The Ride
It had rained all night and there were grumbles about venturing out and the preference for staying in bed... but eventually we got all riders on their steeds and down into the village for the Honda display.
The Snowy Ride is sponsored by Honda who donate a Goldwing as a lucky door prize and a Fireblade for the raffle. This year they brought with them their entire fleet of bikes and allowed people to test ride them through the village. I did however notice the absence of the Postie Bike.
The rain had stopped but the wind had picked up and the temperature was hovering just above freezing. We decided that the 300km loop around Alpine Way would not be wise so after breakfast we all headed off to Charlotte's Pass - a mere 60kms away. The wind was bad in Thredbo valley but it was even worse in Perisher valley. Peter on his poor little PX struggled up the mountain and took refuge in the resort at the top. Fortified with hot chocolate, Nicole, Garry and I took on the last kilometre to the lookout - although nothing could be seen from the lookout as the weather closed in rapidly. It was 3 degrees with a wind chill factor of -5 and I couldn't get off that mountain fast enough.
We heard later that one person had been literally blown off their bike and broke his leg.
Back in Jindabyne the temperature increased by 10 degrees but the wind was still a problem. We rode out to Dalgety along some of the most beautiful roads in the country, while Mark looked enviously at all the propertys "For Sale" along the way. It is indeed a glorious part of Australia.
At Dalgety showground we indulged in a fabulous lamb roll supplied by the locals, and then had dessert in the tea house on the corner. Freshly baked chocolate cake and good strong coffee and I was ready to challenge the wind again.
We tried getting back to Thredbo to watch the Mass Ride come in but we were too late and ended up riding in the tail end of it at 30km/h. This is not good in high winds and several times felt the wheels slide out from under me. It was exhausting riding and although we hadn't ridden very far that day, I still felt completely drained.
At 4pm we wandered down to the village square for the presentation where I met up with Nerida and Kevin and their mates. After listening to the speeches and NOT winning the Honda Goldwing we all retired back to our chalet for pre-dinner drinks and munchies. After pizza for dinner we all fell into bed exhausted.
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