Mt Sugarloaf Ride 23rd May 2024

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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 rear tyre pressure was 35psi … like magic all Ok!!!!

The route to morning tea was Old road to Calga where we turned LEFT (some people chose to turn RIGHT). Then on to Peats Ridge and along George Downes Drive to Springs Road and down Bumble Hill. Frostie was right about the potholes on Yarramalong road, they were as big as the Grand Canyon and disguised by the mottled light on the road. Luckily everybody missed them all but only just in my case. We headed up Hue Hue road and then left on Jilliby Road to Dooralong Community centre for our morning tea stop. There were a few mutterings about the corner marking but it seemed to hold up as everyone arrived …. eventually. The group split up into two tables, table one was the “Bullshit Artists” table and table two was the “Table of Knowledge”. A member of the “Dirty” crowd came over to the Table of Knowledge muttering something about “they’re talking absolute crap over there”. To enhance the enjoyment of our visit a young lady was painting a mural of a rural scene on the back wall of the community centre. A crowd of dirty old men gathered round her admiringly and the painting wasn’t bad as well. It should be complete in time for our next visit. 

After morning tea we headed along Mandalong Road to Deaves Road and on to Freemans Drive to Mulbring where the corner marking went into overdrive; right, right, left and didn’t miss a beat. I love it when a plan comes together (Hannibal Smith in the “A” Team). Thence we took Richmond Vale Road and George Booth Drive to arrive at the Mt Sugarloaf Lookout without losing anyone, Mr Reece. It was a beautiful clear day and you could see all the way to the coast and some sand dunes which were variously identified as Uluru, Fraser Island and Stockton Beach. I think it was a mirage and the altitude was getting to some people. The discussion at lunch was pretty radical as the “Bullshit Artists” outnumbered the “Table of Knowledge”.

It was then back to the Pie for light refreshments and more bullshit.

 

Thanks to TEC Mark for keeping the rabble under control and Peter W for supervising the corner marking which worked like a well-oiled BMW.

 

It was a very enjoyable ride and thanks to everyone who came including the Kindergarten Kid.

 

Cheers

 

Alan

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