A tale of two riders, potholes and the usual weather saga.
After emptying 54mm of precipitation out of my rain gauge over the previous few days, it was comforting to wake up to sunshine for a change. Primed and ready to lead the club ride to Araluen, confident my reputed rain making jinx had been defeated on this occasion, the illusion lasted about an hour as the heavy overcast skies soon returned to threaten more bad weather. As I set off from home, I couldn’t believe that it was late spring, with just a little over two more weeks remaining until the summer. The ambient temperature was hovering around a chilly 12ºC, the strengthening westerly wind was beginning to add significantly to the chill factor, and my helmet visor was fogging up worse than on a mid-winter ride.
I was the first to arrive at the BP service station in Watson as the overhead clouds seemed to thicken. While I topped up the fuel tank on my little Ducati Monster (ULP98 now available) I was approached by a fellow who seemed very excited to see me and from the numerous double thumbs-up gestures, I think he liked my bike too. “Nice bike,” he enthused. “Can you spare us some cash?” I didn’t quite know how to tell him that pensioners who are addicted to motorcycles are never flush with cash.
A short while later, just when I was thinking I might be embarking on a solo ride, I was joined by Kevin Sherman on his shiny black BMW R1250RS. We chatted for a while in the hope that others might join us, but alas, that was not to be. Either the threatening weather or my reputation as a foul weather ride leader the probable reason for the lack of riders. I stepped away briefly to phone the Araluen Pub and let them know that the optimistic group booking I had made earlier in the week needed to be downgraded to just two. When I returned there was another fellow chatting to Kevin. I didn’t hear the conversation, but I guessed it was similar to the one I had heard earlier, “Nice bike mate. Can you spare us some cash?”…. Once I started the ride briefing, he lost interest and wandered off.
Our planned route was north on the Federal Highway to Bywong, then along Macs Reef Road to Bungendore, a quick run north to Tarago, before turning south to the Kings Highway then Braidwood, before the final run down to the Araluen Valley. I shared my observations from my reconnaissance run earlier in the week. This included the likelihood of numerous large pot holes; land slips; water, sand and gravel across the road; fallen trees and branches; narrow, wooden planked bridges; the steep, narrow and twisting descent down into the Araluen Valley and a few tricky off-camber corners. I figured that since we had experienced significant rain and storms since that trip, the road conditions were probably going to be worse, not better.
The ride ended up being pretty much as briefed with lots of standing water in roadside puddles, property owners out with chainsaws removing fallen trees and branches from fence lines, and at times, Kevin and I looking like a pair of downhill slalom skiers dodging the potholes. As one Araluen resident quipped, the number of potholes is in direct proportion to the distance from the council roadworks depot. Most of the outward journey was under overcast skies with occasional patches of pleasant sunshine bursting through along the way. The ambient temperature fluctuated between 9º-12ºC which meant the heated grips got turned on to the first notch. The main cause for concern was the increasing strength of the westerly cross-wind that was buffeting us on our predominantly north-south route. Of course there were some really great sections of road as well, but we just had to be constantly alert to spot the hazards early.
We encountered a brief shower of rain between Tarago and the Kings Highway turn-off. It was fascinating to be riding in full sunshine at the time whilst looking at the road through raindrops on the visor. We also came across one of those drivers we all love to hate in a little red Hyundai Getz, happy to keep a train of vehicles behind them whilst travelling 20kph below the speed limit, then alway speeding up when somebody attempted to overtake. Both Kevin and I had issues when we tried to get past, with our little Getz doing 115kph in the overtaking lane ahead of us before merging back in front and dropping back to their previous 80kph doddle.
Being a “Chomp & Chat” ride, lunch at the Araluen Valley Hotel was typical pub fare, but they did have a very tasty lamb roast blackboard special. The publican was friendly and on for a chat and was keen to promote the pub and its accommodation as a possible overnight Ulysses outing.
With a forecast predicting afternoon thunderstorms and strengthening winds in Canberra, we both decided to make an early start to the return journey. We departed Araluen in bright sunshine and a pleasant 18º showing on the temperature gauge. By the time we reached Braidwood where I refuelled, the temperature had dropped back to 12º and the clouds had gathered overhead once more. The showers started shortly after we left Braidwood and became steadily heavier as we did battle with a very stiff headwind. As the road took a more westerly turn towards Bungendore, the scenery ahead through the showers of rain was a solid wall of dense, angry black cloud filling the horizon.
The heavy rain started at Bungendore and just got heavier the closer we got to Canberra. The temperature dropped to just 8º with the chill factor hovering somewhere closer to zero. Fortunately for us, the worse of what looked to be some very nasty weather had drifted away to our left as we entered the ACT. We continued to ride through heavy showers and strong, gusty winds until our paths parted at Hume. I am certain that both Kevin and I arrived back home in a similar state, soaked to the skin and freezing cold. If nothing else, this outing prompted me to renew all the waterproofing on my jacket, boots and gloves. With my reputation as a bringer of storms and flooding rain restored, I thank Kevin for his bravery and good company.
Riders:
- Peter Ongley - Ducati Monster 659
- Kevin Sherman - BMW R1250RS
