Gotta love an RDO. Gives me a chance to abandon the family and household duties so I can go for a ride and improve my mental health whilst the family sit around wondering who's going to clean up the mess they've made. Man you wouldn't believe how much of a mess 3 lazy girls can make, sorry I digress getting off topic already.
So for my RDO I had a ride set with no real plan in mind and it was just going to be Nigel no friends again today. I thought I might ride up to Wollombi for a beer at the pub. I headed out at 8:30am via Berowra Waters Ferry heading to the Old Pacific Highway. The heated grips were working a treat today, it was cold.
I pulled up at Pie in the Sky and thought that Doug was here. Same bike different rider. I'd skipped breakfast because I wanted to try a pie and coffee so came here.
mmmm pie
It was very quiet here this morning, 2 bikes and a bunch of push bike riders but it was a monday and it was bitterly cold at 8°C, I think it only warmed up to about 15°C just after lunch. I ride down the hill on the old rd with the entire road to myself. On the way to Wollombi I see the sign for Wisemans Ferry, it's about the same distance and will have less backtracking to get home later so I quickly divert and take that road instead. I feel like I need a beer at the pub for lunch.
I stopped to take a photo by the river and noticed a sign across the road that said Mill Creek campground, so I thought I'd go check it out. All the facilities looked like they were brand new. The bridge led to a 11km walking track. Not for this little black duck though.
Then it was on to the ferry for my second ferry crossing of the day. I was just in time too and I boarded just before they closed the gate.
I had a bit of a look around the park along the river front before moving on to the pub for a counterlunch and beer. I just about had the place to myself.
Monday lunch special $15 for fish and chips washed down with a pint. Happy days.
My radiator guards had come in so it was an early morning trip to the bike shop to pick them up and the rush home to get them fitted so I can get out on another ride. I thought that I'd have the guards fitted up in about fifteen minutes but it took me a while to work out have to get the new bikes fairings off. That was the easy bit the hard bit was then trying to get my hands in at the top to slip the cable tie in and around again. This took me about 45 minutes just to get the cable ties in. Talk about near impossible. Everything has been compacted in on this new R1.
Finally with the guards fitted up it was time for a ride. I didn't quite know where to go but I picked up Bushpig on the way to where ever. He was a bit under the weather so to speak so we decided on a short ride, that way I wouldn't run out of fuel and we could get some lunch. It was decided we would head up to Pie in the Sky at Cowan on the Old Pacific Hwy and play dodge the highway patrol.
The run up to the Old road was bumper to bumper Saturday morning peak hour traffic. I'm glad we now have legalized lane filtering which made it a lot easier. I must have passed several hundred cars and saved at least 10 minutes of being stuck in traffic. Who's idea was it to come this way?
The twisty bits start just out of Cowan so time to try out this new bike. It was eating up the corners for breakfast and coming back for seconds. The new R1's corning is so sweet, I found myself hooking in fast then realizing it wasn't fast enough so I could still wind on more. Oops gotta be careful its only a 80 zone and it was so easy to go over that. Not long after we were sitting out the front of Pie in the Sky scoffing down one of their best pie's and a drink. Geoff's mate and all round good bloke Paud turned up on his 1098 and we sat around shooting the breeze whilst soaking up the warm winter rays. A chopper flew low overhead after a few minutes and Paud mentioned there was a rider down on the way up the hill. Two police vehicles and an ambulance screamed back down the hill. Not a good sign, I wish all the best for the rider and hope they are ok. The old road is a very unforgiving road if you get it wrong.
We headed off for a bit of a squirt up the towards Somersby, but only got down the bottom of the hill before proceeding were brought to a halt. The road was blocked due to the previous accident. Looked like a female learner rider. God I hope that she is ok. The police ushered us past on the other side of the road. A few bends later the helipad had the NSW ambulance chopper sitting there by the road. We pulled over to have a look at the bird and one of the crew came over and had a chat with us. We headed off just as the ambulance was pulling up.
We lost Paud somewhere along the way so he must of just headed home and didn't wait around for us. We got to the top of the road and turned around and headed back down, making sure to be careful. The road was fairly empty now, no police, no ambulances and not many riders. We made a detour on the way home down through the Berowra Waters Ferry and then on home. Woo hoo a successful day out where I didn't run out of fuel Hooray!!!! Its a shame to see a rider down so that was a bit of a downer to an otherwise awesome day.
Crossing the ferry we met a gent out on his ducati cafe racer. It was in immaculate condition, I asked if it was brand new and he said it was a 2008 model. It looked as clean as my new R1.
All out thoughts and well wishes go out to the fallen rider. I hope your now on the mend.
Today I decided that it was time to visit my old knee scraping friend again. There wasn't going to be any of that on this ride though. I decided to head up through Berowra Waters and cross the ferry and up to the old road.
There's been lots said in the past about the 'Old Road' as it is commonly known to local bike riders. It's real name is the Old Pacific Highway in Sydney's north between Berowra and Gosford. Many years ago it used to be the main highway north out of Sydney before they built the F3, a new 3 lane freeway, at which point it became a tourist route with little traffic.
The road itself is a pretty good one with lots of twists and turns. Its the first road that I ever got my knee down on. It's been called many things in its day both good and bad. Magnificent biker heaven comes to mind, but in recent times sadly it has been policed to the death. The road is only about 25km's long but is nearly all bends. I haven't been up this road for a few years because of the heavy handed policing not to mention the now ridiculously low speed limit of 60kmh. Last time we came up here we were pulled over for a random breath test. Yeah right as if we would be riding a highly technical road like this on sports bikes and pissed. That's just an excuse so they can then check you for other things like illegal loud pipes, rego etc
Yet another Ferry Crossing - Berowra Waters
I decided to stop in at Pie in the Sky for some breakfast. Looks like I wasn't the only one as there must have been 80 bikes here this morning. Even with the heavy handed policing it proves you can't keep bikers down. I tried the pepper steak pie and was going to get a coffee but the line was huge. I would have to wait about 15 minutes so I decided on a double espresso milk instead. That pie hit the spot just right. I can really recommend the pepper steak pie. I almost got another.
It was great just to sit there and relax on a Sunday morning and watch all the bikes coming and going.
After a half hour break it was time to head off north over the Hawksbury and enjoy some of the twisties. The section down to the calga interchange is only 60 kmh which ruins it really as I looked down a couple of times to see 100-110 on the dial whilst in the middle of some bends, oops better slow down just in case. The short straights are a bit of a chore at 60kmh.
There sure were a lot of bikes out today as the Autumn weather was superb at 22°C. I saw lots of bikes come past when I stopped to take these pictures. There were even a few women riders out today.
This road definetly has some of the best curves you will find anywhere around, but it can also be pretty dangerous as well because a lot of them are blind and there were lots of cyclists out on it today. Some of them were 2 abreast leaving only enough room for a bike in the right hand wheel track.
The last section that winds its way down to Mooney Mooney creek is one of my favourite parts. I also like the look of the scenery here as there are lots of ferns, kind of a sub tropical look. Got to look out for water on the road in the shadows at this time of year. There was also some moss growing on one of the bends near the photo above.
The road warriors cafe has been closed down. I wonder how long ago that closed. Looks like all the bikes that used to stop there are now stopping at Pie in the Sky.
I noticed that they have fixed the road surface where they used to have the small flat lines of tar running through the curves to join or cover cracks in the surface. Most of that is now gone to all bikers joy, they were deadly in the wet and unsettling if you hit them in the dry.
Heading south back over the Brooklyn Bridge towards the Pie in the sky and Home.
On the way home I thought that I might make a detour and take the Galston Gorge rather than ride down Pennant Hills road which can be quite busy. I'd prefer to stay away from crazy Sydney traffic. I tried out the Go Pro mounted to my helmet and was quite pleased with the results. Galston Gorge has the tightest corners I have ever seen. The sign postings say 5 kmh which wouldn't be far off. Trucks, Buses and caravans are banned from driving here as you can see from the video.
All in all a good days riding, any day I can get out for a ride is always a good day. I just prefer to go on a ride where you are not constantly watching the speedo fearful of being pinged. This road has that reputation attached to it, even though it is a good ride.
