Chifley Dam Ride 18th Sep 2025

 A perfect spring day for a ride. Beautiful temperature - 14 to 24°, lots of spring flowers out and about with their delicious perfumes (particularly the wild wisteria) and lots of fabulous twisty roads. I'll be quite detailed in describing the route, because it would be an excellent one day run for anybody wanting to go and have some fun.

 

18 bikes at the start - one Newby, Woody, down from the Central Coast, and one former rider (in the group around 15 years ago), Gordon. They were duly given the clap.

 

Frosty gave a fairly detailed outline of the course, informed the group that we would be corner marking in the delicate areas and that it was important to make sure everybody got through, and after being reminded to do so, announced that Peter of the Braces would be tail end Charlie for the day.

 

The aim of the route was to find lots of bends with a reasonable surface and the opportunity to go a little bit quick. Mission accomplished. We set off through the grass farms, regrouped at Kurrajong, onto the Bells line of Road where we had a really clear run with only a few vehicles to pass, regrouped then turned left at the heavy vehicle inspection station at Bell onto the causeway, and turned right onto Hartley Vale Road. That's quite a winding narrow little track and with some cleverly hidden potholes, but everybody got through OK . No bent wheels. Morning tea was at the Lockyers Track trailhead campground, named in honour of Edmund Lockyer who was an artist and explorer prominent in the area in the early 1800s.

 

After morning tea and the watering of several of the local trees ( the toilet was considered too much of a walk) we made our way through to Fields Road, Browns Gap Road, Mid Hartley Road and onto the great Western Highway where we turned right and then left onto Jenolan Caves Road. What a fantastic road that is all the way up to Duckmaloi Road, where we turn right and used that also excellent roadway through to Oberon.

 

After Oberon we went right at O'Connell's Road, past the O'Connell pub and left at Beaconsfield Road, and then about a kilometre up that road onto O'Connell Plains Road down to The Lagoon where we turned left onto Bathurst Road and then 3 or 4K is down that road onto Chifley Dam Road. The picnic facilyies were  already well occupied by a group who were fishing, and another great group who are training dogs, interestingly as companion dogs for veterans with PTSD. Very friendly trainers and dogs. While the tables and seats were occupied, the weather was sufficiently good and we are able to sit on the grass.

 

The only slight glitch we had on the day was in relation to the corner marking, and sincere apologies to Peter and Jim, who were left to their own devices on the wrong side of the lake. The problem was that our corner Marker on the corner of Beaconsfield Road and O'Connell Plains Road felt that he had waited long enough, and that the tail end Charlie wasn't coming along, so he came on down for lunch. When Peter finally got to Jim's corner marking position, and they took off together on Beaconsfield Road, they were not to know that they were supposed to turn right further up the hill (although that had been mentioned at the ride briefing, but there was quite a bit of information given in that short space of time, and with a couple of hours of spirited riding some of the detail might have escaped memory) and they ended up with a cry for help 15 km down a gravel road that they were not supposed to be on. The moral of the story is that the corner Marker should not leave the post until either the tail end Charlie has arrived, or someone else comes along to advise them that there is a change of plans. The tail end Charlie job is very necessary, and we are blessed that Peter volunteers so frequently for the role. We really need to look after him better than we did yesterday. Would the offending person please consider themselves slapped on the wrist, and buy Peter a coffee next time you're together on a ride..

 

We broke into a few separate groups for the ride home. Several of the bikes had more modest fuel tanks, so range anxiety set in and they went back to Oberon to fill. Those with a bit more Juice were able to take Mutton Falls Road to Tarana and then Lithgow and back down the Bells Line of Roads. The ride itself from Windsor to Windsor was about 380 km. My day was 608 km door-to-door here at the Central Coast. We were blessed with the weather, very light traffic and no Harlequin cars, so I put that down as a really good ride. We must retain it in the calendar for future years.

 

Thanks for joining me. 

 

Frosty