Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Big Bike Ride

I went for an unexpectedly long bike ride, over 300kms all up.
I rode into the city to see a client and due to finishing early, I decided to see where Jude was. Well she was just about to leave to go pick up her dragons. So I decided to go too. I rode 130kms up the highway to Cooroy and then turned off to head toward Carters Ridge. However I missed the road I needed to go down and ended up following Black Mountain Road (which is a windy gravel road) over Black mountain and then out to the highway again near the Imbil turnoff (Kenilworth Skyring Creek Road)which is the other way to where I wanted to go. However I was low on fuel so after a couple of phone calls to Jude I headed north to a fuel stop about 8 kms away. I got fuel and headed back driving into Carters Ridge only a few minutes after Judith arrived having gone a more direct slower route.
It was great seeing all the turtles, snakes, fish and lizards these people had in their place.
Then we left, and I decided to take the long (fun) way home. I headed toward Kenilworth, and then up the range to Maleny, then back down toward Woodford finally heading home via Caboolture.
This was an awesome ride for a number of reasons. First I hadn't planned it and I just went with the flow. Second the bike performed flawlessly, the powerful 1700cc (102 cubic inch) engine hauling me up the gravel roads, and mountain climbs effortlessly. The bike snaked through the hairpin bends in 3rd or 4th gear easily and I thundered down the straights. The suspension handles bumps, potholes and rough gravel roads without a murmur, though I did find some washboards that got me vibrating a little on one gravel hairpin bend.
Second I followed some of the route (in the opposite direction) from the ride we have planned for the 17th July with some friends from church.
The only drawback I found was that once I got up to Maleny, and then coming down the mountain toward Woodford, was freezing cold. Once I was back down the air was relatively warm though brisk. But the top part was so cold my hands were frezzing up on the throttle - not good. The good news is I will warn all our riders to wear thermal pants or rain pants for warmth and also winter gloves and full face helmets. I was wearing jeans, summer gloves and an open face helmet. At least my jacket kept me reasonably warm, but I will be putting in the liner before the next ride up here.


Posted by: Jethro | 12:47 PM |