We had three starters from St Ives at 9am and headed to Allambie Heights to the OpShop. Here we were joined by Vaughn and John O, and sat outside in the playground and enjoyed the coffee and pikelets.  Then   proceeded to Graeme’s where the Maintenance task for today was to rework Vaughn’s pannier frame to fit at the o/s passenger footpeg mount.  We had a few more chiefs than Indians here and managed to get in each others’ way for a bit, but finally the reluctant bracket was secured and declared good, so we then adjourned inside to participate in the generous bbq sausage(s), assorted salads and other goodies. Many Thanks to Graeme for supplying the meal and venue, and we chatted and gorged ourselves till nearly 3pm.   Another good one.

8 Hardy souls gathered in the icy winds at Berowra. After some discussion, Wollombi in reverse was agreed with Morning Tea at Cooranbong Corner marked from Springs Rd, down Bumble Hill, Yarramalong Rd, past the Triangle, Jilliby Rd, Mandalong Rd, Freemans Drive to a break at Cooranbong Park, 85k half way.  Past Freemans Waterhole, left at Sandy Creek Rd, thru Millfield to Wollombi,  arrived  at 12:40  for Lunch. Thanks to Rosco our TEC, nobody got lost, although puzzled how he wasn't the last to arrive. Then a quick ride to the Pie, Heart rate rose when Andy and I, met a police car on Peats Ridge at a speed somewhat above the allowed speed. 5 riders at the Pie. Weather was pretty good, except the wind that rarely abated.  An enjoyable ride, great company, 368k for me. I hope Kiama was as much fun! Till Next Thursday   Peter (Tracer)

  The destination for   todays   ride was to be Kiama and the weather forecast, after a bit of rain the day before, was good, but included strong northerly winds. Now I don’t know   wether   it was the starting point ( ie Heathcote), the strong wind forecast or my ride lead capabilities, but by departure time only one rider had turned up to join me, Peter Walshaw… at least the choice of TEC was going to be easy!!   Anyway  we decided to follow the route I had planned, which turned out to be a lovely ride, despite the sometimes annoying wind gusts. We took the Old Princes Highway as far as we could to Austinmer, then the Motorway to the Picton  turnoff, up and around Kembla Heights and back down to Princes Highway again. We continued to follow Princes Highway to just past  Dapto  where we turned off and headed through Calderwood to the Illawara  Highway, up Macquarie Pass and to morning tea at Robbo’s Pie Shop. It was a slightly diff...

  Ten brave souls made it to Hassans Walls Lookout!!! Here is a sample of the views you missed I woke up to a rather damp morning and thought, bugger it too wet to go riding …. back to bed!!! Double bugger I have to go as I’m leading the bl…y ride. After scoffing my breakfast and struggling into my very expensive waterproof Rukka riding gear off I went to Maccas Mc Graths Hill hoping no one would turn up and I can get back to my warm bed.   No such luck as twelve sorry souls turned up and wanted to be “lead”.   With no virgins and everybody ignoring my ride briefing I jumped on my trusty GS and headed for the Turf Farms hoping the rest of the sheep would follow. Surprisingly they did with young Pete of the yellow braces taking up the rear. There was a steady drizzle coming from the heavens and I was particularly annoyed as the BOM seers had decreed that the clouds will part and sunshine shall prevail. Bollocks!  As we made our way along the Bells Line of Road in a we...

  Eight Model enthusiasts journeyed to Luddenham on Sunday 24 th to visit the Sydney Society of Model Engineers at Sydney Model Park.   Our Sunday began cool and cloudy but cleared to a fine and cool day just perfect for an outing on the bike. Departing St Ives at 9.05am we travelled via Comenarra Parkway to New Line Road and Round Corner, to a coffee stop on Annangrove Road at the Vanilla Cream Café at the old Amaroo Park complex. This was the first visit here for all but two of us, and the consensus was 10/10 – good food, good coffee, quick and friendly service. Totally refreshed and an hour later we journeyed on, along Windsor Road for a bit, down Garfield Road and along Richmond Road for another bit, then south via Rooty Hill and Mt Druitt to the old Great Western Highway to St Marys, then turned down Mamre Road and then Luddenham Road to the Model Park. Your Ride Leader was concerned that with the scale of Infrastructure development going on around the immediate area...

I convinced the ride group that a trip to Bungonia Look Down would be an interesting  addition to the ride, however we would need to delete the usual southern highlands route to save time, the group agreed and the Look Down was a hit, I recommend it if you are ever down there, see our Facebook page for pics. The pub food was good as usual, the weird monument across the road has fallen over, no great loss.   After lunch a very quick pace was set to Nowra, Kangaroo Vally, Robertson Pie Shop (which is for sale for first time in 43 years), the Tourist road and back onto the motorway for M5 and M7 options home. Fine weather most of the day, brief heavy shower enroute to Nowra, a fast bunch of riders and good company, I managed to clock up 560Ks round trip to Mosman. Rod 

Arriving at Berowra 7-11 the place was already heaving and by  9:40am  we had 12 riders raring to go “somewhere” including a newbie John on a Spider. We also had a clash of voices as can be seen from the attached photo but there was sadly no “biffo” to go with it. As it was getting late I couldn’t help myself, I had to ask, “anyone have any suggestions for a ride?”. This was despite the fact I was very clear on the inevitable outcome of opening with such a gambit. So it will come as no surprise that my suggestion of a ride to Grey Gums via the church was unanimously accepted and I was also voted ride leader for today’s ride. So after a brief briefing with Berowra and Sackville ferries, Cattai Ridge and Halcrows road (the name of which I couldn’t remember at the time) all getting a mention and a dose of the clap for John I called the ride and we rolled out right on  10am . It was a slow track down to the ferry but corner marking was in force as it was all the way to the ch...

Mudgee 3 day ride report below and a PADPAL for those not on the Mudgee trip. The designated ride leader (Peter Wallshaw) bailed out at the last minute due to the unexpected arrival of his second granddaughter Rosie, who arrive a few weeks early. Peter was left holding the first granddaughter and her dog, subsequently missing a great ride. All doing well.   I led day one, 16 riders up to Mudgee via Tarana, Kelso, Sofala. Lots of nice twisty back roads.   Day two, I led the dirt ride loop, in the pub the night before we had 6 riders, but in the morning that had reduced to 4, sadly no GS riders were up for the dirt challenge. First thing we had to get back to the Sofala area to ride up The Bridle Track, so we went on some back roads through the mountains from Mudgee, very nice combination of fast bitumen and dirt, along Aarons Pass road for example, I can recommend it.   The Bridle Track runs alongside the Macquarie river, very scenic, lots of wild critters about, lunch at ...

11 wheels rolled from St Ives albeit rather promptly at 9.00am Saturday for the mountain gardens. Memories of Stephen being the "Order of the Day”. Well worn route via Galston & Cattai Ridge Rds to a brief ceremony at corner of Halcrows Rd. Something about “lost false teeth”. I knew it wasn’t the 4 Ferries ride as performed by John Tiller but traditions must be transferred to the uninformed newbies of GONBUC. Onwards for loo stop at Windsor & long chat with  retired Christian Bikers couple from Bathurst. Morning Tea at fabulous Tutti Fruiti & watched in delight as 12 wheels headed East back to their local Police Station as we went West. Clear running on the Bells to Stop/Go lights over crest just before gardens, then into last parking spots, Lunch under watchful eyes of local Magpies Usual brief walk through gardens for loos & lookout, back to bikes & home. Thanks to GW & KH on bikes, MTC in the Canary Yellow pimped up Prius. Cheers, JW

PadPal Berowa  7/11 9:30am  just one Peter and Andy I was then Robbed,  5 riders left  at 10:00am  for The Australian Army Infantry Museum, at the Singleton Army Base Very close to last week's destination, Luskintyre Airfield Andy, 3 Rob's and a lone Peter. Very used to there being a surfeit of Peters, never been out numbered before Lovely ride to Wollombi for morning tea, Then on to the museum, the road between Wollombi and Paynes crossing, is still atrocious, but after that very little traffic and a great ride. Sunny but not too warm. A new destination? The Lone Pine Cafe is open and has clean Toilets, we sat outside for lunch, before giving the Museum the once over.  Thank you to everyone for the company, an enjoyable day, we lost two Robs on the way home via the Pie. Losing one was unfortunate, Losing the second was careless.   The Lone Peter

  RIDE REPORT – ULYSSES MEMORIAL RIDE TO NEPEAN DAM – 10/09/2023 Ride Leader : John Osborne As most Ulysseans would be aware the second Sunday of September has been designated as Remembrance Day – an opportunity to remember those of our Club who have ‘ridden on’. This memorial meeting is usually held at Cordeaux Dam where there are some plaques explaining the Ulysses spirit and commemorating passed members. This year however the meeting had to be transferred to Nepean Dam because Cordeaux is closed temporarily. Northern Beaches branch has been represented at the memorial for many years and this year was no exception. A small band (4 bikes and 2 cars) left the St Ives meeting place at 08:30 to head (toll free) to Nepean Dam via ring road 3, Hume Hwy to the meccano set, Henry Lawson Drive to Milperra, Liverpool, the Crossroads, Campbelltown, Appin, Broughton Pass Weir, Wilton, M31 to Avon Dam/Nepean Dam road arriving at 11:15 in time for the memorial ceremony. This route certainl...

  It's Springtime, great day for a ride, I had seen Rod's request for a ride leader in the previous weeks report, forgot about it, until my ride from home to Berowra. Negotiated with Pete to be the days ride leader and changed the ride course from morning tea at Wollombi to morning tea at Dooralong.  24 riders were awaiting instructions on the route morning tea stop. One new rider in the group Bernie Burke from the Hills area on a very fast looking Ducati - gave Bernie the welcome clap and headed off. Rocket persuaded me to stop not long after leaving the servo - as most of the group were stopped at the traffic lights - after a quick regroup we were on our way. No worries about wet roads today and it was good to see Mr Plod booking a car on the Freeway side at the river. The corner marking technique now universally adopted in the group works a treat, so there was no excuse to lose riders along the way - something that I usually am pretty good at. Morning tea ove...

  After a cracker thunderstorm   Wednesday night , 20 of us took off in good weather down Bumble Hill for Smoko. We did a scenic detour on Hue Hue Rd. Didn’t lose anybody & arrived, unscathed, at Catherine Hill. It’s my first time leading using the “new” corner marking & I’m a big fan of that system. Thanks for all the offers to help peel off the “yes” stickers off my bike. Thanks too to Mark for being TEC Cheers Tony

  RIDE REPORT – WOLLOMBI – 26/08/2023   Ride Leader : John Osborne An almost perfect day for riding if just a little chilly. At the starting time we had six motorcycles and a Spyder so we headed off on the usual back route through Hornsby, onto the Old Road and stopped at The Pie to pick up any stragglers. Despite an over-abundance of boys in blue w e made good progress from The Pie up to Calga thence Spring Road, Bumble Hill, Yarramalong to a seldom visited smoko stop at the Wyong Dairy. This was an interesting stop with some confusion on the leader’s part as to where to park. The Dairy is a bit of a higgledy piggily sort of place with several different areas, which appear separate, designated for parking but which all are for the same place. After some shopping in the Cheese Shop an enjoyable coffee was time to head off up Hue Hue Road through Freemans Waterhole to the Sandy Creek Road turnoff to Quorrobolong/Wollombi where I decided to regroup for the run to lunch....

  Lots of riders (21 + actually) assembled at Berowra for a great days outing up into the Hunter Valley. One rider being a newby, was given the traditional welcoming “clap” during the briefing prior to departure, so impressed with his welcome he (and another mate) decided they needed to get back home earlier than originally thought and then decided to go up the road for a quick coffee…anyway…after Peter The Braces volunteered his services (again) as TEC off we went. After a regathering at Calga we charged forward to Wollombi for morning tea. After morning tea a small group of radical “elders” decided to take the conservative and less stressful route eastwards towards the vineyards whilst the majority trekked towards Broke where our first corner marking for the day took place as we turned right into Singleton Road. I know Paul was delighted to wait at the intersection for 15 minutes until our TEC trundled along. After a brisk trip and by passing the Hunter Valley Gardens we all arri...

  And then there were two. 20 registered to go, 16 started, and two ended up together at the finish. That looks like a bit of a disaster, but in fact it worked out pretty much as originally planned. We started at Berowra  at 9:30 AM for a day with about 7 hours of riding ahead of us. The Old Road to Peats Ridge, the freeway to the Hue Hue Road, through Cooranbong and Mulbring  to Hexham and on to morning tea at the Heatherbrae Pie shop at Raymond Terrace. It took us a bit longer than I had thought to get here, so this became brunch. We then headed north again and used Buckets Way up to Booral, across to Bulahdelah (great winding road), through Wootton Way and back on the highway to Nabiac, then inland to Krambach, and across to South Taree for fuelling. A couple of people supplemented their brunch with some added refreshment here. After that we headed up the freeway past Port Macquarie towards Kempsey, then diverted across to South West Rocks via Crescent Head – a very pl...

  Ride Report – Bulli AMCA Event – Saturday 12 th August Once again it seems we chose the better day of the weekend for our ride to the AMCA Bulli Antique Motorcycle Event at Bulli Showgrounds. Saturday 12 th was sunny and mild, we had seven bikes at ST Ives for a 9.05am departure. We travelled down the A3 to Top Ryde then west along Victoria Road to Ermington, then followed the A6 south all the way to Heathcote Road. This avoided the Olympic Park precinct. At Heathcote Road we turned east, crossed the Woronora River to the Princes Highway and south into Heathcote arriving at 10.30am for a leg stretch at the Ampol servo, where we met Vaughn. He’d had a slow trip from the City, just beating us to the servo. From Heathcote we travelled via Waterfall and Royal National Park to another short stop at Bald Hill where we again remarked on the excellent day, then up Lawrence Hargrave Drive to the Old Highway and south to Bulli Tops, then down the Bulli Pass and to the Showgrounds...

They DO listen occasionally, when I suggest that Riders come along to the Meeting Point at St Ives, practise riding in the rain, and all will be good. And LO – it worked! Six riders, including Newbie Andy, left St Ives, took the usual route (picking up Suitcase at Berowra) to BEROWRA WATERS FERRY, then the usual turns up to the right onto Northern Road, where (we had agreed, due to impending rain) that we wouldn’t indulge in Glenorie Bakery’s DELIGHTS, simply kept ahead of clouds all the way to left at Wiseman’s Ferry Road and a welcome w-e-e stop at Maroota Shell – (should I mention the state of the loo? Naaah!) Past Stone Cottage and Cliftonville Road, then right onto the Sackville Ferry Road and right again at the Lower Portland road-sign, onto the itsy-bitsy LOWER PORTLAND FERRY, and all along the ups and downs, bumps and grinds and rural delights (pot-holes, dung-smells, etc.) and finally reaching Sackville and (on our right) the welcoming Tractor 828, not too busy yet (before noo...

  The Road to Kitchener...and Beyond The standard bunch of bedraggled riders turned out. About 20 of them, including some more people called Peter who only turn up occasionally. It was a beautiful day and even Dascolopoulos, a guest who’d been away lighting fires in Greece, was there. The birds chirped and the landscape was bathed in glorious sunshine. We had a virgin (I think that’s the way you put it?) whose name, like yours, I immediately forgot. We gave him the clap. Peter, you know the one, following the Kitchener theme of the ride (“Your Country Needs You”) kindly volunteered, again, as TEC.   Off we went, finding as many twists and turns as we could, ever obedient to the rules of the road. It was very pleasant, if nothing else because the light, dappling brilliantly through the trees was so good and the spirits so lifted. There wasn’t a nuclear war, or hell, or damnation, in sight. We stopped at Jerry’s Café at Kulnara, for morning coffee which we had with some Portugue...

It must be my early arrival at Berowra which set off a couple of “Oops! Moments” not long after our journey started, but overall, on such a perfect winter day, we had a great day’s riding, with almost no traffic on the river roads. With only one “virgin”, there was only one hand clapping. Then I asked riders to introduce themselves, but after about the sixth Peter, the repetition overcame us, so we abandoned that little exercise and twenty-odd riders departed Berowra  at 10am , with a Tail End Charlie and a “plan”. We all “squeezed” onto Number 1: Berowra Waters Ferry – and, just before disembarkation, my Guzzi toppled over in the excitement– thanks, Peter, Peter and Peter for your assistance. Next Oops – missed the turn-off to Wylds Road – quickly found the way back, and the remainder of our ride went to plan, thus: Just a minute past the Glenorie Bakery, our Morning Tea Stop at the Les Shore Reserve ticks all the boxes: it’s on the left, heaps of parking, heaps of log-seating, a ...