What can I say about a “Mystery Ride”?

Roadworks and public events forced me to cancel the original plans so I posted it as a mystery ride. The weather forecast was for thunderstorms and a significant amount of the “wet stuff”.

I had no choice as the designated ride leader and I was joined by another,

so a route was decided.

I mean, of course it wouldn’t be wet in the South Gippsland, would it?

Peter and I set off in relatively warm and dry conditions and immediately rode north and enjoyed some hills and backroads before joining the old highway in Pakenham, didn’t have to stop for one traffic light and made it to Nar Nar Goon with zero hassle.   We stopped at Garfield briefly and checked out the old theatre before riding south through Catani and eventually joined Lang Lang – Poowong Road for the delightful climb into Poowong.  By this time the roads were quite wet, but my fairing did its job and I stayed dry despite some seriously wet roads.

Peter (proper pot of tea) and I (coffee) enjoyed a nice break along with some delicious at and ginger slice.  The weather became more and more miserable, so I donned my wet weather pants and felt confident I’d be OK. 

We rode south again and enjoyed some delightful roads and scenery.

 By the time we reached Ryanston the rain had set in properly and I was taking it a bit easier than usual as my front tyre has reached its “use by date” and shiny bits of bitumen on blind bends wasn’t doing wonders for my confidence in grip so a bit of discretion was exercised.  We decided to change our lunch destination and rode on and despite the conditions the riding was quite enjoyable.  However, I then discovered that my new jacket was leaking and once we reached the South Gippsland Hwy we stopped again and decided to head home as I was feeling rather cold, wet and miserable.  We then rode through to Koo Wee Rup and up to Pakenham before heading “home” on the Monash.

The visibility on the freeways was poor due to spray etc and it reinforced my incredulity about the fact that day time running lights on modern cars don’t include tail lights making many cars all but invisible (lots of grey cars blend with the road surface and spray) in the heavy road spray /poor light conditions.  Despite that, virtually all drivers drove well both on the back roads and the freeway.

When I got home, I was preparing to pull out the receipt for my new riding jacket and discovered that I’d had a major “brain fart” a few weeks earlier.  As well as removing my winter thermal liner I ‘d also removed the waterproof liner without realising it.  Doh!

Peter – many thanks for coming along.  Thoroughly enjoyed the riding and the company and chats along the way.

Cheers

John Cook