Yesterday I went on the ‘250s do The Nasho’ ride that was arranged via the Netrider forums.I was not supposed to be riding this weekend. After spending all that time bending over cleaning the oil off the back wheel the weekend before, I had pulled the muscles in my back. I had pulled out of a ride arranged for this weekend due to my back. But by Friday night I was right as rain.
I know the MZ is not a 250 but a ride through the Royal National Park with a whole bunch of other riders was too good to pass up. Plus some of the 250s on the road are faster than the MZ.
The main meeting point for this ride was Sylvania Mcdonalds. Four of us (Sleddog, BRD007, Andu and me) meet up at Krispy Kreams at Liverpool. We travelled along Heathcote Rd and it was freezing and wet in places. That cold that I was getting cramps in my left foot from the cold. Was this a sign of what was waiting on the road in the NASHO?
Sleddog's Suzuki Boulevard M50
Some of the 33 bikes and riders that turned up for this ride.
I took the very last position behind Sleddog when we final took off into the Royal National Park. Last time I rode down through here was on the Virago and sidecar so was a bit rusty on a solo.
There is some very beautiful scenery through this ride. At times you can see the sea and then you drop down in the rainforest valleys and the air is so clean and fresh. But this brings hazards to the rider. The trees in places totally overhang the road and this means that there are very wet and slippery spots. I didn’t see it but there was moss on the road. Some of the corners are not signposted very well. The road surface can vary from very smooth to as rough as guts.
Sleddog and I rode along with Andu who was on his first ride on a Suzuki GS500 and had only been riding for 2 days. His L was still so new and yellow. Soon we came across the first rider down. A Honda 250 Spada had come into a down hill corner too quickly and went straight into an embankment. Rider was fine and the only damage was a broken front brake lever. He had others with him too help out.
So off we headed. Not much further along we come across a big group of Netrider guys all parked up on the side of the road. A bike has gone off the road big time. The rider didn’t make the right hand turn and went down a small gully into a creek. He was sitting up on the Armco fence. His bike was down maybe 30 feet in the gully in a million bits. A total right off. How he came off who knows. He was on his own when it happens and can’t remember what happened. From what I know he came away a bit shook up and with a very sore rib cage. He was so lucky not to have been badly hurt. An Ambulance was arranged to attend the scene.
Most of us pushed into Scarborough Hotel for a well deserved drink. Then the rain came. Not much but enough to make us think it would be a wet ride home. After finishing our drinks Sleddog, BRD007 and I headed for home. With maybe more rain coming we went straight back up the Princess Hwy and on home.
Even thought there were some mishaps I still enjoyed the ride.
The highlights for me were.
A) It was so good to see so many bikes all in one place at one time with one purpose.
B) Being near the rear of the mob as we all rode off to Loftus oval. It was great to see bikes across all the lanes.
C) The look on some of the car drivers faces when we pulled up in a big group at the light. Maybe they thought it was something from STONE.
D) The road in places through the RNP is beautiful. So too riding through the tree shrouded roads and hearing your own bike’s exhaust.
E) Sleddog doing the little finger wave at the fool in the Ford Escort who thought he would show off by trying to do a burnout u-turn and failed.
F) Meeting new people with the same interests. Bikes!
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