2018 Toy Run - Pictorial

Branch Christmas Party 2018 - Pictorial

Ride Report – Snowy Mountains Highway, 25 November 2018

The Snowy Mountains Highway is one of the iconic Australian Motorcycling roads that many riders have travelled often enough to become very familiar with its twists and curves.  It carves its way through low valleys and alongside shallow trout streams between Cooma and Talbingo and can lull you into a relaxed trance that hides the risks of travelling the mountain roads.

The Alpine region can be blistering hot or feezing cold, sometimes with a bit of both on any given day.  This Sunday gave us a cool start that warmed to a very agreeable temperature by mid-afternoon.

There were two new starters, Alex Leitch on an old BMW Brick K100RS who just wanted to say hello for today and wouldn’t join the ride, and Bill on a still-shiny Triumph Explorer who wanted to test the waters and see what a local Ulysses ride was like.  Andrew arrived fashionably just-in-time, the always-clean FJR glistening in the morning sun as he joined the line of bikes parked and waiting.

We had six starters, plus the watchful Alec.

Our little group of pilots waited excitedly for Ride Leader to finish reminding us of the hazards and perils of the high Alpine road.  Actually, he said very little. We mostly ignored the scant advice being given and simply wanted to get on with the ride.  Miles and miles of twists and turns were waiting for us just beyond Cooma.  We departed on time, a steady flow of bikes cutting a path southward to better roads.  The loose formation easily slipped past slower vehicles, but we remained ever watchful for Mr Plod and his colourful ‘Gotcha’ car.  He ignored us when he went past, obviously looking for more hardened criminals.

The sleepy run to Cooma along the Monaro Highway gave us time to think about the sweeping smooth corners ahead.  We knew they would be interspersed with blind crests and sharp bends, all blended to a blur as powerful bikes blasted past the slower caravans, fishing boats and tourists with whom we would share the road.  If our well-trodden path could be described in Beauty or Beast terms, then the Snowy would be the Beauty and the Monaro would be the Beast.  If ever there was a dull road to ride on a powerful motorcycle, the Monaro was it. If love is the Snowy, then hate is the Monaro.

We peeled into Adaminaby after what seemed like an age in getting past Cooma and on to the Snowy.  The handful of fast sweepers leading to Adaminaby gave us a taste for the road to come, and a taste for something good to eat and drink.  Ride Leader seemed to be in a contented cruise, so a few of us decided to remove any possibility of cobwebs on our bikes and scouted ahead to see if there were any Police about.  Thankfully there were none and we all made it to the Big Trout with the smell of hot engines and burnt rubber assaulting our senses.

Thank the Lord for small towns with good bakeries and good coffee. Unfortunately, we didn’t go to the very busy bakery and tried an alternate eatery for cakes and coffee.  The cakes were good but the coffee wasn’t

great.  The excited chatter was more about the twisting bitumen curves ahead rather than the twisting path our sustenance would take on its way to our stomachs and other places.  We all figured that the Tumut lunch stop would suffice as a fuel stop for the later run to home, but lingered a while at the café while sun warmed the morning chill in our bones.  When I quietly expressed my disappointment about my tannin-coloured long black coffee to the maker, he said that he thought it looked a bit pale when he made it and must have used an already used shot.  I’ll get a freebie next-time.

I like the Snowy.  The road is generally smooth as a baby’s bum and equally free from leaf-litter and corner gravel.  Not always, but most times.  Sight-lines are good, corners maintain a constant radius, and there are enough overtaking spots in-between the good bits to make light traffic bearable.  The small wallabies and large brumbies can be a worry, but you learn to live with such obstacles and use your own judgement as to how fast is too fast for the conditions.  There seemed to be little wildlife about and we all had a respectably fast run along the Highway even with the light traffic and occasional caravan or boat being towed at a slower pace.

It didn’t take long for the faster riders to disappear into the distance, clearly revelling in the great riding the road was offering us.  Funnily enough, the road can feel quite fast even at posted limits due to the tightness of the bends and ease with which you can power a big bike out of one corner and into the next. Let’s just say that a lot of fun was had without the risk of jail-time or bike confiscation.  Sometimes, you must accept that group riding means you tone it down a bit and just enjoy the ride.  The straighter bits towards Talbingo allowed a re-group for the always interesting track down the mountain and on to Tumut.

Travelling along the grassy slopes and babbling streams reminded me of the good old days when several of us often travelled along these same roads on our motorcycles.  We camped off the road beside a trout stream amongst the tufts of grass, ignorant of the plentiful Tiger Snakes that inhabit the grasslands. Tents were generally big and heavy canvas things without a floor, or too expensive to buy and too big to fit on a motorcycle, so we parked our bikes in pairs alongside each other and strapped a hoochie between them and prayed it wouldn’t rain. We filled the spaces under the engines with our duffle bags to keep the wind out.  It was all we had.

Most times, we shared a second hoochie spread on the ground and grabbed whatever sleep we could in our cold cotton-filled sleeping bags.  We had baked beans for dinner or baked beans with canned sausages if we felt like eating top-shelf tucker and shared a bottle or two of Stones Green Ginger Wine.  The night was spent sharing bad snores and worse farts, but we thought we were living the high life off the back of a motorcycle.  They were simple times shared with good mates.  Most of us survived those years of fun, speed, travel and cold nights.  Most, but not all.  The memories come flooding back each time I pass this way.  Talbingo Mountain was the same then as it is now, but I have more respect for it these days.

Talbingo Mountain has been resealed in recent times.  It’s now a slightly smoother rough as guts hard-braking, twisty and slippery track from top to bottom.  My GS is good at soaking up the bumps. I always feel sorry for

those on sports bikes.  We all made it down as far as the Talbingo turnoff and kept a watchful eye for kangaroos and emus while observing the many water-skiers using Blowering Dam as we rode past.  What a busy place on a weekend. Ride Leader tried to confuse us by pulling up to photograph the Dam, so the rest continued to Tumut for fuel.  Tumut loomed and lunch beckoned, so our thoughts turned to less strenuous things like eating and drinking.  

The chosen eatery was good to the point of being very good.  Thankfully, so was the coffee. We opted to take some of the less-travelled folk home from Tumut via the back-roads through Brungle and alongside the rivers and streams to Coolac.  I led the way on this stretch as no-one else was sure of the path.  This is an interesting diversion that bypasses Gundagai and a good slab of the Hume Highway, so it was welcomed by most.  A few appeared to be a little uncomfortable with the skinny little road that skirted the surprisingly green farmland, but we all made it to the Highway and the ever-so-dreary run to home.  We had agreed on a brief stop at Jugiong for final farewells, but most followed in loose formation from there to Murrumbateman where we split paths for home.

It was a big day out on the bike, but excellent practice for some even longer days that might appear on the ride calendar in the near future.  One can only hope. It would be hard to complain about the day.  The bikes behaved themselves, the riders behaved themselves, the Plod stayed away, the food was good, the coffee was undrinkable for me at Adaminaby, and the wildlife stayed out in the wild.  Yeah, it was a good day. Thanks to Ride Leader Al and to those who turned up for the longer ride.

The attendees were:

Ride Leader Al Sunday (but only on a Sunday and never on a Munday)(FJR1300)

Chris Dietzel (GTR1400)

Andrew Campbell (FJR1300)

Neil McRitchie (GTR1400)

Bill Henshaw (Explorer 1200), and

Scribe Mick Beltrame (R1200GSLC).  

Photos supplied by Ride Leader Al.

Ride Calendar January to June 2019 has been posted

The Branch's Ride Coordinator and his committee have done an excellent job in compiling what looks to be a diverse and interesting ride calendar for the first six months of 2019. There is a great blend of short, long, day, overnight, sealed and dirt adventures.

Time to start planning your rides!

Click here for the Ride Calendar 2019

Ride Report - Dubbo World Record Breaker, November 2018

In 2016, Andrea, Kim and a few other Ulysses ladies headed to Dubbo to break the record for the Most Women on Motorcycles at a Motorcycle Meet. (say that 5 times quickly….). We broke the record at 1002, and the Brits beat us a few months later.

In 2018, the organisers decided to run this event again – and the 2016 attempt could have been better organised. This made a lot of people stay away, but we thought “how much worse could it be?” Kim and Andrea were the only two attending that had been before, we also shared the van park with a half dozen other girls from FRoC (Female Riders of Canberra).  This time, the organiser had also invited the blokes along, and in fact had some separate records for them to break, so Ron shared our cabin at the Dubbo City Holiday Park.

We set off on Friday morning and headed to Trundle via Boorowa for Ron to catch up with an old school buddy. Not much in Trundle, lots of wayward cattle and roos on the way too - but we did have a nice cold drink at the pub while Ron reminisced with his old band member mate. Friday night Ron and Kim dined with the WARA (Women Adventure Riders Australia)  girls at the Old Bank Hotel in Dubbo and shared lots of tales of motorcycle adventures had all over the world.

Saturday we ignored the records on offer and headed to Taronga Western Plains zoo in Dubbo – what a great day. We had pole position at the gate so that we could run off and grab a golf cart. Highly recommended ! (both zoo and mode of transport).

Sunday was World Record Day and we lined up in anticipation …. but there were only 380 odd women there. Sadly no record was broken and this was the last time the organiser will run the event – we had a great weekend full of great food, fun adventures and new friends.

Home was via Cowra and Boorowa with a lunch stop at Murrumbateman pub – the cruise control got a workout.

Andrea Lanagan R1200GS

Kim Tito F700GS

Ron Tito R1200GS

Ride Report - Young Cherry Festival 2018, 1 December

This was a Saturday ride, so if you turned up on Sunday, you were too late and you missed a great day for riding.

The ride leader was meant to have been Leo, but with the excitement of having his son and new grandchild arriving from Canada on Friday, it totally slipped his mind. That was not a problem though because Alan was happy to lead the ride for this one. (Leo – he says you owe him one!)

Just over twelve months ago we went on a cruise from Sydney to northern Queensland. On that cruise there was a man who was giving talks about the famous bushranger, Ben Hall and his gang. He was selling a couple of books about his findings and Alan was keen to buy them, but we had not travelled with a lot of Australian dollars (just American ship money), so we arrange to catch up with this man in Young at the Cherry Festival on the first weekend of December (that was last year). We never made it to Young – they had a huge downpour of rain that day and unfortunately the festival was washed out. So we were keen to go this year and catch up with this man, which we did. (I bet they would like to see a bit of that rain again this year – but not on the same weekend as their Festival).

Anyhoo, we had 5 bikes turn up at Nicholls for the ride. It was good to have a couple of new faces join us. The decision was made to go via Boorowa with a stop there for coffee.

We arrived in Young at 11.30 which left us plenty of time to check out the stalls. Not everyone was interested in staying for as long as us, so it was agreed that we would all make our own way home when we were ready. Mick was simply going to refuel and then head back, via Crookwell.

While we were there, we contacted previous Canberra Branch members, Ray & Mia Allan, who met us in the park. It was great to catch up with them. We were back at our bike by 1.30 and as expected, the others had already headed off. I trust everyone made it home safely. Thanks for your company on the ride.

The ride itself was uneventful. I found it interesting the difference in the level of traffic on the road on a Saturday compared to the usual Sunday rides. We came home via Harden, through Kingsvale with a stop at Bowning for an ice cream. You can see the effects of the drought in the areas that we travelled through. Some of the paddocks are bare and the ones with wheat in them don’t look like they will yield a very big crop for the farmers this year.

Riders:

Alan & Lyn Munday Yamaha FJR 1300

Jeff Jarvis         Harley Softail Deluxe

Mick Beltrame BMW R1200GS LC

Craig Fraser Honda GL1800

Mark Micallef Suzuki M109R