Grabben Gullen 21 January 2018

I was kind of hoping no-one would turn up for this ride because it was going to be bloody hot – indeed it got up to 39 degrees – and an empty carpark would mean I could return home and drink gin and tonics all day in air-conditioned comfort.

But this was not to be. When I arrived at the servo at Nicholls, Mick and Neil were already there and we three were soon joined by the rest of the crew, eight brave souls in all. After a brief ride briefing followed by a delay as our ride leader farted around with a new iPhone mount and app he was road-testing, we set off in bright sunshine.

The ride to Boorowa was smooth and sedate, for the app in question uses the phone’s GPS to give a continual digital readout of actual speed (as opposed to speedo-indicated speed). The Goldwing’s speedo turned out to be reading 6 km/h above our true speed (as measured by the GPS) on the highway and 7 km/h above on the freeway.

At Boorowa we adjourned in the air-conditioned but rather optimistically named Superb Café for the customary pepper steak pie with sauce and large flat white extra hot. It was only 34 degrees outside but already three of our number could sense impending immolation and were preparing to jump ship.
I won’t name and shame them, but as these three headed back to Canberra, aiming to get home before the hottest part of the day, the remaining five of us – Mick, John, Chris, Peter and I – rode east towards Crookwell. For some reason the road was even more fun than usual, even though we were still riding relatively sedately.

The Albion Hotel is dramatically situated atop the highest point in Grabben Gullen.

We reached Grabben Gullen, with the Albion Hotel standing aloof at the highest point of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it village, just before 12:30pm and introduced ourselves to Debbie, who runs the pub with her husband (and chef) Ray. She had reserved us a long table for 12, so there was plenty of room to spread out. Nonetheless, being herd-type animals we all huddled together in the middle, though this was more for ease of conversation than for protection.

Ray prides himself on using only fresh ingredients, and the fish & chips and help-yourself salad was delicious. Debbie said the fish was blue grenadier, a kind of ugly looking animal that makes up for its lack of charisma by being very tender and tasty. 

As we were finishing our meals and cold refreshments (non-alcoholic, let it be noted), a great commotion outside heralded the arrival of a dozen or so Harley riders from Wollongong who had headed inland to escape the mild coastal conditions.

After chatting to them for a while and checking out Ray’s array of motorbikes, some of which are for sale, we headed for home via Gunning and Gundaroo. And as soon as I got inside I had that gin and tonic I had been looking forward to all day.

The app I was using, Speedometer 55, also has a tracking feature that lets you record your journey and see it as data, on a map and in a graph. For the record, from Caltex Nicholls to Grabben Gullen (I forgot to turn it on after lunch) we travelled 196 km at an average speed of 97.5 km/h. The whole day’s ride, according to my trip meter, was 333 km.

Ian Paterson

The Riders:

• Ian Paterson        GL1800
• Mick Beltrame    R1200GSLC
• Neil McRitchie    GTR1400
• Peter Daniell        R1200GSA
• Steve Hayes        V-Strom 650
• John Barratt        R1200GS
• Andrew Campbell     FJR1300
• Chris Dietzel        GTR1400

 

Mick has traded in his Victory and brought along his new transcontinental tourer to show us.

Inaugural Mid-Week Decide and Ride - 18th January 2018

This being the very first mid-week ride in 2018 for the Ulysses Club Canberra Branch I was keen to be a participant.  My day started with an hour long walk with the dog followed by a quick trip into Queanbeyan to help a friend with his canoe as I kept an eye on my schedule so as not to miss the 10 o’clock departure time at the BP in Watson. 

The forecast was for a warm day but with a cool start it made riding my bike more appealing in anticipation of a great day spent touring with friends. I arrived at Watson, filling up my bike to enable me to ride without refuelling.

I was greeted by two other members also riding Triumphs and we settled into our discussions on the destination and possible route to be taken on our ride. We didn’t want to travel too far so we decided to travel via Bungendore to the Albion Café in Braidwood for a coffee.

We headed off with Michael leading the ride, Mick the corner marker leaving Mike to be elected Tail End Charley. We kept within the correct speed limit to reduce concerns of going too fast while maintaining a constant balance to create a harmonious ride. The traffic was heavy for a mid-week ride on the Kings Highway with people heading to the beach ahead of expected high temperatures over the weekend. 

Famed Triumph rider watering hole

At the Albion, we sat down after ordering our coffees while exchanging stories of our previous rides and our adventures while riding motor cycles. We finished up our refreshments and headed back via Tarago and Bungendore to home. 

One of the many Triumphs seen on the ride.

The road twisted and weaved through the beautiful changing seasonal colours of our local country side. The ride was halted for a short while by road works on the Tarago Road near Mt Fairy and we experienced some dangerous driving by a double bogie sand truck weaving it’s bogie all over the road while trying to sit on the back seat of the car in front of him. Thankfully we arrived safely in Bungendore where I left the ride to head home with a smile on my face. 

The Riders were:

• Michael Winters - Triumph Trophy
• Mick - Triumph Sports bike
• Mike - Triumph Touring bike

‘It started with a B’ Ride - Report for 14 January 2018

Variety is the spice of life, so they say.  I’ve never discovered who ‘they’ actually are, but they are right.  The lack of spice for this ride meant it was of the non-varietal persuasion.  That’s not to say it was dull and boring, just that the ride would briefly traverse some well-ridden roads that have been ridden by most of us many times before.  It’s a function of weekly rides in a diminishing circle around Canberra as bikes get bigger, better and faster and the roads get older, narrower and more pot-holed.  I feel for the ride leaders sometimes.  It’s difficult to add ‘spice’ to a ride unless some old piece of dirt has a new layer of bitumen and a few sweeping corners left intact.  Sometimes, it has to be socialising over motorcycling, and that can be good too.  Personally, I usually put the motorcycle before people, but that’s just me.  I often talk to my motorcycle rather than people.  I get more sense out of a non-responsive pile of metal and plastic than from real people most of the time.
 

A great roll-up of bikes but a slight balls-up of start-time.

It seemed to be a bit ho-hum for the gathering of groupies assembled at the Nicholls servo for the short run to Bowning.  They chatted animatedly amongst themselves while the ride leader did what ride leaders do, although the confused mind of the ever-graceful Peter appeared unclear and we all wondered if we were going to Bowning, Binalong, Bookham, Bairnsdale, Bathurst or Birdsville.  It started with a ‘B’, so we decided that follow-the-leader might work.  It was clear that the groupies were there for the company, not the excitement of this exceptionally short journey, so the chatter was loud and hands were constantly moving to reinforce some point or another in the stories being told.  Or they were just shooing away the morning flies and other bugs.  By the way, the ‘groupie’ nomenclature is not a dig at the lustful nature of the leader’s adoring fan club, merely the tactless recognition that a group of bikers following a handsome leader must be groupies by loose definition.  Have I lost you yet?  Read on.  There are more words to follow.  We’ll get to the ride part of the ride report in due course.

Chas: ‘The ride brief stinks’. Peter: ‘I’ll hang my head in shame’.

In my mind’s eye I see lots of things.  What the hell is a ‘mind’s eye’ anyway?  It’s supposed to be a human’s ability to visually experience something.  I’d call it fantasizing.  On this auspicious day I visually experienced an assembled group of groupies mostly dressed in clean, bug-free and road-grime bereft ride attire that would not have looked out of place in the next ‘Hunger Games’ sequel.  Bikes glistened in the sun and the ride leader’s words of wisdom, direction and weariness echoed off the polished paint and bounced round and round until they found an open ear, thence disappearing into the deep recesses of feeble minds and feebler bodies.  It was assumed that someone would know the way, preferably the ride leader.  It was anticipated that someone would get lost, but the short distance and direct route might prevent that.  It was expected to be a completely normal run into the dry paddocks of NSW where follow-the-leader was not necessarily how it would go.  We departed the scene a few minutes past the appointed hour.  There was no rush.

Charging along at a good clip I thought the group was being very well-behaved.  So much so in fact, that I said to myself and the nearby sheep; “It looks as though the corner-marking system is working well for a change”.  I didn’t respond to my thoughts.  That would have indicated a streak of insanity.  Besides, there were few corners that actually needed marking, especially as there weren’t many to negotiate and an earlier decision to forgo corner marking had been made for this abbreviated run.  No corner markers and no tail.  How would we survive?  The back-road to Bowning is sealed but rough in places.  It’s not an exciting run, other than for the pleasant views along the way and the dearth of vehicles and people.  Nor is it a boring run.  It’s just a run, thus being eminently suitable for meeting the previously used low-spice and non-varietal descriptor for the ride.  Have I lost you again?  I’m trying.  Very trying according to some people, but I digress from the ride report.

Sometimes it’s good to take a diversion.  We do that often on our Ulysses rides.  Sometimes, we all take the diversion.  Sometimes it’s just the errant few.  The interesting diversions are when the tail arrives at a junction just behind the ride leader, and most of the riders in the middle have gone walk-about.  A diversion from whatever it is I’m supposed to be reporting is also good.  It makes a dull report less dull.  The well-behaved groupies obediently followed the leader hither and thither until we reached our designated destination for lunch.  We all made it to lunch.  That’s always a bonus.  The chosen pub was reasonably quiet, so the wait for food was short and the food itself was fine.  It became even finer once chewed, swallowed, processed by several metres of intestine and dissolved by gastric juices.  Are we still hungry?  I’m not.  At the very least, an imperial gallon of assorted liquids and a small truckload of tasty luncheon delights were devoured by those attending.
 

Order last and get served first?  What gives?  (Great food!)

Once in a while after you’ve consumed a nice lunch you just want to drift off into a food coma.  Sometimes you start to have wild thoughts of staying put for a little bit longer while the bodily enzymes try to digest whatever fare has just been eaten.  It was clear that several people were content to sit back, chill out and melt some ear-wax listening to multiple conversations at once.  Sometimes, life feels good and the ride becomes secondary to the people.  Unfortunately, it only takes one or two spoil-sports to stand up and gather their gear to spark the stampede for the toilets for a final pee, gather up the mandatory protective gear, slip stealthily into the now shrunken jacket, get on the bike and start the engine, preferably in that order.  Apparently it’s bad form to sit on your bike and then pee in your bike gear.  Selecting the right departure sequence is paramount.

How many $$$ are parked outside the Pub?

We didn’t all head for the bikes and leave.  A few chose the coffee option down the street at the Mews, while others headed for home and lawn-mowing or sock-drawer rearranging.  A few of us took the opportunity to have a chat with an old local named Karl.  He was on a 1989 Honda 200 cc bike attached to a ‘Tuk-Tuk’ style of cargo cart with three wheels, dubious brakes, and road-registered.  Karl was 91 years old and still riding.  We can only hope that’s us as we grow older.  He seemed to be pretty sharp, and admired the collection of shiny machines with a glint in his eye.  Or was that a tear or two?

91 years young Karl and the Tuk-Tuk.

Garry and I, along with Ian, headed for Boorowa, where we lost Ian for a bit, before continuing to Crookwell, Taralga for a coffee, and then Goulburn and Gunning and on to home.  It was a spirited ride with Garry, and topped an enjoyable day out even though Ian decided that Crookwell was the limit of his ride and headed home alone from there.  On a stretch where I was leading I came upon a branch lying across the road.  The very, very large goanna soon decided to reverse course (thankfully) and scurried away. Its smaller sibling was 20 metres up the road and less of a worry.  The large echidna that took us on was also dodged by me, but Garry decided to vie for the ISAEASTMI Award ‘I Spotted An Echidna And Stopped To Move It’ and disappeared from my mirrors.  I waited a minute or two at the Crookwell junction where he arrived with newly aerated gloves.  It was a good day out.  It’s hard to complain about good company, good food and a good ride.

And so ends the reporting of another successful Ulysses outing where the food was only surpassed by the company, the shininess of the bikes and the odour of spent gasoline and hot engines.  Your charming ride leader for this run was Peter Arday on the NT700.  Job well done by my reckoning.  We rarely have ladies as ride leaders.  Why is that?  I’m hallucinating again.  Better get back on track and figure out the hieroglyphics that identify the unidentifiable.  I wasn’t tail of course, because we didn’t have one, but I did do the scribing.  I rode my still-shiny R1200GSLC.  

The other groupies, in no particular order other than Christian name alphabetical were: 

• Alan & Lyn Munday – FJR1300
• Andrew Campbell – FJR1300
• Chas Towie – ST1300
• Chris Dietzel – GTR1400
• Daryl Palin – GL1800
• Errol Pentland – Roadliner
• Garry McCurley – VFR1200
• Genelle Mills – Triumph Bonnie
• Ian Paterson – GL1800
• Jeff Jarvis – Softail Delux
• John Barratt – R1200GS
• Kim Tito – F700GS
• Les Robinson – Triumph Trophy
• Mick and Tracey Winters – Triumph Trophy
• Mike Kelly – Triumph 1600
• Ron Tito – R1200GS

Until next time.  Mick B.

Vale Ross Anderson

Sad news passed on from President Ian:

G’day all,

We’ve been saddened to learn of the death of former Ulysses Club Canberra branch member Ross Anderson, who was killed in a two-car crash near Strathalbyn, south-east of Adelaide, last Monday.

Ross, a veteran of the Navy, defence department and Australian Submarine Corporation who retired and moved from Canberra to Encounter Bay in SA 18 months ago, was 62. His wife, Tina, was critically injured in the crash and is in Flinders Medical Centre with her daughter by her side.

According to Adelaide’s daily paper, The Advertiser, "A German man, 66, who was driving the other car involved in the crash, has been charged with serious driving offences, including causing death by dangerous driving.”

The Advertiser also quoted Ulysses Fleurieu branch secretary Barbie Watson, who said “Rossco was much loved by his fellow Ulysses members who were lucky enough to enjoy some good conversations with him. He had a great sense of humour and would always offer advice, help and support whenever required. He was very warm and friendly and made the effort to welcome new members to the branch.”

Ian

Ian Paterson
President
Ulysses Club Canberra Branch
0427 291 728
prez.ulyssescanberra@icloud.com

 

Canberra Day Long Weekend Ride Away

Nothing to do on the Canberra Day Long Weekend? Fear not - Daryl has organised a weekend in the hills - looks good!!

The details are:

Saturday 10 March 2018 – Monday 12 March 2018
 
Saturday 10 March: Depart Caltex Hume – 9.00am and head to Tumbarumba for two nights via Thredbo.

Monday 12 March: Depart Tumbarumba – 9.00am and head home via Kiandra.
Saturday & Sunday night accommodation details below 

Club Motel Tumbarumba: 40 Winton Street, Tumbarumba · 02 6948 2333
Web: http://www.clubmoteltumbarumba1.com/   

 

The owners of the motel are Bill and Royn Butz. Accommodation rate for bed and continental breakfast for a double/twin $115.00 per night

If you wish to stay at the motel please call direct and make your booking.

If you choose not to stay at the motel, there is a caravan park in town a pub and other motel accommodation. 

Please advise Darryl Palin if you are doing the weekend away. 
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call Darryl on his Mobile: 041 221 3764

>> A flyer for the fridge! <<