What do you get if you combine a balmy Autumn Sunday morning, a bunch of keen motorcyclists, some carefully-chosen twisty roads and an equally carefully-chosen breakfast venue? You get the traditional Illawarra Riders end-of-month Brekkie Ride.
We’ve been doing this for over ten years now and it never gets old. We take turns in selecting the venue and the roads to ride to get there and as many as can do so turn up at the start point, sling off at each other for a bit then ride to the cafe and have a relaxing morning eating breakfast and bench racing. This month I chose the venue and it was Angels Bayside Restauraant at Huskisson. As noted in previous posts, this little town on the edge of Jervis Bay is charming, welcoming and filled with eateries all of which are worth exploring. The town itself, for reasons that have always escaped me, is named after the first person in the world to die in a railway accident, during the maiden run of George Stephenson’s “Rocket” – look it up, it’s fascinating.
So this morning we did the run down to “Husky.” Starting at Hungry Jack’s at Yallah (no, we don’t eat there, it’s just a convenient place to gather before we head off) we headed down through Jamberoo, up Saddleback Mountain which affords a spectacular view of the morning sun over the ocean and the town of Kiama, then down to the highway, through Gerringong, along Seven Mile Beach Road, popping back onto the highway at North Nowra. A grind through the town, carefully passing the customary radar trap in South Nowra, the onto the Huskisson Road, detouring through Woolamia and entering the town near the public school. Unless you know those roads it probably sounds pretty ordinary but the route combines some wonderful roads, views and challenges. Just the thing to sharpen the appetite and prepare you for brekkie.
As usual, the VFR is perfect for this type of riding (is there any sort of riding for which it ISN’T suited?) and it was a thoroughly enjoyable ride. Home by midday and a restful Sunday afternoon. However, as I don’t have to go to work tomorrow (and neither does Helena), tomorrow could be equally relaxing.
WSBK is on this weekend and the Kawasaki juggernaut rolls on (no spoilers). As I predicted many years ago, the Ducati Panigale is not equal to the task of beating the four cylinder bikes every time they meet and it must be so frustrating for them to know that, even though the organisers have handed them their usual unfair advantage in the technical regulations, they still can’t win the title.
On another subject, the Gold Wing project continues to lurch on in fits and starts. Hopefully I will be able to purchase the necessary engine parts to get the motor back into shape and then we can look at the running gear. I always knew it was going to take a while, but I didn’t intend it to take THIS long, but, as it’s all my fault, I can scarcely complain, can I?
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