What a fantastic day to go for a ride! Sunshine, no rain, temps perfect for riding and a great destination, not too close but not too far. This was obviously the consensus as 24 riders turned up at Berowra ready to go plus one who was a wee bit tardy – even MTC was early for the briefing. The destination as scheduled was Poppet Head Park, Kitchener. An interesting place with all the appropriate services for us older folk, a bit of an outlook over the dam and a display of the history on an interpretative plaque. One virgin, Peter, who claimed not to be, was given the appropriate recognition because I hadn’t seen him on a ride before. The briefing over, we set off at a good pace for our morning tea stop at Jerrys Café Kulnura. After a short regroup at Calga we headed on to one of our favourite stops where we met Mr and Mrs Plod quietly having their morning tea as well. They assured us that they weren’t planning to follow us to the next rendezvous point at Wollombi, so we fel...

  The original plan was to go to the Gardens of Stone but due to slips, the road is closed until further notice. The alternative destination chosen was to Glen Alice in the Capertee Valley. 11 Riders set out but only 10 made it to the start as one rider missed the turnoff for McGrath and ended up at Wentworth Falls! Another rider left us after smoko in Lithgow leaving 10 riders to head to Glen Alice which is 77 kms of great roads from Lithgow. Our lunch destination was at 'From the Paddock' , a farm market and cafe located on a farm in Glen Alice. They kindly allowed us to consume our own food at their tables, despite us only buying a few coffees. As some rider put on the rain gear at Lithgow, we naturally did not get any rain. The weather went from 22 degrees and cloudy in Lithgow to 29 degrees and sunny in Glen Alice. We dodged the rain all day and arrived home dry after another great day of riding. Thanks to our TEC Mark, nobody got lost. Peter Walshaw

 Eight brave souls congregated at St. Ives on a warm Saturday morning. Our fearless leader Geoff "Staysharp" Wiltshire was laid low by the dreaded lurgy so I became the default leader. Luckily Geoff had provided me with all the info I needed for the ride so it was just a matter of following his instructions. We were to meet Russ Pennell at the BP in Kurmond on Bells Line of Road. John Warner offered to be TEC on his Can-Am although he warned me he was having a slight problem with it where it restricted him to 100 kph. That was no problem as I didn't intend to go faster than that with my eleven points. We headed off slightly late along Mona Vale road to the M2, then on to the Abbott Road exit and  Old Windsor Road to Windsor, Turf Farms and Kurmond. Russ wasn't there at the BP so I wondered if he'd given up on us as we were a bit late. No problems as he turned up a couple of minutes later. We headed off straight away via Bell, Darling Causeway and right on to Hartl...

  The forecast for today’s ride was into the high 30’s ‘Out West’ so we always knew that it would be a hot one!  And the forecast proved to be spot on.   It was a balmy 25 by the time ‘side stands up’ came around  at 10.00am  at Heathcote Maccas.  It was a day destined to go smoothly with Laurent S rolling in a full 10 mins before our planned departure, that being 9 mins 50 secs earlier than his usual arrival time.  Laurent joined the already assembled crew of four (Peter W, Jim C, Dave S and myself as Ride Leader).   During the ride briefing, I dutifully announced that I was a ‘Virgin’ Ride Leader (this being my first time out front) which led to them all giving me the welcoming ‘virgin clap’, which seems to be a particularly unfortunate thing to give any poor virgin.  They all laughed and promised to treat me gently and with respect, even the day after!  And to their word, they did.  Some even sent flowers!   With a group of ...

  GONBUG Ride Report: Saturday 11 March 2023 All the Way Way to Woy Woy Fish n Chips then Pottering Along to Patonga . With no “victims” waiting at St Ives, and knowing that Suitcase would meet me at Pie in The Sky (PITS) at Cowan, I left just after 9 am, and all two of us twisted along the Old Road (not too many hoons), turned off at the Gosford exit, twisted downhill towards Gosford, then right turn along Brisbane Waters Drive, stopping at a fancy Yacht Club (future coffee stop?) then gooned past SPIKE MILLIGAN Pedestrian Bridge, and stopped in Woy Woy for FISH n CHIPS, complete with seagulls and pelicans, and excellent Op Shop (purchased 4 bright socks) then finally escaped through Umina Shopping Centre and turned onto Ettalong Drive then Patonga Drive past the turnoff to   Pearl Beach and down to Patonga – almost no traffic. Easy bike parking, plenty of customers at the Pub/Fish Shop. (Luckily we had already eaten). So, dessert (choc paddle pops) across at the Ferry ...

  RIDE REPORT ORANGE OVERNIGHTER Maccas McGraths Hill was the place to be  on Wednesday morning  as 24 riders gathered for  a 9.30am  departure to cross The Great Dividing Range to escape the heat in Sydney for the cooler Central tablelands of New South Wales. As it turned out the weather was ideal for motorcycling. Coming into Lithgow I received a phone call from TEC Peter Whiteside to say he was on the side of the road with John Randall at Mount Wilson with a GS that had sprung a leak in the fuel line and were waiting on BMW Roadside Assistance. In the meantime, our group continued onto Oliver’s at Bowenfels for morning tea. Before leaving for Newbridge we had to deploy our backup TEC, Peter Walshaw. The corner marking actually started from Lithgow and as Peter Walshaw pointed out to me that perhaps in the future we designate two TEC’s because in the case of the first TEC getting delayed with a breakdown it could happen that you could have a string of corner m...

  Yesterday’s ride report to Kiama. This was to be my first ride for 2023. I leapt out of bed earlier than usual  (more like a slow roll to the edge of the bed enabling my legs the use of gravity to travel to the floor) as I needed to check the battery / tyres etc. Duly went through my morning rituals. I won’t go into the details but suffice to say being mustard gassed may have been a more pleasant experience!  The weather looked good and BOM indicated no rain. Pulled on my riding jeans and waddled off to brekkie. It then proceeded to piss down with rain so waddled back upstairs cursing BOM and put my other riding pants on. Normally, I meet up with my riding mate Dangerous Davis but he decided not to go south of the border rather he would join the PADPAL bunch and then go and mow his lawns at his Wangi Wangi ranch. So much for mates! Arriving at Heathcote I find I am the only one there. I am starting to get a complex and wonder whether everyone is gunna do the PADPAL. Is...