Snowy Loop . . . no, Crookwell again, 5 February 2017

The Snowy Loop Club Ride was cancelled because it was going to be too bloody hot. It was replaced by a Decide & Ride because D&Rs are always cooler than Club Rides.

Well, this one was. Instead of being stuck on either the Hume Freeway or the Monaro Highway coming back from the Snowy in the peak of the afternoon heat, we just did a short run to (relatively) cool Crookwell for brunch and were home before it got too hot. 

Well, most of us. Two brave souls decided to keep to the original plan and do the Snowy Loop. We wished them well and waved them goodbye but they were never heard of again (Vidas, where are you?).

Trevor led the rest of us – Andrew, Jenny, Chris, Manfred and me – via Gundaroo, Gunning and Grabben Gullen (I call this the Telstra route because it’s got 4Gs) to the Crown Theatre Café in Crookwell’s main drag. This café gets five stars on Trip Advisor but mysteriously they didn’t have any meat pies. However, they did have some huge sausage rolls and they let me pick out the hugest one of all to accompany my morning coffee. With extra dead horse at no extra cost. Five stars!

This is what happens when you don't cadge a passerby to take the group shot!

Crookwell was full of bikes on this morning, probably because it was several degrees cooler than anywhere else in the region. As we discovered as we rode out of town towards Goulburn, it was also the weekend of Crookwell’s annual show. Not only that, but the cat rescue place was giving away kittens. Not even Andrew took that bait.

Goulburn, Tarago, Bungendore  – the towns just whizzed by, and we were home by 2:30pm, just before the hottest heat hit. Beer o’clock came early!

Ian Paterson