John Osborne is in Melbourne and asked me if I would lead this ride so that’s why I was up front. It was a beautiful late autumn day sunny with clear skies and cool. Eighteen riders fronted for this ride to Mt Sugarloaf lookout including one virgin, Tom. He is one of Rod’s rough mates from Mosman. He rides a BMW Grand “Captain” America cruiser with all the extras. He was excused from his kindergarten class today to go riding with the big boys. At 49 he lowered the average age of the group to 79.9. Frostie was there and warned us of some potholes on the Yarramalong road. He wasn’t riding with us just dropped in on his way to the mountains. I took off and within a kilometre a tyre pressure warning light appeared on my dash. My rear RDC ( Reifen Druck Control) was showing 29 psi so I stopped at Mt Colah to have a look at the back tyre. It looked just fine so I mounted my trusty steed as the mob had just caught up with me. Half an hour later the warning light had disappeared and my r...

  On a cool may morning, 13 eager riders gathered at Maccas McGraths Hill hoping for a 'good run'. All went well until we reached Grey Gums, who had promised to open for us but cancelled as all staff went to a funeral! The email requesting everyone to bring morning tea appears to be still hiding in my computer, I am sure it was not 'operator error', but then again?? Lunch was taken at Denman before we progressed to the Bylong Valley via the short cut. The correct road was selected but the road name was different  in Google and Garmin Sat. Nav. 6! After checking  that we were on the correct road with  the incorrect road name, we continued! The outbound run from Denman took in the Bylong Valley up to the Lui turnoff, where we were all treated to a dazzling display of solar power, with the sun low in the sky, then straight ahead until Mudgee with riding speed only a guess!! Dinner was at the Club Mudgee which appears to have dispensed with the old name. Day two had an 8...

  The ride today was to Bulga 8 riders turned up - half were called “Peter” Similar to the Oscar acceptance speeches, I thanked the ride committee profusely for understanding that I was geographically challenged & therefore officially categorised as being a disabled ride leader.  In their wisdom they allocated the most simple ride on the calendar so that I could feel “included’ by the “normal” riders. They calculated that there are only 2 corners on the ride, one at the roundabout at the grassfields & the other 151 km later at the destination. That became the ride briefing. We didn’t corner mark. Richo insisted on being TEC. No rain despite the forecast. Apart from the anticipated stoppages the Putty was in good shape. The Greygums was trialling opening on Thursdays. We finished at the Pie without incident. I'm now worried about leading the Gloucester Glide as I think it has 4 turns! Cheers Tony

Well, another successful Nerriga ride. Depending on who’s weather chart you looked at, it could have been either a very wet day, patchy rain throughout the day, or cloudy but fine. Seven riders turned up to do the ride, and it turned out to be a beauty.    Given that the national park was still closed, we travelled down the old Princes Highway to Albion Park, then through Jamberoo to Kiama, around the juicy Kiama bends and into Gerringong for morning coffee in the Main Street. A brief senior moment by the ride leader had us turning off the M1 one ramp  too early, and so we had to come into Albion Park by the back way to get onto the Jamberoo Road. The countryside around there is looking fabulous at the moment.   We then followed the coast road through Geroa, Shoalhaven heads and on to Nowra, and then took the BTU Road across to HMAS Albatross and on to the Braidwood Road (the one we call the Nerriga Road) to the Nerriga pub for lunch. As we left Albatross, we faced a...