Up early in Coffs Harbour the plan today was to head south to Port Macquarie, grab some fuel and breakfast at the BP on the interchange and head west towards Wauchope. Timmo had been in touch with she who must be obeyed and decided on an earlier arrival home rather than the joys of an east west run on the famed Oxley Highway. Fair call. @officerhardass is not yet a father and his rides a Harley-Davidson® and understood a later Father's Day get together. My family were looking forward to dinner out with me and that was good enough for them.
So with some macas and coffee in the belly we saw Timmo off and headed west on his CVO® Street Glide® ready to tackle one of the best motorcycle roads in Australia on our 09 Harley-Davidson® Road King®s. I've described this road before so the brief run here. Scenic but not much else to Wauchope. A taste of the bends to come heading in to Long Flat followed by some great open sweepers as you start to climb the mountains. The the "winding road 45km" sign that always brings a smile to my face signals it's time to put the clear head on, knuckle down and have some fun. During the trip up the mountain we were caught by two bikes, a slick superjap that passed us by and a BMW sports bike that sat behind me until we hit a traffic control. We let him past there but @officerhardass decided not to let him get away. It was hilarious watching him throwing the Road King around with the BMW Rider clearly upset that he couldn't get away from us.
At the next traffic control he was slow to jump so I grabbed the lead and didn't see him again. This was the point I discovered that you can actually scrape the lug on the end of the side stand of the Road King (more here about where they scrape). @officerhardass apparently stuck to the BMW like glue to Gingers Creek where he turned off without even sparing a smile or wave. After the 45k's of winding road you hit another 25k's, woot woot! I turned off the juice a bit giving @officerhardass some time to catch up after being held up by the Bmer and we were on our way again.
At the top of the range the road turns very scenic, the speed limit picks up and it's a lovely, sedate but not boring ride into Walcha for fuel and a snack at the Royal Cafe. Once rested and a jocular debrief of the trip up we left for Gloucester down Thunderbolts Way. We spotted a nice purple police vehicle hiding at one point, lucky we don't speed!
For the first time ever we rode straight past the Love Dunny Lookout keen to get to Perenti at Gloucester for coffee before it closed and providing some more breathing space to make it home in time for dinner. After Gloucester the bumpy Bucketts Way held no suprises and the boring highway bck to Raymond Terrace got us near to home.
Another great day's ride to top off one of the best riding weekends you could have!
