The day beckoned with a blue sky and double digit temperatures, the last time I tried to lead this ride it was very wet and very cold, only 2 riders showed up and we only got as far as Kulnura before giving it away. So 25+ riders decided this was the day to do the Luskintyre ride 👍🏻 To be fair there were a few blow-ins with 3 Jim picked up at Bayview, Mike a mate of Ron’s and Anton who was joining for his first ride with the group, but still a sizable turnout for what is a long ride. At the briefing I described the route, old road to Wollombi for morning tea, Wollombi rd to Cessnock, Old Maitland/Old North roads to Lochinvar and thence on to the airfield. Some bright spark lobbed in “but do you know the gate code” but everyone knows it’s top to bottom middle row +#. Probably because everyone knows the code when we got there the whole gate was missing! Given the newbies I described Corner Marking once again with emphasis on wait until relieved by the TEC who, being a glutton for punis...

  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 gras...

 Five lucky riders assembled at St. Ives on a beautiful spring day. Three motorcycles and two Can-Ams. A good mixture. I decided to avoid motorways and tollways so the route was as follows: St. Ives, Punchbowl, Hume Highway through Yagoona, Bass Hill and Warwick Farm. Past Liverpool, The Cross Roads, Campbelltown, Appin. Down Broughton Pass and Picton Road to Cordeaux Dam. There wasn't a lot of traffic but there were a million sets of lights which I had forgotten about. We were spread out over about three kilometres. I stopped a couple of times but because the roads were clearways we couldn't re-group. Luckily Kevin "pick-a-lock" Hardy seemed to know the route and lead us to Cordeaux Dam from Liverpool. It turns out that Kevin had no idea what the route was and was just winging it. Pretty good winging!!!  We arrived at Cordeaux Dam at 10.35am. Some of us had a coffee whilst we waited for the proceedings to start. Tim Shelton from the Eastern Creek branch opened procee...

  I departed home in the pouring rain but as the designated Ride Leader I thought I should go in case some keen riders turns up. Arriving at Maccas McGraths Hill there were 7 bikes already there but it turned out to be none of ours. They were 7 ladies heading to the '2WheelBabes' Rally in Ballina, where they expect up to 4000 Babes to attend. Given they were brave enough to head up the Putty Road... and as none of our group turned up,  I volunteered to be my TEC and headed off. What a great decision that turned out to be. I stopped for a break at Grey Gums before heading to lunch at Bulga and then on to the Pie to farewell myself for the day. Apart from the lack of company, it was great ride of approximately 400 kms. The rain had already stopped when I arrived at McGraths Hill and I made it round without getting wet and the majority of the roads were dry. Until next time.... Peter Walshaw

 Well over 20 riders were eager for the ride to Broke via the PHW but some crazy drivers put and end to that by crashing at Jolls Bridge. Now it was my first lead and many asked me “where to now”!! So after some deliberation we voted to go on the Berowra ferry and then down to Wiseman’s for lunch. Off we went and only lost 5 on the way but we all met for a warm sunny coffee stop to discuss the many issues of life. After quick break a further debate of “so where to now” was resolved to go to Wollombi for lunch as time was slipping by. A fun run and we caught up with a rider (not to be named) who left McGraths Hill and went to Broke then back to Wollombi. Well I think I have experienced all for my first lead and looking for to the next ride. Thanks guys. Geoff

  Hello Thursday Riders   Chapter 1 – 21st August, 2025.   The 21st August ride had been cancelled due to inclement weather. A decision was taken to transfer the ride to the Kyushu Japanese Restaurant, Neutral Bay, famous for its bento box, and hold a formal meeting to discuss important matters of policy. These notes represent Minutes of that meeting. Membership was drawn from a cross section of constitutional interests, to ensure a diversity of views.   Present: Chairman Rod (Roquet) May, representing the Bega Valley Cheese Eaters; Peter Walshaw (North Korean Hoteliers Resistance Movement); Wayne Rees (Aotearoa Advancement Society, Fielding Branch); Tony James (Teals) and Yours Truly Truly, a person known to be incapable of lying.   Welcome to Country: Sato-san visited the table and did his Welcome to Country. Tony James, as a devout Teal, was shocked by this and moved a call to order whilst he phoned Zali (MP Stegall) to determine whether a Japanese Welcome to...

  Great forecast for the 3 days. 21 riders in all. One virgin, Dave on a Multistrata. 2 newcomers to riding the Putty, Rod GS & Owen from Kiama.   Jim Cormack checked over my planning on Monday before the ride. Walcha & other Tourist bureaus were phoned to check the roads were open. What could possibly go wrong?   Putty is in good condition. I waved some faster riders thru. I activated Waze over lunch at Maccas in Singleton where Frank from Tamworth was waiting to join us. Waze said the road from Singleton to Buckets way via Dungog was closed & diverted us via New England Hway & Pacific Hway to join Bucketts Way. That’s the only road I didn’t check was open. One demerit for Tony.   38km short of Gloucester I hit a pot hole & blew the front tyre & butterflied the rim. Two demerits for Tony. Erica took me, & Austin took my bag, to Gloucester. Iron Horse Rescue was called & 2 hrs later Jim, Alan & me (on Rod’s borrowed GS) returned to...

A sunny, but brisk morning greeted four riders for the possibly pot-hole strewn ride to Wiseman’s ferry. Garry on his Spyder, and Bruce on his Shadow cruiser, were joined at the Pie by suitcase on the now classic Suzuki Gladius. After coffee at the ‘Ulysses’ table with Paulette, Edwin, Tim, Ken etc, it was back to Berowra and then straight down to the Berowra Ferry, across the water and up the hill to Wylds Rd, and the Northern Road to Wiseman’s Ferry. An uneventful, and fortunately quiet ride on a saturday morning. The original destination was the Wiseman’s Ferry Bowling Club, and after all the mucking around with the driving license electronic entrance procedure, we walked into the bistro to be told that the kitchen was undergoing renovations, and there was only pies at the bar! But a very chatty and pleasant local woman laid out all our alternative options for us?   And so it was decided to head down the hill to the Ferry Crossing cafe for hamburgers in the park, as they were re...

  10 or so riders gathered at Berowra looking for a ride whilst the rest of the mob were off gallivanting in Gloucester. One, yours truly, went to the loo and upon his return found himself elected ride leader. The destination was set on Broke (clearly no-one had looked at the ride calendar) and when challenged on where morning tea would be I blurted out Wollombi without thinking. The group rolled out a few minutes before  10am , cos we can so nur 🥳The ride up to Wollombi was brisk but uneventful after successfully navigating the booze bus set up on the outskirts of Berowra and the weather was glorious. I even remembered to slow down for the speed cameras so my portrait wasn’t blurred 🤣 Whilst sat around the benches in Slacks Park riders raised the issue of the leg to Broke being too short so I proposed extending it to Pokolbin Park. Everybody present agreed so I thought it was dusted buy a couple of riders then said they were going home via the Putty so would stop at Br...

 It was a beautiful sunny day as four of us met at the St. Ives starting point. Terry Fewell sent his apologies as he had a flat battery (so did his scooter). We headed off down Mona Vale road to the turn-off to McCarrs Creek Road. Taking this turn Bruce (our new member) thought his rough mate from Elanora might be waiting for us there but there was no sign. On we went down McCarrs Creek road to the turn-off for West Head and Akuna Bay where the Park Entry booth is. Suitcase had to fork out $12 for the pleasure of making the trip to West Head and Akuna Bay. The lookout at West Head gave us spectacular views up and down Pittwater and out to sea. Bruce, John, Suitcase and Alan - the usual suspects!! After admiring the views we jumped on our trusty steeds and headed to the Akuna Bay cafe for coffee and refreshments. Much discussion on the state of the world and the clown in the Oval Office took place in the pleasant sunshine. Then we disbursed in all directions to find our way home. V...

  Today we had ten riders ready to brave the weather on the relatively short ride. As it turned out no rain, dry roads (Mostly) and even some blue sky on the way there.     Morning tea at Mt Tomah where there is still road works. We joined the back of the cars being lead through the works and bit by bit were able to get past them.   The small amount of dirt to the lookout posed no problems for anyone, there was no wind and plenty of seating. Once there It was a pleasant and uneventful day out.    The rain held off until around Windsor.   Not much more to be said really, except, as always great company.   Andrew

  I have just had a phone call from Geoff's wife Joan to say that Geoff passed away this afternoon. He'd had a mini stroke on Wednesday and was on life support. The family decided to turn off that support today as there was no hope of recovery. There will be a private family funeral but Joan intends to have a memorial celebration in approximately three weeks when we can all celebrate/share our experiences of Geoff's fascinating and interesting life. He was an enthusiastic supporter and tireless worker for the Northern Beaches Branch of the Ulysses Club. I have many happy memories of riding to all sorts of strange places with him. He will be sorely missed. Regards Alan Bateman

  The day started quite wet - but the forecast for Wollombi and Kitchener looked dry   12 Riders gathered at Berowra - some with wet weather gear on already   I briefed the riders  - it would be morning tea at Jerry's - there we could re-assess the weather conditions and change the route, or call it a day   Before we left several riders put on wet weather gear while some others took theirs off??   As we left there was a little bit of drizzle which soon cleared to a cloudy but fine day with mostly dry roads   No incidents  - all good   Then we arrived a Jerry's, I have never seen it before but there were no other bikes there - just us   A light rain started as we had coffee or a snack   After some consultation with the finest weather minds the group had to offer, it was decided that we would head to Wisemans Ferry seeking dry roads.   Great plan - roads were dry and clear of traffic, that allowed us to could trave...

  With a cloud free sky and a cool morning, riders gathered at McGraths Hill Maccas for what promised to be 'a good run' The programmed ride to Glen Alice had unfortunately been changed as there was no response to several messages left for Glen Alice Paddock Cafe, so. I was not sure we could gain access.. All went well until we were on The Bells Line of road where we found heavy trucks and a slow run up to The ZigZag railway. Around Mount Tomah I had noticed a blue sign mentioning that work was being undertaken on the road at Victoria Pass, hence the trucks. This situation caused the riders to 'string out' slowing progress,.which improved after Lithgow with a good run up to Capertee.   The road to Glen Davis has been resurfaced in parts, but not all the gravel removed, causing some 'drift' on one corner. On reaching lunch we discovered a small bus with a sign on the side mentioning transport for 'old people' After momentary consideration as to whether we...

  Morpeth Ride report. Alan Bateman was scheduled to lead the Ride to Morpeth.   I received a call from Alan on Tuesday - saying he was very unwell and would I swap my ride day for his.   That sounded like an opportunity -  swapping my pretty easy ride for his quite complex ride   Alan had done the recon and sent me the route to upload into my GPS   couldn't be easier   there were over 20 eager riders ready for a good day on the road   I did the briefing mentioning the proposed route, and introducing a new rider Wayne - another Kawasaki brother.   All started well till we got to Somersby and the GPS took me left towards Spring road and the Triangle - instead of right towards the highway - which was Alan's plan   After some help from KTM Peter, we eventually got back on track and made it to Dooralong for morning tea.   A few riders left us at Dooralong and the GPS then took the rest of us to Morpeth   no incidents to report, I d...