Pie Run

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.

A Hot Spring Ride

There's something to be said for starting a ride out in the morning. Like what? I hear you say. Like its a bloody lot cooler early in the morning than starting a ride in the middle of the day which is just what we did on Saturday. I had a few chores and things that needed doing and Bushpig wanted to go for a ride but I couldn't get a start until just after midday. Did I happen to mention it was around 33-34°C today. Not that much fun in full riding gear. I decided that I would go sans full leathers and wear my jeans instead. Damn, where did this heat come from all of a sudden?

I thought we'd go somewhere different today rather than our normal haunts so we decided we'd go up the Old Pacific hwy(Old Road) despite the police presence it attracts. First we would go up through Galston gorge. I decided I'd bring along the gopro today to get some footage. I've been slack of late using the gopro, but I've some new found enthusiasm for it.

First stop was at the bottom of the gorge to put on the camera. It was damn hot standing around in the sun in my gear and sitting in traffic felt like I was getting fried by my bike. Lucky I don't have the R1 with under seat exhausts.

Galston Gorge

Trumpy in the gorge

Here's a short video of our trip up through the gorge, not a bad run although my riding felt majorly rusty like it was the first time I'd ever ridden. Gotta get out more often. It's not a good feeling wobbling all over the road like a learner. It appears bushpig was even rustier than I was.

Next up was the run along the Old road and to stop in a Pie in the Sky for a drink and lunch. Yep you guessed it a pepper steak pie. Surprisingly there were only a hand full of bikes here today. Sunday would be a very different story, as there is usually heaps of bikes here. It was a bit cooler here as we could see the water from the view out the back of the shop. The breeze was beautiful on such a warm day.

Pie in the Sky

I didn't really have any plans as to where to go to next as we had just executed the entire plan in about an hour. It was nearly 2pm and I  didn't want to go home just yet and it is daylight savings after all so we would have daylight till nearly 8pm so I suggested a ride around wisemans ferry and then back home through Maralaya. I put the gopro on again but it went flat even before we got out of the drive way at Pie in the sky. Oh well, that will teach me not to charge it before a ride. I got about 5 minutes footage in total. It's ok bushpig your epic riding fail that should have been on camera will now never see the light of day. Saved by the flat battery.

Bushpig liked my new suggested ride plan so we headed for the riverside road around to wisemans hoping it might be cooler around here. It wasn't. Bushpig mentioned to me when we stopped 'how was I keeping my bike on the road because he was getting bounced around everywhere'. My ass had really copped a hammering along this bit of road and I had been out of the seat several times over some of the rough sections, and the on/off ramps on some of the bridges. Like the one in the picture below. I flew off the end of this bridge due to the slope down from the bridge to the road surface. The councils really need to sort this shit out.

Photo courtesy of Bushpig

Hawkesbury River

On the ferry

We decided to stop in at the wisemans ferry hotel as we were both parched from the heat. Stepping inside into the air conditioning was like heaven. A couple of light refreshments at the hotel and coming back out it was around 5pm and it had cooled down quite considerably. It made for a much more enjoyable ride home. I somehow managed to take a wrong turn at Maralaya and lost bushpig and didn't see him again. Then I got a little lost and then found my way again. I phoned bushpig and he got home before I did. A great afternoons ride all up.

Wisemans Ferry and Old Road

I started 2 weeks annual leave on Friday and I wanted to get out on ride before we go on our family holiday to Fiji. A quick ring around revealed everyone else was a soft bastard and couldn't come for a ride on Sunday so I started to plan a day trip. Initially I had grand plans of a massive day ride starting very early and encompassing about 750Km, but the more I thought about a ride of that size on my R1 the more I thought about the end of the day on a ride like that and how I would be feeling after riding for that long, and then my motivation to go on a ride was at an all time low before I even started. I'd also been offered to go to a party with free beer. Do I go riding or go for a beer? Motivation for ride = low, motivation to drink free beer = high. How to fix it.

The only fix for that I guess is a short ride. Yes that's it, a short ride to motivate me and if i planned it right I could be home for lunch and possibly the free beer. There are plenty of good short rides around Sydney.

I got up early this morning and headed off just after 7am, yep that's early for me especially seeing its a Sunday and I'm on holidays. My wife thought that there was something wrong I was up that early. I headed out towards Wisemans Ferry with the plan of making a loop around and coming back via the Old Pacific Hwy.

 I stopped in at the Lookout over the Webb's creek Ferry. The Ferry was going back an forth as I took some pictures. It turns out that I had the lookout to myself too early for everyone else as well. Good for me though as the roads were empty.

The road down into Wisemans Ferry township is a cracker as it follows the ridge line which overlooks the Hawksbury River as it winds it way down from the Plateau like hills to the base of the river. I was quite surprised that there were no other bikes here this morning, as this is a popular bike ride. Probably to early for most I fear. There are a couple of sharp turns at the end of this road as it enters the town like this 180° bend below. 

I didn't have to wait long for the Ferry as it was half way across when I pulled up and a couple of minutes later I was riding my bike onto the front of the ferry for the ride across the river to another road that winds it way along the River. On one side is large sandstone cliff faces and on the other is the river with the road winding through lush countryside. The road here is a little narrow and can be pretty rough in places but is good fun all the same.

Park next to the Ferry

On the Ferry

Hawksbury River and sandstone cliff faces

I have not been along here for a couple of years and I knew that the road along here was fairly rough on previous trip and was wondering whether it would be any better. It didn't take long to realise that there had not been much work done on the road, but there were a couple of new hot-mixed bends and a new bridge along here. The scenery along this section of road is pretty spectacular and worth the ride alone just for that.

Soon I had turned back onto Peat's Ridge Road and headed back down towards the Old Pacific Hwy. I love some sections of this road. It has some exception twists and turns but has the negative effect of being highly policed. Although I didn't see any today thankfully. I decided that it was time for a coffee and stopped in at the reopened Road warriors cafe. There were a few bikes in here this morning and the coffee hit the spot just right.

Soon it was back onto the road for some more sweet bends. My two favourite sections of the old pacific hwy are the section between Mooney Mooney Bridge and the Peat Ridge intersection and the other is the part after the road warriors cafe heading towards Pie in the Sky where it becomes duel lane whilst winding up the hill. That section is fantastic.

Bends to my left

Bend to my right

I stopped in at Pie in the Sky and bought a drink as I was a little thirsty after the coffee. There were a few bike in here too but not as many as I thought there would be, probably due to it looked like it was going to rain. A shower had passed through some time before I came through here but the road was dry along this section of road. I watched the bikes coming and going out the front of the cafe. Its a great place to sit and have a refreshment and watch bikes go by, as the cafe is right on a bend. You need to be careful entering and leaving the place that's for sure. A rider was killed out the front of the Cafe a few month ago. You can see the cross on the side of the road in the photo below as a reminder to take it easy along here.

Not long after this it was time to head home, but the fun didn't have to end just yet as I decided I'd ride through Galston Gorge on the way home. Its always good for a bit of a blast. I didn't see any cars until I got right to the bottom near the bridge.

All in all a great short ride and I was home by lunch time. But I wasn't that interested in lunch. I quickly opened up the fridge and pulled out a James Squire 150 Lashes Pale Ale. Its an excellent beer and I highly recommend them. What better way to finish off a ride than with and icy cold beer. Cheers thanks for reading.

The Old Road

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.