Raffle for the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride

Simon Whittaker. Canberran  organiser and fundraiser for the Distinguished gentlemans Ride for prostate cancer research has written to let us know:

"So far we have raised $4,200+ in just a few short weeks...So thanks again to everyone who has received these emails and responded THANK YOU! Fundraising finishes next weekend Sunday 9th..

So if you're still intending to sponsor me for a tax deductible donation.....

Here's the link again...to my updated blog & fundraising page..

https://www.gentlemansride.com/rider/simonwhittaker

Further towards my fundraising I'm also having a major raffle..

I have been given a giant toolbox from Shaun at Gasweld in fyshwick which I have had choice signs do some DGR graphics on..

 

 

The raffle details are..THURSDAY OCT 6TH From 7.00PM at  The SPANISH CLUB ,5 Narupai pl , NARRABUNDAH..

Tickets on sale from 7.00pm..you have to be there to win...
All towards my Men's Prostate Cancer Research fundraising..
tickets $5.00 ea, 3 for $10.00, 8 for $20.00..
and many other fantastic prizes.. 
details here..please share and come along! thanks again, Simon Whittaker..

https://web.facebook.com/events/165172217265017

RIDE REPORT Not Grenfell 25 September 2016

The forecast for Sunday had been getting steadily worse all week and, when the day finally dawned, I was sure it would be pissing down rain so I could slip back into my warm bed and grab an extra hour or two’s sleep. 

Surprise, surprise, however – when I peeped out of the window at 7am there was blue sky and sunshine and the forecast had miraculously moderated from torrential rain, floods, death and destruction to mere possible showers. As ride leader this, of course, left me with no option but to get up and get out to Nicholls before anyone else got there.

I almost made it. Mick was there when I arrived and for a while it looked like everyone else had succumbed to the weather forecast and it might just be the two of us riding to Grenfell. Mick hadn’t even brought Kipper because the poor bugger had injured his leg. “He might have done his last ride,” Mick sighed.
 
By the appointed time, however, we numbered six hardy souls and after a very brief briefing (“Does everyone know the way to Boorowa? See you there.”) we hit the highway. 

As we ate our pies and sausage rolls and sipped our flat whites in the Superb Café (superb by name but not by nature; in fact, my pepper pie was quite unsuperb), Vidas told us about his parents, who were displaced persons from Lithuania after World War 2 and were allowed into Australia only because they were good looking. Or something like that.
 
Meanwhile, the sky had clouded over and the temperature had refused to rise to the lofty heights that one might hope for in spring. As we headed for Murringo there was water everywhere and the paddocks looked more like the green fields of Ireland than the straw coloured Australia we all know and love. 

Rather than turning left at Murringo we continued straight ahead and rode north on Murringo Gap Road, which follows Murringo Creek down a broad farming valley and then through a narrow gorge – the Gap itself. As we wound down through the Gap it was obvious that this natural constriction had banked up the flood waters a few days earlier, leaving debris and silt several metres above the present level of the creek (which was still running fairly high). It would have been a spectacular sight.

After ducking down Chews Lane and a brief excursion on the Olympic Highway, we exited left into Bendick Murrell to find the bridge leading into the tiny town sporting yet more flood debris. All day we had traversed sections of road that were waterlogged and full of holes, mud and loose gravel, and coming out of Bendick Murrell there was one water-filled pothole that almost swallowed the car in front of me, launching a minor tsunami that gave the Wing an express wash.

By the time we stopped for a photo at the top of the hill between Wirrimah and Iandra Castle the clouds were darker than ever and we could see showers building here and there. As we rode down the other side it was clearly raining towards Grenfell so, after a hastily convened conference and a democratic vote and despite the protestations of Vidas, who has never been to Grenfell and still doesn’t know what he’s been missing, we turned left and headed south to Young for lunch at Wilder’s Bakery. On this section we also worked out that in a small group of six riders, all of similar ability and with no stragglers, corner markers were a pointless pain in the posterior.

It rained a bit during lunch, while we were warm and dry and eating eggs, bacon and burgers, but we were lucky for the rest of the ride, dodging between rain showers and arriving back in Canberra at the civilised time of around 2:30pm after a pleasant 360 km jaunt.
Ian Paterson

(From left) Neil, Mick, Gary, John and Vidas.

 

The Riders were:

• Ian Paterson GL1800
• Mick Beltrame Victory XC
• Vidas Sadauskas Harley Street Glide
• Neil McRitchie GTR1400
• John Barratt R1200GS
• Gary Thomas R1200R

 

ACT Road Closure advice from ACT Roads - Raboul Lane

The following advice has been passed on from Jen Woods from MRA-ACT regarding the closure of Rabaul Lane :

(while not stated directly, this is likely to affect the 30 odd motorcycle parking spaces there)

Hi all

the following has been received by MRA ACT and so we are passing this on for your information. 

"I have been asked by Colin Evans at Roads ACT to advise you of the upcoming re-development work to be completed at our site at 20 Allara Street and of the temporary traffic management to be undertaken.

DA 201528532 was approved by ACTPLA in April 2016 and allows for the:

• The demolition of a portion of an existing building, being the  two storey podium section along City Walk, and the taller sections above the podium;
• The construction of a 18 storey building containing:
• 190 residential apartments in two towers
• Podium car parking
• Commercial space on the ground floor and first floor
• Basement car parking
• Associated landscaping, paving and other site works.

During the entirety of the works, a lane closure is required to Raboul Lane for the coordination of construction through this area. Please see attached TTM which has been presented to Roads ACT.

Demolition work is due to commence on the site with internal strip out of the building in September and hard demolition of the structure in October.

We are aware of the inconvenience caused by our activities and assure you that we will do everything possible to minimise the impact of our activities works on the surrounding premises and area.

We thank you in advance for your understanding, patience and cooperation in this regard".

Jen

VP

MRA ACT

A copy of the Temporary Traffic Management Plan is attached here.

2016 Ulysses Canberra Branch Christmas Party - Menu decision!!!

Our 2016 Branch Christmas Party is on for the 10th December at our monthly meeting venue - Canberra Deakin Football Club (3 Grose Street, Deakin ACT ).

The menu is still being decided, indeed you can vote if you like - there's a poll on our branch facebook so you can  vote for one of the options .

If you don't have access to Facebook - email our social Secretary Andrea  with your choice.

The 4 options are listed in this doc fyi

Ride Report Far North Queensland 6 August – 8 September 2016

Like all good trips do, ours started with a pre-ride planning meeting. We had already booked the accommodation for the first week and a half, so the meeting was rather brief considering the length of our ride: Plan A was to leave Andrew’s house at 9am, stop for coffee and a pie at Boorowa and then meet at the motel in Dubbo whenever we got there. Of course, there was no Plan B. 

The whole trip was like that – Andrew and I rode together most of the time but we also did our own thing, having enough confidence in each other’s riding and navigational abilities that we would surely meet up again at the end of the day.

Andrew at Lightning Ridge.

We took five comfortable days to ride the 2,500km to Cairns, stopping overnight at Dubbo, St George, Emerald and Townsville and visiting such iconic locations as Lightning Ridge, Clermont, the Belyando Crossing Roadhouse and Charters Towers. We stayed in motels, cabins and hotels and usually managed to find a bakery or café with coffee and pies for morning smoko.

The roads have been improved out of sight since I rode to Townsville in 2008. My memory of the Gregory Development Road (from Clermont to Charters Towers) was of a single lane of bitumen that you had to get off whenever a road train came through. Now, it’s a beautiful two-lane highway with more caravan-towing grey nomads than road trains. 

Speaking of grey nomads, I decided to get into the spirit of the open road and wave to them as they went past. But their responses were like those of most Harley riders – they wouldn’t wave if they were hanging from a flagpole in a cyclone. End of experiment.

Andrew had a two-week leave pass but before he left Cairns to head home we rode most of the fantastic roads around Cairns, Port Douglas and the beautiful Atherton Tablelands. 
 

Looking back towards Cairns from the only lookout on the Kennedy Highway.

After he left I did a five-day business trip around Yungaburra and Mission Beach and then spent another three weeks riding home via Bowen, Nebo, Dingo, Duaringa, Dululu (passing through these three D-towns towns in alphabetical order), Banana, Theodore, Cracow, Eidsvold, Gayndah, Toowoomba and Manilla, staying in Airbnbs and with friends. 

I had dinner with Suzy Arnold and Norm MacLachlan at the Grand View Hotel in Bowen (they had been shadowing me for days on their dash from Canberra to FNQ and back). I also made a side trip from Toowoomba to Cedar Creek (near Samford, north-west of Brisbane) to see an old mate. Altogether I rode 6,900km.

The biggest surprise was how good the Queensland roads are these days, with smooth, well-maintained surfaces, excellent alignment and slow vehicle turnouts that other motorists actually use. In fact, the worst road on the whole trip was in NSW, from Texas to Warialda on the way home. But a warning: the coastal Bruce Highway is infested with slow caravanners who often travel in tight packs, making overtaking difficult and driving truckies mad.

My favourite roads were (in order from north to south):

• The Captain Cook Highway up the coast from Cairns to Port Douglas and Mossman – tight and sweeping curves and scenery but lots of tourist traffic. (# 3 in the Hema Motorcycle Atlas)

• The Kennedy Highway from Cairns to Mareeba – a fun climb up to the tablelands with some tight corners and one spectacular lookout (don’t miss it!). (# 101)

• The Gillies Highway from Gordonvale to Yungaburra and Atherton – a sustained climb with hundreds upon hundreds of unrelenting tight s-bends. It’s so incredible I rode it in both directions. (# 1)

• The Palmerston Highway from Innisfail to Millaa Millaa and on to Atherton – fast, smooth, sweeping bends, great views. (# 12)

• Dubbo to Charters Towers. A whole different spirit.

• Toowoomba to Samford via Hampton, Esk, Wivenhoe Dam and the aptly-named Mt Glorious and Mt Nebo roads – a favourite of Brisbane riders. Steep, tight and sustained. (# 7 & 13)

Ian Paterson

The Riders were:

• Ian Paterson        GL1800
• Andrew Campbell    FJR1300

 

Corned beef sangers at the Whistle Stop Café in Yungaburra.

Pie, peas and dead horse at the bakery in Tully.

Or to Canberra or to Paris.

Oh what a beautiful morning (for a ride!). Near Dululu.

Club Ride to Bribbaree 21st August 2016

The ride was scheduled to go to Bribbaree, with Alan in the lead.  A few weeks earlier, he was contacted by Dianne of the Wagga Branch because, by co-incidence, they had scheduled a ride to Bribbaree on the same day.  Dianne had been informed that the Pub at Bribbaree wasn’t open for lunch on Sundays anymore.    The Pub was contacted for confirmation.  Yes, they would open for lunch for us if we had 20 or more people attending.  The challenge was on to make sure we had the numbers – and we needed to know before the ride day.

Postings were put on Facebook, emails were sent and notes put in the RO2.  We did it.  Canberra Branch managed to get 21 people – what a great response.  Wagga had about a dozen.  So the ride was on.

We kept watching the weather forecasts and it was to be cloudy and a maximum of 14 degrees, but no rain.  Great.

We assembled at Nicholls servo and headed off on time to go to Harden for morning tea, where we would meet Mick and Tracey who had to travel by car because of Mick’s recent knee replacement.  It was coolish most of the way, but by the time we arrived, the sun had started to show itself and it was very pleasant standing around chatting in the sunshine.  Time was tight and it took a while for everyone to get their coffee and cheesecake, but we were ready to leave by 11.30 for the next leg of our trip.

Coffee, Cheesecake and a Chat!

 
Corner markers were required to negotiate our way through Young and onto the Bribbaree road, but that was achieved with no problems.  We approached Bribbaree just on 12.30 and as if it was planned, the Wagga group rode down the road from the opposite direction at exactly the same time and so we all pulled into the pub together.  You couldn’t have done it better if you tried.

Hamburger, steak sandwich or chicken burger (with chips) were the choices and they went down a treat.  Everyone mingled and chatted – a great time was had by all.  But then it was time to head home, but before that we wanted a group photo.  Don’t worry about traffic, someone said, next car is not due for an hour.  But no sooner was that said and a local farmer drove down the road.  Bribbaree is not a very busy place, but it does have a good Pub.

"Herding cats" for the group photo...

We headed off with instructions to stop at the BP servo in Young for fuel and home via Boorowa.  By all accounts, everyone had a good day and plans were suggested to do it again next year.  Thanks everyone for the response to advise that they were attending and turning up for a great day.

Lyn

Riders:

• Alan & Lyn Munday                  Yamaha FJR1300
• Andrea Lanagan                      Car
• Garry McCurley                        Honda VFR1200
• Derek & Margaret Titheridge      CanAm Spyder
• Rod Horne                              BMW R1200GSA
• Margaret Horne                       Triumph Tiger 800
• Trevor McLeod                         Yamaha FJR1300
• Peter Arday                            Honda ST1300
• David Dawson                         BMW GS1200
• Les Robinson                          BMW R1150
• Darryl Pallin                            Honda Goldwing
• Darryl Cullen                           Suzuki Bandit 1250
• Chas Towie                             Honda ST1300
• Michael & Tracey Winters          Car
• Rob McNeily                            Honda VFR800
• Mick Beltram                           Victory
• Mark Morey                             Triumph Bonneville