I had planned to do a ride up to Kenilworth & Mapleton on Saturday to capture video of some of the great roads north of Brisbane. I have ridden the planned route many times, knew which bits I wanted to video and was really looking forward to getting amongst it again. I also managed to talk a friend from work, Nina, in to coming along for a ride on the back.
I picked her up from her place on Saturday morning and we headed out through Samford, stopping at the Crown Hotel in Dayboro for a drink. We were the only bike parked out the front and there were very few passing - it felt kind of weird, as I am used to seeing at least a few bikes parked under the big Moreton Bay Fig's at the pub and a steady stream of passers-by riding this very popular route. We sat out on the deck enjoying our drinks and watching the few vehicles and the odd bike rounding the corner. Maybe the lack of traffic was due to Indy being on down on the Gold Coast - don't really know, but it didn't worry us coz that meant the roads were ours!
We took off from Dayboro and headed along Mt Mee Rd - this is where I was able to get my first bit of video. This part of road would be really great if the council did some re-surfacing - in it's current state it is fairly rough and it is really easy to overcook some of the corners on decent into Dayboro if not careful. Going the other way as we were, the climb up to Ocean View is not quite as hairy and these corners do allow you to throw the bike around a little, although riding two up I took it easier than what I would on my own. Check out the
first video below.
We continued along for another 20 or so minutes and decided to pull up at the lookout on Mt Mee to take in the view. Not long after, a guy and girl pulled in from the same direction as us on their two bikes - an old Katana and a GSXR750. They came over for a chat and were also surprised at the lack of traffic - so much so that they planned to head back towards Dayboro and have some more fun with the curves. Good on em!
From the lookout, we followed Mt Mee Rd down to D'Aguilar and onto the highway for a short stretch, cruising through Woodford before turning onto Kilcoy-Beerwah Rd for the run up to Maleny. Again, very little traffic on the straightish, flat stretch and so I took the opportunity to stretch the GSX's legs a bit - actually, quite a bit! We reached the twisty's just before Peachester Rd and then took a left turn on to Stanley River Rd. This was magic - nothing at all going our way for the whole 20 odd kms, and this road is in good nick. It really made the whole day worthwhile. Check out the
second video below for the entire stretch.
On reaching Maleny, we were getting hungry and so decided to head towards Mapleton via Montville instead of via the longer route through Kenilworth. Both Maleny and Montville were very busy (as per usual) but on riding into Mapleton, we found very few people along th main drag. We headed to the pub for some lunch and were able to score a good table out on the balcony, which I have never been able to do in my 4 or 5 prior visits. The meal was good as usual and after about an hour we decided to head back.
The route home was pretty much the same except for the diversion along Mountain View Rd instead of through Maleny, and a stop at Mary Cairncross Park to take in the views of the Glasshouse Mtns. We did strike a little bit of traffic on the D'Aguilar Hwy as well as Mt Mee Rd during our decent into Dayboro, but other than that, all roads for the entire return trip to Samford were clear - no cops either which was good.
I dropped Nina off at her place and made it home by 5:30. Another fantastic day riding a few of the better roads around Brisbane.
The view from Mary Cairncross Park on Mountain View Rd
My pillion for the day, Nina
Great view of the Glasshouse Mountains
Cool mirror shot
These cows grazed along the ridge in a line, like a giant lawn mower
The twisty bits on Mt Mee Rd just outside Dayboro
Stanley River Rd heading into Maleny
Labels: On the road, video
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