Ride Report by:
Sooty
An
awesome ride that went without a hitch due to excellent
organisation and participation.
Woke up to a clear sunny morning that was making
promises of a warmer than usual day. So I decided to chance it
and wear my clown jeans (Hornee's that are too big). The bike
still had about 300km of fuel left so I went straight from
Nambour to Dayboro via Narangba at 8am. Not 10 minutes on the highway and I
was wishing I had my other pants. I experimented following
various cars to see which felt the
warmest.
I
had not taken this route to Dayboro before which runs along
the western side of
Lake
Kurwongbah.
Normally I would go all the way into Petrie and jump onto
Anzac Ave and then onto Dayboro
Rd which is a long way for nothing.
I thought I was royally lost somewhere between Burpengary and
Nerangba when suddenly I popped out onto
Dayboro
Rd. I did a happy dance and hiked
it west and found myself in Dayboro at 9:15am for a ride starting at 10am. So I went for a quick
cruise around the back streets since I had only seen the main
roads throughout the place before and it is quite a nice area.
Topped up the tank, checked the oil and that was me ready to
go.
The larger part of the group arrived at 9:30am on the dot from their
ride via Mt Glorious. Everyone was pretty much ready by
9:45am which is
always a good sign. Muttly and TheBigD did the headcounts and
then Muttly gave the general run down on how the ride will go
– all straight forward and nothing strict. We departed Dayboro
heading up Mt Mee Road at 10am with me grinning like an
idiot.
Everything was great over Mt Mee, views, temperature,
road, all except for a section on the northern side, Delaneys
Creek, where they have recently fixed the shoulder using what
appeared to be gravel mixed with sewage thus there was loose
gravel all over. It's interesting watching other peoples lines
through the bends since I don't know what mine are like –
someone on another ride said that I take 'touring' lines?
We
all made it as a group to Woodford for a break with a few
taking advantage of the bakery. This was us just getting
warmed up though so shortly we were on our way to
Mountain
View
(near Maleny) via the Maleny
Stanley River Rd. I was following
Benjamin78au on his VTR250 during this stage and was amused as
he was jumping up and down on his bike trying to squeeze more
speed out of it during an overtake.
Arrived at
Mary
Caimcross
Park and lined the
bikes up along the edge of the car park in what appeared to be
a organised manner that would have impressed the onlookers.
Here we met Di (Cerise, not pink, GSR600) and her husband
(Russell, Triumph Tiger) who are locals to the
Sunshine
Coast. Another
rider on an intense sounding MV Augusta F4 pulled up and had a
chat to us about various things. It was great in the warm sun
enjoying the good company and views. It was one of those rare
days where you can see right out to the ocean past the
Glasshouse mountains.
After a good 30min we set off towards Beerwah. I corner
marked the first corner of this leg and didn't catch the TEC
so I waited for what felt like ages in a passing lane
wondering where the others were. I was starting to confuse the
cagers so I took off and managed to catch up as the group was
heading through the ice box where I regretted removing my
jacket's thermal liner. We turned right down
Old
Gympie Rd and then right again towards
Peachester along a set of finely crafted curves of the asphalt
kind. I was following Avon on his
Suzuki GSXR650 trying on his lines. Onwards to Woodford for
the next stop.
Twenty or so minutes in Woodforward and we were on our
way back over Mt Mee but this time stopping at the lookout.
This presented me with a funny moment as I negotiated the
gravel strewn corner of the lookout. I think my front and back
tyres took turns loosing traction and it felt like I rode in
diagonally. By this time a rather forboding storm cloud had
drifted overhead and made me doubt if I could ever get away
with not being rained on during a groupride.
Did the mandatory group photoshoot with the
Glass
House
Mountains under an
ominous cloud in the background. The rain held off and our
downward path off Mt Mee went smoothly with only the tail end
of the group being stuck behind a car or two. We concluded the
day at 2pm, said our
goodbyes and went our separate ways while looking forward to
the next ride. Then it rained on me.
It
was a uneventful ride home and everyone checked in on the
forums so all in all a successful day which I think everyone
will be happy to do again. Many thanks to
all.
Participants:
Avon
(Suzuki
GSX650)
BalmyBrowny (Suzuki GSXR600)
Benjamin78au (Honda VTR250)
Cuvy (Yamaha XT600 “Bovine”)
Muttly (Yamaha FJR1300)
Godspetmonkey (Honda VFR800)
Lawrence (Suzuki GSX1000)
Righty (CBR1000RR)
RoyBoy (Suzuki GSXR750)
Super
Dooper (
Kawasaki ZX6R)
Sooty
(Kawasaki
GPX250)
TheBigD (Honda VFR800)
Terry (Yamaha FJR1300)
