For 7 years I have been attending the annual Memorial Rides and attending the ceremony at Horrocks Pass (at Davo’s Plaque) and staying at Wilmington Pub for that weekend in September.
For the first time in all these years, this year I have not attended for the weekend.
For the first time in 7 years I was actually home for my wife's birthday.....
(yes... I am very much in debit!)
But I very much missed getting along to the gathering and catching up with all the riders and the usual suspects.
So I did my ride on Monday 11th September.
Early start at 2am, and headed off from Geelong (Waurn Ponds) and north up the Hume.
Fuel and some food at Glenrowan, and off again into the cold.
I love catching sunrise on the road, and this day it was a good one.
Sunrise snapped at a chilly 2-3 degrees, near Howlong, Vic.
Following an easy run up to Tarcutta, whiz through Wagga, nice run through Narrandera, daintily through Darlington and a hike through Hay, with short stops at each, it was on across the familiar territory of the Hay Plains. I always think of it as a mini-Nullarbor.
Obligatory stop at Hells Gate of course, with a couple of shots taken.
From Balranald it was then via Tooleybuc on the Murray, then West to Ouyen, Vic.
From there it was South along the Calder Hwy, turning at Lascelles to continue South through Hopetoun and Warracknabeal.
In Lascelles I stumbled unexpectedly upon one of the Silo Art works. I have seen a few but not this one, so it was a great find and helped break the ride a little.
I think it was along this stretch where I hit the wall somewhat, so took a break to stretch, wash the face, and generally freshen up as best I could.
I wanted to make it through Horsham and onto the Western Hwy before dark, which I did in plenty of time, to reduce the risk of encountering wildlife. Result - no wildlife seen (not alive anyway!)
This worked well, as I didn’t actually need a powernap for this whole ride.
Surprisingly for this time of year, and for the cold and wet weather we have been having, the stretch through Ararat and Ballarat was comfortably mild, with temps in the evening only getting down to about 12-13 degrees. And not a drop of rain all day. Bonus!
Arrived back at my start point just after 9pm, making it 1,624 km and 19½ hours.
The route:
I enjoyed this ride, managed to get through it in one continuous flow, and despite the levels of my (chronic) pain, was a pretty good day/night out.
Lots of time to think about those riders no longer with us, even sharing stretches of road with a couple.
(BTW - Jenn's Birthday was very good - brekky in bed (for her!), nice pressies, out for dinner with good friends, lovely cake, big smiles all round).
I don’t know about next year - we’ll wait and see how my balance is going...
Thanks for reading.
Nico
For the first time in all these years, this year I have not attended for the weekend.
For the first time in 7 years I was actually home for my wife's birthday.....
(yes... I am very much in debit!)
But I very much missed getting along to the gathering and catching up with all the riders and the usual suspects.
So I did my ride on Monday 11th September.
Early start at 2am, and headed off from Geelong (Waurn Ponds) and north up the Hume.
Fuel and some food at Glenrowan, and off again into the cold.
I love catching sunrise on the road, and this day it was a good one.
Sunrise snapped at a chilly 2-3 degrees, near Howlong, Vic.
Following an easy run up to Tarcutta, whiz through Wagga, nice run through Narrandera, daintily through Darlington and a hike through Hay, with short stops at each, it was on across the familiar territory of the Hay Plains. I always think of it as a mini-Nullarbor.
Obligatory stop at Hells Gate of course, with a couple of shots taken.
From Balranald it was then via Tooleybuc on the Murray, then West to Ouyen, Vic.
From there it was South along the Calder Hwy, turning at Lascelles to continue South through Hopetoun and Warracknabeal.
In Lascelles I stumbled unexpectedly upon one of the Silo Art works. I have seen a few but not this one, so it was a great find and helped break the ride a little.
I think it was along this stretch where I hit the wall somewhat, so took a break to stretch, wash the face, and generally freshen up as best I could.
I wanted to make it through Horsham and onto the Western Hwy before dark, which I did in plenty of time, to reduce the risk of encountering wildlife. Result - no wildlife seen (not alive anyway!)
This worked well, as I didn’t actually need a powernap for this whole ride.
Surprisingly for this time of year, and for the cold and wet weather we have been having, the stretch through Ararat and Ballarat was comfortably mild, with temps in the evening only getting down to about 12-13 degrees. And not a drop of rain all day. Bonus!
Arrived back at my start point just after 9pm, making it 1,624 km and 19½ hours.
The route:
I enjoyed this ride, managed to get through it in one continuous flow, and despite the levels of my (chronic) pain, was a pretty good day/night out.
Lots of time to think about those riders no longer with us, even sharing stretches of road with a couple.
(BTW - Jenn's Birthday was very good - brekky in bed (for her!), nice pressies, out for dinner with good friends, lovely cake, big smiles all round).
I don’t know about next year - we’ll wait and see how my balance is going...
Thanks for reading.
Nico
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