Club Rides

Club Ride Schedule

Monthly Club rides, meet at 9am for a 9.30am departure at the CALTEX Servo at Morisset.

You can find out more from our Ride Coordinator Doug Grabham on 0408 110 757 or info@nddoc.org.au

Club Ride Reports

4th February 2007 to Half Way House, Putty Road

The weather was warm to hot, and great for riding.

From Freemans we rode through Quorrobolong, Millford, Wollombi and on to Broke. Unusually for an Italian machine, Pam's Monster had an electrical issue that wouldn't go away. At least she knew that she was OK. If the bike wasn't able to be fixed, she could always throw it in the boot of Dennis' BMW, sit back, relax and listen to some CD's for the rest of the ride.

At Broke it started to look like a motor show, with what seemed to be every MV Agusta delivered to Australia riding in. At least there were a few Ducatis amongst them, no doubt to give the MV's something to chase. Obviously, it helps to be well heeled if you're going to own an MV Agusta. One of the owners has apparently just spent $24,000 on racing bodywork!! After hearing that, it seemed appropriate to meet him at Broke!

Club member Neill Green was there too, waiting to meet up with the Ferrari Club from Sydney, who were on their regular monthly drive up the Putty Road. Unfortunately, Neill's 355 was at the mechanic's having its exhaust repaired. It seems that a crack in the exhaust confuses the EFI sensors and causes the engine to run erratically. Even Italian electronics are emotional!

As we left Broke, a troupe of Ferraris passed by (what is the collective word for a group of Ferraris?), and then a few more on the Putty Road. For those who may be interested the models went something like:

• Testarossa (red)
• 308GT4 (red)
• 246GTB (red)
• 355GTS (red)
• 275GTB (silver)
• 246GTB (red)
• 246GTB (red)
• 246GTB (red)

Probably the most 246GTB's you'll ever see in one place at the same time in Australia.

From there we headed to some of the best riding country that I've seen so far in the Hunter. Smooth road with lots of bends, and very little traffic. Perfect! Everyone rode at their own pace and appeared to enjoy themselves, as it should be.

At the Halfway House, the birds are especially friendly, with one of them continually trying to say hello to us. No-one in our group seemed too interested, but then cockatoos can be a little annoying at times. Apparently cockatoos find humans annoying too when they don't say hello, because after a few unsuccessful attempts the "hello" became "hellooooooo".

...and it seems that for "special" people, there's valet parking at the Halfway House. Something to remember if you're "special".

On the journey back, Pam's electrical gremlins continued, but luckily, McGiver happened to be at Broke and installed an ingenious cigarettepacketfoilaminium fuse. After the fire was brought under control, Plan B was implemented and Pam was on her way again.

Everyone started to disperse from around Milbrodale and Broke, with a few going on to Wollombi for drinks and bragging...and that was the end of the excellent adventure.

Those in attendance:

3rd December 2006 Ride to Woy Woy

Seven of us donned the winter gear and turned up for the ride and we headed down to Yarramalong via Wyee. We then travelled up Bumble Hill down to Kulnura then east to Woy Woy, so good they named it twice, for fish and chips at Fisherman's Wharf.

After refuelling with copious amounts of seafood and carbs we headed back via the freeway.

The ride was quite good with little traffic and the weather held off until most of us were just getting home. Better to be wet at the end of a ride than at the beginning!

Those in attendance:

December Christmas Ride to Buladelah

More Pics...

Sunday the 4th of December turned on superb summer weather and fine riding conditions for this year's club Christmas ride to Nabiac for lunch and a tour of the National Motorcycle Museum. With everyone meeting at Freemans Waterhole underneath the massive Oak tree. Apologies came from Steve Schulz and David W.

The ride was led by ride captain Rob and passed through Kurri, and a check for anyone at the pub, and Maitland before the fun began as we wound our way up to Dungog. Warren became the early pacesetter, having been sick of winding our way through the initial traffic, and cleared the cobwebs out with a quick blast past the rest of us. A quick stop at Dungog allowed everyone to catch up and we then joined the Bucketts Way north to Gloucester passing through Craven on the way (that's gotta be a setup by the Prez surely - no one would name a town like that).

The ride captain missed the turn for Kranbach ( easy to do of course - it's not well sign posted) and gave us a quick tour of the other parts of Gloucester - don't worry Rob we'll get you a GPS to help with the navigation. The piece of road from Gloucester to Kranbach is a lot of fun and Greg S decided he was going to lead the way with a spirited pace for most of the way. The roadworks at Nabiac include a roundabout and Greg thought a tour of that was a bit of fun as well.

We regrouped at the Ampol servo before trying to cross the Pacific Highway for lunch at the Nabiac pub (ie over the road), not made easy by the road works. The club shouted Christmas lunch for everyone and the seafood basket seemed to be a popular choice for many, however Simon's mixed grill had others regretting their choice as the amount of food on the plate was enormous. After a few cool drinks and some light hearted joking we all made our way over to the National Motorcycle Museum for a tour. The number of bikes and the amount of memorabilia on display is amazing, and there's not a lot of floor space left for other exhibits.

At the end of our tour Greg and Jon headed off to retrace our steps down Bucketts Way and home, while the rest of us slowly left at our own pace and took the easy way out heading home along the Pacific Highway. A quick blast along the Buladelah bends put some excitement into a rather mundane return trip and there was little amount of leaves and stuff on the road to limit us having fun. Sedge hadn't ridden it before and mentioned what fun that small bit of road was to ride, no complaints from any of us.

Those in attendance:

November Ride to Buladelah

There was another great turn out of bikes for our club ride on Sunday 6th November, however the overcast skies may have scared a few off. It was their loss as the weather held and a great day's riding was enjoyed by all.

Sixteen bikes left Freemans Waterhole, as we headed north with Rob in the lead. (Although he has promised to buy me a road atlas for Christmas). Just a few kilometres into the ride and Russel's 860 ran out of spark. After I made some phone calls to have him picked up, I caught up with the rest of the group at Maitland roundabout. (Woke up Phil and got him out of bed I believe - some take it too easy. Ed).

We then headed to Paterson, and Dungog were we refueled at $1.43 a litre! (Christ if it's not the cops it's the bloody oil companies these days. Ed). The road to Stroud was pretty rough after the last bit of rain, but from Boral to Buladelah it was wet as well as chopped up. It might be a while before we ride it again. Another refuel at O'Sullivans Gap then a run over the old road. It was a bit damp still in patches and a lot of leaves, which makes it slippery if you stray off the cleared line. Thankfully everyone stayed upright and in one piece. Back into town for lunch at the pub, then a leisurely ride back down the Pacific Hwy and home.

It was good to see 6 bevels on the ride, also some bikes on club plates.

Those in attendance:

October Ride to Paxton Pub

After realising that this month's ride fell on a double demerits weekend we decided to change the route to a slightly less policed one. Sixteen bikes were waiting at our new starting point of Freemans Waterhole. OK some weren't Ducatis but they were hand picked and if they were going to be Japanese then they had to be V twin or V four, the others were Pommy.

We set of towards Kurri to check if anyone was waiting, then Sawerys Gully, Bishops Bridge, Lochinvar, turn right and after some quite decent twisties, on to Singleton. After a refuel it was on to Millbrodale, Broke and Wollombi, where we didn't stop for a beer, instead going to the Paxton pub for a very enjoyable lunch. Thanks to Rob for leading the run and not getting lost despite not having a GPS, and yes I saw your wheelie.

Those in attendance:

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