Tony asked that we swap rides as he had an outing, he was keen to attend.   14 Riders gathered on a cold overcast day including a virgin. Wouldn’t you know it, another bloody GS rider. The clap was duly dispensed.   The old road was a novelty. We actually kept to the 60klh speed limit for most of the way due to a slow car who did not have the decency to move over to let us past. Morning tea at Jerrys so no corner markers to that point due to it being a regular stop. Two friendly little piggies were seen along the way and another dropped in to join us for smoko.   After morning tea, I presented a safety talk about the dangers of the gravel, sand and mud that maybe hidden around the corners along Mandalong Road. Just to make sure all had understood the talk a demonstration on how to handle the mud, how not to get out of the mud and thanks Peter W and Co for demonstrating how to lift a bike of a rider’s leg. It seems the group paid attention as all came through the, a...

  18 odd seasoned riders enthusiastically departed McGraths Hill   at 9:30am  determined to make the best of the inclement weather conditions. Off to Lithgow for morning tea, all arrived slightly damp due to the precipitation along the way. Next to Macca’s Kelso, via Tarana for lunch where a couple of riders refuelled before journeying towards Mudgee, the diversion to Hill End was cancelled as it was thought to be better to arrive in Mudgee sooner rather than later…also allowing more time at the Oriental Hotel and prepare for the traditional dinner. Next morning plan B needed to be evoked because the snow ploughs were being prepared in anticipation of further rain and a number of roads back to Sydney were already suspect with lots of water making riding conditions challenging. Just short of 600k’s for the round trip tested our wet weather riding skills and hopefully all my riding gear will be dry before next Thursday’s ride, notable the long range weather forecast is for…...

The weather forecast had threatened us with a miserable day of cold and showers. As usual they were wrong and the day started bright and sunny if a little chilly. There were six starters at St. Ives for the ride to Mangrove Creek Dam. Because the dam is only 80 odd kms from St. Ives I decided to go the long way round just like Ewan and Charlie!!! Originally I wanted to go via Galston Gorge but I was out voted and so we went via the Berowra ferry and Old Northern Road to Wisemans ferry for smoko. Even that was too much for one of us who decided to go via the PITS and check if Suitcase was lurking there. The remaining five struck out for Berowra and the ferry. Unfortunately the ride leader had an error appear on his dash "FRONT TYRE BELOW NOMINATED PRESSURE PULL OVER" which I immediately did but the tyre looked fine so we rode on to the Seven-Eleven in Berowra where I checked the tyre pressure with John O's high tech gauge. It was showing 28 PSI so I inflated it to 36 PSI h...

  We had more riders than I expected for a south ride, most of the southern riders we not available for varying reasons, dodgy weather so I wasn’t expecting a full crew. The weather looked great at Mosman before I left, so much so that I didn’t pack wets, en route to the departure point it started raining near the airport, evasive action: M5 tunnel and then via Menai to Heathcote Maccas, all good not wet. While waiting for the 9.30 departure to Currarong it started raining, we all decided to have another coffee and I decided to scrap Currarong as a destination, the plan was to wait for a break in the weather, head south and make a decision on the way, either to continue south or bail at Appin or Picton roads. A bit of misty rain cleared and we went the old road and then via Mt Kembla onto Robertson for well-deserved hot pies and coffee at smoko.   From Robbo it was down Kangaroo Valley to Bombaderry, up the Seven Mile Beach road to Gerringong for lunch at The Hill restaurant. ...

  This Thursday   was a sunny morning, but very fresh, and according to those people who study their iPhones to follow the weather minute by minute, threatening rain in the afternoon. So we only had eight starters for the ride. Fortunately, everyone there knew the way, so corner marking was not a question. Peter of the Braces volunteered for tail end Charlie duty, a function that he takes very seriously and performs very well. Thanks Peter.   We set off up the old road through Calga and Central Mangrove for morning tea at Jerry's. One of our number departed to go back home from there. As I was making my way to the bike to get going again, there was a "conclave" huddled around a mobile phone trying to pre-empt the weather. A couple of riders decided that they wouldn't go the full route, rather taking a shortcut to the final destination via Millfield to get away earlier and hopefully miss the rain. The others decided that they would make a final decision once we got to ...