When I left home, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the kookaburras were laughing. I soon realised why they were laughing. By the time i reached Berowra, the sky was looking rather ominous — the sort of clouds that suggest someone upstairs had just filled a bucket and was deciding where to tip it. Thankfully, the rain held off. We had about 17 riders turn up, which was a bloody good effort considering the weather forecast. Clearly, none of us had anything better to do. We headed off towards Jerry's for morning tea, where I decided to set a nice, firm pace. At least, I thought it was a nice, firm pace. All I could see behind me were headlights. "I'm obviously going too slow," I thought. Either that, or everyone had decided to keep an eye on the old bloke in front in case he got lost. A few riders departed us at Jerry's, and the rest of us continued on towards Pokolbin Park via Broke. No cops. No incidents. No arrests. A very disappointing day for the...

  Oops I’ve had another seniors moment…..forgot all about submitting my ride report until I was awaken at 5am this morning thinking about my early onset something or other and the effects of such!   Anyway it started out a beautiful day, the sun was shinning, the Birds were singing, the Bees were buzzing and the hills were alive with the sound of music……hmmmm not really sure Julie Andrew’s is a good fit for a knarly bunch of hard arsed motorcyclists.   Anyway seven candidates rocked up to Maccas Heathcoate. Rod provided us with a 20 min dissertation on how wonderful the new BMW R1300GS is and its reliability / technical capabilities as well as his glowing remarks about Procycles!    The ride eventually commenced with a spirited lap through the national park, down the highway and upwards to the Robertson Pie shop for morno’s. We were blessed with virtually no traffic on the way up until I stopped behind a bus at some road works. This instigated a treasonous coup ...

The ride this week was to the Australian Infantry Museum, Singleton. There were 20 riders and no virgins present at the briefing but there were quite a few regular riders that had never been to the Infantry museum. Morning tea at Jerry’s was a no brainer and assuming everyone was familiar with Jerry’s at Kulnura there was no necessity for corner marking or regrouping between the start point at Berowra and Kulnura.   It was a straightforward run through to Wollombi and Broke. The roads on this route are much better these days although after recent rain there are some nasty potholes to avoid. The worst section on this ride is Great North Road coming into Wollombi where the road surface is bad but continuing onto Broke along Paynes Crossing and Wollombi Road, the road is in excellent condition as it has been widened and resurfaced. Overall, this route through to the Golden Highway is a good motorcycling road. The earlier  start at 9.30am  from Berowra allowed us a 30-mi...

  ride. Everything clicked, no mishaps or misadventures (on the ride anyway) and a safe return home for everybody.   We had 15 booked for the ride, but unfortunately five had to withdraw, three with vehicle issues, one with the dreaded lurgy, and one with family matters to attend to. In fact, we actually had 16 booked for the ride, but one had drafted the email to confirm to me that they were coming, but forgot to press send. Fortunately, we had three late registrations, so ended up with 13 for the ride. Given that two of those who cancelled were sharing, the room configuration did not change for the motel, and they were very happy to have had our custom. Zorbas is a great location right on the waterfront in Batemans Bay, and easy walk to dinner and breakfast.   We had a briefing outlining where we're going, but I'm pretty sure that went in one ear and out the other of everybody there. We welcomed Spencer for his second ride with us, and Mark, who had come down from Port ...

  With a crystal blue sky and not a cloud in sight, what better than a trip to the beach. Except the fur seals were shivering with the cold, so it was down to 22 intrepid Thursday Riders to venture out to Norah Head with varying degrees of insulation between themselves and the self induced 100 kph wind chill.   We took the Old Road to Somersby and then on to Jerry’s for morning tea. Rather fortuitously, just as we were finishing up there, two marked and a possible third unmarked police car rolled into the car park. Unfortunately there wasn’t time for a chat, so we all left in a very orderly and law abiding way with the thought that the road ahead should be free of licence endangering encounters.   And so it proved to be as we traversed Bumble Hill and took the long roads back to the coast - Yarramalong, Dooralong and Mandalong. We all made it to the Norah Head lunch spot, with a little bit of innovative navigation by a few en route.   Then back to The Pie for most of...