Orange 2 Day Ride 8-9th March 2023

 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 markers waiting for a TEC that doesn’t turn up. That seems entirely plausible to me. So, as we happily rode off towards Lake Lyell we found that the road was in reasonably good condition and there were sections that had been completely repaired or dirt sections currently being repaired and resealed between Tarana and O’Connell.

Not sure what’s happening with the O’Connell Hotel but it is still closed. It was a nice ride through to the Lagoon, Perthville and Georges Plains to the Gladstone Hotel at Newbridge for lunch. TEC Peter Whiteside caught up to us at Newbridge. Some riders that did not fuel up at Bowenfels had a quick lunch and headed into Blayney to get fuel.

In hindsight for most it was probably unnecessary as we only had 70 kms to Mount Canobolas and 20 kms back into Orange. As we came into Orange from Millthorpe we took a few back streets in the directions of the Orange Race Course then a scenic ride up to the Summit at the top of Mount Canobolas.

The National Parks and Wild Life have just recently reopened the Summit after extensive works were carried out which makes it well worth having a look and the views are spectacular, you could see the bush fires as far away as Hill End. With an elevation of 1,397 metres and a strong wind blowing some riders put on extra layers to keep warm. After about a half an hour we made our way back down the mountain into Orange past Lake Canobolas and some Cherry Orchards.

It goes without saying Orange is a beautiful town. The Town Square proved to be a good motel. Most rooms have now been renovated and the adjoining Metropolitan Hotel worked well for our group.

After breakfast on Thursday morning we ventured off to Sofala via some back roads into the outskirts of Bathurst past the famous heritage listed Abercrombie House then onto Turondale Road and the Rustic Cafe in Sofala for brunch which was a combination of breakfast for some and lunch for others but for whatever reason it seemed to fulfil our needs and we happily rode off in the direction of Lithgow via the Castlereagh Hwy.

Thanks to everyone who embraced the Corner Marking technique and who volunteered when I had a lapse of concentration to give the signal to corner mark, as a result it helped the ride go smoothly with no unnecessary holdups.

Despite the inevitable road works on our trip where we were stopped by traffic controllers it was a great ride, good weather and excellent company. John Randall was unable to finish the ride. After waiting most of the day on the side of the road for BMW Assist his beloved GS had to go home on the back of Tilt Tray.

It was good to have so many riders from the Hills, Eastern Suburbs, North Shore, Upper North Shore and Northern Beaches on this ride. Our last stop was at the Bilpin Fruit Bowl from where we all made our own way home. Thanks to everyone who came on the ride and our two Tail End Charlies Peter and Peter.

Cheers

Dave Sipple