Grumpy Tribute - Ride Report

Just got home after the ride - Grover and I did about 670kms, so the northerners would have doen considerably more. Grover and I left my place yesterday with the radar showing pretty clear skys - and although we hit soem wet patches of road we only had a few small showers on the way through to Goulburn. The sky was generally cloudy as you can see from this photo. Brude, Greg and Baz all said they'd ridden through quite a bit of rain - obviously Grover and I had soem luck.



We got a bit worried as the weather had held up Baz a bit later than the rendezvous time but he soon arrived, complete with some home-mods to the boots! I'm sure Baz had a good explanation.



We then headed down to the Loaded Dog at Tarago and had lunch before going via Bateman's Bay to Narooma to find the digs. The cabins were ok (not great) but at least we could sit as a group inside for some beverages and discussions.



At least there was a BWS store only 100m up from the park so we laid in some supplies for the night and sampled a few before walking up to the pub for a meal. Being St Pattrick's Day there were some lovely youg ladies dressed to thrill in traditional leprachaun outfits. You could even order your beer with green food dye (which I did of course). Then it was back to the cabins to polish off the remainder of the drinks. That kept some of us up much later than other. Baz had been good and gone to bed early but reports next day indicated tummy troubles and some carrot decorations added to the bathroom! Must have been the food!

Next day we met up with the Ulysses guys down at the cemetary and paid our respects to our departed Grumpy.



After leaving the cemetary we headed back up the Prices Hwy to the Bay and then up to Braidwood for lunch at the pie shop. From there we split back up and made our own way home. It was a weekend without drama and allowed us to bring some clossure to Grumpy's parting. Thansk to Greg and Ash for making it happen and am looking forward to a new ride soon.

Good report mate . It`s just a pitty that it had to be done for the reason it was though eh .

the duct tape makes great ventilated boots dry and warm ..
ok so I threw up in the bathroom and completely missed both the dunny and sink ... they should fit hoses in those cabins.

at the loaded dog Tarago


at the Narooma digs




some of us came well prepared




at the cemetery

Thanks to Ewok, Bruiser and Grover for doing the organising for the trip down to Bermagui... had a great time on the bike (as always) and excellent company to boot!

I recorded the trip on the "Every Trail" App and now have it uploaded with photos and a bit of a story, available here: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1490049

Don't know why but I can't see the map on my PC - it's there ok though on the laptop so something strange is happening inside my main computer. As always, the trip log doesn't quite get it right for the speed shown... I know what speeds I was doing in certain areas and suffice to say that which is shown isn't quite accurate... apart from that it's a good record of our trip/route and some photos too. If you bring your cursor over the map the distances can be changed to metric and the photos enlarged/stopped...

I split from Baz and Bruiser at Goulburn on the way back after refuelling and returned via the Taralga > Oberon road... Around Taralga it was starting to get cold (got down to 11 degs) and raining again... so on with the wet weather coat and winter gloves for the rest of the journey... The poor Bandit is once again in need of a good clean and has just now clicked over a grand total of 39,000km's...what fun it is to ride though!

Has anyone heard if Bruiser got home ok?
He hasn't made a post and I left him on the M7 I think he turned off early

Looks like a good trip all round and got to pay your respects to a good bloke. RIP G6

Can you blokes tag the photo's for me. I know a couple of you, just not all.

Glad you guys had a great weekend. Im sorry i couldnt attend.

Reardo wrote:Looks like a good trip all round and got to pay your respects to a good bloke. RIP G6

Can you blokes tag the photo's for me. I know a couple of you, just not all.

Bruiser on the left, Bhoffo on the right - camera lens now as shonky as the wall in the background (sorry boys !).



Give a hoi if other clarification req'd - but 2012 calendar should help.

Baz wrote:Has anyone heard if Bruiser got home ok?
He hasn't made a post and I left him on the M7 I think he turned off early

Bruiser lives in Hazelbrook and I live at Katoomba.. we had organised that we'd each send a text message to the other when we arrived home with the time and number of Ks travelled from where we went our separate ways at Goulburn.

Bruiser went up the Highway/Freeway and apparently had to stop to put on the wet weather gear and did about 229ks to his place arriving at 5.55pm...

I went up the road to Taralga > Oberon > Hampton > Katoomba - a much more twisty road, was raining for alot of the distance and had to stop to put my wet gear on and another time for a piddle...(was getting cold at 11 degs!) - also left a few minutes after Baz and Bruiser as I was mucking around and connecting the Ipod etc.. Anyway, I pulled up in my driveway at 6pm - 5 min behind Bruiser and at 216ks - so 13ks less to my place.. An interesting comparison..(he and I live about 16km apart).

I like the Oberon ride better; more fun with the twisties etc but would have been a little slower due to the wet roads yesterday..

But the short answer to the question is: "Yes" - Bruiser did get home safely!

Reardo wrote:Looks like a good trip all round and got to pay your respects to a good bloke. RIP G6

Can you blokes tag the photo's for me. I know a couple of you, just not all.

Reardo, I am the exceptionally handsome guy in the photos. Or more accurately - the tall, ugly, balding bloke with glasses who loves his red wine. Blue polo shirt on teh Saturday and the red t-shirt on the Sunday standing at Grumpy's grave. Bhoffo and I have the same hairdresser!

Ewok1958 wrote:

Reardo wrote:Looks like a good trip all round and got to pay your respects to a good bloke. RIP G6

Can you blokes tag the photo's for me. I know a couple of you, just not all.

Bruiser on the left, Bhoffo on the right - camera lens now as shonky as the wall in the background (sorry boys !).



Give a hoi if other clarification req'd - but 2012 calendar should help.

It looks like whoever built that pub has been over sampling the bar contents

Well done to you all. Thanks for the report.

Took a few hours yesterday but the bike is now all sparkling clean and polished once again...

Bhoffo wrote:Took a few hours yesterday but the bike is now all sparkling clean and polished once again...

Bhoffo, your bike is so clean that the only part I wouldn't eat off is the seat. just too close to your arse.

Grover wrote:

Bhoffo wrote:Took a few hours yesterday but the bike is now all sparkling clean and polished once again...

Bhoffo, your bike is so clean that the only part I wouldn't eat off is the seat. just too close to your arse.

It's Ok - if you really need to I'll take the Hawk air cushion away at meal times!

hi guys,

sorry for the delay in posting.have had some issues with my family recently so i have been off air for a while.

some birthdays to attend and issues with sick parents etc,you know the drill.dad`s 89 with leukeamia if that`s how you spell it,who friggin cares.

yes it was a good ride although my knees and bum were telling me for the next 4 days.good to meet everyone.nice to have time off from the rat race.learnt a bit from riding with bruce,baz,dave and ash,kind of got my confidence back.great fun regardless and looking forward to riding with any of you again.however the future at the moment is not looking good for my old man so if i am not in contact for a while that will be my excuse.having said that my old man is a fighter and will not give up.i am a chip off the old block, hence the nickname bruiser.tell you about it sometime.anyway,thanks to all who came and especially to dave for all the organising and to bruce for the lead ride.by the way,a message to narco.the screen you sold me flew off.went back to collect it as a car ran over it.want my money back............LOL.shit happens..

ride safe gentlemen

greg

Wondered where you were.... So very sorry to hear about your Dad... Hope he comes through the other side ok.. my thoughts are with you!

Other than that... yes - a great ride.. we need to go out again - soon!

Good to hear from you mate. All cool at this end. Can symphasize with the old man problems (mine unfortunately died a few years back and that added plenty of family issues to sort -as if there weren't enough beforehand). You'll get through that I can tell already. Glad you enjoyed the ride and better get yourself prepped for a few more - here's to the next one.

Fantastic report guys thanks