I haven’t ridden for a few weeks. Lots of family commitments and the need to give TWK her 5000km service being some of the reasons. So, with those things taken care of and a “free” day in front of me it seemed like a great idea to get the wheels turning. The weather was predicted to be hot, in the high 30s, so it was important to get going early and I was rolling south just before 0630.
The plan was a run down the coast to Bateman’s Bay, a quick dash up the Clyde and on to Braidwood. From there I planned to explore the newly (finally) sealed section between Braidwood and Nerriga and then back down the mountain and home via the highway from Nowra.
Aside from planning to get much of the ride done before it got too hot, the traffic is less in the early morning and the scenery is pretty spectacular too (see above).
So, I made good time, figuring that my first stop should be the Bay for a fill-up and some brekkie.
Well, that went out the window just south of Burrill Lakes when I crested a rise and saw the highway completely blocked by traffic, all sitting still and going nowhere. A quick detour into the bicycle lane and I commenced passing what must have been a few hundred cars, the line-up stretching as far as the eye could see. People were out of their cars, standing around and having a chat, a sure sign that the owners had been stuck there for some time and weren’t expecting to be moving any time soon.
After several kilometres of “tootling” I finally arrived at the head of the queue. A HWP car was sitting in the middle of the road, displaying the “Road Closed” sign and a couple of motorcycle riders were tucked in behind. Enquiries soon yielded the information that a semi-trailer had rolled off the road on the Western side of the highway and that attempts were being made to retrieve it and get it back onto the road.
Enquiries with the usually-helpful (ahem) HWP officer yielded no helpful information at all. “No idea, mate.” was the reply to our questions.
So, what to do? The first thing that came to mind was that it had become quite a deal hotter than I had expected and that the prospect of standing around in the sun with no shade in sight for an indeterminate period of time seemed ridiculous in the extreme. My fellow riders who, like me, were just having a quiet ride down to Bateman’s Bay, agreed and, after checking with the law that it was permissible to U Turn over the double unbrokens and head north, we three did so and headed home.
A Senior’s Breakfast at the Maccas at Ulladulla and I arrived home around 1130. The ride wasn’t quite what I had planned (in fact it was NOTHING like I had planned) but, a ride is a ride and I got home to the aircon before it became too hot and the road will always be there another day.
Another case of Ridus Interruptus. And, to rub it in, I somehow messed up my Relive programme which stopped recording my ride after only 22kms for reasons that I don’t understand. In the end it doesn’t matter because the ride wasn’t really worth recording anyway.
Maybe next time.
