The Block

As a teenager with a late 60s new-to-him CB175, one of the things to do in the evening was to ride into town to ‘bomb the block’. Literally it meant riding one or more (usually plenty more) laps of the main city block. It was a spectacularly futile thing to do.

The phrase, however, sticks, and now when I go for a ride over familiar roads, it feels to me like I’m ‘bombing the block’, albeit on a slightly grander scale. I’m also having much more fun because of scenery, country roads, hills, curves … you get the idea.

This is about one of preferred variations of this ride.

First, head north west out of Brisbane full of the warm, snug feeling riding against the traffic gives you.

Then, after refuelling, it’s up the mountain behind an irritating car that raced across the flat before slowing at the first whiff of a bend.

At the top of the hill, turn right and climb gently into the leafy surrounds of Mt Glorious.

… and the final stretch to the Mt Glorious Café for breakfast.

It was good to be able to admire the CB from the table.

It was soon joined by one of these modern, high-tech, electric beasts.

There were other bikes too and a couple of their riders spent some time admiring the CB.

Then it was off into the beautiful bush on the ridge and then down the very steep descent on other side of Mt Glorious. Once on the flat, it’s fabulous riding.

The jacarandas were out as I rode into the hamlet of Somerset Dam.

I stopped on The Spit for a photo with the dam in the background.

After leaving The Spit, I rode north beside the dam with an unknown bike taking the lead.

Although the surface is sometimes rough, most of the road beside the dam is good and offers some excellent views.

At the foot of Mt Mee ...

… the speed limit is lowered to 60kph. At 80 kph, it would be a way better ride up the hill.

And it would be further improved if folk in utes could bring themselves to wait for a bloke to ride past before pulling out and slowing proceedings even further.

The southern side of Mt Mee is similarly speed limited. It’s not such a good surface, but a good ride nevertheless.

A photo or two at Lees Crossing.

A quick climb up Clear Mountain …

… with one last stop to send a teasing photo to a mate stuck in his office.

Then back to Samford for a pie, coffee and fuel. Up Mt Glorious, along the ridge through Mt Nebo and home. A most agreeable 297 kms.

2018 January — February

Day 14: Ebor to Brisbane

It was a glorious, but chilly, morning. There was frost on the bike. I rode the short distance to the Ebor Falls for a look. There wasn’t much water, but it was very pretty and I was pleased I looked.

As always the Armidale Road to Grafton was a great ride. It was appreciably hotter in Grafton than on the range and stayed that way all the way home. The road is pretty enough, but a bit light on for really enjoyable bits of road, with the exception of the stretch between Wiangaree and Rathdowney, which is a cracker of a road. Buoyed by the enjoyment of that ride, I decided to put Noroomtomove’s First Law of Motion and Fuel Consumption to a serious test. When I reached Beaudesert, I was still going strong after 254 kms (around 160 miles) and had another 2 litres in the tank. As a footnote, I feel inadequate beside noroomtomove. At one stage on this trip I had a text from him saying he’d travelled 302 kilometres on a tank and was still going. There’s no way I could get that sort of economy.

When I got home, I’d ridden 5,386 kilometres, used 270 litres of petrol at a cost of AU$382 and averaged 20.25 kilometres/litre. Even better than that, I’d seen little more than a couple of drops of rain and had a great couple of weeks in the saddle. What could be better?

Thanks Pterodactyl, noroomtomove and Aussieflyer for your company. It adds greatly to my riding pleasure to spend time with these CB owners en route to exotic places.

2018 January — February

Day 13: Gloucester too Ebor

After a late breakfast, Pterodactyl headed south. I’d decided to take a new route east (rather than north) from Gloucester which would take me back to the coast, up the slab and give me another go at the 44 kms of bends on the Oxley.

From Gloucester to Taree was a pretty ride through the hills along The Buckett’s Way. I contemplated going via Nabiac where lurks the National Motorcycle Museum of Australia, but abandoned the plan on the basis that I wanted to make a reasonable distance that day and it would involve a detour not to mention time in the museum.

From Taree to just after Herons Creek was freeway. Not unattractive but not interesting riding. At Herons Creek I turned off onto a much more interesting back road that took me to Wauchope and back on to the Oxley Highway. In places it’s beauty and motorcycling appeal were slightly offset by the poor road surface. But then, I suspect all road repair money in this shire is probably spent on the Oxley.

Another wonderful ride up the Oxley to Gingers Creek.

Stopped for lunch at Ginger's Creek

Then I pushed on to Armidale where I stopped at the local Honda dealer to consult a mechanic about what appeared to be a slight leak in the master cylinder for the front brakes. He looked, tightened something, said that if the level dropped further I should replace the diaphragm and suggested I keep an eye on it.

I’d planned to stop at Armidale, but it was early and a pleasant evening, so I decided to head for Dorrigo. I had a great ride across the plateau on a road made for fast cruising. As I rode into the tiny town of Ebor I noticed a motel I must have seen a dozen times before but never noted. I realised I was tired and decided to see whether there was a room. There was and I had a pleasant enough evening doing my bit for climate change.

2018 January — February

Day 12: Abercrombie River to Gloucester

Pterodactyl described the campground at Gloucester as "very civilized".

It was a bit far to the shower block though ...

2018 January — February

Day 11: Gillards Beach to Abercrombie River

I recall it was hot and dry. So was the camp.

2018 January - February

Day 10: Leather Barrel to Gillards Beach

Pterodactyl again:

To the Sea

Cormanus and I headed east. Across the high country and down to the coast. Gillards Beach. I’ve posted about Gillards previously but am still struck by its beauty.

Blitzing the mountain

Our final stop before Gillards Beach was the seaside town of Tathra where we refuelled and bought the odd supply for the camp. We were forced to buy liquid supplies at the local club as the bottle shop had burned down not long before. Tragically, less than two months later in mid-March 2018, a major bushfire tore through the town. 65 houses and 35 caravans and cabins were destroyed, with another 48 houses damaged.

A beach with only your own footprints is good.

A couple of the locals ...

Sadly, the beach was a bit crowded.

2018 January - February Ride

Day 9: Mitta Mitta to Leather Barril Creek

Pterodactyl resumes the narrrative ...

Aussieflyer, after showing us how, next morning said hooray to us and headed for home. Cormanus, positive as usual, said, “Let’s hit the hills”. And we did. After a good day’s riding we found ourselves at Leather Barrel Creek. At 1500m AMSL it sits in the Kosciusko National Park.

Tumut Dam

Alpine scenery

A pristine camp site A hewer of wood

And a drawer of water

The CBs

A fine fire

Cormanus contemplative