Faced with the prospect of leading yet another Catherine Hill Bay Ride I suggested we might try somewhere different. A quick look at google maps showed an area just south of the Bay crisscrossed by roads ending in headlands and beaches called Lake Munmorah State Conservation Area (SCA). Hmmmm ... which one to pick? The one with toilets and picnic benches ticked all the boxes so Frazer Beach it was to be 😁
On the day of the ride my briefing started with a mighty attempt at humour which was met by stoney stares and not even a hint of an up turned lip!
My plea for a TEC Volunteer also went completely unanswered except for the thud as, en masse, the ride group took a step back in unison.
The demand for Virgins to identify themselves resulted in one of the older group members raising his hand. Poor guy, must be that long ago he doesn’t remember 🤣
I ran through Corner Marking - wait at a turn if you can’t see rider behind - because the route had a few twists and turns, the fidgeting in the group was reaching fever pitch and it wasn’t yet even 9:55am!
I ran through the proposed Route -
Old Pacific Hwy to Calga - Regather
Peats Ridge to Central Mangrove and then towards Kulnura Spring Rd and Bumble Hill to Yarramalong and Triangle for smoko.
Hue Hue to Alison
Jillby Rd towards Dooralong
Durren and Dickson rds to join Mandelong Rd then 800m gravel rd.
Thru to Morisset M1 junction.
Wyee Rd to Ruttleys Rd across to Pacific Hwy.
Turn left up to Elizabeth Bay Drive and right on the drive and left into the SCA on Birdie Beach Drive- Regather and follow the signs for Frazer Beach.
Having done a recce run some weeks ago I issued a stern warning - the roads in SCA are good to terrible and change quickly so take it easy. There is also a bit of a wiggle to get to Frazer so please corner mark.
A final “Any questions” then “Mount up” and before I had chance to turn around engines were starting and riders were lining up on the 7-11 exit ramp. At least they’re eager I thought, as I hurried to don riding gear and pick my way out of the crowd of revving bikes to take my place at the front. And so it was 27 riders left for Frazer Beach at 9:58am ... meh ...what’s a couple of minutes between friends.
All progressed smoothly through to the Peats Ferry Bridge where we happened upon a poor rider at the side of the road accompanied by a Jam Sandwich with flashing blue lights. After recent events it wasn’t hard to guess his circumstance so with that picture locked in our heads we tootled calmly and slowly up the old Pacific Hwy to Calga - NOT!
After the regather we had a great run through to Bumble Hill and for once, at least at the front of the group, there wasn’t some numpty with a death grip on the steering wheel holding us all up going down the hill.
Same was true of the run from Yarramalong to the triangle with the few obstacles bypassed and we arrived at the triangle at 10:55am. Morning tea was accompanied as usual by the normal banter and outrageous commentary with normal PC rules out the window (if any of us actually had one that is)😀
At 11:25am I called the ride, to be completely ignored by all and sundry. I tried again, this time with accompanying arm gestures with the result a handful of riders started to don riding gear, the rest carried on as if they had all the time in the world. By 11:30am maybe two-thirds of the Ride was mounted, engines running but there was still those who had not even begun to get ready with one even racing off to the loos. Bugger it I thought and with a nod from the Ride Committee we rolled out leaving the recalcitrant few to scramble.
I actually managed to remember the Jillby road sufficiently to not over coke the right angled bends in Dooralong and give a bit of warning to the following riders of the right turn into Durren. The roads were clear, dry and the pace was brisk, even the gravel section presented no challenges. The road down the hill towards Morisset was a delight, smooth, twisty and dappled. However in the light of our slightly fragmented departure from the triangle I decided to include an impromptu regather at the M1 junction where we waited, and waited and waited.....
Finally, with the group getting restless, another bunch of riders appeared, bringing our number to maybe 18, clearly corner marking had broken down at some point. Hey Ho and away we go, no point in waiting for Godot is there?
The run down Wyee and Ruttleys roads was slow, held up by busy traffic, the Pacific Hwy was only marginally better. Elizabeth Bay Drive is residential so it was with some relief we reached the entrance to the SCA and paused to regather.
Cool, we hadn’t managed to lose any more riders so we set off into the SCA where the road twists and turns, dips and climbs and cambers are random at best. However eventually we were greeted by the vista of Frazer Beach and pulled up into the carpark managing to occupy 80% of the parking spaces. Halfway through lunch another 6 riders rolled up with stories of tours of Cooranbong (why the hell did they take that turn off Mandalong Rd 🤔) and Budgewoi. We filled the available picnic bench and the stairs and still had riders eating standing up. I did notice no one was up to intruding on the couple on the other picnic bench. See, we are nice bikies after all 🙃
After lunch the group left in dribs and drabs some meeting up at the Pie for coffee where we found one of the missing riders who aborted at Budgewoi and went to Norah Head instead. That left one rider unaccounted for. A quick call resulted in learning he turned back after morning tea so no lives were lost on this adventure 😉
All in all it was a great day for a ride, great company and despite some minor challenges feedback from the ride group was very positive. I think we can rate it a success and one we should do again.
Andy Plant.
Note re 'coke', I queried the word use with Andy, here is some trivia, "apparently it is from Steel making in my home town of Sheffield. If you over coke the blast furnaces the steel is stuffed. There you go, learn something everyday. Used that expression all my life and never wondered what it really meant".
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