OMG!!!!
I had the most challenging ride of my career on the way home.
We knew a storm was coming, but woooaaah! It was berserk! I'm lucky to be here. I checked the weather app earlier that day and no storm appeared to be apparent.
Riding at night for a start, brings its own challenges with wildlife etc, so I was definitely riding to the conditions. Saw a fox, rabbit and then some loose cattle on the road just after Esk and the aftermath of the storm.
THE STORM: Holeeee! It was cyclonic conditions with a wall of water coming in literally sideways and instantly drenching me as if I had jumped in a creek.
It hit me between Kilcoy and Harlin with no protection to stop at in between, My spotlights were useless as when lit up, the amount of sideways rain made the reflection back into my eyes overpowering. The wind was ferocious. I was down to 20km/h! I was being hit by showers of bark from the roadside eucalypts. I was actually very concerned about a bow, limb or even whole tree coming down on me. I was looking up to see if I needed to emergency brake. There were no other cars for the duration.
The amount of flotsum on the road was unbelievable, and quite a hazard. This 25 minutes were some of the most intense of my life!
I crawled into Harlin and took shelter under the servo awning, where another car was doing the same.
I needed a break. I had to completely reset, and wait for the storm to subside.
I stayed there for 40 odd minutes, just drying equipment, changing my wringing wet shirt. I found my wet weather gear and fluoro hi-vis top to put on.
I gulped down some water, washed my windscreen from the many bugs and finally continued on.
Then came the fog as I climbed up into the Ravensbourne National Park. There was bark, sticks and limbs all over the road, so I still barely got over 50km/h.
Then came the cattle scurrying of the road. The fog and solid rain masked my vision and forced me to ride slowly on low beam.
Out of the blackness came abruptly into view, a huge downed bow in the middle of the road! I propped, braked, swerved in to the only gap left to pass through, and remember feeling some of the tree hit by boot as a went past.
This happened two more times, although these two were slightly smaller. It was frightening seeing them pop out of the darkness, not knowing how many more times this would occur.
I finally crawled into Hampton at the top of the range, and made my way to Crow's Nest. The weather had subsided by now, and there was just thick fog to deal with.
After thinking I was over it, there was one last immense downpour as I rode toward Crow's Nest.
I arrived home at 1.10am drenched and mentally drained.
I got out of all my wet gear, had a hot shower, a hot coffee, and finally jumped into a warm bed at 2.20am - glad to have made it.
I learned a lot from this ride, and I'm certain I'll never have anything that challenging again.
Sorry for the long post - but wow! You should have been there! Lol.
As per usual, a wonderful dinner with great people in a lovely venue. Thanks to all who were able to come out and enjoy with us. Nice to meet you John.
Cheers, Diesel
