With winter in its final throws of miserable weather, today was a nice taste of what is to come with the spring flowers already in bloom.
The sun rose with a colourful crescendo of red and ochre hues to usher in a chilly but fine winter’s day. The beat of V-twins were drumming in my mind as the girls were heading to a short day at Uni and both were keen to squeeze in a ride between other commitments. We filled the three hour window with some of our local twisties on the dry clean playground that lay ahead.
Mrs. and I ripped past the council truck doing the signage at the end of our road and filtered into the light late morning traffic on one of the main arteries to the hills. We had a meet set for 1130 with pointy pilot and MrsD’s newest best friend Steph who has returned to the fray after a ten year hiatus from the world of major displacement two wheeled machines. Having restored Vespers her suppressed urge for full throttle peg scraping lean angles and linking apexes was gnawing its way back to the surface after her heady days racing the early R1’s. All it took was one ride on Mrs.D’s 02 curvy and the thrill that is encompassed by two wheels was back. Within weeks the Vesper was gone and Steph was faced with the choice of two very nice fully optioned pointes she chose wisely and procured a K5 650s with all the fruit for a mere five grand. Reshoed it with some sticky rubber and was back bitting at the heels of the big bores with some smooth lines and girl racer bravado.
We reached the meet point to find that Steph had spent more time walking the dog than she had planned and would meet us at the Amberlight for lunch and coffee. The Amberlight is bikers hang out deep in the Adelaide twisties with heaps of bike related stuff even the menu is named after motorcycles and the people who ride them a great place to stop and good value also.
It was a clear run up Greenhill road onto the hills face with minimal obstructions to impede our progress. The air was crisp although the road was bathed with sun its warming effect was minimal and even more depleted once we begun traversing the well travelled roads of Forrest Range and Lenswood. With their mottled patchwork of shadows throwing some doubt unable to distinguish the moss areas from the fine gravel and muddy patches that plague these roads in the winter time. It was still a great cage free run up through the tight stuff and with the tree adorned technical stuff under our belt it was a throttle open ride on clear roads to Lenswood where the tighter twisties start once again. Back down a ratio or two and on the pipe, feather the brake and throttle from apex to apex the ride was sweet to the 60 Kph sign. We eased our way through the sleepy hamlet of Lenswood apple blossoms budding with the onset of spring just around the corner one can feel it in the air as the sun had risen to its zenith and our black leathers begun to absorb its rays. From there it was a quick blast through the ensuing radiuses that make up the final run to Lobie and the Amberlight for lunch of well done salt encrusted Chico rolls and coffees all round. Mrs.D and I rolled into the parking out the front just after noon happy with the run thus far and headed in to order vittles and drinks.
We checked out the merchandise and chatted with staff while the Chico’s fried out back and waited on Steph to arrive. Our steaming coffees and golden crunchie Chico rolls arrived just as we heard the rasping tone of Steph’s shiny red pointie with its barking Evo can. After general pleasantries and bike related talk the master of us all time demanded a return to the playground.
So with the vibe of V-twins tugging at our right hands we proceeded with the asphalt assault. With the red pointie out front it was a spirited run out of town then through the short straights and tight curves that make up the Lobie road. It was a blast with the girls hanging off the bikes on the longer sweepers and tipping in on the tight stuff that had Basket Range and the childhood home of our ex federal liberal foreign minister, we gave it a little extra throttle though there helping climate change along notch or two. It was a hooting squirt through the moss covered twities among the pines with the only drama being a P plate cage in the form of a blue Ford that was driving out of his control limits and cutting the corner just past Roo’s Rut squeezing Desmo’s line to the verge to avoid the head on scenario.
From there it was a great empty road that had me playing catch up with the agile 650s as I caught glimpses of tail light and leather winding its way through the tight chicanes to Ashton. Where we bid our adieus before the final rip to the Norton Summit Y junction where the S-curvy and N-pointie took the road back towards Woods Hill road and down the plains via Greenhill to end a few great hours on two wheels.
The red S-pointie would have enjoyed the fluid flow of Norton Summit back to her place and to the guilt inducing eyes of fluff ball wanting to go for another walk, after all we had our sniff and scratch around the hills he just wants his cut of the action too.
Desmo.
The sun rose with a colourful crescendo of red and ochre hues to usher in a chilly but fine winter’s day. The beat of V-twins were drumming in my mind as the girls were heading to a short day at Uni and both were keen to squeeze in a ride between other commitments. We filled the three hour window with some of our local twisties on the dry clean playground that lay ahead.
Mrs. and I ripped past the council truck doing the signage at the end of our road and filtered into the light late morning traffic on one of the main arteries to the hills. We had a meet set for 1130 with pointy pilot and MrsD’s newest best friend Steph who has returned to the fray after a ten year hiatus from the world of major displacement two wheeled machines. Having restored Vespers her suppressed urge for full throttle peg scraping lean angles and linking apexes was gnawing its way back to the surface after her heady days racing the early R1’s. All it took was one ride on Mrs.D’s 02 curvy and the thrill that is encompassed by two wheels was back. Within weeks the Vesper was gone and Steph was faced with the choice of two very nice fully optioned pointes she chose wisely and procured a K5 650s with all the fruit for a mere five grand. Reshoed it with some sticky rubber and was back bitting at the heels of the big bores with some smooth lines and girl racer bravado.
We reached the meet point to find that Steph had spent more time walking the dog than she had planned and would meet us at the Amberlight for lunch and coffee. The Amberlight is bikers hang out deep in the Adelaide twisties with heaps of bike related stuff even the menu is named after motorcycles and the people who ride them a great place to stop and good value also.
It was a clear run up Greenhill road onto the hills face with minimal obstructions to impede our progress. The air was crisp although the road was bathed with sun its warming effect was minimal and even more depleted once we begun traversing the well travelled roads of Forrest Range and Lenswood. With their mottled patchwork of shadows throwing some doubt unable to distinguish the moss areas from the fine gravel and muddy patches that plague these roads in the winter time. It was still a great cage free run up through the tight stuff and with the tree adorned technical stuff under our belt it was a throttle open ride on clear roads to Lenswood where the tighter twisties start once again. Back down a ratio or two and on the pipe, feather the brake and throttle from apex to apex the ride was sweet to the 60 Kph sign. We eased our way through the sleepy hamlet of Lenswood apple blossoms budding with the onset of spring just around the corner one can feel it in the air as the sun had risen to its zenith and our black leathers begun to absorb its rays. From there it was a quick blast through the ensuing radiuses that make up the final run to Lobie and the Amberlight for lunch of well done salt encrusted Chico rolls and coffees all round. Mrs.D and I rolled into the parking out the front just after noon happy with the run thus far and headed in to order vittles and drinks.
We checked out the merchandise and chatted with staff while the Chico’s fried out back and waited on Steph to arrive. Our steaming coffees and golden crunchie Chico rolls arrived just as we heard the rasping tone of Steph’s shiny red pointie with its barking Evo can. After general pleasantries and bike related talk the master of us all time demanded a return to the playground.
So with the vibe of V-twins tugging at our right hands we proceeded with the asphalt assault. With the red pointie out front it was a spirited run out of town then through the short straights and tight curves that make up the Lobie road. It was a blast with the girls hanging off the bikes on the longer sweepers and tipping in on the tight stuff that had Basket Range and the childhood home of our ex federal liberal foreign minister, we gave it a little extra throttle though there helping climate change along notch or two. It was a hooting squirt through the moss covered twities among the pines with the only drama being a P plate cage in the form of a blue Ford that was driving out of his control limits and cutting the corner just past Roo’s Rut squeezing Desmo’s line to the verge to avoid the head on scenario.
From there it was a great empty road that had me playing catch up with the agile 650s as I caught glimpses of tail light and leather winding its way through the tight chicanes to Ashton. Where we bid our adieus before the final rip to the Norton Summit Y junction where the S-curvy and N-pointie took the road back towards Woods Hill road and down the plains via Greenhill to end a few great hours on two wheels.
The red S-pointie would have enjoyed the fluid flow of Norton Summit back to her place and to the guilt inducing eyes of fluff ball wanting to go for another walk, after all we had our sniff and scratch around the hills he just wants his cut of the action too.
Desmo.
