Lethal's Nom Ride
written by Lethal 17th July 2010
Well all those going on the ride met at the Caltex Baldivis as planned
( except for Spider who joined the ride at Nth Dandalup), when I rolled
up at Baldivis at 1400hrs there were already a few keen folk waiting
for the ride to get started, which was really great, because as I was
riding down the freeway to Baldivis it was overcast and I could see
the rain coming across from the south west so it did not look like
perfect motorcycle weather (but then again it is winter and I did get
the comment that any day is a perfect day for a bike ride…I guess
some days are less perfect than others though) so it was really
heartening to see some riders already there…Just after I arrived
at Baldivis it started to rain so we all got kitted up in our wet
weather gear and then the rain stopped…brilliant!!!!
Fortunately the 5 minutes or so of rain we had at Baldivis was
the only rain we had all ride.
About 15 riders and partners turned up to share my nom ride with me which I
thought a great turnout considering the weather, time and not a lot of advance notice about my ride. After meeting and greeting we had the obligatory
group photo, Surly did a great job of press ganging a guy filling up his car with petrol to take the photo (good work Surly you would have been a real
asset in Lord Nelson’s Navy keeping his ships fully crewed) after the ride brief and with Diesel as tail end charlie we headed off down Safety Bay Rd.
The ride thru too Dwellingup went smoothly except we had to watchout for some fanatical lycra bandits on their bicycles along Del Park Rd.
From Dwellingup we rode thru to Waroona via Nanga and Nanga Brook Rds which are great for riding with lots of twists and turns for the rider and great
countryside for the pillion to take in…however, the sun coming thru the trees in the late afternoon made the ride a bit more challenging!!! but very enjoyable.
Everyone arrived at the DrakesBrook hotel car park Waroona (eventually as some of the riders were caught o n the wrong side of a rail crossing waiting for
a train to pass) at about 1600hrs, a bit later than planned where we had a break for about 45 minutes for cold/hot drinks and snacks.
As we were leaving the DrakesBrook I believe Bronco had some trouble getting his BMW to do the right thing something about missing 1st gear, engine
revving loudly and bike nearly falling over…although I could not confirm the accuracy of this incident and this could be an exaggeration of what really
happened, or a rumour spread by the Harley Riding fraternity????
The ride up the South West Hwy thru Pinjarra to Serpentine was uneventful…it was getting late and “cold” and as we tuned into Karnup rd at Serpentine
I was bit concerned that we would be riding into the setting sun but my ride prep and negotiations with the big fella resulted in some cloud cover rolling
in just at the right time so the setting sun did not cause too many problems.
We all arrived (except for Pvt West & Diesel) safe and sound at the
TPD premises just on 1730hrs everyone was cold so it was great to see that a fire was well under way so we could thaw out.
After waiting for about 10 minutes for Pvt West & Diesel to turn up and a few phone calls Len & I headed off on a SAR mission (Pvt West was riding
a Harley) but fortunately Len and I passed Pvt them coming along Stakehill rd Baldivis so we executed a quick U Turn and rode back to TPD where my
ride was officially concluded now that the “missing” riders had arrived at the end point. Fortunately the reason for Pvt West’s & Diesel’s delayed arrival
was only due to Pvt West needing to stop at Serpentine to fuel the Harley…
I could now relax have a hot coffee and stand around the fire and thaw out.
It was a great ride and everyone had finally arrived safely at the TPD, although a little cold!
Now that I have done my nom ride report I can now go pack the bags as my Wife (Marls) and I are heading off to Bali tonight to lie around the pool in
the sun drinking Bintang (me) and cocktails (Marls) for 8 days.
Thanks to all those who tuned up for the ride!!!!! Diesel thanks for doing a great job as tail end charlie.
