Activites from November 2003 :

Oxley Weekend Away - 7/8/9 - Nov 2003
Jenolan Caves - 16/11/2003
Snowy Ride - 15th to 16th Nov

Oxley Weekend Away - 7/8/9 - Nov 2003

After bragging about our pending trip up the Oxley on Friday
afternoon it nearly all ended in tears for me when I established
that the battery in the Monster was dead, thanks Mark. Just when it looked like my trip was over before it had even started the culprit arrived home.

Considering it was his fault for leaving the monster
in park it was only reasonable that he donate the battery out of his
bike to my worthy cause for the weekend. With the battery problem sorted SJ and I were on our way. We missed the initial meeting place due to my little problem so we were made to endure the long lackluster journey up the freeway to catch the rest of the motley crew at Newcastle.

The first night was spent sitting around and enjoying dinner and a
few quite drinks at the Plough Inn Hotel (not the Plougman SJ – no men) at Bulahdela we were lucky enough to be enlighten by Chris's Baby Blister (Kerry) of his childhood nickname (please no e-mails asking what it is as I live in fear of stern retribution).

The following morning we were woken by the magnificent sound only a Ducati with a dry clutch can make (thanks Craig). By 9am we were on the road, despite the rain (yes Alistair some of your predictions came true) we wound our way though the glorious Bulahdela Mountains.

Scott managed to pick up hitchhiker (a Kookaburra) along the way only to toss him over his shoulder mid ride to an unsuspecting
Andrew.

A fleeting visit to the Motorcycling museum at Nabiac before we headed off for some serious riding along the Buckets Way through
Gloucester and onto the Thunderbolts Way. A slight mishap on the now infamous "Siren" corner (I never knew Kawasaki's could fly sooo far – I thought only Honda's had wings!!) before heading on to out lunch stop Walcha. If ever your heading up that way make sure you visit the Bakehouse. The guy who owns it is extremely bike friendly and makes a fantastic toasted corn beef and pickles sandwich, yum!

Our next meeting was with the awesome Oxley Hwy. now I must admit at the start I was wondering what all the hype was about but as we made our way closer to Mt Seaview I soon understood, despite the mudslides predicted by Alistar!

We arrived at Mt Seaview around 5:30pm a little saddle sore but
nothing a few drinks couldn't fix. After slipping into something a
little more comfy we headed down for dinner. The pre-dinner
conservation was centered on how we could recoup some of the costs we had incurred from the weekend. SJ and I came up with what we thought was a wonderful idea, we decided that Andrew's amazing dress sense made him an ideal candidate to be Auctioned off to the pack of wild women next door. Unfortunately our efforts were a little fruitless as we only raised $5 (Andrew's new ickname – 5 dollar boy). After a delightful dinner we headed to the games room where a game of strip ping pong was in order, sorry no photos of this one – what goes on tour stays on tour (I think Sean was extremely grateful of this).

The rest of the evening becomes a little hazy from there
on in, but let my ensure you a great evening was had by all (see the
photos and you will know what I'm talking about).

Chris had arranged breakfast for 7:30am so an early start was in
order. We enjoyed lovely percolated coffee with our breakfast (you really should have tried some Ruth) before setting off to do the whole thing in reverse, minus the flying Kawasaki. We arrived back home around 5pm just in time to enjoy a spa before dinner.

Honestly does it get any better!!

Can't wait until the next trip,

Robyn aka Ducati Lass

Jenolan Caves - 16/11/2003

For those who like bendy roads with bugger all traffic, the Jenolan Caves ride fits the bill. Compliments go to the selector of this route, from me at least, but I'm sure from all of us in the ride;
consisting of:

Shaun on a Ducati SJ4 as ride leader
Adrienne on a CB FZ1
Sally on a CBR 900
Craig and Melinda sharing an FZ1
Doug on a G6R 750
Chris riding an almost brand new CBR 900
Andrew on a Blackbird
Chris on a Hornet 600
Troy on (I didn't record his bike) and
Liam on a 750 Monster as vanguard for the day.
And there was one other person, my humblest apologies for not recording details.

The weather forecast for the day was a tad negative for road users but promising for the gardeners and water users, but whilst a southerly change did make the ride back through Bilpin a tad cool, we had a dry ride.

Eleven bikes and 12 people met at McGraths Hill about 9:45am and under instruction from ride leader Shaun we headed for the Bells Line of Road, but not through Windsor centre and Richmond but, to my suprise, via Freemans Reach. That alternative was picturesque and a little bendy, just to get us in tune for the rest.It may have been the little traffic on the road that saw us witness a couple of spectacular wheelies from possibly (but in this public document, not definately) CBR 900 Chris and Troy.

The pace was pretty quick all the way to Mt Victoria where we stopped for a soft drink break. The wind was strong and gusty and a few of us discussed some concerning moments. Liam said that we could expect more wind along a high road to the Caves.

Westward ho for all but Troy who decided to go back home. The bendy Victoria Pass was suprisingly devoid of traffic and pleasant to negotiate then we turned south to Jenolan Caves via the little hamlets of Good Forest, Lowther and Hampton. Liam was right about the wind! So much so some mob have erected two wind powered generators on one of the ridges. They sprung into view coming around one corner, surreal.

Caves House was cool and Adrienne found the best set of tables on the shady veranda where we fed on Caves House fast food, suprisingly good, albeit a tad expensive.
Among many topics of conversation, police and policing ranked high as were rogue taxi drivers - Chris advised that hitting a LH side mirror of nuisance cars with your hand was not as good as grabbing the whole assembly, they apparently pull out and spring back with destructive force.

We left JC's about 2pm, brief stop at the entry for a photo shoot and I for one had my fastest ride ever along the road back to the GW Highway where we turned left to Lithgow then up the Bells Line of Road to the Kurrajong pub for a closing ale.

A very pleasant and well organised ride with very pleasant company.

Authur: Hugh

Snowy Ride - 15th to 16th Nov

Personal Account from "aubeasty"

Here's my report from the Snowyride - I went on my Honda CB250, with my riding buddy on a GPX250.

Friday- Sydney-> Robertson
Nice little run to Robertson, freeway riding was tough speed-wise as the CB250 didn't work very well up hills, but still kept up a good average speed. The bike is more comfortable than expected over a long distance, the suspension is more setup for cruising which meant the suspension was quite compliant. Maquarie's Pass was a good run, I couldn't keep up with the GPX250 but still had a good run up to the
pie shop.

Robertson -> Goulburn
The light was dwindling and so was the warmth from the day, so we stopped in Moss Vale to add necessary warming gear (for me it was to close the vents on the helmet, to put on my wife's made-for-me woollen scarf on [I HATE that scratchy woll-against-skin feeling], but surprisingly it did the job and I didn't notice it! I also put on a pair of winter gloves.) These all made me feel a lot more comfortable for the long coming freeway stretches. The ride from Marulan to Goulburn was pretty straight, fast and non-eventful.

Goulburn -> Queanbeyan
We stopped for fuel in Goulburn and made sure we were awake/warm enough to do the trip to Queanbeyan. We left G thinking it would be about 30 mins to Queanbeyan - boy was that soon proven to be wrong! Time takes on a different perspective when riding long, straight freeways...the mind tends to wander - my perception of time had changed whilst on the trip - I *thought* we had been riding for an hour and I started worrying when I hadn't seen the turn-off, thinking I had missed it! Freeway riding can be so boring :) Once we turned off the Federal Highway, the 30km to Queanbeyan was a welcome break from the monotony of the freeway, some nice long corners and plenty of the twisty stuff to break up the ride. It still took us over an hour!

Saturday- Queanbeyan -> Cooma
Windy. Straight. Fast, hardly any turns or twisty bits. Not really fun.

Cooma -> Berridale
The start of good, quality riding roads, and the start of me getting used to bikes overtaking me. I did the best I could to move over to the left of the lane to allow the faster bikes to pass within the lane. I certainly learned a lot about throttle control as well as the best way to keep up as best I could. The road was fairly good, and the blast was fairly short.

Berridale -> Dalgety
Lovely bit of twisty road, again I was passed many times by bigger bikes *drool* and did my best to accommodate them. There was one section where 2 bikes had passed me and were braking into a long, off- camber downhill left hander towards a one-lane bridge - if they hadn't been on the brakes through the corner (and I was as well thinking they knew something I didn't) I might have gone in too hot...as it was I was thankful for their lead :) This road was quite hilly and I soon got left behind. This road wasn't long enough!

Dalgety -> Jindabyne
This continued on the same style of roads that we had on the way to Dalgety, twisty, some fast sections, and lots of hills. I was passed by a p-plater on a GPX250!! (He did get me going up a hill, but I did manage to keep him in sight until we got to Jindabyne.

Jindabyne -> Thredbo
We checked into the hotel, had a spot of lunch before heading off to Thredbo. The road to Thredbo was a great piece of road, again I saw the big bikes scoot past me, but one of them was an absolute prick! I was hanging left as long as possible in some parts of the trip to let the bigger bikes past, but one dickhead had overtaken me in *my* lane
on a right hand bend?!?!!? when he zoomed through with not much to spare I was shitscared - The idiot couldn't wait until I'd straightened up a few seconds later? Apart from this dickwad, everyone else seemed to give me time and room and I did my best to accommodate the faster riders. After about 15k's I was left alone as everyone had passed me, and I had a good little run into Thredbo. There was one very scary moment when I went too fast into a right-
hand bend - I was conscious of jumping on the brakes so I backed off the throttle, stood it up slightly and touched the front brake - I managed to keep it upright but almost ran out of road and was well into the gravel and crud by the side of the road - once I was feeling in control of the situation, I came off the brake (having successfully washed off enough speed), leaned it over slightly and worked the throttle enough to give me drive through the corner. I was not pissed with myself for going in too fast, I was pissed with myself for letting my mind wander - the rest of the ride was beautiful and without incident :)

We walked around Thredbo Village for a short while, not realising how small the entire place is - a few bars and shops there to support the large number of people staying there during the snow season. We wandered over to the village green, found a nice shady tree and sat under it until the end of the presentations/prize drawings. I didn't win anything but it was a fabulous place to be and the trip there was sensational. My previous longest ride was for just under 1.5 hours, so this was a good place to be after a nice ride through the morning
and early afternoon :) I did see one person with a Bikers Anon sticker on his black helmet but didn't get the chance to introduce myself.

Thredbo -> Jindabyne
With failing light and waning energy, the trip back to Thredbo was fairly relaxed - again, the faster bikes ate me up but once we got caught behind a car, there were a few bikes waiting behind me. The rest of the trip was uneventful until the car peeled off and uncorked us for the short run back to Jindabyne. Once back at the hotel we chatted with a few riders about their day and their ride. It's amazing how many people started their lives on a GPX or CB! Everyone seemed to own one at some stage of their life. We joined other riders for dinner & drinks in the pub watching the Rugby - it was a great end to a great day! :)

Sunday- Jindabyne -> Cooma -> Queanbeyan
Windy. Not much that hasn't been said already, the Cooma -> Queanbeyan run is dead boring. It was also mega windy and overcast! I did this stretch on the GPX and came to the conclusion that it's suspension setup was not geared for soft, compliant riding. The CB was a dream to ride after the GPX, soaked up the bumps well and didn't transfer them to your bum. Everyone had said how much my bum would hurt from the long ride but I was very comfortable and didn't feel a numb bum during the ride. Did I mention how bloody windy it was?!?!?

Queanbeyan -> Marulan
Freeway Riding. Windy.

Marulan -> Moss Vale
Now this was a blast! Most of the roads had long, fairly flat-out corners, good for keeping up a high average speed, and although I was still letting the faster bikes through, they didn't become specks on the horizon anywhere near as quickly as previously (please attribute this to the lack of hills and longer, faster twisty bits more than my skill ;) Once we hit Moss Vale, we decided to prepare the wet weather gear but didn't put it over my jacket (Again, Moss Vale became the warm-up stop, where I closed the vents on the helmet, put on the
scarf, swapped to the winter gloves, and put the WWG over my pants. Again, I was toasty warm for the next part of the ride.

Moss Vale -> Robertson -> Wollongong -> Helensburgh
Not much action until Macquarie's Pass, unfortunately had to follow a trail of cars - I kept backing it off enough to let the cars out and have 2-3 corners without the cars. Towards the bottom, one of the ricer cars had stopped on a narrow part of the road and the occupants all jumped out to check the front right corner of the car - heaven knows what happened but my guess is that he'd understeered into the wall trying too hard to go through the twisty bits too fast. Onto Wollongong, non-eventful freeway ride, up to Helensburgh & the Royal
National Park.

Helensburgh -> RNP
Twisties! Lovely twisties through the RNP, had a ball of a time up to the Garie Beach turnoff. I noticed quite a few riders in the other direction, so if you're one of them I waved to...hello :) I really got stuck into some of the corners and did my best to ensure I carried my speed through the corners. I was not happy when a car pulled out in front of me and slowed my performance just past the Garie beach road. I was secretly passing on vibes to allow him to move over and let me pass, but as you may know, the roads are not that wide so this wasn't possible. By the end of the ride we were
banked up behind a line of cars and I couldn't do much to get past them.

Sylvania - Rain
The bloody rain came 10 mins from home, and caught us completely off guard - I felt a drop of rain, looked up and couldn't see 30m in front of me....then got drenched. There was no time to put the WWG on completely, so my legs were dry, but everything else got soaked. The rain hadn't subsided by the time I got home, but stripping off and getting into warm, dry clothes was a blessing.

I will defintely be doing it again next year!