Well, another one of those days!! A few of us had decided to do a ride on Saturday before heading down to the Xmas drinks at the Logan Village RSL. We all met at Dodge's place at 9:30 on Saturday morning - Koff, Steve & Danita, Grasshopper, Dodge and myself - and decided that Dodge could lead us on a "mystery" ride. Headed off passing the city on the Riverside Expressway and then out through The Gap and up towards Mt Nebo. This road that winds it's way through Brisbane Forest Park is fantastic - one of the best roads I have ridden (more info on it can be found on
Motorcycle Paradise). Lots of curves and slow corners but some faster sections. What I find so enjoyable about this road is the effort you have to put in to ride it - really demands concentration and with sections of gravel across the road as well as plenty of leaves from a recent storm, this presented an even greater challenge. Anyway, we climbed up to Mt Nebo at a steady pace and decided to stop at a roadside cafe before reaching Mt Glorious for a drink and chat.
Once we had finished our refreshments we remounted and headed towards Mt Glorious. This section of road was carrying a bit more traffic and is also a favorite haunt for cops, so we held back a little. Once through the village and the rainforest fringed Northbrook Parkway, the road descends to Wivenhoe-Somerset Rd intersection via some cruiser-friendly sweepers that were a treat. Both Dodge and Grasshopper left the rest of us for dead, although we finally caught up with them at the intersection where we had a short break.
On the road again - from the intersection we turned right and headed towards Somerset. The road is pretty bumpy out this way and not all that speed friendly, but we gave it a good nudge opening right up on the straighter sections tending to stay close to the centre of the bitumen. Reached the Esk-Kilcoy Rd and wound our way into and out of Somerset, taking in the views of the dam as we exited. Man, the water level is low! You understand why we are on level 4 water restrictions when you ride out this way. From here we rode towards Kilcoy, reaching the Exchange Hotel just after midday.
Dodge put on a bit of a show for the people already at the pub by trying to mount a kerb and park his bike in the shade - the front tyre got up ok but when the back tyre wouldn't he just opened the throttle - he did finally manage to get his bike up albeit in a friggen great cloud of smoke!! We then went into the pub and got ourselves some lunch.
The food at this place was good but the music.....well it was crap! Christmas carols and winging, whining bloody singing. Yeah, yeah, I know it's that time of year but this was not appropriate for a country pub in my opinion. I would have preferred to be listening to country music instead of that stuff.......but only just. Could have put something decent on.
Anyway, we hit the road again and decided to head towards the coast, as the weather was quite warm. Rode towards Caboolture and then took the road heading out to Donnybrook, over the motorway. Now I assumed we were just going to head straight out to the coast as did the rest of us, but Dodge had other ideas and turned onto the road leading to the motorway. Of course we all missed the turn and saw him riding onto the motorway. We were able to turn and catch him but it is always fun riding with Dodge in the lead.
We followed the motorway south to the Bribie Island turnoff and then pulled in to the Sundowner Hotel for some refreshments. The coast really isn't that good up this way until you hit Caloundra and a ride to Bribie is just straight out and back, so we thought we would just have a drink and then head back through the city.
The ride down the motorway from here was great fun - it was "any which way you can" as we threaded our way through the traffic. We were extremely lucky just before turning on to the Gateway as a radar had been set up on the side of the road and most - Grasshopper excepted - saw it in time to slow. He braked hard but thinks he was still over the limit, so he will have to wait and see. We followed the Gateway to the Kingsford-Smith Drive turnoff and then took this towards the city.
Dodge was so excited about this part of the ride (such a kid) - there were tunnels!! We rode through a few of them making a hell of a noise and then peeled off to head through a few others he knew of. It was here that my bike decided to die - it just seemed like I ran out of fuel. Pulled off the road and tried to start it but it just wouldn't. I initially thought it was the fuel pump, but when I took the fuel cap off you could hear the air rush in more than usual and then the bike would start. I later found out that I had kinked the breather when I had the tank off last week and was able to fix it the next day.
As we rode through the city, Dodge was again working his stuff, telling us we will go here, but taking us there. He is a classic to follow, especially in traffic!! By this time Koff needed fuel so we headed towards the Valley and after fueling up, walked across to the Fringe Bar for a drink. We spent about half an hour in there before setting off to pick Eddie up and head down to the Logan Village RSL. We reached Eddie's place and then got on to the motorway heading south. Again we played around in the traffic before exiting and heading down to the Village via Waterford.
We arrived at the RSL about 6pm and watched as the others rolled up. By about 7:30 I had had enough - was a long hot day and I was buggered - so I hit the road with Koff as well as Steve and Denita. We reached the motorway and I headed north while they headed south. On the way home I passed a guy and chick who were on the side of the motorway with their bike. I stopped and asked if everything was ok. His starter button was dead - the battery and everything else was working but just his starter button had died. I lent him my tools but didn't have any allen keys, so we couldn't check his fuses. I suggested he ring the RACQ and let him use my phone. As I was of no further use I took off. I reckon I got about 500 mts down the motorway when my bike again decided to die. This time I knew to remove the fuel cap - she started straight away and I reached home at about 9:30 and crashed.
Was a long day, but a good one.
Meeting up at Dodge's place
Refreshments up on the mountain
A break after coming down the other side
Wivenhoe-Somerset Rd
At the Exchange in Kilcoy
Stevo and Dodge on the balcony
Grasshopper and the bikes
Enjoying an ale at the Fringe Bar in the Valley
Labels: On the road
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