Ulysses Club, Canberra Branch Website

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Another Catch-up Ride Report - 20 December 2022.

A decide and ride day leaving from BP Watson at 09:30. Steve had an idea about lunch at the Bay while Dave and I didn’t have an idea so the Bay it was for a seafood lunch. Dave would reassess the day at Braidwood.

We headed down Macs Reef Road through some light rain but seemed to be getting ahead of it. First stop was Braidwood for coffee with nothing to report apart from a washed out section of road and a little traffic to watch from behind. There was a half blue sky by Bungendore Road and it was a sunny day by the Kings Highway. The usual roadworks sections on the highway.

Dave turned back at Braidwood after a coffee break to see if he could catch the only bad weather of the day a second time.

Apart from a couple of learner drivers, the road to the coast was clear. In open areas the crosswinds were strong at times – especially crossing the Clyde on the new bridge but comparatively speaking, it wasn’t too bad as they became much stronger later in the afternoon.

‘Stingrays’ on Clyde Street provided the seafood lunch as there were queues for the food that’s typically eaten in the company of seagulls. I can recommend the grilled Barramundi.

The trip back to Canberra was as expected with a little more traffic and the road much in the same state of repair as we left it a couple of hours earlier. Quick stop to examine some road kill before the Clyde Mountain thence straight home parting at Bungendore.

Bungendore to Queanbeyan was a little puzzling. There seemed to be an Eastern Long Neck Turtle migration. Probably pointless to try to help due to the number but nevertheless the maths was not looking good for them.

Bob Mullett - Yamaha FJR1300P
Dave Mossman - BMW R1250 RS
Steve Bardwell - Moto Guzzi KY V85 TT

Sunday, January 15, 2023

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Friday, January 13, 2023

Ride Report - 27 November 22

Grenfell (cancelled) Ride and Decide (Young)

Shelbie McDonald was the only participant to turn up to the canceled ride on time – 08:50 for 09:00 departure. I was eleven minutes late and had I been twelve, I would have missed her riding away. We decided to do the planned ride anyway, or at least grab a coffee at Boorowa and work out what to do next.

There was a little light drizzle along the Lachlan Valley Way with the road being in comparatively good condition. Only a couple of reduce speed signs that could be safely ignored.

Coffee and a snack at the Supreme Bakery where we were treated to poetry from a local gent. I didn’t catch most of the words but apparently Shakespeare was born in Boorowa, although the ditty sounded more like Chaucer. The sun was definitely not over the yard arm at this time on a Sunday morning.

We decided that since Grenfell was still wet and the minor roads presented a mental challenge anyway, we would head for Young. As we were about to leave, Kerry and Janet Mulgrue pulled up. They were on the 09:20 for 09:30 ride and had also decided on bypassing Grenfell for Young. Skipping a coffee and fortunately also missing out on a reading from the Bard of Boorowa we headed for Young with a chance of Murringo markets along the way.

Murringo (without markets) to Young saw the first significant road damage so far with a short gravel section just out of town. The rest of the section had the occasional small pothole and washed-out verge but mostly very good for the area.

Lunch at Wilders Bakery Cafe in Young.

My bike (FJR) leaked coolant on arrival at Young. I suspected it was due to a blown fan fuse or faulty motor or relay but it stopped and was not a problem for the ride home. I had topped it up a week earlier but it knew best - back to minimum and happy. Further research showed purging excess coolant is common.

From Young we took Back Creek Road which in places was a little worse for wear and tear. Nothing else of note to report on the way to coffee, banana cake and fruit juice at the ‘Cafe on Queen’ at Binalong. Shelbie left early due to commitments and after refreshments the rest of us departed for Canberra. Illalong Road is still closed despite not be indicated as such on the NSW roads site. Traffic was good apart from the occasional car we couldn’t persuade to pass.

A very pleasant day in all respects –company, conversation, food, traffic and weather. Arriving finally in Canberra we parted at Kuringa Drive.

Shelbie McDonald Kawasaki Z650
Janet Mulgrue Kymko AK550
Kerry Mulgrue CFMoto CF650MT
Bob Mullett Yamaha FJR1300P

Ride Report - Snowy Mountains - 6 November 22

On a long ride such as this - over 600 km - it’s rare to get nearly perfect riding conditions for the whole journey, but today was such a day. Cool, partly cloudy and nearly windless, with just a few very light spots of rain in the afternoon and light traffic throughout.

The first part of the ride was on highways to Jugiong for coffee, where the familiar Long Track Pantry had, surprisingly, not many customers and plenty of spare tables. From here we continued to Tumut for fuel. This part of the ride at this time of the year usually has vistas of yellow canola and purple Salvation Jane; this year all the fields were a relentless bright green from all the rain that’s fallen.

Continuing south from Tumut to Tumbarumba, the condition of the roads - like so many secondary roads now - has deteriorated, and dodging potholes kept us focussed. I hit one in a particularly bad area, but no damage was done and it seems that the other riders all got through the day unscathed. The Tumbarumba Pub is a typical country pub and the food is about what you’d expect. They do a Parmi Challenge; three parmis on the one plate for $48, but if you can scoff them in 20 minutes, they’re on the house! Sadly, none of our riders was up to the challenge.

The next part of the journey is the raison d’être for this ride. Between Khancoban and Thredbo is around 75 km of continuous bends, climbing to around 1580 m in altitude. This section is all eucalypt forest, part of which was severely burned in late 2019; mostly this is regenerating well and this area, too, was very green. The road is in top condition, the weather was glorious, and we didn’t see any wildlife on the road, so it was a magnificent ride. A quick stop was made at Scammell’s Spur Lookout; the view here is to the range around Mt Kosciuszko, and there was still plenty of snow along the ridge.

With such a long day, we made a coffee stop in the afternoon at Lake Crackenback where it was really very pleasant sitting chatting in the sunshine. The last stop was for fuel in Jindabyne, then we had the rather familiar and boring ride home on Kosciuszko Road and the Monaro Highway.

The riders for the day were: