Sunday, July 22, 2012

July - A great Winters ride

The promise of a clear and sunny day drew eleven bikers & support vehicle (Tim and blax MX5) out of their bed to rug up and venture out into the cold on a ride. I was quite excited as this was my first ride in six months after a double hip replacement and overseas travel last 7 weeks.
We had a wide variety of bikes from BMW's, Kwaka's,Yamaha's,a black Mazda MX5 and Des's awesome '79 Moto Guzzi.
Des and his Moto Guzzi

We welcome Richard on his first ride


Richard , Leo and Peter enjoying a chat
Grahame & Marhorie just arrived back from usa
Whilst not a long ride was an interesting one.....a nice run down to a normal watering hole, The Outpost. at Canungra the up and over the windswept beechmont and down the twisties...a diversion up Henry Robers drive to Nth Tamborine and a welcome Irish pub lunch.
There are always interesting sights on the road.....like this custom trile...wow!
A quick stop on top of Beachmont road

The wind was howling at the hand gliding launch site

this would make a good patch,not sure about the Amrican thing
Dave & Dave enjoying some Irish hospitality & ploughmans lunch

Ahhh///cold winters day..on a ride....Irush stew
Thx Tim, finally a real support vehicle




Check out a quick video of the ride below


Sunday, July 15, 2012

June ride.....The Gateway 300


A group of 7 bikers and our MG backup crew left Gateway under clear blue skies for a ride into the Sunshine Coast Hinterland and back – a distance of exactly 300km according to Google Maps.
Leon & new Ninja 600

The old and the new (bikes I mean)
Our morning tea stop at “Café au Lait” in Beerwah was a little more upmarket than usual (read ‘feminine’ décor) but the proprietors were most welcoming and the coffee was wonderful. The much needed toilets were a bit far away though (it was a cold ride up the highway).

After a short ride up to Peachester we turned into Bald Knob Road for a gentle ride under the gum trees before joining the Landsborough road up to Maleny. Plenty of mountain scenery and nice winding roads were enjoyed as we then headed for Kenilworth and the Bellbird Creek Café for lunch. The contrast of this Biker cultured café with the previous Café au Lait was very obvious as you will see with the photos. 

A very relaxing lunch was enjoyed and the constant ringing of bellbirds was God’s provision of background music to enhance our experience. The lunch time entertainment was provided by a carpet snake that was trying to find its way into the kitchen – snakeburgers for afternoon tea?

someone else we left behind
In Kenilworth we ventured into the Cheese Factory for a bit of cheese and yoghurt sampling (and buying). Unbeknown to us, Larry’s flat battery delayed his departure from the Bellbird Creek Café and we didn’t see him again that day. I (David E) accept responsibility for not going back to find out what happened to him – as leader for the day I should’ve shown more care for our fellow rider.

Our ride up to Mapleton from the west included that twisty, one way, bitumen section that was so much fun on a bike. If it wasn’t a dirt road in the opposite direction we may have been tempted to go back down and do it again!

After some refueling at Mapleton, we headed south through Montville and along the sweeping road toward Maleny. Here we split up for alternate routes home – some via Landsborough, some via Woodford (for yet another cup of coffee) and the backup crew took to the hills again, going home via picturesque Mt Mee.