Ride for Goulburn Hospital. 26-11-11

The weather looked to be terrible. I was going anyway. I was looking forward to this ride for a while. It started out in a bad way. Flat battery the night before. Dooh. Jump start and a bit of a spin should sort it out. No worries. In the morning, all set to leave about 7.30 am for the 8am meet time and a nice and warm B&E roll. Pissing down rain and a flat battery. Oh well. Some would buckle and go back to bed. But nay. I will push on through. Jump start and hope the 40 min ride to the Goulburn jail start point will sort the battery. The rain settled to a drizzle by the time I arrived at the jail. In through the security gate, past the most welcoming guard and to a carport type shelter where there were about 25 odd bikes. Inside what looked to be the workers canteen/ games hall and sign on. B & E roll was ready and warm, prep'd by the staff in the kitchen. Awsome. A mobile coffee van made breaky complete.
Start was again a flat battery. Shit. This was gonna be a long day. Oh well. Push starts it is. Off we go. We head out to Windellama and it looked as the pace was gonna be fun. I hung back to start out, as I had struck up a friendship with a bloke on a Kwaka Vulcan. He was a little unsure so I thought I would hang back to start and see how things pan out. Well I think I put him off, sitting on his arse. He was a bit slow in the corners, but he must have been pushing it more than I realised. He ran way wide on a tighter bend, onto the wrong side of the road. He just held on, with about 6 inches to spare before going off into a gully. Remember, the road is still wet at this stage, though rain is gone. I sat a little further back after that. We came to the T interesection at Windellama and hung a right. A corner man pointing the way. Cool. I looks like the ride is well organised. Another right and another corner man and I decide to jump ahead of my new mate and make a bit of headway on the pack. Another 20 k or so and the rest of the riders are all stopped, awaiting a regroup. We wait a minute or so and we take off as the sweep rider arrives. As I'm now with the main group I see only 1 other Bandit. A naked 1250, morone in colour and looks to be stock. I must have a yarn with him at lunch.
As we head to Tarago, and now with the main bunch, things started to get a bit more lively. I sit behind a bloke on a DR 650, and I couldn't believe the pace he was able to maintain. A bit swirley on some of the bends, but on the whole, he kept up a good pace. On through Tarago, to Bungendore. Past Capital Wind Farm and a really good, twisty road. A couple of really good, long, sweeping cambered bends. We stopped at Bungendore at a Pub at about 10.30. There were nice party pies and sausage rolls for a snack. Everyone had a coke. A raffle was drawn and not won by me. More donations for the Hospital.
Another push start for me and on the road we go. Left Bungendore and through Smith's Gap and heading for Murembateman. We got to a T interesection of the busy Federal Hwy. All caught up again and we all basically waited for a gap in the traffic. About 15 bikes crossed to the middle of the freeway and waited for the next gap. We were off. A massive drag of about 15 bikes. At about 130kph (and the bandit held it's own against some more sporty bikes) and it was on the anchors. Shit. We had to exit only half a K or so up the road. It caught most of us out. We were all looking at each other as though, how dumb are we?
On to Murembateman and to a servo stop. Caltex. Ah, perfect. A top up for those who didn't top up at Bungendore and a drink of water. Murembateman a nice area. A few wineries and some nice looking properties. No longer any sign of wet roads or rain. Nice sunny weather. Perfect. My mate who had piked out would be kicking himself. On to Gunning for lunch.
Lunch was steak sanga's. Really good they were to. $3 and more donations. A light beer, and a second, was had during the hour long lunch. A few other riders who had piked out on the wet start had met up with us here. I met a mate I hadn't seen in years. Was a good catch up.
The final leg was to Crookwell and then Goulburn. I went with the leaders this time, and it was on. About 5 of us really got into it on the stretch between Gunning and Crookwell. We held back a bit on the few straights, but pushed it in the bends. 1 bloke on a Gixer 1100 got a bit close on a bend to an oncoming 4wd. I bet that scared the crap out of him. He had been skiting a bit at lunch about the Advanced riders course he had done, and the race moves he could do. Mate, we are only on the road.
We stopped at Crookwell for all to catch up again. Then off to Goulburn. The 5 of us from the previous scrap took off again, + 1. All sports bikes bar 1 and me. The other fella was the leader of the ride and could really ride. He was on a new looking Harley. More of a sport style, I'm not sure what model. This was the last stretch and you could tell we were all trying to hold back. A bit confident, we were smashing the bends. Holding back on the straights. 1 bloke was on an awsome looking R1. It was probably the most looked at bike on the day. I was sitting on his tail and he was going harder on the straights but a bit slower on the bends. 3 others were getting away. I couldn't pass him on the straights, so I lined him up on a bend to take him. He was all over the place. Couln't hold his line. Finally, on a long sweeping right, he looked to be holding the inside line. I went around the outside of him in which was the moment of the day for me. It felt great. I caught up to the other riders from here and apart from a few cars to overtake, which slowed the pace a little, we all got a bit carried away over the last 10k or so.
We came into Goulburn and all met up at the Gordon Hotel. I had another light beer, debriefed and paid dues to those who deserved it. The bloke on the DR 650 had the ride of the day for me. He kept a decent pace and stayed with the pack all day. He must've worked hard fot it. I left at about 5pm, with alot of the others staying for the live band that was playing a bit later. I had a 40 min ride back home.
Thanks to the guys from Goulburn Jail for organising such a great ride. They plan on it being an annual event. If not for the rain we'd had the previous few days, they were expecting around 50 bikes. 25 was a decent number and at 30 bucks each plus other fundraising, they must have raised a good few bucks for the Hospital. I will definately be going again next year.

Thanks for the report, sounds like a great ride, maybe next year I can make it a 3 day ride, if my cousin has her act together by then I can stay at her place. Any photos?

sounds like you had fun & raised some needed cash at the same time / good report

Sorry, but no pics. Too technical for me. No really. I forgot the camera. Left it on the bench in the garage. The flat battery on the bike threw me out of wack. Also, left my phone as well. Will get it sorted one day.