He's not been there long though since, while he has already got a coffee, he is still in line for a bacon and egg roll. I get a coffeee and toasted crossoint (sp?) and we sit down to breakfast and a natter. I tell him my gearbox is playing up - having trouble getting gears on the downshift without letting the clutch out between shifts. Still its going in for a service on Friday so they can fix it then. We fine-tune the PLAN - we'll head on down through the Royal to Wollongong, up to Mt Keira then across to the Mt Ousley road and back to Sutherland via a small piece of freeway, 140km round trip, sweet.

PLAN A:



and the reason for going is this short piece of biker heaven



Having finished our breakfast we mount up. An easy cruise down to the Audley weir, across the river and climb up the other side. [aside]Despite the big yellow mudflap a couple of sportbikers insist on passing me in my lane through some narrow curves with a steep drop off through the scrub down to the river. OK, its not unreasonable perhaps to assume a learner keeps a good watch on his mirrors and knows you're there, its less wise to assume said learner will not do something bizarre like radically change line in a turn, hello, we are learners guys, wake up to yourselves[/aside]

Once on the ridge Jon opens the taps on the 1600cc HD. No, I never expected a LAMS version lobotomised GV650 was ever going to keep up - I have 2/3 the weight, 1/2 the HP, and 1/10 the experience - you do the math. I give it my best shot though

We blast along the heath and then down through the twisties on the other side till we come to Lady Wakehurst Drive. Jon pulls over to a parking bay (yes we are facing the wrong way for that side of the road, we didn't magically move to the USA)



"That was fun" says Jon, "wantta do it again?"



Tempting as it is, Mt Keira beckons, there will be other days. We hit the road again, winding down through more fun stuff to Stanwell Tops where we pull in for the obligatory photo stop.





A couple of other bikers come over - "What is it?" "a Hyosung" "No I mean how many cc's" "oh, 650" "ah and learner legal, how does it go?" "pretty good, better than I can ride haha" (remember that comment, gentle reader) "is it Taiwanese or Korean?" "Korean" "how do you pronounce it again?" "Hyosung, like Hyundai, its the Hyundai of motorcycles" "well if they make them as well as Hyundai makes cars now thats not a bad thing" "too right mate, you can't beat the bang for the buck"...

We mount up again and head off down through Stanwell Park, then on to Coledale, across the Sea Cliff Bridge



on through Wombarra, Thirrul, Corrimal, I stop at a handy bus stop for a couple more photos







Away again and on to Wollongong. Jon pulls up beside me at some traffic lights - "Do you want you L-plate? Its in the middle of the road about 2 blocks back" "Not again! Nah bugger it, the pace you've been setting back there I'm less likely to get busted without it, I'll replace it when I get home"

Jon leads us onto the Mt Keira road. As we leave civilisation Jon rolls on the throttle. Somehow (that's noobi speak for "I wasn't paying close enuf attention") I find myself in some deep "tramtracks" - I battle to keep out of the gravel while trying to force my way back onto the flat-top. Finally with much heart-racing I'm back on the road proper, no sign of the Banana Bus.

Now do you think I did the sensible thing and slowed down, took 10 deep breaths and settled myself? Of course not, brand pride was on the line, I hauled down the right grip and set off in persuit.

All was going well until I came to the bend that I NOW know is that big hairpin in the middle of the run on the map. Its a bit deceptive and it is NOT signposted with advisory signs. I poured into it carrying way too much speed (somewhere close to 70kph) and no chance to brake any of it away, lean, lean some more, lean even further, clunk! the left peg ground into the tar Holy Sh1t! I eased off the lean, bad idea, I'm now running wide, lean again, clunk! again... it must have been pretty funny for the people watching (yes gentle reader, whenever you do something stupid you can bet there will be someone to see it ) - I'm flapping between grinding the peg and running wide and wobbling, fortunately there was nothing coming the other way as I exited the corner significantly over the centre line, there was no way I could have pulled it back, and I lived to tell the tale. Now I need clean underdaks. Sanity now prevails, Jon can wait.

I turn into the entrance to the lookout, Jon is waiting patiently. "Was that fun?" I detail just how much fun it was. "Lokk" says Jon, "if you are making mistakes learn from them and redo it" "Not right now thanks, I'd like to live a little longer". We ride up to the lookout, a bunch of HDs are there already. Jon goes to see if any are carrying the pipes he wants to get while I go and take more pics.









its fairly clear over Wollongong so I take some of the panorama







As we return to the bikes Jon points something out to me "pretty appropriate" he says.



We ride back to the lookout gates





Time for another planning session.

PLAN B:



and why;



We decide that since BoM is no longer forecasting rain we can go on to Macquarie pass and the Robertson Pie Shop for lunch. Back down the hill we go. As I come to my scary hairpin I notice that there is an advisory on the up-side, al-be-it a blackened one and it advises 35kph, and thats around the long way. No wonder I had trouble.

At the bottom of the hill its onto the freeway, Jon winds on 110kph then 120 - oh well there's no mudflap on the back any more Off the freeway then its right onto the road leading up to the Pass. The Banana Bus again roars and pulls away. This time however the road is well signposted and I'm way more comfortable - I keep him in view a few bends ahead. Through the pass and we pull into the Pie Shop for lunch.





Seems some Pontiac club had similar ideas, among them are a couple of gems





Lunch over, Jon asks which way I want to go home. I don't care. He asks if I want to avoid the freeway "Mate, I've broken that many speed limits today whats a couple more?"

We decide to take the freeway. To get there we proceed along Illawarra Hwy then turn right and head for Bowral. 100 kph road becomes 120 under the wheels of the Banana Bus, we slow down for Bowral then head for Mittagong. Jon pulls into a fuel depot to water the steed, she's a thirsty girl. The GV waits patiently - I still have 1/3 of a tank Having refuelled it off again and now we swing onto the freeway, 110, 120, 130, the LAMS slides are starting to make the carbies asthmatic, 140kph and thats all she wrote - the slides just wont lift much further, 6K rpm is the end of the line.

In what seems like no time we are at the Liverpool exit, we pull into the breakdown lane to say our farewells. "I'm impressed" says Jon, "considering its really a 250 it goes very well". "just dies above 6K" says I. "ah" say Jon, "but only for now, for a couple of hundred bucks you get to double your HP, I have to spend 4 times that for just 10% and its an extra $100 bucks if I want HD written on the side" (Jon is not your typical HD rider but then he used to ride Trumpy's)

We part company with Jon returning to the freeway while I ride through Liverpool and onto the Heathcote road. Every traffic light is torture as the gearbox is really acting up - I have to jiggle clutch, throttle, and shifter while stationary to get back through the gears to first, roll on Friday! Finally make it back home, 311km round trip, so much for a short ride.