Burragorang Lookout Ride 22nd Feb 2024

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Thursday morning at Maccas McGraths Hill and filling in for John R whose GS is off the road wai6ng for parts to repair a fuel line issue. Today’s ride is going to be a bit of a zig zagging kind of a ride, something different for the Thursday Riders I’m thinking. Anyhow, it’s 9.10am and the first bike rolls in and it’s Paul M on his GS. By 9.50am we have 15 riders and it’s 6me for a briefing but first we welcome two newbies, Ivor riding his KTM 390 and Peter riding his Hayabusa. The weather appeared overcast at the start, but the forecast was a rather op6mis6c one, no rain, with the sun to come out reaching temperatures of around 35 degrees mid-aQernoon. The briefing suggested a change to the normal exit from Maccas rather than traversing the turf farms we were hiSng the DriQ Way a very straight sec6on; you could be forgiven for thinking you were somewhere between Cobar and Broken Hill.

As we were leaving, Andrew T on his Tenere 700 arrives just in 6me to join the ride. We now have 16 riders. A short stop at the Hawkesbury Lookout to regroup and a photo oportunity. How good.



 After a short break at the Hawkesbury Lookout the guys were thrown into the deep end with some roads in the mountains they never thought existed. With everyone in-awe of surviving the unusual decent of 370 metres at Springwood to 30 metres in Penrith via Mitchells Pass we then crossed over onto a short straight and fast stretch across the Nepean River Bridge. Now everyone should have been back in their comfort zone at this point being in familiar territory the ride went via Mulgoa Road to Warragamba Dam picnic grounds, a great location for Smoko. See photos on Facebook. The time was getting on but without stopping we just did a loop past the lookout without stopping to look at the dam wall and then continued to Burragorang Valley or more to the point Lake Burragorang.



Just to wrap up the ride report it was perfect weather that just highlighted the amazing scenery. I think we all thought it was going to be a short day but as it turned out we could have spent more time at Warragamba Dam after all how often do we get the chance. This ride would have gone pear-shaped quickly if it wasn’t for our corner markers. There were some dodgy intersections to corner mark, but the job got done. On one occasion Wayne R corner marked a difficult roundabout on Mulgoa Road and was told by a passing member of the constabulary to move on because he considered it unsafe. I’m a Corner Marker, Wayne exclaimed justfying his awkward position. Thanks to all for corner marking, it’s not always easy but we managed to keep the group together and not lose anyone. After lunch everyone set off on their own volition to make their own way home. After 243 kms I arrived home at 3 o’clock. Thanks again to our experienced tail end Charlie, Peter of the high vis braces for an excellent job. See you again in about three months when I get back from a lap around the country on my Honda Goldwing and Elite Camper Trailer. I could put some photos up on Facebook. Watch this space.

Cheers

David

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