Once upon a time, a long long time ago in the BC era (BC = Before COVID), the most honourable Biggles suggested I go on an IBA ride with him. On Saturday Feb 29. "Why that date?" I asked. "Because you only get a chance to do a ride on that date once every 4 years". Hard to argue with logic like that.
I had thought about trying a shorter 1000km Far Ride first, but the next FR wasn't until April. So I decided to take the plunge and join Bill on his 1640km adventure, figuring that in the worst case if I ran out of steam I'd have to spend Saturday night in a motel room out the back of goodness-knows-where listening to the sweet song of a window-rattler.
So we departed Carseldine in the crisp night air at 12:10am, then treated ourselves to a hearty breakfast in Rockhampton, followed by a cruise up over the twisties of Mt. Morgan, 'lunch' at Taroom, 'dinner' at Goondiwindi, then home for supper and bed around 9pm.
Highlights of the trip:
- Whizzing up the Bruce north of Gympie with nary a car in sight. Soooo much better than the usual crawl behind the inevitable caravan while looking for a spot where one could pass without getting killed.
- Macca's breakfast at Rockhampton. Yep, at that time of day Macca's tasted unusually excellent. The coffee and carbs did an excellent job of chasing away the cobwebs. As we hit Rocky I was getting dangerously fuzzy in the head, and in hindsight I should have pulled over earlier for a break.
- The trip up Mt Morgan, while not as long as I would have liked, was a lot of fun.
- 'Lunch' at Taroom where, as I seated myself comfortably at a picnic table, dearest Biggles gently reminded my that LD riders don't lunch at picnic tables - they snack while standing.
- The stretch from Goondi towards Warwick, with the afternoon sun setting behind us, was magical.
Apart from the fuzzy bit at around 5am, I was amazed at how much I enjoyed the trip, and how fresh I felt at the end. It was an absolute blast. I used an AirHawk over the OEM seat under the sheepie, pumped up quite high. I don't like the AirHawk around town, even when inflated correctly, butt on this long trip it really helped. The highway pegs also were invaluable in giving me three distinct seating positions I could rotate through, again really helping with the tail end and legs.
Would I do it again? You bet I would.
