Tuesday, November 24, 2015

November - a hot and twistie ride via Springbrook

The heatway moving across Australia finally made it to SEQ. Though not as severe as the 45deg that hit Sydney it climbed to 35deg on the coast, dropping to a refreshing 30deg up at Springbrook.

the "gathering" at Gateway prior to departure
Along with around 12 bikes we welcomes Jon and his BMW F800 S to his first ride...and Adam, Pete's nephew up for a weekend for a ride on a hire bike. Seems it was going to be too hot for some of those tough bikers :)











It was suppose to be a relatively short ride but turned out to be one of those interesting one's :)
leaving Gateway
lovely country run down west mt cotton rd


Paul on his BMW r1150 rt at a consolidation point..little did we know he would have to be push started.
We started off with one our favorite small rides to to the freeway via West Mt Cotton Rd..you could be a million away from anyway.
May be it was just the rising temp but the Gremlins started with a battery problem requiring a push start, a small bike off causing difficult starting, the mystery of a flicked on "kill switch" caused me some consternation and lastly a loud noise from a stick being caught in my the belt....but despite that the ride was AWESOME.


 Escaping the traffic on a hot day was our priority so to finally start climbing up towards Springbrooks was pleasant , particularly as the temperature began to drop to a more pleasant 30deg C.
We wound our way to the the Rosella Cafe for morning tea ... a unique little cafe across from the Canyon look out..we enjoyed our usual fun and frivolity.


enjoying some coffee ...Leo playing hide and seek...then a walk to the "best lookout"
The boys thought they would dress me up a little with a facinator added to my normal garb. Check out our new merchandise...the sticker on the helmet and T-shirt.

We finished and went across the road to a great lookout and obligatory selfies...we could see the Spit/Sea World grass fire...looked huge

some great views....sorry about the chrome dome

 So after some good food and views it was off down down the mountain ..through twistie heaven to the heat of Mudgeeraba. With no cars in front of us our Band of Bikers tag line was coming true.."we do eat twisties for breakfast" :) 

 From there it was off back inland to Canungra for some cold drinks and a spray from their mist cooler
tropical rundown from Springbrook ....eventually to The Outpost
Check out a video of the ride below...the rear shots were used as when leading I have no one in front :) 



Monday, November 16, 2015

First Band of Bikers Merchandise

Well we have finally got our first Band of Bikers merchandise item, a T-shirt, out for sale (around $30/ea).
The front has a large Band of Bikers logo...and our tongue in cheek slogan.."we eat twisties for breakfast" (thx leigh k) , on the back highlights our blog and all our roadtrips to date ....and we have one colour...black of course.
Email me if you would like order one...they are a pre-shrunk, cotton..in a little larger size.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

October ride to Binna Burra with extra's

Another great ride in October to Binna Burra and beyond. We again enjoyed the company of some new riders ( Di Walton,  and bikes as we meandered a few hundred kms around the great scenic and twistie hinterland roads.

we welcomed Di ,as a passenger on Daves BIG new Indian, also Doug and Phil
Prior to others arriving I met up with our newly form Gateway 4WD club who were on their way to Bribie Island for a bit of off-roading" and they though it funny to put a snatch strap onto my bike and pull me along .....ok so they have more wheels than we do but managed to convince them not to.:) 

So we headed with 20 bikes in tow and picked up a few on the way for our 209km rides with many obligatory coffee and food stops.



Its always a great sound as we roar out of Gateway then attack the boring S.E freeway, oh well there has to be some effort for the amazing reward we get.

So it was a run down the freeway and across to Belmont rd via Mt Nathan for the run up to Binna Burra , the other way round.



We enjoy a great morning tea with awesome views at the Binna Burra Cafe ...we enjoyed a chin-wag and some great food.



Then it was back down the mountain , skirting Canungra and headed up the steep Heni Roberts drive stopping at a look out on Nth Tamborine for a photo opportunity....what a good looking bunch of bikers :)


whats it with men and bikes..they just love them ..even designing wind deflectors in cardboard..well done Des
I think Brenton likes me ...the boys were watching some para-gliders ride the thermals


....But trying to get a group photo is like herding cats 


Mt Tamborine was celebrating some form of scarecrow festival so we were entertained as we road to the spice of life for lunch with all the variety of stuffed characters ...and found the biggest when we had lunch ...Paul and Phil wondered what the fuss was sitting next to this stuffed green hulk.


So gradually everyone left to find their own exciting way home after a great days riding in the great South East with some awesome rides... already looking forward to our next ride with the Band of Bikers.

Check out the extended split screen video of our ride up Beachmont Rd chasing one of our support vehicles then onto Binna Burra.