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Wednesday 15th may Mid-Week Ride to Creswick

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Wednesday 15th may Mid-Week Ride to Creswick Empty Wednesday 15th may Mid-Week Ride to Creswick

Post by Jules Pearce Fri May 17, 2019 7:02 pm

Ride Report: Peter Townsend
Photos: Jules Pearce & Graham Aitken

19 Ulysseans gathered at the Waurn Ponds Maccas car park to take part in this month’s mid week ride – disappointingly we only had 3 Peters but encouragingly, they were all riding “Beemers”! ( it may be a “common” name, but we are also obviously gifted with a lot of “common” sense!?). We also welcomed a new face to the group – Chris on a Hayabusa ( might be a hard man to catch!) At the ride briefing, Jules, our ride planner and leader for the day advised that due to commitments he had later in the day, and also the fact that the monthly meeting was this evening, had decided to shorten the ride and changed the lunch destination to Creswick instead of Castlemaine. John Grace volunteered for TEC duties and the long convoy saddled up and streamed out of the car park to play in the traffic.
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In cool, overcast, but dry conditions we wound our way through Highton and onto the Ring Road taking the Ballarat exit and then chucking a rightie onto the Anakie Rd. There was very little wind to annoy us and riding conditions were fairly pleasant, however once we hit 100kph territory, the heated hand grips were fired up! We made our way to Ballan, our morning coffee stop, via Anakie and Mt. Wallace.
 
We parked off the main street next to the rotunda and toilets and had no sooner removed helmets than a young Asian women came up and asked if her partner could take photos of her, with us, next to the bikes. (This seems to be a common occurrence on our rides these days, and I’m not sure what to make of it! I can only assume that where they come from, the sight of a lot of old geriatrics riding motorcycles is a bit unusual and a photo or two is worth sending home to Mum!) Anyway, we naturally obliged and asked which bike she would like to stand next to – Yes –you probably guessed it – she disappointed most of us and chose Cheryl’s shiny red Vespa! (My first introduction to motorised two wheeled transport as an 17 year old was a 125cc 2 stroke Vespa – it was without a doubt, the worst piece of mechanical ineptitude I have ever had the misfortune to own, and reinforced my understanding that the only worthwhile contribution to humanity from one of the oldest civilisations on the planet is 350 different types of pasta!) However, I must admit by the end of the day’s ride I, and a few others were quite impressed by this shiny red Vespa –it hummed along at 105 - 110kph and took in it’s stride everything that our wonderful country roads could throw at it! Mmm – maybe the Italians these days can build motorbikes??


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So, after our photo shoot and coffee break we headed off – unfortunately with one less Peter. One of the Beemers refused to show signs of life and its owner stayed in Ballan to organise its rescue – he was left pondering his choice of bike and questioning the amount of “common” sense he had shown in its acquisition! Hopefully the problem was not “life threatening” and it was sorted without too many dramas. The remaining 18 of us headed up to Daylesford via Greendale and Trentham in pleasant, and now sunny conditions. This is always an enjoyable stretch of road, relatively quiet mid week and we were soon motoring into Daylesford, where we had a brief stop so that one red Italian ‘wasp” could refuel. Just before Daylesford we passed through the small township of Bullarto, where there appeared to be a house that was clearly on fire and attracting the attention of police and quite a number of fire engines as we rode past.  After the end of the ride I “googled” news and it turned out that the fire was at a disused motel and was now being investigated as suspicious.
 
 At Daylesford our number reduced by two as ‘Apollo Bay” John and Kate (not from Apollo Bay) headed back home and the remaining 16 of us headed west on the Midland Hwy to Creswick via Blampied, Newlyn and Springmount. At Creswick we parked bikes at the Information Centre car park and wandered off in search of sustenance. For most of us this involved finding a pie shop in the main street and stuffing said pies into our faces. After an enjoyable lunch break we gathered back at the car park and prepared to head off, homeward bound. Jules was about to lead the group out onto the road when someone brought to his attention that a certain Yammie MT09 was not in the group and must have gone off to refuel! It is so easy to be left behind – trust me, I know  - I’m an expert at it!

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 Eventually our missing Yammie rider returned (his name escapes me!) and we headed south out of Creswick, turning left onto the  Bungaree road and travelled through the roundabout at Pootilla, then across the Western Fwy and into Bungaree.  Here it was straight through, finding the old Melbourne Rd and on into Dunnstown where we chucked a leftie and on to Yendon. At Yendon it was turn left and at  Lal Lal we turned right at the Pub and then left onto the Midland Hwy a few kays down the road. The road surface at the intersection near the Lal Lal pub would have to be one of the worst examples of a non maintained bitumen surface anywhere in this great land of ours! It’s basically  a mass of potholes tenuously joined together by thin strips of bitumen – it would not look out of place in any war torn region of this world – an utter disgrace!
 
Once hitting the Midland Hwy we basically followed it down to Geelong via Elaine and Meredith with Jules ending the ride alongside the Hwy at Gheringhap – near the bridge across the railway line. This caused me some confusion as I thought the ride was finishing at Meredith, and somehow, after hitting the Midland Hwy the group had separated into two with a few kays between each group. I was in the lead of the 2nd group and after passing the outskirts of Bannockburn had decided I must have missed a corner marker and pulled over to confer with the rest of the group behind me. We agreed we must have somehow lost the plot and decided to call it quits. Consequently, I was somewhat surprised and relieved to get back on the bike, travel a kilometre or so down the road and, Lo and behold find the formal finish to the ride!
 
In summary a pleasant mid week ride on a cool, but as it turned out, sunny and calm late Autumn day – I clocked up 280 klicks and as usual, enjoyed every one of them, with the usual bonus of riding with great company. Well done Jules and thanks John for keeping us all together.
 
 
 
 
                 Peter t.
Jules Pearce
Jules Pearce


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Wednesday 15th may Mid-Week Ride to Creswick Empty Re: Wednesday 15th may Mid-Week Ride to Creswick

Post by Mark Nicoll Sat May 18, 2019 2:03 pm

Thanks Peter for the report. 
It was a good day out despite the change of destinations and distances.
And yes it was quite cool at highway speeds 

The rider who went to get fuel as we were leaving after lunch, was... ummm... now let me think.... it was.... ummm..... oh never mind!
The rider who went to see where he was - was me. I remember that bit  Laughing

Thanks to Jules for leading and thanks John for TEC duties.
Mark Nicoll
Mark Nicoll


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