Bloody Rain

[terrydj]

So I havn't seen rain in 3 months and on Tuesday I decides to head home ??? So Wednesday morning the suns shining, I loads up the bike and takes off. A kay up the road I turns left, says ????????????????, and stops, puts on me wet weather gear while looking into a wall of Black complete with lightning >:( So off I heads, the water coming down, the road lifting everywhere and just pot hole after pot hole >:( So I'm sitting on the appropriate speed for out west, when suddenly the bike hits a bit of a bump, takes off into the air with the front wheel up just like I'm a Motocross legend and me thinking this will hurt, ahhhhh but down I comes like nothing happened to the lights flashing on an oncoming road train, with the hand up to the windscreen giving me the thumbs up
So the road finally decides its not a road anymore and just a wet path, the rains getting heavier and I makes Dingo for fuel. So a few hours later I make the turn at the Rockhampton roundabout, turn right and thinks, Hmmmm its Highway one, I'm laughing Yeah laughing they call it a Highway. Only a million stops for roadworks???? Only a million reallllly deep holes in the road, oh yeah and one or two idiots as well.
So sometime in the afternoon I hits Gin Gin and says to meself, that joint looks good and I stops for the arvo/night. Bloody 800 kays in a bloody thunderstorm, on a goat track they call a highway, still alive and loving every moment of it. Ahhhh but theirs always tomorrow me thinks. But tomorrow comes to the sound of rain and wind as I'm getting dressed and me thinks maybe a touch over 400 hundred and I'm home. The road gets more like a road south of Maryborough and the sun comes out fore me at the Roadhouse south Gympie. Ahhhh but as I gets ready to go, yeah it starts raining again. Surprise surprise. So 2/3 hours later I'm home, bike washed, gear all unpacked thinking, what a great trip. Guess that''s what happens, when you've ridden a bike most of your 55 years, know why dogs hang their heads out the window, why a few extra dollars is worth it when it comes to wet weather gear, and why women were made

[Brock]

Nice write up...

[West Aussie Glen]

Although I avoid riding in the wet these days I always figure that it certainly won't be the first time I have gotten wet and mostly likely will not be the last. Mind you pressing the up button on the screen certainly helps. Back when I was young (and probably stupid) and I used to ride to work in the Sydney CBD. In the summer it would often be raining on the way home so I would take my good shoes off and ride home bare feet through all the puddles I could find.
PS now I am just old and not quite so stupid

[Carrelli]

The feeling when you're riding that you will never NEVER do that again is somehow seriously compromised with just unlocking your front door.
Now why is that?
Is there a direct link from the lock to the dumbest most easily accessable part of the brain?
Glad I have to keep doing it to find the answer..
..and I hope I never do

Nice story Terry.. been there, particularly the magnificant Bruce...I tend to avoid it these days 'cause I like the unexpected .

Cheers
Carrelli

[saaz]

Reminds me of the fiusrt day of the trip up north I did a while back.  At the time it seems like hard work, if you survive it was a great experience (sort of until everything dries out!)

[rendog]

I make the turn at the Rockhampton roundabout, turn right and thinks, Hmmmm its Highway one, I'm laughing Yeah laughing they call it a Highway. Only a million stops for roadworks???? Only a million reallllly deep holes in the road, oh yeah and one or two idiots as well.
So sometime in the afternoon I hits Gin Gin and says to meself, that joint looks good and I stops for the arvo/night. Bloody 800 kays in a bloody thunderstorm, on a goat track they call a highway, still alive and loving every moment of it.

I'm with you terry,
the Bruce Highway north of Rocky is absolute rubbish.
I always travel inland, saves time and pain. 
Maybe they'll fix it just in time for this wet season?
Ooops, too late 

[saaz]

I didn't think the Bruce was that bad (fires blocking the road notwithstanding!) but I am comparing it to rural NSW roads and the New England supposed highway.  The Bruce seemed relatively good by comparison.

[rendog]

I didn't think the Bruce was that bad (fires blocking the road notwithstanding!) but I am comparing it to rural NSW roads and the New England supposed highway.  The Bruce seemed relatively good by comparison.

Oh ye of many roudabouts and four lane arterials in our nations captial. 
How doth thou compare Cantberra Ave with the Bruce Highway ???
When the mile hardened truckies swerveth onto the wrong side of thine highway;
I feeleth there be something wrong  Or maybe my butt ith to boney?   

[saaz]

I didn't think the Bruce was that bad (fires blocking the road notwithstanding!) but I am comparing it to rural NSW roads and the New England supposed highway.  The Bruce seemed relatively good by comparison.

Oh ye of many roudabouts and four lane arterials in our nations captial. 
How doth thou compare Cantberra Ave with the Bruce Highway ???
When the mile hardened truckies swerveth onto the wrong side of thine highway;
I feeleth there be something wrong  Or maybe my butt ith to boney?   

Hmm.. I didn't think I did as I mentioned compared to NSW rural roads - Canberra Ave is in the ACT last time I looked !  But since you ask, Canberra Ave is alot better than most of the Bruce Highway.  New England is a lot worse in many parts. I originally come from rural Victoria with narrow roads, so anything with a line down the middle is a bonus!

[rendog]

Hmm.. I didn't think I did as I mentioned compared to NSW rural roads - Canberra Ave is in the ACT last time I looked !  But since you ask, Canberra Ave is alot better than most of the Bruce Highway.  New England is a lot worse in many parts. I originally come from rural Victoria with narrow roads, so anything with a line down the middle is a bonus!

Lines, ah yes I've seen those things of which you speak. 
saaz, my point was not to twist your words around but to contrast road standards between states.
Which road carries more traffic I wonder Cantberra Ave or the Bruce highway?
But let's not get to pedantic 
I haven't been down the New England since ... 2004ish
Ride on 

[saaz]

The Bruce Higway goes through a lot of different areas, so hard to compare.  Seems like traffic volumes vary from an average
of 2500 vehicle movements per day in smaller rural centres to 30 000 around Rockhampton
and more than 100 000 just north of Brisbane.  Canberra avenue has around 30,000 by comparison, but is only one of a few alternative routes with similar volumes.  It is also only a few kms long, not 1600 plus