3 day ride to the Central Plains of NSW is coming together nicely. Ride group consists of 4 adventurous gentlemen.
Kick Time: Monday 8:30 at Maccas Tuggerah for 9:00 departure.
Rooms booked in Mudgee for Monday night at the Oriental Hotel.
Rooms and meals booked at Armatree Hotel… look it up… for Tuesday night.
Trust that DD has organised the weather.
Pump up your tyres and see ya soon.
Regards
Moey
Proposed ride has attracted a quality field. Sideways, DD, Johnny and Moi. All looks good for 3 dayer: Mon 8th – Wed 10th July. A few details to consider such as route, destination, accommodation and weather, but the purpose is clear… to ride. More detail in dew coarse? Inglish… such a strainj langwidge.
Update!
Departure: 8:30 at Maccas Tuggerah for 9:00 kick off.
The Route:
Day 1: Lithgow via Bells, Lithgow, Ilford, Sofalla and Hill End on up to Mudgee. = 440kms
Day 2: Mudgee to Wellington, west through Arthurville to Dubbo. Then on to Collie, Armatree maybe and into Gulargambone and onto Coonabarabran. = 390 kms
Day 3: Leave Coona’ for Coolah, Golden Hwy and home = 400kms
All up 1200 kms. OK for old men in winter.
DD to organise the weather
I will look into accommodation during this week.
Any other goers?
Looking for interest in ride during week Monday 8th July – Friday 12th July.
Nige may be otherwise occupated… Lucky may be getting lucky in Swisscheeseland, and although I may only have the Klunker, there may be other Nigeans looking for a ride.
Sideways has expressed interest but while probably have to line up his ducks so early notice is imperative. Let me know asap.
Moey
With nothing much happening around the traps, Lucky put a last minute Friday night call out to anyone who would listen for a Saturday morning ride to Wollombi. Apologies to all those who missed out. So anyway, four of us: Lucky of course, Ant, Nige, and Black Santa turned up at Lucky’s at 9 sharp. Well not Black Santa whose old Beemer was still falling apart after the beating it took on the last Victoria ride so he was a few minutes late. “Hey champion” he asked Lucky “You wouldn’t have a screwdriver I could borrow have ya.” Apparently his side panel is now only held on by one lug at the front and his knee at the back. A quick one two and it seemed it might stay in place a while longer so off we went.
Yarramalong road has finally been sorted but the overnight rain meant it was a bit slippery in places. Up Bumble Hill and a quick stop at Jerries because, even though Lucky said he was right for fuel, he really wasn’t. “Oh for F%$#’s sake Luckmeister” Nige mumbled under his breath as he waited impatiently by the pumps as Lucky fumbled nervously with his keys in an effort to hurry himself along. “HEY ANTHONY BRING ME A WHY-BOTHER WHILE I’ME WAITNG WILLYA” Jerrie’s young son, Anthony, a tireless worker did what most do when Nige makes demands….and off we went again with no coffee for anyone.
With all the talk of friends and acquaintances losing licenses and dollars because of the increased police presence around Mangrove Mountain of late, we stayed, for the most part, at less than 30k over the limit. We got overtaken by a girl on a Gixxer but that’s all I have to say about that. Finally arrived out at the pub and DD was again concerned that his ride was giving him trouble. “Me right leg is crampin’ bad from holdin’ this panel on fellas. Have any of ye got a roll of tape and a pair of scissors.” Well we checked our purses and handbags but came up short. Whilst DD went to a local store to borrow some we waited and talked of manly things, you know beer and such. Anyway DD taped the whole shebang together and we all turned around and headed fro home.
Sorted!
Oh by the way, Nige washed the Ninja and it came up a treat. All black and shiny. He asked Ant if he wanted to buy it but Ant said no. He’s still thinking about a cruiser I think.
Yeah nuh. I’m a cruiser man and always will be..at some future point in time..maybe..dunno….KLunkeR?..dunno.
They’re both fast enough
Back to Jerrie’s where we met Tony from Worthingtons who told DD what he should and shouldn’t buy for his next bike..endlessly. DD went home all confused and broken when advised the Triumph Adventurer was “Nuh, too heavy and so is the Tenere” Back to the drawing board for him now. We beat the rain home by a few minutes. All up, good fun.
“Morning fellas. Hey listen,are we going to Bright on this ride? Cos that’d be bonzer and we never quite got there last time remember?” asked DD excitedly Monday morning at Maccas West Gosford.
“Yep DD, it’s definitely in our travel plans. Don’t you worry about that.” Replied Mohawk with a sly grin and a knowing nod to Lucky who could barely contain his amusement.
“Yes mate I can’t wait either. Should be great” Lucky added hiding his wide-mile grin behind a half eaten slice of raisin toast. It’s great when two blokes know the third will soon feel the bitter taste of disappointment. All DD ever wanted to do was ride the roads around Bright and we knew that. We also knew it was never going to happen.
“Fantastic fellas. Thanks a lot. It really means a lot to me.”
Bright, Bright, Bright, Bright, Ima comin’. This time for sure.
And so we three: Mohawk, Lucky, and DD headed towards Wisemans Ferry on day one of our southern adventure. Bell’s Line was quiet and a great rush up to Mt Victoria for fuel and a coffee. Here we met one of the fattest humans I have ever seen. This man, a likeable character who seemed to sweat cholesterol, held court in the Caltex cafe amidst the scattered remains of a hundred donuts and vanilla slices. I thought we might see Princess Leia chained to his leg but she wasn’t. He rode a green KLunkeR just like Lucky’s so I think that’s why we were allowed to live.
He’s just behind that glass.
Look at me Lucky. I’m putting out a bushfire!!
We arrived in Tarago for a night at the Loaded Dog Hotel. We were very tired from our big ride so nobody stayed up late. “We’ll be bringin’ youse out some food later” The publican told us after we’d had our first of a very few beers. “Did she mean some menus with an extensive list of various local delicacies?” Lucky whispered to DD not sure what was happening. “Dunno mate, but I’ll bet it’s a ripper of a meal. Hey listen, what time do you think we’ll get to Bright tomorrow?”
Anyway the “food” did turn up. It was meat and vegetables and it was definitely food.
Yeah my mate Moey knows the way to Bright. Oh boy O boy.
Inside The Loaded Dog. The ‘food’ came from over there somewhere.
Lucky’s room at the Loaded Dog. Comfy eh.
Next morning was cold but the skies had cleared after heavy rain overnight. The roads were wet and slippery though and the steep ride down from the tablelands to the coast near Batemans Bay was taken with some unusual caution. “Is that Bright over there?” “No David, that’s Batemans Bay. Settle down please.” Mohawk replied sternly.”Sorry Brian, I’m a little hyped up on decaff this morning.” “Allright, allright but just remember your manners young fellow. After all, you’re out”
We crossed into Victoria some time later after riding through Delegate and down the Bonang Highway. A wet dirt section in the middle saw Mohawk and DD like two schoolkids squealing in the playground. “Oh what fun this is. Cmon Lucky go faster….blah blah…wheels turn fast..gyroscopic..blah blah..wont fall down.No way” See, the thing is, those two ride bikes that predate the Bronze Age so didn’t care if they fell down whereas Lucky rides a thing with a real internal combustion engine and wasn’t about to give in to peer pressure. “You two will have me smoking cigarettes next” He muttered when he finally caught them back on the sealed section.
After the dirt section with about 60k of lovely twisties to come.
From here the road became magnificent. Hard turns left and right that left no one any chance to check out the scenery. Finally we arrived at the sign that indicated Bright was just a sniff away. Moey didn’t turn left. “Hey fellas you missed the turn. Fellas, hey fellas…” We could hear poor DD yelling and pleading over the sound of the road and engines and everything. It made the whole trip, dirt section and all, worth it. Mercy!!
Broken promises.
The Great Alpine Road was sensational. Would love to ride it a bit slower and stop every now and then because I’ve heard it is quite spectacular. As DD pointed out “Those Victorians do know how to build a road” And they do. We stayed in Orbost that night at quiet pub owned by an old Killarney vale boy. They served terrible Chinese food which came highly recommended from an emaciated drunken toothless bloke who was “Jush visnten from Souff Oshtraya” Old Gummy managed to chow down on that crap big time. The rooms however were very nice. Mohawk had a small bunk bed I believe whilst DD stood in a broom closet for the night. Lucky, on the other hand, was quite comfortable.
Lucky’s room in Orbost.
Actually the rooms were very nice and we all had a lovely sleep. One beer each.
Breakfast in Orbost was delightful actually. We then headed off towards Falls Creek. Not sure about that white pebbly looking road surface though. Didn’t seem to bother Mohawk who was all pumped up on his caramel latte from breakfast. I liked the signs on the orange plastic poles that lined the right hand edge of the road itself “STAY LEFT OF POLES” Given the sheer drop off of about ten thousand metres and no guard rail I thought this was sound advice.
It tasted better than it looked.
Falls Creek one day before the snows arrived. Lucky us.
Continuing on we landed in Tumut for the night. We met up with Scrounger and Jeremy. We liked Jeremy. He talked funny. He was an English man. I was disappointed because he never called us lads and I think he should have. He had ridden down on a brand new Harley something or other. Another Chinese meal which was better than the Orbost poisoning but not a lot better. A beer and bed time.
Look at these two. Jeremy about to learn a hard lesson about Australian backroads.
So next morning we headed north. Jeremy’s fuel tank was about the same size as his prostate so we needed to stop a few times for petrol. He complained long and hard. “My Orse is bloody sore lads” (He did say lads that one time.) All bent over in agony like that he looked as if he’d spent some tough nights in Long Bay with uninvited male company so we said nothing about his choice of ride.
A Harley Davistown I think.
On the way back near Frogmore
Onwards to Wyangla Dam. It had water in it. Pretty impressive in a watery kind of way.
Just a quick stop before heading off.
Arrived in Bathurst to find Mohawk’s rear tyre almost flat. Reflecting back on his questions about problems with steering geometry and suspension problems and a slipping clutch over the last two days were answered. The tyre was so low that the rims were spinning inside it under any kind of load. Luckily Lucky’s ‘Smartphone’ found a local dealer who could replece the tyre lickety split. “Do you reckon he’d notice if we left him and headed for home DD” Asked Lucky tentatively.
“Yeah but let’s go anyway Lucky. The other two have gone.”
“True but Moey has been pretty good to us so far. It seems a bit mean just to leave him here”
“OK Lucky we’ll toss a coin eh? Heads we stay, tails we skeedaddle”
“Right, you toss”
“Heads. Damn it. best out of three?”
Anyway we stayed and kept our good mate company. He was really pleased with his new tyre and how it fixed his steering, suspension and clutch all at the same time.
“I cant believe you two stayed DD. You’re real mates you know that” “Yeah never in doubt mate, as if we’d even think about that. It’s not on, not on I tellya”
Finally we left Bathurst. The ride home was nothing to talk about so I wont. Next time a ride to Bright. We promise. We are men of our words and our word means nothing.
Unable to join the “The Intrepid Three” (TIT) for the start we motored down the ‘big road’ on Wednesday to meet up with the TITs. Joining me on the first of hopefully many Nige rides was Jeremy on his new Harley (only picked up the night before we left). We rendezvoused at Ingleburn and enjoyed an uneventful cruise down the Hume – coffee at Mittagong & lunch at Yass. Whilst enjoying lunch we got the call from Mohawk, could we meet the TITs in Tumut rather than Gundagai as they’d had a very big day and were a little too tired to ride any farther. We understood cause they are old blokes. Anyway, we booked into the Commercial under ride leader Mohawk’s instructions & settled in. One beer later the TIT turned up looking very tired & emotional – Lucky was not looking very…. lucky. With all Nige’s now united we had some beer & decided against the Fancy restaurant to have Chinese which was good.
The next day we got on our bikes and rode lots & lots of km’s as you do! 
In all seriousness some beautiful back roads were ridden ending up at Bathurst for lunch & a final farewell. As Jeremy & I fuelled up for the millionth time ( Harley’s have very small tanks) we saluted the TITs as they rode past – brave men, strong men. A minute later we drove past as they sat dejected pondering Mohawks broken tyre. I did what what any Nige would do, I stopped, checked & in the spirit of Top Gears Clarkson et al, I rode off leaving the TITs to sort it out – I haven’t seen or heard from them since – I’m sure they’re fine.
Here is a GSA playing at being a ‘Busa.
How low can you go?
Now here is a ‘Busa playing at being a GSA. Note the Conti TKC80 knobbies on it. Click on the image to get a better look.
It’s funny how, as we are all getting a bit older, our gatherings at Mcdonalds don’t include egg and bacon burgers, pancakes, or the like and we now eat raisin toast instead and then worry about the calories in that. I don’t know if it helps any but it’s nice we’re having a bit of a go. With that in mind, and about five loaves of raisin toast later,Nige, Lucky (Who had skim milk cappuccino and sweetener if you don’t mind), Ant, Sideways, and Mohawk retraced the January ride back to the Knickerbocker.
Splendid, just splendid.
The usual route through Broke for fuel and on past Jerries Plains where there was still no coffee. Keys, oh Keys, God bless you but next time you recommend a good coffee place I’ll bring a thermos. Anyhoo, round the back of Denman we went and connected up to Bylong Valley Way where Mohawk and Sideways took off for a good blat. A quick drink as it was pretty warm and then on to Rylstone for lunch at Nige’s cousin or something’s (He did tell us but I wasn’t listening)cafe. It was nice.
Yip. The muscle bike out in front where she belongs
Here’s the thing; if you leave somewhere be sure to zip all your zips. Whilst leading, Lucky’s rain pants flew out of his bag. “Did something just come out the back of your bike?” crackled Ant’s voice over the intercom. “Dunno mate. I’m facing this way.” “Right. Probably just a bit of plastic from a road sign or something.” He mused dismissively. “O.k. I’ll trust you on this one old friend” replied Lucky with full faith in his old friends judgement. Next day, after Lucky had spent some time searching his bag, he realized too late what must have happened. Sideways recalled riding over the top of them but dismissed the incident as just an old discarded pair nobody wanted. “After all Lucky, you had your old friend right there watching your back if they had been yours” Ant seemed nonplussed by the whole affair.
Wouldn’t it be a hoot if something came out of Lucky’s bag thinks Ant
The Knickerbocker was wonderful, just wonderful. Comfy rooms as usual and cold beer. Ant, Nige, and Lucky stayed up way past their bedtime and drank lots and lots. Then they were woken by some drunken inbred barge-assed bogans from western somewhere at about 3am and didn’t get a wink of sleep after that.
I reckon I can get Ant and Lucky well onto the booze tonight. I love beer, I really do.
And so we all turned around and rode home. Mohawke and Sideways probably felt pretty good about themselves because they “drank responsibly”. The other three made promises to themselves that they’d never do that again as it really makes it tough the next day and we should all take a leaf from the good boy’s books and go to bed at a decent hour for God’s sake because your only fooling yourself you know if you think you can keep this kind of abuse up and you’ll pay a heavy price one day my lad if you don’t straighten up and fly right my boy and you don’t have to do everything your friends do Sonny Jim just to be popular after all if they jumped off the harbour bridge would you do it to? Well..well? Probably.
Listen fellas, I can’t finish this. Upset tummy. Maybe a middle ear infection perhaps.
Oh….and here’s a picture of Lucky rubbing one out.
I am looking at conducting a gentlemen’s ride to parts not usually traversed by Niges. This event would be staged in the first week of the next school holidays. Mon 15th April – Thur 18th inclusive. Could head off on the Sunday if said action is preferable. Past Goulburn 1st night possibly Tarago ($40 incl bkfst). 522 -550km
Next day though to Bega and inland to Delegate. Bonang Rd to Orbost is a corker, but has some dirt. There is an alternative. Then River rd to Buchan for one coldie then to 2nd night at Nowa Nowa ($75 rm or $15 p.p in bunkhouse). 560km
Day 3 and its off up the Great Alpine Rd to Omeo, Falls Ck, Tallangatta, Tumbarumba and Gundagai. 560km
Day 4 and home via options: Boorowa, Frogmore, Woodstock, home 560km max
Giving plenty of notice so that entries in dance cards can be pencilled, calendars can be marked, favours can be registered.
Some iconic roads in this one. Let me know if interested. I will follow up with accommodation research.
Hands Up so far: Lucky, Sideways, Mohawk, Scrounger and DD. All thorough gentlemen. There is still time to book your ticket.
Given the atrocious weather and subsequent cancellations of late, let’s try for Bathurst and the Knickerbocker hotel on the !6th. Ant has confirmed so far. If you could make your intentions known by Wed 6 March I will book rooms. They were $85 each for a double with own en-suite and a cooked breakfast last time we went so prices should be the same. It’s a great ride. Meet at Maccas Tuggerah at 8.30 for 9.00 take off.