BACK IN the 1960s, when the motorway known then as the F3 slowly started linking the north of Sydney with Newcastle, the old route – the Pacific Highway between Berowra and Gosford – was relegated to a tourist drive. Go there on a weekday and it’s all bird songs and tranquility, populated only by the occasional cyclist, or perhaps a touring Harley rider chugging though, enjoying the scenery.
But on the weekend it’s a very different story. Early Sunday mornings it becomes like a weird cross between a motorcycle festival and some. Dozens of riders gather in the car park of the Pie in the Sky bakery in Cowan, fuel up on coffee and pastry products, and proceed to wring the necks of their howling machines down to the Brooklyn Bridge, usually to turn around and shatter the peace on the jinking climb back up. The gradient hits around eight percent, but the road is smooth and sweetly cambered; two lanes each way so anyone having a crack uses everything available to create a fast line.
