A small team of five keen riders assembled at Caltex Nicholls at 0920 for a 0930 departure. Morning in Canberra was overcast and threatening but we all had faith in the weather forecasters and magic prevailed. Following the excellent brief by yours truly, we mounted and headed out along the Barton Hwy. Just after Hall we found that road works had finally commenced on the dual carriageway extension with 60 then 40 kph restrictions for the first short stretch. Not fussed we soon found the run along the Barton excellent with no delaying traffic all the way down the Hume to the Jugiong turn-off.
The turn for Jugiong was made easier to see as someone had conveniently parked a Subaru Impress well into the steel guard rails at the junction. Police had taped off the area just incase the driver returned and tried to push it home on its remaining two wheels. The Long Track Pantry was as always an excellent stop to stretch your legs. It’s obviously popular as the Pantry was very busy for mid-week. Jugiong road up to Harden was as usual superb. It’s a great stretch of road clearly engineered and designed by a fellow biker. We passed a few like minded riders enjoying this stretch heading south as well.
At Harden three of us thought it prudent to top up down in Murrumburrah before hitting the Bakery. This was namely those with the well designed bikes, where the engine is the centre of attention rather than the fuel tank - it’s a no brainer Hey!
Jackson Bakery in Harden was a good choice but also none of the usual cafes in Murrumburrah are open in the week. The Bakery was well patronised by locals and travellers alike. The Bakery is well laid out, offers good home cooked food and has a large open area to rest and stretch. Here we bumped into some Ulysses members from Wagga. They were out for the day and on their way down to Jugiong then heading back towards Wagga. Lunch over we also decided to head off and make our way back to Canberra.
The return ride was extended slightly to make it more interesting. We headed towards Boorowa along Cunningar road then took a right at the ’T’ junction on to Hughstonia road towards Binalong. These roads are a little more enjoyable and well away from traffic - real farm country. The rationale here was to avoid road works on Burley Griffin Way. As it turned out after three kilometres along Cunningar road we hit road works with soft dirt for 200 metres where a 10 ton growler was lifting old bitumen creating a mini dust storm for use to ride through and laying a soft dirt and gravel stretch:-(
Once through Binalong and back on Burley Griffen Way four of the five riders decided to head for Yass for a final coffee stop and chin wag before heading home. Dave on the other hand had to head straight home. After our coffee, the two that live south (Kevin and Darren) went home via Mountain Creek road (jewel in the crown)while Anthony and l, namely those living north in gods country, returned back along a surprisingly very quiet Barton Hwy.
Overall, everyone agreed it was a great ride noting the routes taken and the fact that there was so little traffic throughout the day. Very hard to beat a mid week ride where a lot of the crazies are elsewhere beavering away at work.
Warren
The Weather: Top 24 degrees, initially overcast then brilliant.
Overall Distance traveled: 306 Kms
An unlikely bunch of distinguished riders:
- Kevin Sherman Indian Scout
- Darren Beauchamp Harley Dyna Super Glide
- Anthony Hanson Honda Goldwing our 'illustrious photographer
- Dave Mossman BMW 1250RS
- Warren Richer Triumph Thruxton R1200
