Australia Day rolled around with no forecast that the high temperatures experienced during the previous couple of weeks were even looking like abating, and, although it had been a fairly cool start for the ride up to Gunnedah by the time I arrived it was pretty obvious that it was going to be another scorcher.

The street outside of the Railway Hotel was quickly filling up with bikes as departure time neared, and, I think like me, that most of the riders were looking forward to getting out on the road and cooling down a bit, so, when the five minutes to go call sounded out there was a quick burst of activity as drinks were drained and a bit of extra sunscreen was applied prior to a pretty impressive line up of bikes departing for the hundred kilometer first leg to Coonabarabran.

As it transpired, the first stop turned out to be a little bit closer than anticipated, instead of it being about a hundred kilometres it was more like a hundred metres, courtesy of NSW Railways who have never managed to have a train in the right place at the right time, and made no exception that morning by causing the run to grind to a sudden halt at one of its railway crossings. About twenty minutes and around a hundred carriages later we finally set off again on the roughly three hundred kilometer round trip that took us through card stops at Coonabarabran, Narrabri, Boggabri and finally back to the Clubhouse at Gunnedah.

It was a bit unfortunate that it was so hot as there were quite a few riders that chose to pull out along the way, but to be honest, I doubt that there would have been many places in NSW that were not suffering from the heat that day, and I think that one of the Gladiators summed it all up quite succinctly for just about anyone in the country who had been out riding in the heat, when, upon arriving back at the Clubhouse he threw himself boots and all into a bathtub full of water just inside the door.

All up though, even allowing for the heat and my hand like a foot poker cards, it was still a damn good way to spend the day, and, it certainly made the three hour ride home in the by then cool night air feel that extra little bit better than it normally would.

Congratulations to the Gladiators Namoi Valley Chapter for hosting another enjoyable, although, perhaps a little bit warm in places tour around the Northwest of NSW.   See you there next year.