It was a sunny (18 degrees) and funny ride today, the designated ride leader Max was nowhere to be seen, its alleged that he is somewhere in the UK. I decided to lead at the last minute to Tallowa Dam, its near Kangaroo Valley, simple! We were joined by  3 riders from St  George club, we had maybe 15 riders in total. It was all going well as we descended down Mt Kembla, only problem was I had described the route as per descending down Mt Kiera in my ride briefing, I think that’s the way it went, anyhow we lost a few riders en route to Robbo pie shop for morning tea. We all arrived, and the temperature was good for Robbo, pies and coffee…….. excellent. There was a rumour that Tallowa Dam was closed as well as a contradicting rumour that it was now open, so off we went, it was closed. Jerry from St George suggested the pub at Kangaroo Valley, this seemed like a good idea, until we discovered that we weren’t welcome as we had picnic lunches. I sent Wayne off to look for a ...

 There were four hardy members of the NBUC at St. Ives, three in tintops and one on an actual motorbike!!! The weather forecast was pretty bad. One tintop came because he had broken a fetlock, one tintop came because she was waiting for parts for her trusty stead and one tintop came because he was the ride leader and was hoping nobody would be mad enough to come on a motorbike on such a lousy day. The four hardy members had coffee and chatted happily until it was time to go home!!! Thank you Margaret (tintop 1), Geoff (tintop 2) and Peter (motorbike) for keeping me company. Cheers Alan

  Ride Report – Saturday 15 June “Chilly Willy” Ride to Samuel Gee Pies at Balaclava The forecast heavy cloud and cold air mass rolled through on Wednesday evening as Joan and I lingered in the 35 degree bliss of the Moree Artesian Bore Baths. This was our sixth and final artesian pool on our five-day “Artesian Drive” round the northern NSW artesian belt. The following (Thursday) morning was bleary and cold as we began to head homewards. As we drove along in comfort in our nice warm car I recalled that on the coming Saturday (today) I was due to ride to Balaclava. If you’re wondering, Balaclava is the little village on the run into Mittagong from the Hume Freeway, and home to the famous Samuel Gee Pies. But at around 1000m. at this time of year Mittagong can be, shall we say, brisk. Brisk I don’t mind so much; that’s the point of the “Chilly Willy” ride thing, but soaking wet and brisk I’m not really so keen on, so I wasn’t really expecting a huge roll-up at St Ives this mornin...

  Twenty one is a good number.  On reaching 21 you get the key to your home, when playing Blackjack that’s the number you want and last Thursday 21 riders relieved me of my virginity as ride leader…..no clap. On that fateful morning I arrived with my trusty ball of wool, and not so trusty GPS Mai-Lin from China.  After assembling my 21 member fan club I delivered a precise route plan.  Turn left out of the car park, go past ‘Pie in the Sky’, go down Bumble Hill, through Yarramalong Valley and stop for a smoko at the triangle.  All of that was achieved with a minimum of fuss thanks to Mark who volunteered to be Tail End Charlie. After a bit of mental calisthenics in preparation for the discussion of the wold’s problems at the final destination, should it be reached, we mounted again.  Taking the Hue Hue Road, then to “Wyee  Road, Pacific Highway, Kanangra Road and Summerland Road, voila we arrived in Summerland Point. The discussion around the tables af...

  6th June ride report. Well who would’ve thunk it! Every day this week the weather predictions for Thursday were so dire that even an unnamed wet weather rider was questioning whether it should even go ahead. With up to 50mm of rain predicted on the forecast the night before the ride I knew desperate measures were called for by the ride leader aka me. I mentally reached out to my contact “upstairs” asking if anything could be done to which the answer came “Sure, no guarantees for the entire day of course, but it’ll cost you”. How much I asked, the response “a gonad from one of your Thursday Riders Committee”! “Deal” says I without hesitation and lo and behold the morning dawned blue and dry. I should point out to our illustrious committee that this debt is payable by  midnight Sunday  so expect a collection visit 😜 In planning today’s ride I took into account the possibility of rain so looked for venue options that had shelter and were open. Amazingly there are a lot of...

Thursday Ride to Chifley Dam. This week the Thursday Riders met at Maccas McGraths Hill. It was a chilly but sunny autumn morning. There were 17 starters and no new riders to the group. It was a nice ride along Bells Line of Road however there were three lots of road works where we had to wait for a Pilot Escort to continue. To avoid some traffic lights in Lithgow where the group usually gets split up, we turned left into Eskbank Street but missed turning right into Bent Street to make our way across to the Great Western Hwy via the Lithgow Small Arms Factory and Museum, however the corner marking kept the group together so we arrived at Bowenfels Olivers and Shell Service Centre together. Morning tea was had outdoors in front of Olivers. I was happy I got a small cappuccino and the best Lamington for only five bucks at the Shell Foodery. After morning tea four riders left the group to make their way back to attend to other things. The ride from Bowenfels took us to Tarana and past the...

  John Osborne is in Melbourne and asked me if I would lead this ride so that’s why I was up front. It was a beautiful late autumn day sunny with clear skies and cool. Eighteen riders fronted for this ride to Mt Sugarloaf lookout including one virgin, Tom. He is one of Rod’s rough mates from Mosman. He rides a BMW Grand “Captain” America cruiser with all the extras. He was excused from his kindergarten class today to go riding with the big boys. At 49 he lowered the average age of the group to 79.9. Frostie was there and warned us of some potholes on the Yarramalong road. He wasn’t riding with us just dropped in on his way to the mountains. I took off and within a kilometre a tyre pressure warning light appeared on my dash. My rear RDC ( Reifen Druck Control) was showing 29 psi so I stopped at Mt Colah to have a look at the back tyre. It looked just fine so I mounted my trusty steed as the mob had just caught up with me. Half an hour later the warning light had disappeared and my r...

  On a cool may morning, 13 eager riders gathered at Maccas McGraths Hill hoping for a 'good run'. All went well until we reached Grey Gums, who had promised to open for us but cancelled as all staff went to a funeral! The email requesting everyone to bring morning tea appears to be still hiding in my computer, I am sure it was not 'operator error', but then again?? Lunch was taken at Denman before we progressed to the Bylong Valley via the short cut. The correct road was selected but the road name was different  in Google and Garmin Sat. Nav. 6! After checking  that we were on the correct road with  the incorrect road name, we continued! The outbound run from Denman took in the Bylong Valley up to the Lui turnoff, where we were all treated to a dazzling display of solar power, with the sun low in the sky, then straight ahead until Mudgee with riding speed only a guess!! Dinner was at the Club Mudgee which appears to have dispensed with the old name. Day two had an 8...

  The ride today was to Bulga 8 riders turned up - half were called “Peter” Similar to the Oscar acceptance speeches, I thanked the ride committee profusely for understanding that I was geographically challenged & therefore officially categorised as being a disabled ride leader.  In their wisdom they allocated the most simple ride on the calendar so that I could feel “included’ by the “normal” riders. They calculated that there are only 2 corners on the ride, one at the roundabout at the grassfields & the other 151 km later at the destination. That became the ride briefing. We didn’t corner mark. Richo insisted on being TEC. No rain despite the forecast. Apart from the anticipated stoppages the Putty was in good shape. The Greygums was trialling opening on Thursdays. We finished at the Pie without incident. I'm now worried about leading the Gloucester Glide as I think it has 4 turns! Cheers Tony

Well, another successful Nerriga ride. Depending on who’s weather chart you looked at, it could have been either a very wet day, patchy rain throughout the day, or cloudy but fine. Seven riders turned up to do the ride, and it turned out to be a beauty.    Given that the national park was still closed, we travelled down the old Princes Highway to Albion Park, then through Jamberoo to Kiama, around the juicy Kiama bends and into Gerringong for morning coffee in the Main Street. A brief senior moment by the ride leader had us turning off the M1 one ramp  too early, and so we had to come into Albion Park by the back way to get onto the Jamberoo Road. The countryside around there is looking fabulous at the moment.   We then followed the coast road through Geroa, Shoalhaven heads and on to Nowra, and then took the BTU Road across to HMAS Albatross and on to the Braidwood Road (the one we call the Nerriga Road) to the Nerriga pub for lunch. As we left Albatross, we faced a...

Put this in your diary for every last Sunday of the month – this is the sort of venue which people of all ages can enjoy – trains, boats, cars and planes and horses and food. Three of us departed St Ives with a plan –  1. Ride the Comenarra Parkway from end-to-end  soaking up the autumn colours. 2. Wind down into Tree Tops Adventure Park just past Koala Park – a beautiful native forest with plant nursery and café and toilets and lovely walking paths.. 3. THEN head out to the Model Park at Luddenham, avoiding Motorways. Well – that worked pretty well, and we were greeted by Flappn Jack Warner on his 3-wheeler – hadn’t ridden for a few weeks – his steed, in protest, almost didn’t start!! Did I say it was a perfect autumn day. PerfectO. Where to go first? Always a decision – wouldn’t want to miss maybe some spills on the dirt-track, or some magnificent tumble turns up at the flight – hill. Food was the winner – a volunteer-run canteen with lower than Woolworths prices, all ...

  Wouldn’t ya just know it, we get beautiful riding weather and it’s ANZAC Day Double Demerits. Still 7 riders turned up to make the best of a bad job. 5 were well known to the group, one (Elliot) was newish and the last (Bonny) had been itching to get on a Thursday Ride for over 2 years and a public holiday on a Thursday was the perfect opportunity.   The route for today’s PADPAL was driven by the need to get off the main roads as soon as possible and to avoid any back roads that actually led anywhere the hordes of “long weekenders” might want to go. Judging by the constant stream of biker groups heading north through Berowra we weren’t going to be alone on these roads either. The other comments worth repeating was made by everyone upon arriving at the 7-11 being firstly “ I wish the traffic was like this every day” and secondly “good luck with getting anyone to lead today”! So the group decision was taken to share the lead and to largely retrace the steps of last weeks PADPA...

  Hello Thursday Riders, Breaking news, very first net zero ride achieved on the North Coast Ride, April 2024. We had a broad spectrum of riders, pillions and non-specifics (they/them/their) on the ride, 8 all identifying as females (1 riding, 5 pillions, 1 DIDO, and Audrey the black Griffon who identifies as a Princess) and 14 riders. Once we assembled on the McGraths Hill summit which happens to be in the car park of Maccas, I did the roll call, I knew that once we picked up Stephen Davies and Frank Henry en route we would tick all the boxes on Thursday Riders Diversity Target 2025, well ahead of our target date of 2025, I was a little overcome in achieving this milestone. Part of Thursday Riders E.S.G. policy encompasses “diversity and inclusion”, I have been positively engaged in a counselling course specifically focused on D&I to address my “subconscious bias” and to strive for best practice ESG scores. The North Coast ride was an opportunity to put into practice my “new s...

  3 riders gathered at Berowra on an overcast deary day The roads were wet and the clouds ominous Paul donned his wets and led to Jerry's for Morning Tea I put on my thermal layer as it was cold, as Rob took the lead is to Millfield via Wollombi   Lunch at the Central and I led us home, via  Freemans waterhole, Hue Hue, to Yarramalong , up Bumble hill and the old road to The Pie. Great ride, yes I know we do this ride regularly, but great roads and the destination is really unimportant, when you are riding, the road in front of you is the only thing that matters Shared, lead, TEC and pack duties Enjoyable day I did 352k, those that stayed home, missed a good days riding Peter (Tracer) Take Care Peter

9 riders arrived at Maccas Heathcote by  9:30 ,  more than I had expected  National Park closed at Heathcote station entrance, so that ruled out that route, Headed off to go along the beaches via Lawrence Hargraves drive, Stanwell Tops and over the Sea Bridge, very scenic, but a slow ride, still very impressive scenery.  Headed up Mt Keira, dappled sunlight into the bends and gravel made it interesting, planned to also go up Mt Kembla, but missed the turn, so onto the M1 to the Jamberoo exit, TEC Peter followed the wrong bikes and rang to say he would catch up at Morning tea, which was at the Ken Irvine Oval in Jamberoo, Nice oval/park great toilets, quite and peaceful. Finally Peter arrived as we were contemplating leaving. One rider left after morning tea , down to 8 Ride leading is a lot more difficult than just enjoying the ride, one eye on the other riders, one on the road and where we were going. Just using headset with Andy for the 2 nd  time, great will ...

  What a forecast! Would anyone turn up? After a very slow trip to McGraths Hill TJ and I arrived to see some anxious riders waiting for their leader, and from their greeting I deduced that they weren’t expecting me to turn up. After a hurried briefing and a sensibly quick change into wets 8 of us headed off with TJ at the tail. It didn’t start raining until almost Mt Tomah, then a steady drizzle almost all the way to our planned morning tea stop at Oliver’s South Bowenfels. We only had 1 mutiny along the way but picked up one at Kurmond Rd so still 8 riders. By now we weren’t just wet, we were cold and wet. TEC stopped into the Lithgow shops for some extra layers. Then the big debate over morning tea, to abandon or to modify. One decided to abandon and returned the way we came. Now we were 7. Oberon was ditched in favour of a shorter ride via Hampton. Riding down Hampton Rd became interesting as a pea souper of a fog descended giving extremely poor visibility. We turned left into ...

Ride Report  28 th   March  202 4  to  Dungog  NSW   It rained during the night so I made a mental note to give the Thursday ride to Dungog a miss…… then I realised I was leading the !@#$ ride. I dragged my sorry beetroot head out of bed, donned my trusty  Rukka  waterproof riding gear and headed to Berowra hoping no other moron would turn up. I was wrong there were fifteen morons hiding under the awning at the 7-Eleven with steady rain falling. Don’t these people have something better to do on a wet Thursday!!! On Wednesday I received a couple of texts inquiring where the morning tea was. I told them Melbourne so they should have arrived there by now but they both piked out because of the inclement weather??? Back to the ride briefing. There were no virgins, except for one dishevelled creature claiming his virginity back due to lack of use or memory. I told the assembled group that DOUBLE DEMERITS were in force … much mumbling of I didn’t kn...

Team leader Mitchell here to report on our day ride to the Hunter. Sixteen enthusiastic riders meet at McDonalds. After usual debate about morning tea and lunch menus or the route, it was agreed bring your own and Putty road. In addition there was the “we didn’t think you’d show and please don’t run out of petrol” jokes endured by the lead!  Anyhow all else was forgotten after we experienced blue skies and traffic free, excellent regional roads at a healthy pace. What could be better. Before we knew it we arrived at Grey Gums had a drink and a munch then headed back out on the road. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves! A couple of roadworks stops didn’t matter and we all passed through Broke and arrived at Pokolbin Park together. The toilets were exquisite and the view not too bad either. The usual chaos ensued deciding the best way back to the Pie. There were a few concerns about fuel challenged bikes? Anyhow I went to the nearest servo at Cessnock and speed with a posse to ...

  The 2024 Moonan Flat weekender was a pleasant and fairly quiet affair with seven UNB riders attending. Five of us left St Ives at 8am Saturday and met Al Scott at Wollombi then went on to Singleton Bakery for an early lunch stop. From Singleton we separated and four of us enjoyed a short dirt ride of about 20k’s over the Albano Road to Rouchel and past Glenbawn Dam while Alan B and Terry went round via Aberdeen on the tar, and we met John Hutchison at Moonan Flat. I had booked both bunk rooms at the Victoria Hotel at Moonan Flat and we filled all seven of the beds. Arriving variously from around 2pm, we sat and yarned through the afternoon and enjoyed a few drinks and an excellent dinner at the restaurant. Yes our weekender clashed with the Ulysses AGM week. What a terrible decision – to ride or fly to Perth and trek down the scenic west coast of WA to Mandurah, a 5000km journey from here at least – or to sit and enjoy the afternoon at a quiet country pub in the glorious f...