Kenilworth Ride: 19th & 20th April 2008

by Tony Webber

A group of 13 members and 1 visitor on 13 bikes assembled a Quay St ready for the ride to Kenilworth. We got away pretty well on time. Roy saw us off. We went past home to pick up the camera and then out of town via Walker Street to Childers Road.

Travelling on, we turned at Logging Creek and rode to Childers via some great back roads. We regrouped in Childers and then rode on to Sexy Coffee / Servo for smoko. All the while the clouds were gathering. Would it be too wet or too cold? Who could say…we soon found out.

We were blessed with some fairly heavy showers on the way to Gympie, where we stopped for fuel. By this time a fair bit of wet weather gear was evident. Onward into the rain. We arrived at Kenilworth after a good ride but a touch damp.

We immediately hit the pub hoping for lunch, but a Redox type rally had arrived there just before us, so we had to wait for their lunch to be dispatched first. Anyway it poured down rain about this time, so the pub wasn’t a bad place to be. Jo, Tim, Mark, Stephanie and her friend met us here. By the time we were all fed and watered it was about 2.30/3.00.

A few of us decided to brave and elements and had a very pleasant ride up the Obi Obi Road to Mapleton and down to Maleny, returning via Connondale. Hardly a drop of rain.

Meanwhile the others cooled their heels in the pub or went for a wander around town or whatever.

We arrived back about 5.00/5.30 and joined the others for a few drinks and a well-earned meal. During the coarse of the evening, Kerry and John were joined by some friends from Woombye, and we met some very interesting travellers. They were riding postie bikes fitted with knobby tyres, windscreens and decked out for touring. Why? – No one really seemed to know,

Later, John won a meat tray and the ticket seller promised to turn up and cook us breakfast the next morning. He did just that. So we all ended up with a good (free) breakfast of steak, sausages, bacon and eggs. (I think the publican was taking it out of his pay).

The sun was shining as we rode off to Imbil on Sunday morning. We stopped at a lookout, (Kerry dropped her bike) and then rode on to the dam. Not a bad spot.

After a look around we headed back towards Kenilworth, planning to ride back out to Eumundi and then to Pomona for smoko. Didn’t sound like a bad plan but it sure didn’t work out that easily. We had a little bit or getting lost, a little bit of taking a wrong turn here and there and then we had a whole lot of rain and some more rain.

By the time we got to Pomona, perhaps some spirits had been dampened. We mulled around for a while and then some decided to head for home. The remainder had a feed and kicked back for a while. We then headed off and said goodbye to Tim and Mark, who went to Brisbane.

The rest of the crew rode to Matildas at Maryborough where we had a break and a chat. Not too much rain now and then off to Bundy. John A went to see Peter Bowden and the rest of us hit town about 5 o’clock.

In summary, I’d have to say things didn’t go like clockwork on Sunday, but “ya get that”.

A big thanks to Kev for being tail ender all weekend. I’m sure we’ll all look back and have a laugh about it soon.