Some days you just need a ride. A day in the saddle. A day to sit and let the world wash over you. A day to just decompress.

Today was one of those days. Russell was heading back home and it was a good excuse to accompany him for a few hours and then at an appropriate time, turn and head home.

Meeting up with Russell at Sutton at around 8:30am we headed to Crookwell enveloped in thick fog. With the sun in our eyes and fog blocking out everything else … making visibility difficult, slowing our progress. Seeing the road really isn’t over-rated.! Today’s ride will take me to Bathurst, along the Bylong Valley Way where I will bid Russell farewell and I head home via the Putty into Sydney and then durge home the last 300km in the dark on the Freeway.

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It’s been a while since I’ve given the 14 a good run out of town, this is such an awesome bike and made for these types of roads. The ST1300 really is Mr Sensible, it is proper and just gets on with the job with minimal of fuss. The 14 on the other hand is more like Grima Wormtongue, the adviser to the King of Rohan who whispered ill-intent to the King. So to with the 14, it whispers until you’re under it’s spell and then you’re corrupted and an unwilling participant to do it’s bidding. I love this bike.!

From Gunning the fog had largely dissipated revealing a glorious day to be out on the bike. Just rolling through the hills and small townships, alone in my thoughts. Putting music on, on a day like today just defeated the purpose and detracted from the flow of the road and the growl of the big four. Russell commented over lunch that coming through one of the cuttings behind me, we must have been in the same gear as the two big fours were at similar revs as the sound reverberated off the walls and the growl of the two big inline fours coming in and out of resonance. Magic.

In Rylston there is a nice little cafe called “Cafe on Louee” which happens to be on Louee St. They always serve a nice meal and a great coffee, and as it was lunchtime it was the perfect place to sit enjoy lunch, a chat, and the charm of Rylston. As the Bylong Valley Way is also a popular bike road there is also a sprinkling of interesting bikes passing by, even on Wednesday.

Once we hit the Golden Highway we part ways and I start to head home, with a side trip to Denman to have a cuppa with family.

Heading out of Denman, the distant mountains looked ominous and wet, which was quite unfortunate as I largely had the road to myself. And while it wasn’t raining the road was certainly damp and slick in places. Not knowing this road real well I just enjoyed it without pushing the limits of traction too far.

Rolling into Sydney on dark, in peak hour, in nose-to-tail traffic. After a day of open roads and light traffic I now find myself navigating a sea of traffic, crawling along. This is not the natural hunting ground for a ZX14R. I really could not live here and have to deal with this on a daily basis.

While I had hoped for a quite night on the freeway for the last few hours that wasn’t to be as it seemed like everyone just wanted to hang out on the freeway tonight.

By 8:40pm I roll up our driveway, a bit weary but refreshed.