Club ride – 20 March 2016 – Taralga (via Crookwell)

The sun rose to a crisp clear day with Autumn finally starting after the finish of a long spell of hot weather. I headed up to Watson to greet the travelling group for the day. 

We fuelled up and after delivering the ride brief we rode up the highway to travel through Sutton. The fields reflected their rejuvenation after receiving some much needed rain following the long dry season. 

We travelled through to Gundaroo before reaching Gunning where we stopped at the Merino Café to recharge our batteries. Then we headed off to Crookwell via Grabben Gullen Rd travelling along the winding roads and enjoying the road flowing along the way with its sweeping bends. 

We reached Crookwell and then headed off towards Laggan enjoying a beautiful section of road sweeping heading off to Taralga when we came across an injured sheep with green pieces of fairing littered over the road.  

If only they had a Kawasaki!

A short distance away we found an unharmed Andrew accompanied by Garry who had stopped to find Andrew’s ZX14R with missing sections of fairing. We were amazed at Andrews’s display of skill - hitting the sheep and keeping his bike upright without coming off.  

We spent some time looking for the sheep’s owner before removing it from the road as it did not survive the accident. With a bit of roadside temporary repair to Andrews’s bike we continued on our way to The Tangled Vine Cafe in Taralga where we found Tracey waiting for us as she was travelling back from her parents’ home in Medlow Bath. Both Tracey and I always call into this café as we travel this way when heading to the Blue Mountains - we have always found a warm welcome with terrific food and coffee. 

We sat down to some great food and drinks having a break from today’s proceedings. After lunch we headed back to Goulburn were Garry, Terry and Manfred pulled off with the rest continuing to Bungendore where Tracey and I said good bye. 

Peter, Chas and Rick followed Andrew back to the ACT. (Mrs C later advised that Andrew arrived safely home but he wasn’t in the mood for a roast lamb dinner that night)
 
Thankfully we all made it home in one piece and it shows some of the benefits of travelling in a group - if you need a hand we are there for you. 

Mick Winters

List of riders

Garry McCurley  VFR1200
Terry  Mills  VT750
Peter Arday    ST1300       
Chas Towie    ST1300       
Michael Winters    Triumph Trophy       
Manfred Halton    R1200R       
Andrew Campbell    ZX14R       
Rick Costan    Ducati Monster       
           
Tracey Winters                      Tail end Charlie from Taralga in a Subaru Forester (alias Blob).