Snowy 4 Day Ride 11-14th Nov 2024

 We started out with 19 takers for this ride. Unfortunately we lost Rocket due to a sore neck, and Wayne due to a delayed flight from some where else in the world, so 17 of a set out from Pheasants Nest at 9. 30 on Monday morning.

 

Do you think it will rain????

We rode the main highway through Marulan and, then turned left to Bungonia and then Tarago for morning coffee. From there it was through Braidwood, down the amazing Public Service Highway to Batemans Bay where we fuelled, and then lunch at Moruya. The afternoon run took us along the Princes Highway until we turned off to follow the coast through Bermagui and Tathra to our destination at Merimbula. Drinks and an excellent dinner  at the RSL club.

 

Tuesday morningsaw us departing Merimbula without Scotty. Something that he had eaten or drank the night before caused him some severe stomach anguish and he felt it would be better not to try the mountain ride. He ended up spending the next night in the same motel and made his way up to Bermagui to meet us when we got back down from the mountains. The ride took us up Mount Darragh Road to Bombala, then across to Nimitabel for morning coffee, then the back road to Dalgety, into Jindabyne for fuel, and then across to Khancoban for lunch. Those of us who have done that road a few times commented that we have never seen the Thredbo  to Khancoban Road in such good condition. No debris, only a couple of tiny potholes and very little traffic. We had a ball. After lunch it was up to Cabramurra. Unfortunately at the peak of that ride we copped some rain, but once we passed Cabramurra and went down to the Elliott Way the road was dry again all the way into Tumbarumba.

 

Tonight we had dinner at the motel, in the Elms restaurant. David and Diane had set up our tables with linen tablecloths, candelabra and upmarket table settings. What a feast. Following dinner we went downstairs to their conference room where David had  set up a theatre style seating arrangement so that we could watch a movie called "One Man’s Dream" which was the film about the construction and success of the Britten motorcycle,  A completely home built motorcycle that demolished the Ducatti factory team. Desserts were served to us down in the theatre while we are watching the movie. Perfect arrangement.

 

Next morning it was breakfast at the Tumbarumba bakery, then back to the motel for the briefing and advice that Scotty had survived the night and would be meeting is in Bermagui as planned. At the end of the briefing Pastor Tony James felt moved to pass on a snippet of important information for us. He had been so moved by the amazing aroma that one gets when fresh rain falls on a hot tarmac road and the surrounding bushland ( experienced on the Cabramuura Road) that he spent the night researching the word for that sensation, which he explained to us as Petrichore. File that away for your next quiz night.

 

Today's ride took us through Batlow and Tumut, and then on to Talbingo for morning coffee there. Unfortunately we copped some more rain between Tumut and Talbingo, and this continued as we went higher up into the mountains for a while. We followed the snowy Mountains Highway all the way down to Cooma where we had lunch at The Lot café. Another excellent lunch point. In the afternoon we set off for Bermagui via Brown Mountain. All good until we got to Bemboka, when the heavens opened with an amazing electrical thunderstorm directly overhead for about 50 km. Riders reported lightning strikes quite close to the highway and very heavy rain. But being the stoic Ulyssians we are, we persevered and fought our way through.

 

In Bermagui we stopped at the Harborview motel. Scotty got there before us, and met us in the driveway with keys to our respective motel units. Saved us tripping into the motel office wet and bedraggled. Dinner was at the Bermagui club up to its usual high standard. They gave us a table in a separate room so that we didn't disrupt their main dining room too much. Probably a good idea.

 

Day four was threatening rain, so folks decided on their own ride plan home. We stayed together back through Tilba Tilba and to morning tea at Mogo, and then Batemans Bay, where some went up the hill to follow the Braidwood Nerriga Nowra route, where others chose to go directly up the highway and find their own way home. It looked like rain on the road to Braidwood, but once we left the eastern face of the scarp, it was dry on the wonderful Mount Clyde mountain ride. Dry all the way to Nowra on the Nerriga Road which is in fantastic condition. Still 5 km of gravel in the middle of it for some reason but otherwise a sensational run.

 

Lunch in the Main Street of Nowra, and then the group split again, some going up the highway and four of us taking the planned route through Kangaroo Valley and up to the Robertson Pie shop and then taking the dryer inland route to get to the M5 and the final coffee stop at the airport.

 

There were a couple of mechanical incidences on the way. Pastor Tony had a puncture early on, which was rectified in Goulburn. Thanks to Alan Bateman for shepherding him there to make sure he was okay. They caught up with us at Merimbula. Geoff also had an issue with fluctuating tire pressures, so he was ably assisted by David Sipple who had an electric pump on hand. The other mechanical casualty was Alan Reece, whose alternator decided to pack up and he needed to firstly replace the battery thinking that was the problem, but ultimately to leapfrog from charger to charger to recharge his declining new battery. He got home safely after all that. Shows us what electric motorcycling is going to look like down the track.

 

Along the way we also learned a couple of other snippets of trivia information for you next trivia night. Someone mentioned the size of the mountains of Brumby poo along the side of the roads through the Snowys.  Our Brumby expert, Frank, told us that Brumby stallions always try to poo in the same place. The mares don't. At lunch on day four in Nowra, we were observing a greyhound belonging to those at the adjoining table, and somebody commented that it just kept walking around. We learned that greyhounds can't sit like other dogs, they have to either lie down or stand up. Who knew?

 

So now to some Gold star awards. Tail end Charlie for the first two days was Steve Sampson. On day three Steve stopped to see his mum in Batlow, and Peter Greenwood  took over as tail end Charlie for day three. Day four tail end Charlie was Peter Walshaw, who was there to assist Al Rees when his troubles started. Peter caught up with us again in Nowra. And a special Gold star goes to Steve Sampson. On day three he caught up with us at Talbingo and had a chance to ride at the head of the pack, only to be immediately behind me when I needed a corner Marker during the really bleak storm as we approached the Princes Highway near Bega. Poor Steve had to sit there till the pack caught up. Thanks Steve.

 

The ride was an aggregate of some of the best twisty roads that I could string together, and other than the rain periods,  we had the roads almost to ourselves so we could maintain a good pace and got to our respective coffee and lunch spots in good time. The accommodation and catering worked a treat and so I'm happy to say that we had a very successful ride. Thanks for joining me.

 

Cheers. Frosty.