08-03-2017, 10:28 AM
Many years ago I was riding my Z1 from Melbourne to Woolongong. It was winter time and I was all rugged up in my thermals, leathers and a RAAF flying suit over the top. Somewhere north of Albury I could see a lone tail light way ahead of me. It was about 9pm and the ride had been pretty lonely so i thought I would catch up to this fellow motorcyclist. Cranking up the speed didn't seem to be making much headway and I thought this guy must be moving at a fast pace. Finally I crested a rise and there he was. By then I had nearly reached escape velocity and I shot past him as he was only traveling at the speed limit. Since I was already comfortable with my faster speed I decided to keep going and watched him slowly disappearing behind me. I stopped in Gundagai at a roadhouse and filled up,took a leak and grabbed a coffee. Just as i pulled out on to the highway i saw him turn into the roadhouse so I gave a wave and pressed on. Getting pretty cold now and was below 0c not including the chill factor. Finally I arrived in Goulburn to thaw out at another roadhouse as they had a nice open fireplace. Just as I got off the bike in comes the same guy again. He was riding a 650 Yamaha.He was wearing a pair of slacks,shoes and socks and a thin vinyl jacket and gloves. Poor bugger was almost frozen and all he wanted to do was to catch up and ride with someone. He was in the army and was travelling to Sydney. Unfortunately I had to tell him I was turning off the highway just a little way up the road and I left him sitting in front of the fireplace trying to warm up.