The main highlight of our exit from Brisbane on day #7 was the ride with Hari, an xBhpian from India who is now settled in Brisbane. He’s a techie and rides a Suzuki GSXF 1250. We rode together via the scenic Mount Glorious route, which is the favorite weekend ride destination for Brisbane bikers – a twisty road going through a dense rain forest, leading to the Mount Glorious Cafe where we had our breakfast. You can find dozens of bikers lined up outside the cafe on a weekend.
Bid adieu to Hari a few more kilometers down the road and we carried on towards the Somerset dam via some of the most beautiful roads we had seen till date. Also put it the DJI Mavic Pro to some good use for the first time on the trip. The day’s total was 458 kilometers but thanks to frequent photo breaks we ended up riding till late at night.
The night photography capabilities of the Sony Alpha 7SII were also put to good use. Dinner at the Indian restaurant was another highlight of the day because it was quite unexpected for me to find the Indian restaurant in such a small town even when it was not on the tourist map.
The Day #8 of #powerTrip360 – Maryborough to Airlie Beach – was the longest day of the ride so far where we clocked close to 850 kilometers in a day – just one of such long days. A really long saddle time was the order of the day and the day lived up to its expectations. We ended up riding for 14-15 hours, again thanks to multiple photography breaks. It was also going to be the test of our endurance & stamina and also how well our bodies cope up with the stress of riding on these extreme sports bikes for such a long duration. And we did bloody well! The neck and shoulders did feel a bit achy, but that was much less than what it could have been. Months of training and yoga before the ride proved its worth in gold. I caught a bit of cold though towards the end of the ride as the air around Airlie Beach area was much cooler. A couple of paracetamol tablets & the ‘rest day’ next day helped the matters considerably. But overall the longest day so far had gone without giving much trouble to the bikes or the bikers, giving us much needed confidence boost for the longer days ahead.
