I first visited about 10 years ago. The rooms are dinkum pub-style with shared facilities, and there’s now an enlarged dining area away from the front bar. A longtime favourite with touring bike groups, there’s even a shed to lock up your bike at night.

We wrapped up our little adventure with a stop at the Hillbilly Cider shed at Bilpin, where you can partake in a chilled, non-alcoholic “rider cider” before pushing on to the finish at Richmond. aRr

00.00: McDonald’s McGraths Hill. Brekkie.

88.00: The Grey Gum International Cafe.

Piss stop.

211.00: Hotel Denman. Lunch.

339.00: Rylestone. Dinner and overnight.

(Alt. route via Wollar to Mudgee) 395.00: Mudgee via Lue. Morning tea 432.00: Gulgong via Henry Lawson Drive.

Lunch 527.00: Hill End. Rehydrate 592.00: Ilford via Sofala. Watch for wildlife 618.00: Capertee. Dinner, drinks and overnight 742.00: Richmond via Lithgow and Bilpin.

Cider stop Map URL https://goo.gl/maps/ mhckkpEcyWJ2 aUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 123