Thought there would be more riders as it was such a great day – but maybe the Snowy Ride had dwindled our numbers somewhat. Rider briefing had, we set off along Lanyon Drive, through Queanbeyan and onto the Kings.
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| Trevor explains the finer aspects of cornering |
Our mandatory Bateman’s Bay run coffee stop – Braidwood Bakery. And who should we meet: Trevor Macleod, who had missed the hookup in Hume and taken the shorter route from home. After a leisurely coffee, we got back on the road, with me having a crack at getting some GoPro video happening of the run down the Clyde. Fail – USB plug on my ‘GoPro battery eliminator’ gizmo decided it didn’t want to stay in the power socket under the vibration, and it had stopped recording within 5km of Braidwood. Damn.
Road was rather devoid of traffic, save for a few that didn’t allow us a clean run down the Clyde – except for Andrew, who has a knack at finding an open road every time we do this run.
Arrived at the Bay, just in time for lunch of Fish & Chips. Managed to park on the pavement right outside the F&C shop. Clearly our timing was perfect, as a sizeable group of riders from Victoria, en-route back from the Snowy Ride, arrived moments later. They had to park on the grass.After a leisurely lunch, we bade our farewells to Peter Arday, who was staying on to meet up with his beloved Suzanne and friends, and Trevor made his own way. A quick discussion on which was to go home (long route via Nowra and Nerriga, or direct) – Direct won out, and Andrew made some feeble excuse about having to get home and do some shopping.
Discussion had about where to fuel up, and all decided there is enough to get to Braidwood or beyond.
Some tape on the GoPro gizmo to hold it in – and we set off at a reasonable pace up the hill. I’m thinking ‘This should be good’, but we got gazumped by (dare I say it) dumb Canberra drivers towing boats and trying to pass on the slow sections another car towing a caravan. I got through, but then he pulled out between me and Adam without warning, and almost took Adam and Neil out.
Worse was yet to come – just above one of the tight hairpins, another Canberra ute with a boat had its’ tailgate open, and he dropped some of his load out the back. And what did he want to do? Back the boat down the hill to pick up his lost load.
Arrived back at Braidwood for an ice cream and a break, although some decided to head straight home after filling up. The GoPro has not finished with me yet – while the concept of the battery eliminator is good, “Note to self – switch off GoPro before switching off bike”. I found if you do not do this graceful shutdown, the camera does not write to the storage card correctly, and no footage results. Gives me an excuse to do the run again!
A pleasant day out with fellow riders, thanks folks.
Chris
Riders:
- Chris Dietzel: Kawasaki GTR1400 (ride leader)
- Peter Arday: Honda ST1300
- Jeff Heiler: Triumph Rocket III
- Neil Goldfinch: Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird
- Adam Kral: Suzuki GSXR1100 (a newby! – an associate of Garry McCurley)
- Mark and Cathy Walker: Honda NT700V Deauville.
- Gary Thomas: Suzuki DL650 VStrom
- Andrew Campbell: Kawasaki ZX14R
- And caught up with - Trevor Macleod: Yamaha FJR1300
