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Yearly Archives: 2016
Long winter ride to Halls Gap, 19th June
Halls Gap was the destination for Sunday’s long ride. A couple of days prior the weather forecast looked pretty bad with showers and cold winds forecast. However, after showers on Saturday it appeared that it wouldn’t rain again until Sunday night, although it would be quite a cold day. Eight of us gathered at Waurn Ponds Maccas for the ride led by Rob V and we then met up with another three at Bannockburn. The temp was hovering around 7-8C, until we hit some fog which made things difficult for quite a few kilometres, and the temp halved to around 4C in the fog. I cranked up my heated grips to keep my hands nice and toasty. The plan was for morning tea at Skipton, where we would be joined by the Ballarat Branch and the Grampians Branch – having ridden down (from Stawell) to meet us. Phil and Tanya met us at Skipton, boosting the Geelong Branch representation to 13, pretty good for a long ride (500kms) just a few days before the winter solstice.
Rob did a great job of leading the combined large group to Halls Gap via numerous back roads – I had no idea where we were most of the time! Thanks also to Phil R as Tail-End-Charlie.
Warming up in Skipton.
This thing flew!
It was a lovely sunny day in Halls Gap. Riding into town I realised that I had forgotten just how pretty this place is. We all headed off to various eating spots, although the bakery proved to be the firm favourite – so good were the pasties that some went back for seconds! We socialised a bit and then said our farewells to the Ballarat and Stawell folk and saddled up for the ride home.
By this time the temp was around 13C and we rode quite a scenic route out of town. I noticed a mob of ‘roos and some emus in a paddock just as we left, but fortunately they were the only ones I spotted. Rob led us down the Yarram Gap Rd to Derrinallum via Vite Vite. At Derrinallum Foles was waiting for us, having ridden down from Wannon on his new BMW F800GS. The new BM, Foles’ prior exploits on his old GS1150 (including cracked ribs) proved to be the centre of conversation and banter.
From here we made a good pace down the Hamilton Hwy to Inverleigh, where the ride finished. I had a really enjoyable day of riding. It was 515 kms all up which is a long day in low temperatures, made a little more challenging in the morning by icy fog. However, everyone had suitable gear for the conditions and we had an enjoyable, incident free ride with great camaraderie within our group and with the two other branches who joined us for some of the ride. Again, well done to Rob for planning and leading his first ride and to Phil as TEC.
Mid week ride 15 June
Peter T led a terrific ride for lunch at the Beeac Hotel via Forrest for morning tea. It was a perfect winter’s morning. Although chilly at first, there was not a breath of wind and the sun shone virtually all day. We had around 20 riders depart from Geelong, and were met by Phil & Tanya and Bill & Lynn at Beeac.
Photo credit Graham Aitken
A fuel stop in Colac, though few needed it.
Some of the bikes at Beeac. Look at all that blue sky!
Photo credit Graham Aitken.
The meals at the pub were great, as was the riding. Thanks to Peter T for planning an interesting route and leading the ride, and also to Graham A for TEC duties.
Meredith Ride to Eat 22nd May
Twenty-one motorcycles rendezvoused at Waurn Ponds Maccas for a ride to Meredith for lunch. The birthday boy, John G, led us on a convoluted route for morning tea at Foxy’s in Meredith, then on a 120km loop around the district followed by a very pleasant lunch at the Meredith Hotel.
Birthday greetings for John
Branch Quartermaster and Welfare Officer. Digital technology has managed to alter them somehow in this pic!
Don (and Jan) rolled in for lunch
Everyone enjoying the lunch and get-together.(Pic courtesy of Gentle)
Mirboo North Four Dayer
We were invited to a four day ride last weekend, staying in Mirboo North for three nights. The weather forecast was for excellent riding conditions for Friday and Saturday, a wet change with significant rain for Sunday and possible showers on Monday.
Well we made the best of the first two days completing 385kms (from our home) on Friday and about 370 kms on Saturday. Mrs T did really well riding pillion over these distances on a bike that is not very well suited for a pillion. Sunday dawned with drizzle that turned to showers and set in for the day. So Sunday was spent with some walking in the morning, including a visit to the famous ‘Inline-Four Café’, and an afternoon and evening by the open fire at the Mirboo North Golf Club – which they kindly opened for our use. Monday we headed for home on greasy roads and the threat of rain. When we pulled up for morning tea and consulted the rain radar the decision was made to cancel the ride home via the hills and take the highway home. As we hit the Monash it started to rain a little and just prior to the tunnel we were pummelled by a cold change, with pelting rain, gusty winds and generally treacherous conditions out over the Westgate Bridge and on the freeway back to Geelong.
All up it was a brilliant long weekend of just on a neat 1000kms door to door for us. Thanks to Ron (AKA Gentle) for all his work in planning the ride routes, organising the accommodation and generally ‘herding cats’ with good humour.
The girls were ready at BP servo in Geelong prior to the start
A diverse range of motorcycles
A great bunch of people, pictured here at Port Albert
Attack of the seagulls – aided by a handful of chips lofted into the air!
Coal Creek at Korumburra
Ride leader ‘Gentle’
Do you remember when there were railway gates on suburban streets?
Mural at Mirboo North servo
Inside the Inline 4 Cafe
Chilling at the Golf Club while it’s raining outside
Midweek ride
April 13 was the old bike ride to the Warrion Ti Tree Hotel. I couldn’t make it for the ride but did drop in to Maccas to take a few shots at the start. Not many ‘old bikes’ unfortunately. Geoff had his BSA Super Rocket and there was a nice Triumph Trident.
A few of the regulars
A ride report from John T and some more pics in the next edition of Exhaust Notes.
Timboon mid-week ride 16 March
Twenty three riders, including three from Colac, rolled into Waurn Ponds for the mid-week ride to Timboon. The weather gods smiled on us as is was a mild start and the forecast top was 29C. The map below just shows the loop route from Birregurra.
Click on the map (or pics below) to see a larger version, then use your back button to resume.
We headed out to Ceres and then to the end of Barrabool Road and on to Birregurra for morning tea via the Cape Otway Rd and Dean’s Marsh.
From there were skirted around the back of Colac and then out along the Irrewillipe Road and a few twists and turns to Simpson. From Simpson is was a lovely run through the bush to Timboon. A feature of this section of the ride was a number of classic cars coming towards us who, by their signage, were obviously part of a rally. Geoff Lenten was delighted to spot three of his beloved Rileys amongst them.
I’d booked a table for us at the pub and although the food was good it took a hell of a long time to come! Some ate at the bakery and they were fueled up and ready to roll at the appointed time, whilst back in the pub the meals had barely hit the table. This put us behind schedule quite a bit unfortunately, however, the sun was shining and it was a glorious day for riding. The Colac fellas and John A from Apollo Bay headed off on a different route and Michael B headed home solo at this point as well.
The rest of us rode to Carlisle River via the Cooriemungle Road and the Carlisle Road. The Carlisle Road is the scene of Mac’s unfortunate encounter with a bull. The bitumen for about 14 kms along here is in a terrible state of disrepair with bike swallowing sized pot holes and substantial bumps. We barely averaged 75 kph along that rough section, which was then followed up with a couple of kilometres of gravel. I swear I heard a few less than complimentary comments about my road choice during our brief pit stop at Carlisle River!
From here it was a nice, scenic ride up through the bush back to Colac. Other traffic was virtually non-existent and I was sure I could hear the sound of banjo’s at one stage! Again we skirted around Colac and this time I headed back along the Prince’s Hwy to make up a little time. It was about 30C. The ride was completed in Winchelsea which gave those who needed to re-hydrate and to take a breather time to do so, whilst others headed straight off. All up we covered approx 360 kilometers. Thanks to Don W for being Tail-End-Charlie. Someone who deserves a special mention is Rob Ashmore who rode really well all day and seemed to enjoy how both he and his old Yammie handled some of the challenging sections of road – pretty impressive for a fella who recently celebrated his 83rd birthday! Congratulations Rob, you are an inspiration.
Gellibrand mid-week ride 10 Feb
by Michael Belleville.
A beautiful sunny day was just what the doctor ordered when no fewer than 20 riders headed off under the leadership of Geoff Lenton for a lazy and approximately 300 km journey with the destination being Gellibrand.
We made our way from McDonalds at Waurn Ponds and in formation we wound our way to morning tea at the café in Coorooroke via Winchelsea, Alvie & Red Rock. After a cuppa and something to eat we were back on the bikes (well most of us were) –it was at this point that we needed to give a rider a helping hand with a jumpstart. This was to be the first of many – Bob, told you that I would make you famous or is that infamous?
From this point we headed down to Gellibrand for lunch at the café (see photo) via Colac where petrol was the next order of business before we hit some reasonably twisty roads.
After lunch with the sun still shining & enough heat coming off the tank that it could fry an egg we made our way back to Geelong through the tiny hamlets of Yeodene, Gerangamete, Barwon Downs & Deans Marsh before we finished on Blackgate Rd. It was at this point that we said our farewells and headed home before we were to gather again for the AGM.
If my memory serves me correctly Bob needed a few more helping hands along the way but that’s riding.
Many thanks to Geoff for leading the ride and to Graham who was Tail End Charlie – a great day was had by all.
Now it wouldn’t be a ride report from yours truly if I didn’t give the Suzuki’s a mention – how many you can count?
Michael
Great Western overnighter
Jan 30th and 31st was the weekend for a social overnight stay at Great Western for the Geelong Branch of the Ulysses Club . We stayed at the Shearers Quarters of the Allanvale Homestead ( a few also camped onsite) and did a tour of Seppelts underground champagne cellars on Saturday afternoon.
All up 25 people attended, some drove cars, though most rode, with three of us two up – not bad as the weather forecast for Sunday was not pretty! I led the ride up from Batesford to Great Western via Rokewood, Smythsdale, Snake Valley and Beaufort. It was a pretty straightforward run up, although we were under the pump a little for time as we had to be in our digs and at Seppelts by 2.00pm. A big thanks to Don W for tail end Charlie duties both up and back.
Unfortunately Seppelts are closing the Great Western vineyard in June which is a shame as it has a lot of interesting history and still has a quarter of a million bottles stored in the underground cellars, which are very extensive.
Saturday night consisted of a BBQ and then cool drinks and much socialising! It was a perfect, balmy evening and the Shearers quarters were quite comfy. The countryside up there is bone dry with no grass in the paddocks at all. However, that all changed when we awoke to heavy rain Sunday morning and it continued to pour non-stop which made the first part of the ride home less than pleasant. However, we splashed along the Western Highway and by the time we reached Beaufort it began to clear up.
A big thanks to Gentle and Colleen for all the work to organise and cater for such a successful weekend away. Also, thanks to Richard for donating (and installing) the battery from his camper which got Debbie’s Triumph going when its battery failed and couldn’t be started.
13 January mid week ride
Graham Aitkin’s Midweek Ride Report 13.01.2016
The January Midweek Ride was a hot one. The weather forecast was for 42 degrees. The ride was planned for Talbot however the ride leader was unavailable and Richard Scarff kindly volunteered to lead the ride. Due to the hot weather it was decided that a shorter ride to a cooler destination was a better option. Sixteen riders assembled at Maccas Waurn Ponds on a very warm morning. Richard explained the change in destination and that morning tea would be at Deans Marsh and lunch at Lorne. We headed off through Ceres, Inverleigh, and Winchelsea to Deans Marsh where a leisurely morning tea was enjoyed by all.
It was then off through the twisties to Lorne, a few slow cars slowed our progress however we were all pleased to feel the sea breeze about 5 kms out of Lorne. Richard got top marks for finding us undercover parking at the Lorne Life Saving Club. Members enjoyed lunch at various locations, a few of us dined at the Bakery.
Due to the hot weather it was decided to end the Ride ended at Lorne. Some wanted a longer ride home and went via Apollo Bay, the rest either along the Ocean Road through Angle Sea or back through Deans Marsh.
Thank you Richard for leading the Ride at short notice. It was an enjoyable day with excellent company.
Below: Deans Marsh
From Jules
Richard, Jimbo, two Peters and I rode from Lorne along the Great Ocean Road to Skenes Creek then home via Forrest. The ride along the coast was great with the temp around 26C and hardly any traffic. It was interesting to see the bushfire devastation first hand as we rode past. Once we turned off at Skenes it just got hotter and hotter although the ride up through the twisties was at a nice pace knowing that all the corners were dry. We stopped at the Forrest brewery for a drink. Once we stepped out of the airconditioning to head home it really hit us how unbearably hot it was and the fun aspect of the ride was over. The ride home was bloody awful in the heat, the ambient temp gauge on my bike hovered between 40C and 42C the whole way.
Tarsnakes 