Phil and Mark in their “Tour de Rocks” jerseys
Ride Report – 17th April 2016
Ian Scott
The advertised ride for today was from Urunga to Macksville along the Pacific highway. The club has the uncanny knack of always scheduling this ride during school holidays. Not sure who has the death wish in the group but it’s not me!
So flouting the club’s constitution, an executive decision (I don’t think 4 people is a quorum and Herb the only committee member!) was made at Friday’s coffee session to change the ride route. The chosen route is new highway to Lyons Rd, old highway to Williams Rd, detour to Bongil Bongil NP picnic area, old highway to Perrys Rd then Mylestom for coffee. Credit goes to Kirk for proposing it.
Ten people assembled at BP North Urunga ready for the 8:00am start. I must say Phil and Mark looked very smart in their pretty pink “Tour de Rocks” jerseys having ridden from Armidale to South West Rocks the previous three days. Talk about gluttons for punishment! It was good to see Eric, one of the original DUBBUGers, join us again.
The weather today was almost perfect riding conditions with the temperature around 20 degrees, slightly overcast and very little wind. We headed up the new highway then back to Bongil Bongil NP picnic area for a short break. From there to the much anticipated coffee stop at Mylestom.
Enthusiastic Dave (Ed) and his wife Margaret were waiting at the Mylestom general store for us. Ed had also participated in the “Tour de Rocks” ride and claimed he needed some rest and recovery time. Margaret had a light hearted dig at him “Phil’s got almost 20 years on you, he’s on the bike but you need a rest?”.
After the refreshments of muffins and great coffee it was on to the final leg of the ride back to Urunga. The traffic along the road between Mylestom and Repton was heavy enough, I hate to think what it would have been like between Urunga and Macksville.
As a last minute decision, this ride route was enjoyed by all riders and will be put on the list for future ride calenders.