Rylestone

Well Rylestone was good.

For those not in the know (or those with Alzheimer�s disease), there was a motorbike ride organised by one of the guys at work last weekend.

A group of the guys at work with motorbikes, decided to form a quasi club some years ago, for the occasional bike ride to (not too) far and distant places. There was always a pub at the end of it (or three), and everyone would sit around, talk shit, and promptly get plastered.

One of the guys at work suggested that there should be a �two up� ride, ie you can bring your partner if you wished. This could include your wife, or girl friend (or even boy friend, dog, sheep etc, if you were so disposed). Most laughed him, and the idea off as a mad. This is because traditionally it had always been a boys night away, and being cowards what the hell would we talk about anyway, if the wife was sitting right there next to you???

Still, one guy asked his wife, who said she wouldn�t go because she had been on others before, and she was always the only woman there. He decided to give it a go anyway, and put a notice up fully expecting to get maybe 5 bikes, and hopefully three of them bringing their partners.

He was shocked when word spread, and people were practicably lining up to go, not only from our gaol but from another one as well. The final tally was about 17 bikes with one or two dropping out at the last minute. We also had a support vehicle towing a box trailer just in case someone broke down. Also if any of the pillion passengers got a numb bum, they could if they wished, ride in the car.

The trip started on a Friday at McDonald�s Richmond, on the outskirts of Sydney. The meeting time was at 8:30am for a 9am start. Most were two up with their partners, and arrived early. We sat around and drooled over each others bikes (as one does), introduced ourselves to people we didn�t know, and ate bacon and egg McMuffins while we waited for any stragglers.

Bikes varied from a 650cc cruiser, through to a one (and only one) original Harley Davidson (who the hell can afford one??). The largest bike (which we call the tractor) was a 1500cc cruiser. None of the cruisers (and there were a lot of them) had standard exhaust pipes on, so a lot of noise was made as we all pulled out of Makkers, whizzed along the road, and opened them up to climb the hills.

We didn�t get very far when we came across some road works, where the �Stop-Go� man said "it would be a seven minute wait". So we all dismounted and started chatting again.
We finally moved to the next official stop, which was through the Dividing Range, and the Blue Mountains National park (very pretty, very twisty and bendy), to a town called �Mount Victoria�. This is quite a large town, and I�m not sure if its named after a mountain or the actual act.
If it�s the latter who the hell was Victoria anyway, and who was the lucky bugger that mounted her???
She must have been good though to name a town after her, Huh??

We had a stop of 30 minutes there, for a pee, a chat, and a stretch of the legs. This was about 75 kilometres from where we started. Here we also picked up another two bikes which took our tally now to 14 bikes. One of them was our video camera guy, who is an ex prison officer, and now lives near Rylstone our final destination.

On our way again, we turned onto the Great Western Highway towards Jenolan caves. These are a great place to go, there are a number of cave walks you can do of varying lengths and also bush walks from there. They are pretty much in the middle of nowhere down at the bottom of a valley. The road in, is very small and twisty, and tests the metal of the drivers, especially old codgers like me on bloody big bikes with no ground clearance to speak off.

This is also where we got our first head clearing sniff, of 14 day old road kill.
If you haven�t smelt the stink of an old Roo or Wombat at the side of the road, let me tell you it leaves �Sinex� nasal spray as a head clearing agent, for dead (so to speak).
The smell starts about 250 metres before you get there, and increases in intensity until you are right on top of it. Your only thought then is to hope to spot (and avoid), whatever it is, so that you don�t run over it and get bits stuck to the underside of your car or bike.
Should this happen, it�s guaranteed to make you the most unloved person on earth. Something akin to being as popular as a Pork pie at a Jewish wedding!!!
At the very least, if you do miss whatever it is, there�s also the big cloud of blow flies to avoid, which will splat themselves against your windscreen or helmet visor.
If that smell doesn�t clear your head in the morning then there is something seriously wrong , and you are beyond help.

We stopped at the caves and headed for the caf� for a drink and another rest break. The buildings (Mainly the big hotel) at the caves really reminds me of somewhere in Europe, it all looks so very 'Swiss chalet' looking. I always expect at any moment the family �Von Trapp� to come steaming over the rise, holding hands, and singing �The Hills are alive to the sound of music�.

The caves were approximately 55 kilometres from Victoria getting her end away, and if you do your sums then we have travelled approximately 130 kilometres. ..... except that is, I had travelled a little more, cos I/we got a little lost from the rest of the pack going to the first stop....
BUT WE WON�T MENTION THAT WILL WE???

The next stop was out from the caves, along a lovely country road towards Bathurst via Oberon. The scenery was brilliant even if the ride speed was a little faster than what I�m used to. I prefer to cruise along at about 90 to 100 kilometres an hour (road permitting), this seems to be the optimum speed for the bike, and also allows for me to have a good head swivel at the scenery as it goes past. The pack speed was around the 110 plus mark, and though this doesn�t seem much difference, it is a more �concentrate on the road ahead� speed. Some of the road racing bikes would hum past us, sounding like an electric sewing machine, at 140K�s plus. They would race ahead taking the bends at breakneck speed, and then wait for the rest of the pack to catch up at the next stop. This was O.K. as we all did our own thing, and got what we wanted from the ride. We had a bit of dirt road where some roadworks were, but it was only short.

The next stop was for fuel at Bathurst, and I squeezed as much as possible into the tank. Cruisers which are nearly always big engines, always seem to have the smallest fuel tanks ( which is daft). We then left the garage and went a kilometre down the road to the Family Hotel pub for lunch.
We were a little later than planned, and the bistro was about to close. We all managed to get fed though, with most choosing a simple burger and chips. Simple fare for simple people.

There were a lot of paddocks (fields) as we drove along, that were covered in large patches of a beautiful purple flower. They reminded me of the blue bells in England, so I asked someone about these, while we were having lunch. I was informed that they were a noxious weed called Pattisons curse (aka Salvation Jane). Apparently once you have them they are really hard to get rid of. The seeds can last ten years in the ground, so it�s a long term thing to kill the buggers, and unless your neighbour is doing the same it�s a waste of time anyway, as the seeds will get shoved under the fence. Not much eats them and the root had a broad leaf base that smothers and kills anything that gets close to it.
Pity.... they looked really nice too, but...... I�ve heard of some women that have the same characteristics!!!
Click the (picture) button for more fuller interesting info.

After a cleansing ale and a feed we hit the road again. When leaving there, I could smell petrol, and after looking down noticed I was leaking fuel from my filler cap as I went along (quite a bit too).
I had squeezed as much as I could in the tank and then I think with the sun on the bike while we ate, it had expanded some more. I was trying to ride, while at the same time leaning the bike over to the left away from the filer cap. I was getting a bit worried that it would run down onto the exhaust pipe, and I would go up in a cloud of smoke and flames. I could imagine myself accelerating flat out trying to blow the flames out, passing all the other bikes at 200 kilometres an hour.

�Shit he�s going fast isn�t he??�
�So would you with your ass on fire!!!�

I�m here writing this, so you can safely assume that it didn�t happen (I will remember for the next time though).

We went down another section of dirt road, though this time, it was planned by our ride leader, and went on for about 10 kilometres.
It was actually good to get off the tar road. We saw a kangaroo about 18 feet from us, that was bounding along, pacing us down the fence line, and other wild life that you wouldn�t normally see from a tar road (unless it�s road kill!!).

Our next stop was just for a quick rest at Ilford before we set off to Rylestone. After leaving the stop, we got lost again but not on our own this time (I must be rubbing off on people!!). The pack as usual got stretched out and we missed the turn. I looked behind me, and there were two more bikes, plus the support vehicle following me, so I assumed we were ok and kept going. Eventually we stopped at Mudgee and all decided that we had missed it, and turned back. We eventually found the correct road and arrived at the Globe Hotel Rylstone, eager for a shower and a some serious alcohol. Most people were already in the bar drinking as much as they could, and as quickly as possible.

Dinner had been booked in the local bowling club for 6:30. So we decided to have a shower first (while they were empty), and then a few drinks before leaving for the bowling club.

The meal was good for 22 Ozzie dollars, they put on a choice of :-

Entree (starters if you are American)
Garlic Prawns
Ravioli with creamy mushroom sauce (my choice)
Prawn Cutlets

Main Course (Entree if you are American)
Roast Chicken
Steak Dianne
Roast pork
Roast beef (my choice)
All served with Baked potato, pumpkin, cauliflower, beans, mint peas, and honeys carrots

Dessert (Do Americans call it this, or finishers??)
Chocolate basket with mixed berry ice cream
Wine trifle
Cheese cake (my choice)

Tea or coffee with after dinner mints.

Not bad huh? I had a good feed and wasn�t left wanting.

We had a couple of drinks there, and then went back to the Globe Hotel for a few more drinks before bed.

I as usual, got up early and went for a walk with my camera, for a look round the town. I found a sign directing me to �Rylstone Historic Railway Station�. It was a great morning and I took a few snaps of that, before heading back. It appeared that Rylstone at some stage or other must have been quite a busy hub for something (probably sheep, cattle, or road kill!!). There were a lot of sidings there beside the main line, that were half pulled up and now abandoned.

We all met outside the pub fuelled up and ready to go for breakfast. At 9am we all headed out to the ex prison officers place. We had all chipped in $5.00 each and he cooked up a big feed of bacon, sausages, eggs, mushrooms, toast, orange juice, coffee, tea, and soft drink. The sun was really up by then, and we all sat around drinking and chatting while he BBQ�d the food.
After we had fed out faces it was time to leave again (I could have sat there in the sun all morning), the first stop being Pearsons lookout (I wonder if he was looking out for Victoria???), which was 55 kilometres away. I was the last to leave the ex prison officers place,with the support vehicle waiting for me, and by the time we hit the first corner everyone else was long gone.
We cruised along for a fair while before we realised that we were lost again. We cruised around Kandos a bit, looking for the right road, before turning back and finding it. Again we caught up with most of the pack at the lookout. Some had left to make their own way back, rather than stay with the group. I didn�t really agree with this, as I think we should have all gone back to Sydney together, but there you go.

We stopped for fuel just the other side of the mountains at Lithgow. One of the riders heard from her daughter, that there was a hail storm hitting the blue Mountains. A few left us there, and we had dwindled to 3 bikes and the support vehicle by the time we left. The next stop was the �Fruit Bowl� caf� and fruit shop at Bilpin, half way down the mountains to Richmond. This is nearly back in the Sydney basin. By the time we got there we had passed under a few dark clouds and felt the cold, telling us that they were full of ice.

Fingers crossed, we made it down the mountains and was half way home from Richmond when it finally hit us. Most of the hail was the size of large peas but boy do they hurt when they hit you at 75 kilometres an hour. This was mixed in with rain so we got pretty soaked (I was all right I had my wet gear on anyway (Tee hee))
At one stage we got hit with hail the size of large Maltesers and I was thinking of stopping, but it was short lived and we made it home O.K..
The only good thing about it, was it got rid of the bugs squished all over the bike, and washed most of the dust off.

As a final torment, the storm was still going on after we had jumped in the shower to warm and clean up. I jumped on the computer to download the pics from my camera when a big crack of lightening went off right overhead. When the storm finally subsided and I went to go on the net I realised that it had blown up my modem.
So its true what they say about not using a computer in a thunder storm I thought to myself!!!

Well that�s the ride. Overall the weather was excellent and we were very lucky. No one got injured or fell off and the only casualty was one bike, that a stone must have nicked the rear brake line and he lost all the fluid. He managed to limp home with just the front brake though. And his pillion went in the car.

It was my first organised ride and inspired me to go on longer rides. It was fun travelling in a group, though the system of each rider taking care of the one behind should have been enforced. No one would have got lost then (namely ME!!!). I also learnt a lot of things from it (its more taxing riding in a group than riding on your own) and at the end of the day I had travelled 669 kilometres.

Roll on summer I say.........
Can�t wait for the next one....

Regan

Rylestone Motorbike ride 24/10/03

Lollypop man

Jenolan caves

Munchies in the club.

Guess who the boss is here!!!

Me and the tractor driver.

The Globe Hotel and bed for the night.

Rocking high street Rylestone.
The wide road with the parking in the middle, and the veranda fronted buildings, are fairly typical of country Australian towns.

Rylestone Historic Railway Station Hmmmmmm......

They pulled up all the old sleepers to sell them in the big city. Folks buy them for garden features, and to make retaining walls.

Best photo of the trip. The light is really good in the mornings isn't it???

Pattersons curse (noxious weed) -->>>

"This property protected by pit bull with AIDS."
Country sense of humour.

Waiting for the off for breakfast.

Pearsons lookout.