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Well, today was good and bad - weather and roads were perfect, but we had some offs and I almost backed Dave's truck into a river ;)
I left my place this morning at around 8:40 heading north towards Cessnock, expecting to catch up to Dave #3 (ZZR250), his wife Cathy (ZZR250), and their friend Steve (Vulcan 1500) somewhere between getting off the freeway and Cessnock. As it turns out they didn't leave much later than I did - so I caught up to them before getting off the freeway.
Very leisurely ride up to Cessnock as expected, so nothing much to report, not much in the way of twisities either, so I'll fast forward to getting to Cessnock. We pulled over for petrol and I met Steve, we took off and Steve almost immediately pulls over again, takes his gloves off and puts them back on again. Did he put em on the wrong way around? Dunno - didn't ask ;)
Middle of Cessnock sees us riding through some sort of oil spill with the fireies putting down sand and directing traffic, then we get to the Maccas meeting point just before 10 (perfect timing) to wait for Russell (ZZR600). Not long to wait before he turns up, introductions all round, admiring comments of his almost spotless ZZR (not for long eh Rus?) and we go in for some breaky and a chat.
About 10:30 and we decide to leave, heading to Broke via Pokolbin. Reasonable stretch of road but really only interesting at speed so I decided to overtake everyone and see if I could get far enough ahead to get some action shots around a corner somewhere. Pulled over at a likely spot, pulled the camera out, and found it takes longer than I thought to start up and that I didn't get as far ahead as I thought. Dave, Cathy and Russell all went past before it was ready and I just managed to snap Steve - well out of the corner rather than in it :( oh well.
Reasonably uneventful the rest of the way to Wollombi, though Broke to Wollombi is a more exciting piece of road and I managed to get far enough ahead, AND the camera ready in time to get some corner shots this time.
We got to Wollombi around 11:15 or so and after chatting a bit decide it's too early for lunch so we'll head off and have lunch at Spencer. Dave says to Russell and I 'Why don't you guys go ahead and have a blat - we'll catch up'. OK I decided, not gonna pass that up, and led the way initially before opening her up and having some fun.
Now when I take the lead I normally stop every 5-10 minutes at a likely spot to wait for everyone to catch up and make sure everyone's with us. First check stop is fine, some nice open corners on the way and Russell pulls up to declare 'that was fun', the others catch up and away we go.
Next section was a run of up-hill tight 35kph corners so I decided I'd wait at the top... waiting... waiting... waiting... bugger, better turn around. Few corners back I find one of our riders had low-sided his new bike (won't give details here, he can post details ;) ). Scratched and cracked fairing - but nothing major and no injuries. So we continue on, I take the lead again and make sure he's doing OK and not freaking out before I open it up again. Nice, uneventful run the rest of the way to Central Mangrove.
So off we head to Spencer to get some lunch. Very nice section of down-hill twisties there and I keep people in sight for a bit before having some fun. I get the the bottom of the hill, pull over and wait... waiting...waiting... waiting.. oh shit, someone's come off again. Turn around and back I go to find someone down again (again no real details, he can post). Unfortunately this off was a bit more serious and we decided to call that it for the day - no injuries but the right footpeg bracket and heel guard have snapped clean off - so rear brake was totally unusable.
We decide to tape things up to keep them in place and baby-sit it down to Spencer while Dave and Steve head back to Gosford to get Dave's truck and a trailer. Was actually a pleasant enough 1.5-2 hours waiting for Dave to get back - chatting, having a drink and some lunch, in some very nice weather - trying to take a certain person's mind off things and make them feel a bit better. Very embarrassed about 'spoiling' the ride - but that's one of the reasons why we ride in groups - someone to help out.
Dave's perfect timing ;) sees him turn up just as we finish lunch, and the bike's on the trailer in a jiffy. Dave wasn't too comfortable backing up with a trailer so I opted to turn it around for him - all going well until the truck starts to loose traction in the gravel and starts sliding back - complete with trailer and bike - down the river bank! Oh shit, it's not stopping! Pulsing the brakes finally stops it - and I'm sure it was only a second or so of sliding but it damn sure felt longer. I think Dave almost crapped himself - but all OK in the end :D
Truck's ready to go now, farewell's made with Dave giving the poor bugger and bike a lift home. Reasonably uneventful ride for me on the way home, barring the odd driver coming around the corner on the wrong-side of the road, but that's normal.
So quite an eventful day - mostly enjoyable but also unfortunate.
Always looking forward to the next time though ;)
ty
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