17th August 2008 - Putty Road

It was perfect motorcycling weather and, after a slow start, we had 14 riders.

This month we welcomed three new riders.  Marty (Honda CBR250) and Darren (Honda CBR600) joined us at Newtown.  Phill (Honda CBR600) joined us at McGrath’s Hill.  Also joining us at Newtown were; Peter (BMW R1200GS Adventure), Brett (BMW F650GS), Luke (BMW K1200S), Thierry (BMW K1200GT), Geoff (Suzuki GSXR600), Richard (Suzuki GSXR750), Brad (Yamaha R1), Anton (Yamaha Cruiser) and me (BMW R1200GS).

From Newtown it was the “usual” commute to McGrath’s Hill where we were also joined by Johan (Honda VFR800).  Rowan called, first to advise that mark was on his way to McGrath’s Hill, then to advise that Mark had forgotten his wallet and decided to call it a day.

After a stopping for long enough for Peter to eat something, we headed up Putty Road to the Halfway House, getting a pretty good run.  Jason (Honda CBR600) came down from Newcastle to meet us here.  Johan missed the warnings about the coffee but reported that it was actually drinkable – maybe a short black is harder to ruin that a cappuccino…  No one chanced the BBQ sauce laden bacon and egg rolls, however, Peter’s hamburger looked like it had been spared the excesses of sauce.  Quote of the day came from Brett “I don’t take direction.”  He claims he was referring to his (lack of) navigational skills, not his relationship with Peter.

Johan and Thierry headed home with the rest of us continuing.  It was a pretty good run to the Broke turn off, were we regrouped before heading on to Broke for a refuelling stop for the non-German bikes.  It was then on to Wollombi for lunch at Café Wollombi where we had a table in the sun out of earshot of the other patrons.  (Usually a good idea with this group).  Discussion moved on to whether to stop at Road Warriors Café, Mt White or Pie in the Sky on the way home.  Pie in the Sky was the unanimous verdict after Luke pointed out that it was a choice between having your coffee made by “feral teenage girls” (Mt White) or “feral teenage boys” (Pie in the Sky).

We farewelled Jason at Wollombi and headed for Pie in the Sky.  Yes, Luke’s description was correct.  After coffee and fruit pies we said our farewells and headed home.

Next month’s ride is on Sunday 21 September heading for Kangaroo Valley.

James

(BMW R1200GS)

*Photos of this ride can be found in the Galleries section ...