Canyonleigh was not to be

This Thursday Ride was certainly one to remember... let’s take it from the start. We all know what it is like to wake to a perfectly grey old ride day morning. I could have easily made another attempt at deep sleep, but it was Thursday and Ulysses was calling. Most importantly: it was dry out there and with a backdrop of ever rising QLD floods and unsettled, rain drenched days of the past week, this was certainly a bonus. However, I thought , just in case, I’ll pop on my wet weather gear...

It came in very handy as I stepped out of my front door, where that grey sky had decided to dump its content in one big pour all the way up the coast from Austinmer to Stanwell Tops. Once I hit the Highway the rain miraculously stopped and by the time I got to the meet point at Heathcote the sun glimpsed upon a completely dry road. As I was making good time getting there I had been wondering if anyone would turn up on a day like that and was surprised to find that our usual corner was brimming with well polished chrome. The boys were umming and ahhring wether to even put their wet weather gear on...”hmmmm...trust me – you don’t know it yet, but you’ll need it !”

As we headed South we decided to stay away from the coast where the wet stuff had shown up on the ’bom site’ and made our way via the old highway to the Albion Park turn-off. By that time the rain had caught up with us and we walked into our favourite Jamberoo morning tea location. Once we were seated they brought out the mop and bucket to wipe up the puddles we’d left behind on the floor where we were momentarily standing, drenched and dripping, whilst ordering our coffees. But there were smiles all around and our conversations were as usual loud and exciting and not once did we hear anyone complaining about the weather. ..

Gary checked the ‘bom’site again to revise the route ahead and found that it should subside around our next stop at Robertson. Good news! Up the hill we go!

The moment we gained elevation, we were surrounded by low cloud and fog, which in some places made for visibility of less than 10m ahead. With ride speeds according to the conditions, hovering between 20 and 40km/h, that was certainly the slowest trip up the escarpment that I have ever done in my life! Crazy! I had done that trip on so many occasions in the past, loving the changing landscape and views, but there were times when I had absolutely no idea where I was. With few recognisable landmarks, at times I felt lucky to even see the road! Greatful to sit riding behind Gary and Al, I had some lights to follow and crossed my fingers (not literally), trusting that those boys were equipped with 20/20 vision.

Somehow we got to the intersection at the Illawarra Highway and we actually had to listen out for any approaching cars before crossing to the safety of ‘The Robertson Pieshop’ carpark. With fog patches wafting around us we regrouped and revised our route once more. Canyonleigh was scrapped from the itinerary and the Bargo Hotel was our chosen culinary final destination. The ST 1300 rider (whose name escaped me) shared some local knowledge and took us down the Tourist Road just off the Macquarie Pass, which he told us would in his experience get us out of this surreal brew. Three cheers to the ST 1300 rider, who steered us in the right direction. The moment we hit that dry road the sun smiled upon us once more and by the time we got to Bargo to refresh with lunch, the strange weather we had just encountered had become a distant memory...

...until we slipped on those wet leather gloves again ...

...but I am not complaining! It was a great day, doing exactly what we love doing:
To ride is to live!

Three cheers to our fearless leader Gary, who once again managed to lead us safely on yet another adventure on two wheels. Thank You!

Ps: May that chrome be polished and glisten in readiness for yet another Ulysses ride experience.