Howie, Harry and Peter (I think, please tell me who else), set a cracking pace from Colo. I'm towards the end of the pack as we leave Colo but gradually decide I'd like to up the pace and go in search of the lead group. After about 10min I catch up to Steve's group stuck behind a truck, a horse-trailer and a small 4cylinder car. Steve's being good and waiting for a legal spot to overtake. Impatient as I am, I and a couple of others (???) go round when there's a big enough break is not the right kind of lines painted on the road. We regroup at the halfway house and take some piccies. I find my Loobman has been leaking again and covered the swing arm in oil, some paper towel cleans it off and I check the hoses to stop this happening again. It has not happened for 12000K but has leaked on the last 2 rides. hmmm will have to keep an eye on this. Oil on brakes and tyres is not a good look!

Al (Honda ST1300) and Clint (VTR) set off first as the big ST will be a bit of a handful in the twisty stuff coming up. The rest of us finish yacking and saddle up to follow about 5mins later. From the halfway house the pace at the front with Howie, Peter, Harry is frenetic. I can keep some of them in sight but struggle to keep up, a bit of traffic helps me close the gap as we hit the 16km of 35-45-55K corners before the creek. Peter shows why his GSX1400 is deceptive, not just because his plates are personalised with neither his initials nor his bike model, which confused the hell out of us and meant we kept trying to give him names that started with "C" to match the plates :-), but because he cornered the heavy, dual suspension GSX1400 more like a GSXR1000 than any bike this size had a right to be leant. It definitely upped the pace of the lead group and was entertaining to sit behind and observe. Good riding's a joy to watch, fast and safe are NOT mutually exclusive.

After this section we begin the descent to the creek section of the Putty. This brings back memories as I had my low side on the TDM on one of the 35k corners in this section in Nov 2004. I decide not to worry about it as my Sprint doesn't know that :-). It's around here we catch Al on the big ST1300. Geez, another Peter. Considering the bulk of this bike he can hustle it throuhg the bends. The sheer weight lets it down on the 35k corners and he builds up a bit of a queue behind him. After a couple of K, Al realises we're there and we gradually get by on the straights. Howie, Peter and Harry (with Clint and I in the group) up the pace again. These corners are magic, not too bumpy, no gravel and minimal oncoming traffic - woo hoo what a blast! We slow down to approximately legal speeds (depending on your speedo) as we approach Bulga and keep it there until we're into Singleton.

Confusion reigns supreme for the fill up @ Singleton. We've all done this road before and all have different servo's we usually go to. Also some of the guys thought we were heading for Wollombi so had started down that road before backtracking into town. Tony gives me a call to say "where the bloody hell are ya!" and gets a spot on the new Aussie tourism commercials. He and the group he was riding with rock up about 10mins later. The temperature has really picked up here and Sydney's 21c top hits about 25c @ Singleton. Luckily we're not out in the sun too long.

So it's sorted for all except Clint on the GSXR600 who heads off for Lake St Clair. While this is going on we decide that a big group will take a couple of hours for lunch and so it will be hard to fit the Lake St Clair road in today. The rest of the group head off to the Criterion in town for a feed and Harry, Tony and I go for a quick look see for Clint. We do about 3k down the Lake St Clair Rd then another 3 down the New England to the servo on the hill out of town. No sign of Clint so we hope he doubled back on one roard while we were on the other. Back to town for a well earned beer and lunch. Bugger, Clint isn't there. Oh well, we guess he'll see 13 bikes outside when he does turn around. The pub is well done up, has a reasonable menu (selection and price) but doesn't run to big dining tables so we end up split into groups. About 1hr into lunch Clint arrives, he missed the turn off (more from bad directions than anything) and did the Lake St Clair road. It's a 35K each way, dead end up a farm road that ends around the lake and state recreation area there. Traffic should have been nil on a weekday, but the rest of us will need to try it another day now. At least he got another good blast in :-).

After lunch we decide that the best option is to head back off, it's nearly 2:30pm so if we want to make it back before dark and the worst of peak hour. Al and his son Clint head off a little early as they've got to get all the way back to Bargo.

We head back down from Singleton to the Broke turnoff where a little under half the group heads back to the City via Wollombi and the Old Road. [*** Can someone give me a bit of a report on this part of the run?? - See Ride Report Part 2 below ***]. Howie didn't realise we stopped to say goodbye and thought we were all turning off so continued down the Putty. He looked a bit sheepish when we explained why we stopped when we caught up to him at the halfway house .

There's 5 of us going this way, Harry, Peter, me, Tony and Barry. 4 Sprints and the GSX1400 that thinks it is a CB1100 , 3 of the Sprints are 05/06's - 1 of each colour. With Howie off in the distance, Harry sets a more subdued but respectable pace from the Broke turn off - a good speed for an after lunch run, nice and brisk but not as seriously fast as the morning run. Peter's following Harry, I'm in third then Barry and Tony. We're all close enough to see each other on the longer straights but not bunched up. We regroup at the halfway house again, which is good as I'm starting to get a touch tired so a drink break is welcome. Here we catch up to Al, Clint and Howie. After drinks and a quick chat they head off while we finish our break.

I take the lead out of the halfway house. I keep the pace about 130-140 through the sweepers, about the pace Harry had set earlier. Fatigue sets in down the road (damn should go to bed early the night before a ride!), and I drop the pace back to about 110-130 through the twisties leading up to Colo Heights. I think it's a bit slow for Peter but he seems happy to sit behind me :-). A bit more traffic now but no school buses which is good.

The 5 of use roll into Windsor where Harry, Barry and Peter head off down Windsor Rd. Tony and I turn down Macquarie St to head off to Penrith/St Marys. I get home about 5pm. All up 430KM for the day, had a great blast, met some decent folk, talked up some BS, didn't have to work. What more can you ask for? To those I got chance to have a chat to, it was good, to the others, hopefully we'll chat next time!

Thanks for a good ride guys - When is the next one? Tony mentioned he'd discussed the idea of 2 or 3 of these mid week rides a year over lunch with a few of you. Sounds brilliant to me. Spring should be good for 2 and then autumn for at least 1 :-)

Whad'ya think? - Russ

Name - Bike - Suburb
1 - Russ - Red 05 Sprint (Tregear)
2 - Tony - Silver 05 Sprint (Penrith)
3 - Brett - Silver 05 Sprint (Newport)
4 - Barry - Blue 05 Sprint (Greenacre)
5 - Harry - Red 02 Sprint ( Balmain )
6 - Steve - Yellow 04 RS (Stanmore)
7 - Mike - SV1000s (Petersham)
8 - Howard - Hayabusa (Colo Heights)
9 - Jon - Black 04 RS ( Balmain )
10 - Scott - BMW (Petersham)
11 - Clinton - GSXR600 ()
12 - Big Al - 05 Honda ST 1300 (Bargo)
13 - Clint ( Al's son) Honda VTR SP1000 (Bargo)
14 - Peter GSX1400 - Picnic Point

Ride Report Part 2 - Broke to Sydney

We turned left and immediately found ourselves behind a low loader carrying a couple of big dump truck tyres. The asphalt gave way to gravel road works and a few riders made it past before the dirt. I played it safe until there was black stuff again as did Mike on the SV1000.

The wait was short and off we went, catching the rest of the group. For a while it was quite civilised at around 120kph. I was quite surprised to find the road in a lot better condition than expected, albeit with a lot more road kill in the way of some very big red roos and wombats on both sides. It wasnt long before Scott on the BMW got warmed up at the front and gave the Bavarian Beauty its head. Man that bike can go! The group spread out and for a while we all kept in touch, cruising through some great country. After a while it all got to much for me. These blokes were just as spirited as they were in the morning. Recovering from my own lower back injuries (my physio is going to freak when she finds out I've just spent two days on my motorcycle) and lacking confidence from a few recent incidents, I backed off and felt the jet wash from the SV as it flashed past at slightly less than Mach 2.4.

The road narrowed and the corners tightened and I settled into a steady rhythm, happy just to be here. I reached Wollombi pub sooner than expected and could find no good reason to stop. Before I knew it, I was at the Mt White cafe and a rest was in order. It seems there were a lot of riders with the same idea as us.

Perhaps Steve can fill in a bit more for us.

Thanks for a great day gentlemen, I'm looking forward to the next one.

Brett.

Sure Brett,

I concur with Brett's assessment of that road. The day was magnificent, the wattle blooming and as we rode through the shaded areas the temperature inversions made you feel alive. Great and varied country smells with only the road kill taking the shine off things a bit (lots of it).

Just before Wollombi on the short remaining dirt section I saw the block of land I wanted to buy in 1994 but didn't. I was pleased to see a cheery little home settled about 60 metres back from the road backing into the hillside and I felt happy with the thought that someone is enjoying it!

Come Wollombi and I swear the road doesn't CONTAIN potholes....it is constructed of several thousand of them.

We took it fairly easy till Mt White then I gradually upped the pace towards the Hawkesbury being careful to be semi-legal on the straights. The others were content at their own pace so I left them to it. On the Hawkesbury Bridge I saw a bike closing and wondered who it was, but it was another yellow RS who passed me. That was my cue to have some fun so I climbed all over him all the way to Cowan when we slowed to meet the main road. He turned left after Berowra to get onto the freeway giving me a parting wave as he went. That was the only time I was naughty all day officer!.

(I have just about got to the edges of my tyres at last. Those Michelins let me do things I wouldn't have dared on the Bridgies. 8,500 kms now and plenty left at this stage).

I waited for 5 minutes or so at Mt Kuring-gai before concluding the other guys had also turned onto the freeway near Berowra. Collected a "cycle torque" at Pro cycles Hornsby and drifted home thru' the increasing traffic by 5pm, after a great 430 kms.

My only criticism of the day is that you can't really get to talk to all 14 people. You'd probably need a campfire, some wine/beer and a two-day ride to do that.

We should aim to do the mid-week thing two or three times a year. Traffic was great, young Rossis notably absent. |-)

Stevecro