I had just gotten on the Buell and was heading out to Dodges place on Friday night when I got a call from Steve & Danita asking if I wanted to come up to their unit at Noosa and stay overnight. Panda was also going to be there and we could all leave from there for the ride the next morning. I immediately jumped at the chance and after ringing Dodge to say that I would no longer be coming over, I hit the road for the 140km ride.
Now I had organised a VTX ride for Saturday to Tin Can Bay and by staying at Noosa it would cut a fair length of busy highway riding off the journey - also give me a chance to check Noosa out for the first time in a couple of years. I left as the sun was setting and rode most of the way under a clear night sky in warm conditions. I really enjoyed the ride up - traffic thinned the further I rode from Brisbane, and I felt like the Buell and myself were finally coming together. I had worked out how it needed to be ridden and how it responded and I was really getting to like it. The pain in my hands from leaning so far forward was now manageable - I could now shift my weight from them by way of gripping the tank with my legs for short periods. I was like a kid with a new toy.
I reached the turn-off and rode the 15kms of dark single lane road out to Noosa. I parked in Hastings St and then rang Steve - he rode down and I followed him back to their unit which is located right on the banks of the river. Once there, we had a few drinks and caught up.
On Saturday morning, Panda decided to head back home instead of doing the Tin Can Bay run - she had to deal with some family issue and so we rode with her back inland to Eumundi and the highway. She continued on home and we stopped in at the
Eumundi Markets and had a look around whilst waiting for Angry to show up. About half an hour later he arrived on his CB1300 - a very nice bike. We headed back to the unit at Noosa to pick up a few things and decided to still ride to Tin Can Bay via Pomona.
We hit the road for Pomona and then continued on to Kin Kin. There is a section of road on this stretch that was fantastic to ride on the Buell - lots of tight left-right-left combinations. The road itself isn't the greatest but the corners make up for it. I really enjoyed being able to throw the bike into some of these corners - something you just cannot do with a cruiser - and then power out. It really is a completely different experience and very, very addictive! There was quite a bit of gravel on a few of the corners but it was easy to spot - even so, I didn't need another near-road experience so took it easy. We rolled into Kin Kin and headed into the pub. The Country Life Hotel is a fantastic place - the pub itself is a classic Queensland hotel with a fantastic beer garden out the back. We sat ourselves under the marquis but there was an undercover area with a pool table and a 44 gallon bbq, all set in very well manicured gardens. After sharing a couple of drinks with the gardeners dog, we decided to move on.
Back on the bikes and on to Tin Can Bay, or so we thought. We followed the road out of Kin Kin for a few kms - some nice long straights that just had to be tried out. Angry took off on the CB and I tried to follow - hah, no way! I think he said he reached about 240 before backing off - I was still winding the Buell up, reaching about 170 but he was out of sight! At the end of the straight we hit gravel!! After following this for a couple of kms we spotted some guys loading their trail bikes onto a ute and pulled up to ask how far before the hard stuff again. They said it was a fair way so we decided to turn around and head back towards Boreen Pt instead of diverting to Gympie for the ride to Tin Can Bay.
We got back on the bitumen and then turned off onto the road to Boreen Pt - after a couple of kms we were on gravel again! The gravel roads were in pretty good nick with no corrugations, so we were able to ride them at a fairly decent speed. We persisted and rode for about 10kms, finally arriving at the main sealed road into Boreen Pt. We followed this road for a few kms and then pulled into the
Apollonian Hotel at Boreen Pt for lunch.
This pub apparently does the best lunches on a Sunday - pig on a spit - a lot of bike clubs make a day of it and ride up here for lunch, so it does get busy. But it was Saturday and so we, along with the few other people who were there, had to settle for what was on the menu . We ate in the beer garden in the shade of the trees - the meals were very nice, as were the beers. Some pretty smart kookaburras hung around, not scared of us at all, just sitting there waiting for leftovers, so we obliged. After about an hour or so we decided to head back to Noosa - back on the bikes and headed off for the ride back along the main sealed road. The road was in good condition with a lot of long sweeping corners and very little traffic, enabling us to open the bikes up a little.
We arrived back at Steve & Denita's unit in Noosa mid-afternoon - was good fun exploring new roads. Angry headed home and we jumped into the pool to cool off. I had a bit of a sleep later on and then around 9pm, decided to head down to Kingscliff. The 3 hour ride from the top of the Sunshine Coast to the bottom of the Gold Coast was awesome - the weather was still warm but storms were rolling in from the west. I did strike a bit of light rain and a bit of traffic, but nothing too bad. The lightening show out to the west was happening and I began to think that I would really cop it - luckily it stayed away until later on in the evening.
I really enjoyed the ride, arriving down to Kingy just after midnight. I had covered some good roads and a fair distance over the last 24 hours and the Buell performed beautifully.
Angry's CB1300
On the road....
The pub in Kin Kin
The boys
The gardeners dog
The bikes
The dirt road
...and more dirt...
The pub at Boreen Pt
The spit shed
Our lunch
Kookaburra's lunch
A happy Kookaburra
Labels: On the road
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