Bungendore Ride Report - 17 January

Great riding weather - a sunny 22 degrees when we met at the BP in Watson for our 11.00 departure. No ride leader was allocated for this ride, and the Pres sent us a text to say he wasn’t going to make it - but the initial fear and doubt were allayed with the arrival of Darryl, Trevor, Mick and Peter - our crusty er…. trusty seasoned members. The feeling of relief was palpable.

There was another group of riders waiting at the Watson BP, but they didn’t seem interested in what we were up to. We had more riders  ….  so there whoever you were. This proves Kipper is a big drawcard (bigger even than Ian Paterson). However, Kipper decided the air conditioned Range Rover filling up at the diesel tanks looked like a more comfortable ride than the usual. The hand that feeds soon had that sorted and Kipper took a spot on the Victory.

It was decided we would head up the highway to Macs Reef Road, and come home the long way. Everyone looked hungry so this seemed like a great idea and got the thumbs up from all participants.

The ride was fun and relaxing - a great way to clear your head and shake out the cobwebs on a Sunday morning. As usual the company was fab, the food at RnR’s diner in the Village Square cafe precinct was yum and the service was tip top - lovely staff who didn’t seem at all flustered by the numbers of us streaming through the door. 

Conversation on our table lent itself to topics such as the use of ‘she wee’ devices (don’t ask Andrea - PLEASE), volunteering at the AGM, Genelle’s sore Bonneville butt, where are you going in Tassie, how many blokes flogged Jenny’s beaut BMW scootie before she bought it, and how many sat on my GS while it was in the showroom after it arrived on the boat from the Motherland … the boot scuffs tell a different story …… I didn’t get over to the other table, but I’m sure their convos were just as erudite as ours. 

Some stayed to chat on, others left to go home the long way or on further travels for the day. After a chat and a look in the Leather shop, Mark and I took Norton Road and the Monaro.

Good company, good food, good conversations, lots of laughs.
Yet another relaxed and fun Chomp and Chat enjoyed by all.

Kim

• Andrea Lanagan - Boulevard
• Kim Moorey - F700GS
• Julie Hyland - Honda Sports
• Genelle Mills - Bonneville
• Jenny Carlin - C600
• John and Eleonor - FJR1300
• Darryl Palin - GL1800
• Peter Arday - ST1300
• Mark Walker - NT700V
• Rick Costan - Monster
• Neil Goldfinch - CBR1100XX
• Mick and Kipper - Victory XC
• Mark Mitchell - VFR800
• Gary Hopkins - Aprilia Caponord 1200
• Allan Grimes - Harley Davidson FatBoy
• Gary Thomas - DL650
• Richard Hay - FJR1300

Tassie AGM Dinner for Canberra Ulysses

For those planning to take part in a Canberra Branch dinner at the 2016 AGM - here are the details:
 
Friday 4th March at 7pm
 Dinner will be at the Jailhouse Grill.

32 Wellington St, Launceston, Tasmania 7250

Individual billing for meals available and drinks are pay as you go at the bar.

Hope to see you all there. 

We have booked for 30 so please indicate if you will be attending for numbers. (Let Andrea know)

More information and menus can be found here:
http://jailhousegrill.com.au/

 

An open invitation to a special presentation on "The Art of the Motorcycle "

The Veteran, Vintage and Classic Motorcycle Club of ACT (http://www.vvcmcc.org/) has extended an open invitation to a special presentation on "The Art of the Motorcycle " by guest speaker Charles Falco, from the USA.

This presentation will be held at the Spanish Australian Club of Canberra at 7.00pm on Thursday, 11th February, at the Spanish Australian Club of Canberra.

Mr Falco as the owner of two Gold Stars wrote "The Gold Star Buyer's Companion". Previously he edited an anthology of writings on the early years of motorcycling entitled Motorcycling at the Turn of the Century, contributed articles and columns to The Antique Motorcycle, Early-Riders Magazine, Motorcycle Collector Magazine, and Walneck's Classic Cycle Trader, and wrote an essay on the history of motorcycles as well as the Bibliography for the catalog of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum's record-breaking 1998 The Art of the Motorcycle. He also served as co-Curator of that exhibition, for which he received an award from the International Association of Art Critics.

Professionally, he is a Fellow of four science and engineering societies (the American Physical Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Optical Society of America, and the Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)), has published more than 275 scientific manuscripts, co-edited two books, has seven U.S. patents, and given over 400 invited talks at conferences, research institutions, and cultural organizations in 32 countries.

Ride report Bowral Sunday 10 January

We’re all going to Crookwell Bowral from Watson Nicholls

Gorgeous hot riding weather for this somewhat confusing (to some) ride. As we went to Goulburn last weekend via Crookwell, the ride leader changed the ride to Bowral - which as everyone knows is an equally beaut ride. 24 riders rolled up to Nicholls on the day - which proves that “Ian in Charge” is a total drawcard (authors note.…only a few were women)

We left on time from Nicholls, and Trevor led the first part of the ride my favourite back way through Mabo Bvd and East Tallangandra Lane to Sutton.

We took Macs Reef Road out to Bungendore, where we picked up 5 more. We rode out to Tarago, where we lost one that headed back to Canberra to do some ‘work’. On arrival at Marulan for our scheduled coffee stop, we then lost 4 - and one other disappeared to give Macquarie Pass a go. Seems “Ian in Charge” is not such a drawcard after all. 

There were a number of notable incidents on the day - Genelle’s altercation with the gravel in a 35km/h corner on her brand spanking new tyres - ready, steady, wiggle !!!

Peter Arday had an altercation with the same corner where the gravel tried to spit him out the other side so he drove over the top of the roadside marker pole to avoid injury to man or bike. Awesome job Pete - thats exactly why those poles are made like kids bouncy clowns (kind of) !

Andrew Campbell’s top box decided to part company with the back of his bike at speed and at head height for the rider behind - Trevor is such a slacker - he didn’t even try to catch it from what I heard.

“Ian in Charge” told us a great true story at lunch about his unruly man bits being held together by a playboy G string on a trip with Suzanne and Peter ….. that one should probably go into the archives never to be told again. 

A great ride, great food, great conversation and an equally great way to spend a Sunday.

Kim

• Ian Paterson GL1800
• Mark Walker NT700V
• Garry McCurley VFR1200
• Rick Costan ST45
• Richard Hay Triumph Explorer
• Jenny Carlin C600
• Peter Arday ST1300
• Kim Moorey F700GS
• Ron Tito F700GS
• Genelle Mills Triumph Bonneville
• Terry Mills VT750
• David Dawson 1200GS
• Mark Mitchell Ducati Scrambler
• Julie Hyland Honda Sports
• Leo Farrelly 1200 GS
• Kyla Harvey XVS1100
• Mick Harvey FJR1300
• Cooch Triumph Rocket
• Andrew Campbell FJR1300
• Kris Jirasek GSXR1300
• Trevor McLeod FSR1300
• Mike and Sharon Kelly R1200RT
• Peter Thomas F800GS
• Manfred Halton R1200R
• Mick Winters Triumph Trophy

spot tracking data : https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=f9b2569206a3f3c95

Easter Heads Up : the Yarra Ranges have invited us to an overnight ride for the Easter Long Weekend

Bob McArthur (0438 447 137 bob.mca@bigpond.net.au) has researched accommodation in Barham, a fairly central location between Canberra, Mount Gambier and Melbourne.  

Also the weather is usually pretty good on The Murray River around that time.  He has reserved 2 motels at 9 rooms in each motel, plus seventeen at the golf club.  

He can only hold these reservations for a couple of weeks as they get very busy over the Easter period.  

If there is sufficient interest he could allocate one motel to Canberra, one to Mount Gambier and use the Golf Club for Yarra Ranges and the local participants - or mix up the accommodation as needed to suit the level of interest from the branches.

He has reserved Good Friday, Easter Saturday & Sunday (some places insisted on three nights).

A brief plan would be to ride up (or down, or across or whatever) on Good Friday, have area exploration rides on Saturday plus a Hello Dinner.  Spend Sunday relaxing, exploring and maybe a ‘Take Away’ night.  Ride home on Easter Monday.

Feedback from the groups is needed pretty quickly, so that he can move forward with the arrangements.

Planning can be refined if there is a good response.

Please discuss and let Bob know asap! ( it wouldn't hurt to let the Branch committee know as well - eg email ulyssescanberrabranch@gmail.com

*** Canberra Branch 30th Anniversary ***

BBQ in Telopea Park on Saturday 13 February 2016 (from11am)

The BBQ is free - bring along your own alcoholic beverages
Commemorative cloth badges will be on sale for five dollars each.

RSVP to ulyssescanberrabranch@gmail.com for catering purposes by 7th February 2016

Ride Report – Goulburn 3 January

Leading a ride on the last day of the Christmas / New Year’s holiday period posed an interesting challenge in terms of significant traffic later in the day.  After about an hour of looking at options on the Saturday I decided on a route that was to combine the Boorowa – Crookwell loop with the Range Road and into Goulburn for lunch at the Green Grocer.  


Chris had kindly volunteered to be tail end Charlie in the Subaru although his high viz vest was not easily seen through the windscreen, and in fact during the course of the day some detractors said that he may not even be wearing it.
As it turned out we were extremely fortunate in terms of there being almost zero traffic on the Barton Highway and Lachlan Valley Way, with the ability to maintain the legal speed limit all the way to Boorowa.  To say the Boorowa café struggled to deal with 20+  motorcyclists in addition to other holiday traffic would be an understatement, but eventually everyone received their fix and nibbles and a chance for some catching up and conversations.  While it was a prolonged stop it did not impact the balance of the day.

 

My thanks to the couple in Boorowa (forgive my memory) who suggested ringing the Greengrocer café to make a booking given our numbers, and yes they even had the phone number in their mobile.  

Given the diverse experience of riders and knowledge of the road to Crookwell we had a consolidation point in Crookwell to ensure we had everyone before heading off on the last leg.  Again no traffic and with the exception of some strong wind gusts it was a very fluent ride all the way to Crookwell with the temperature in the low twenties.

With all riders at the consolidation point including the Subaru (but what no I viz!) we set off down the Kialla Road where the quantity of new housing development came as a surprise.  As we approached the Range Road wind farms were numerous.  

The run into Goulburn was again without traffic and allowed us as a group to arrive in Goulburn together.  The above-mentioned phone call in Boorowa certainly paid dividends as the cafe had set up and reserved six tables for us prior to our arrival.

Homeward bound….

With the Sutton road near Gunning a mess with an overzealous approach to dumping gigalitres of water this alternate route home was not a goer. This left us with the choice of returning via the Federal Highway or going through Bungendore and dealing with the returning coast traffic. 
In the end there was and even spilt with those choosing one of the above two routes home.  I came back down the Federal which proved painless and quick, although there were quite a few NSW Highway Patrol cars in wait for overzealous motorists.

Pete, Chas and I then turned off at Sutton then into Gungahlin to return to our local coffee shop in Spence.

My thanks to those on the ride that made for such an enjoyable day.  This is my first time leading a ride in more than a year and I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed it, with every person on the ride acting responsibly and allowing the ride to be hassle free.

Ps.. I must admit this loop with a run back from Goulburn to Bungendore via Currawang Road will be added to my list of favourite rides.  Hopefully I will be able to twist Andrew’s arm to come along next time be it on his Yamaha or Kwaka.

Cheers

Trevor

The Riders were:

• Trevor McLeod, FJR 1300 
• Peter Arday , ST1300
• Garry McCurley & Natalie Tebay, VFR1200
• Mark Walker, NT700V
• Jan Hansfeld
• Jenny Carlin, BMW C600
• Mick and Kipper, Victory XC
• Mike Kelly, BMW RT1200
• Chas Towie, ST1300
• Peter Thomas, BMW F800GS
• Steve Hayes, Suzuki DL-650
• Karen Clarke, Yamaha 1900
• Rob Clarke, Yamaha 1300  
• Julie Hyland, Honda Sports
• John & Eleonor, FJR 1300
• Chris Dietzel, Subaru Outback 
• Kim Moorey, BMW F700GS
• Kathy Leslie, Honda NT700V
• David Formica, Kawasaki ZX14R
• Mark Mitchell, Ducati Scrambler
• Michael and Tracey Winters, Triumph Trophy