It’s going to be a warm one….

The first really warm day of riding this year started out on the cool side for three DUBBUG riders on Sunday morning. The ride was from Urunga to Nambucca Heads via Hungry Head, so those cyclists living on the southern side of our DUBBUG “range” started from Macksville and Nambucca Heads and headed north.

For George, Mike and Colleen, the morning ride up the Pacific Highway at 7am was peaceful and cool. These three joined the rest of the group, Bettyanne, Ride Leader Phil, Mark, Kerrie, Ian and Dave, at Urunga for the usual departure at 8am.

The group meandered through Urunga with not a car in sight, then along the cycle path from Urunga to Hungry Head to the junction of the Pacific Highway. After a quick stop for a catch up, the group tackled the now slightly busier Pacific Highway single-file to Valla Beach.

With the speed limit at 80, and few trucks on a Sunday the ride was “do-able”, but not pleasant with cars streaming past non-stop. It was good to go somewhere different for our Sunday ride, however it’s always a bit nerve wracking along the Highway. We can’t wait for the Highway to become the Old Highway and widen our choice of rides south of Urunga.

A flat tyre on Bettyanne’s bike stopped three of the riders. Herb, our usual tail end Charlie, is walking around the 7 bridges of Sydney, but George ably filled his role, changing the tyre after Bettyanne applied the tweezers to extract the bit of steel that caused the problem in the first place, and Kerrie donated her chalk to mark the puncture. Great team work!

The stop gave Leigh a chance to catch up with the main group at the Valla Beach turnoff, so 10 of us made our way to Bellwood for coffee. Deb and Tim joined us and the group (most of whom had just returned from the Vietnam cycle trip) had another captive audience to regale with stories about our great time there.

On the return trip, we made a quick stop at Tim’s studio in Nambucca Heads where riders got a chance to see his paintings, and then it was north back to Urunga. By this time the northerly breeze had kicked in, the day had warmed significantly, and the traffic on the Highway had picked up – all made the ride much more challenging.

But it was one of our shorter rides and everyone was back home by midday, ready for next week’s Wednesday and Friday rides (leaving from Urunga BP at 8am). The ride next Sunday is to Coffs Harbour and back, departing 7 am from Urunga BP where we will join the “On Ya Bike community breakfast”.