It was a typical winter morning with heavy frost, very low temperature and dense fog early morning. Despite the conditions approximately 23 riders and 1 pillion rode in to Cambridge Park, some grabbing a hot coffee to crank the system up prior to the ride.
I had been asked to lead the ride today, a role I always accept willingly having been more accustomed over the years to being ‘sweep’ and viewing all from the rear. Today I had the honour of taking a demo ride on the new top model Can Am Spyder RT Limited, a mere $42,000 on road. It is certainly a beautiful machine with everything imaginable (except the coffee machine); I still love ‘Spook’ my smaller F3 S low slung racer that now has 113,000km on his dial. Both models run the same 1330cc motor with the big RT showing much greater thirst than mine.
The ultimate destination was ‘Devils Corner’ on the East Coast for pizza and seafood treats. Morning tea was scheduled for Orford with riders being alerted to expect some fog and possible slippery roads along the journey . As promised there was dense fog from Buckland through to just south of Orford with the temperature dropping to just three degrees. (All bearable when you have heated seats, grips, grab rails etc). A few riders returned home from Orford while the majority headed north. Just a few riders stopped in Swansea and 12 riders continued on to Devils Corner as planned.
It is such a treat to have our highways free from unpredictable tourists. But no doubt it will be a shock once the borders open to all – enjoy while we can. Beyond morning tea the weather improved dramatically with welcome sunshine and the temperature reaching 15 degrees by the time we arrived at Devils corner.
The sole pillion rider (Charmaine Hogan) was super short, the proof is in the photo complete with step-stool to climb aboard end dismount (and you thought I was short).
It was quite a relaxing lunch stop in an area with magnificent views out towards the hazards with everybody happy to lounge around waiting for their meals .
With the eventual time for the homeward journey three riders opted for the complete loop over Lake Leake and on down the Heritage Highway for home. The remaining 9 riders rode back down the East Coast stopping at Buckland for our final re-grouping before branching out in varying directions for home.
This was another thoroughly enjoyable outing with fellow Ulysseans.
