A pre Christmas ride

[Cormanus]

Just before Christmas I had a great ride from my home in Pomona, Queensland to Brisbane, the capital city of the State. I didn’t take the normal route straight down the Bruce Highway which is why I’m writing about it.

Here's a [url=https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zwzS5Q1Lo7Yk.kOU1ztGBQ9QE&hl=en]map of the route. You can see the Bruce Highway to the east.

Thanks to the Ferret for the camera tip. I'm still in awe of how he can press fiddly buttons wearing serious winter gloves.

Leaving home, I rode to the nearby town of Cooroy through the Yurol Forest. I ride it often, but never tire of the long bends which serve as a warm up for the remainder of any ride.

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Leaving Pomona

From Cooroy my route took me onto the Belli Creek Road, part of which I wrote about in an earlier post. It’s easy riding with enough turns to keep a rider interested and a couple which require me at least to keep my wits about me.

[url=http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/Cormanus/20131216_Brisbane/DSCN1130_zpsb2ff0c3c.jpg] [url=http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/Cormanus/20131216_Brisbane/DSCN1129_zps019e4c0d.jpg]
Belli Creek Road

Belli Creek leads to the Eumundi-Kenilworth Road, a fast and reasonably good country road.

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Eumundi-Kenilworth Road

[url=http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/Cormanus/20131216_Brisbane/DSCN1165_zps0951de93.jpg]
Kenilworth—Erika up front

It was a Monday so the Bellbird Creek Tea House was open and I decided to stop in there for lunch. Mostly because I was hungry but also to see Erika, a friend of my eldest son’s who is temporarily working there. She rides a Suzuki Gladius with a great deal more skill and panache than I do, in spite of her recovering from a nasty spill a year ago.

[url=http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/Cormanus/20131216_Brisbane/DSCN1153_zps9ec32764.jpg] [url=http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/Cormanus/20131216_Brisbane/DSCN1152_zps10398569.jpg] [url=http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/Cormanus/20131216_Brisbane/DSCN1162_zps6fbb9418.jpg]
Bellbird Creek Tea House—Check out the bike carcass complete with rider at the entrance

Erika was finishing work as I arrived and drank tea with me while I ate. When she learned I was off to visit my second son and his partner in Brisbane and was taking the scenic route, she decided to join me. Good news as it’s often more fun doing some of these rides in company. Plus she knows the route better than I do.

While she got herself organised, I had a look at the motley collection of Hondas Pete keeps at the café. He tells me he dusts them off and races them from time to time. He’s also found a good use for old helmets.

[url=http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/Cormanus/20131216_Brisbane/DSCN1157_zpse5e15339.jpg] [url=http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/Cormanus/20131216_Brisbane/DSCN1161_zps43bc8a89.jpg]
Pete's bikes and a good use for aging helmets

More to come to get around the image limit ...
Continued ....

As soon as you turn right out of the gate of the Bellbird Creek Tea House, you’re back into some magnificent twisties that take you round and down to the plain on the Maleny-Kenilworth Road.

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Start of the twisties outside the Tea House

[url=https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zwzS5Q1Lo7Yk.kKzV_jgRRqJw&hl=en]Map of the twisties.

We didn’t go all the way to Maleny. Just west of Conondale we turned onto Ahern’s Road a smaller road that not only allowed us to bypass Maleny, but to ride up the Postman’s Track, a narrow and beautiful road leading steeply up the hill to the Maleny-Stanley River Road. It’s not fast as strategically placed dips are designed to slow traffic, but it’s a heap of fun and worth taking. The Maleny-Stanley River Road is memorable for the fantastic twisties leading down to Commissioner’s Flat. Erika reckons it’s one of her favourite bits of road on the coast. The gusto with which she approaches it indicates the pleasure she gets from it.

[url=http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/Cormanus/20131216_Brisbane/DSCN1173_zpsf11e5c9d.jpg]
Ahern Road

[url=http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/Cormanus/20131216_Brisbane/DSCN1177_zps6d998649.jpg] [url=http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/Cormanus/20131216_Brisbane/DSCN1178_zpse3ffcec1.jpg]
Postman's Track

[url=http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/Cormanus/20131216_Brisbane/DSCN1182_zps981b16b4.jpg] [url=http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/Cormanus/20131216_Brisbane/DSCN1183_zps72a93f16.jpg]
Maleny-Stanley River Road

[url=https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zwzS5Q1Lo7Yk.kuvim7MgcYos&hl=en]Map of this section.

The road across the flat to the other side of Woodstock is straight and flat and let me catch up with the Gladius which had left me in its wake through the hills. This has nothing to do with the CB1100; just the relative quality of the riders.

[url=http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/Cormanus/20131216_Brisbane/DSCN1185_zpsd923ee26.jpg]
Down the hill to Commissioner's Flat

Just to the south of Woodstock we turned to the right onto the Mount Mee Road. It’s fantastic. You climb the mountain through a set of tight twisties that must have been purpose built for motorcyclists. The road is in excellent condition and Erika vanished ahead of me as she gave in to her racing fantasies. I’ll have to go back and photograph it another time. That will be a hardship. Not.

[url=http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/Cormanus/20131216_Brisbane/DSCN1194_zpsfca04b67.jpg]
Start of Mt Mee Road

After the summit of Mount Mee, the road winds down less steeply and tightly to Daybro. It’s still a satisfying ride. From there we followed a relatively busy and straightforward path to the centre of Brisbane.

[url=http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/Cormanus/20131216_Brisbane/DSCN1196_zpsc6a5d611.jpg]
Coming into Dayboro

[url=https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zwzS5Q1Lo7Yk.k0UgktpAf5C8&hl=en]Map of Mount Mee Road.

For another day, there’s a detour at Samford (just after Dayboro) that takes one up another mountain and along an excellent and popular bikers’ road into the west of Brisbane. We had intended to take it, but it was getting later than I wanted to be and it was going to take too much extra time.

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Brisbane

Sadly I couldn’t ride back the same way as I had agreed to collect the purchaser of my Honda Shadow on the way home and that route took me straight up the highway. I can report that, even with an extra 100kgs on board the CB1100 performed brilliantly. Like other members of this forum, the more I ride this bike the more I appreciate it.

Except for one little thing: the seat is not comfortable over a long ride. My backside becomes numb far too quickly. Hence the only modification I’ve made, other than putting on the top box: an Airhawk seat cushion. I’m not sure I’ve got it adjusted properly yet, but on the evidence of the brief rides I’ve done, it's much more comfortable.

[the Ferret]

Great pics and ride report Cormanus! Beautiful country and some of those roads look awesome. Appears to me you got the camera thing figured out pronto. You did well. Soon you will be taking pics forward and backwards, in your mirrors, while chasing someone thru curves while steering with one hand. The nice thing about these new digital cameras is you can take 1000 pics and delete the out of focus, not centered, finger tips in the way shots, and still have enough left over to do a good job of recording the flavor of the trip.

The flavor of your ride looked yummy.

[Pterodactyl_imp]

Great ride and pics. I lived at Oakey and Sunnybank in the '60s and '70s and am familiar with the area. Good roads indeed. Maybe if I ride to SE Qld this year (and I have reason to as I am a Broncos and Maroon tragic) we can get together for a CB ride.

Cheers

[Cormanus]

Great pics and ride report Cormanus! Beautiful country and some of those roads look awesome. Appears to me you got the camera thing figured out pronto. You did well. Soon you will be taking pics forward and backwards, in your mirrors, while chasing someone thru curves while steering with one hand. The nice thing about these new digital cameras is you can take 1000 pics and delete the out of focus, not centered, finger tips in the way shots, and still have enough left over to do a good job of recording the flavor of the trip.

The flavor of your ride looked yummy.

Ferret you have far more faith in my riding skills than I do. But thanks. I'm lucky to have such such great roads to ride on, and with such easy access.

Great ride and pics. I lived at Oakey and Sunnybank in the '60s and '70s and am familiar with the area. Good roads indeed. Maybe if I ride to SE Qld this year (and I have reason to as I am a Broncos and Maroon tragic) we can get together for a CB ride.

Cheers

That would be great, Pterodactyl. Let me know if you're heading north. I've a vague plan to ride south this year, so I'll let you know if I'm near Sydney. I've a son there and I like to visit when I can.