NIGE Motorcycle Club

It was a flurry of excitement last Monday at McDonalds. We were nearly all there of course: Nige, Sideways, Ant, Killswitch, Lucky, and Mohawk. Sadly many others were unavailable for various reasons. The weather was perfect and the roads were dry. Lucky led the way to Wollombi and Ant from there to Broke. Where was Nige at this point you ask..well he was doing his best but his Ninja is still under repairs in the shop so he bought the BMW instead. Now this could have turned into anything but everyone was willing to give the old bloke a bit of a go so hardly anyone rode past him, saluted him, waved their bottoms at him, patted him on the helmet or anything. Mind you he did wring its neck often enough to lead many sections of unknown roads. Collective apology from the rest of the gang for any rotten behaviour Nige. You’re aces with us. Mohawk brought his muscle bike along as well. Now that thing has to have about half a million Kilometres on it by now and is held together by little more than his hopes and dreams. Nevertheless with some fresh baling wire and a bit of air in the tyres off she went as well, “Yeah I bought the old girl the same day Gene Pitney released ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’ It Used to be a lovely Kawasaki green but she’s pretty much down to the grey undercoat nowadays”

 

What about Sideways eh? Remember how he left half of his personal belongings along the road on the trip down to Phillip Island last February? Well this time, unsure of what to discard that would be of most use to the general public, he tossed his wallet somewhere between Dungog and Gloucester. Luckily Killswitch (Who takes his position as rear guard very seriously) spotted it leave Sideways unzipped (YES AGAIN) pocket and scattered fifties everywhere. He and Mohawk spent some time gathering and dusting off each note before resuming the ride. Their kind act delayed them to a point where we were gravely concerned for their safety as we waited at the Bucketts way turnoff. “Should we wait do you think or turn back to find them?” asked Ant. “Nah. Read about in the newspapers junior. They knew the risks going in.” Or something like that we replied. Anyway it all ended well when we met up at the Caltex in Gloucester. Sideways was still unaware of his loss till he went to pay for fuel. He did that funny high speed flap down thing where it appears you have too many pockets and not enough time to check each one. Killswitch handed over the wallet at this point and Sideways gave him a big manly hug because every dollar was found. Lucky eh!!

Thunderbolts was fun as usual and we arrived at the Commercial Hotel in Walcha in good time. How friendly is the publican and his bride. Some comments were made that we’d rather see the beers come out faster and leave the huggy welcomes for real estate agents and whatnot but more on that a little later. However, having said that, the beers were cold and the pork crackling delicious. Some of the boys complained that the open pork crackling bags smelled like a fart but I have to disagree. Besides we were in a pub where every man standing was passing wind and that wasn’t peaux pouri either. One by one the weary soldiers took their leave only leaving Nige and Lucky to finish off with one or two more. Lucky moved to bourbon to counter the effects of beer but Nige hung in doggedly to the end.

 

 

 

All were up early next morning and headed north through Uralla, Bundarra, Inverell, and ended up crossing the Copeton Dam and on to Bingara. The roads were great and you could really open the throttle a bit and go hard. Not all of us. Once again, sorry Nige….no really!! The return trip was just as much fun. Just out of Uralla there was this old church that our friendly publican told us was “Like..really medieval” and worth a look. Yeah..nah. Even accepting that we weren’t colonised till several hundreds years after the medieval period, it didn’t even look that old. No belfry or concentric arches supporting a vaulted roof via sturdy Norman pillars. No gargoyles apart from the two old ladies parked in Vauxhall Viva in the parking lot..nothing. A few vines perhaps but really nothing else. Oh a small stone wall around it. I expected William the Conqueror to be waiting for us with a nice cup of tea. In a word…disappointing.

Arriving back at the Commercial for our second night we found DD waiting in the bar after riding up that day to join us for the ride home via the Oxley. Now remember how I said I’d get back to you on the friendly publican. Well the guy was all business when DD turned up to use the spare bed in Nige’s room. The price of the room suddenly jumped to $130 for a night instead of $80. No amount of cajoling by DD or logical discussion by Nige could change his mind. Not likely to return there in a hurry I think.

The Oxley was fantastic but could do with some more corners. Stopped at Long Flat so everyone could gather round for the next leg. DD had been nagging for some time about taking the road south through Comboyne which he figured would be “A superb piece of bitumen”. It wasn’t. It was dirt. It went for about a thousand kilometres. We reached Wingham, a bedraggled set of dusty idiots. DD suggested he might double check next time if the road into Comboyne was sealed AND the road out of it as well. Good idea David.

Finally made our way down the Bucketts into Gloucester and then home by about 5. All in all some great roads with clear skies and nobody got hurt.

Edit by Nige.

Well, I still don’t know that everyone got home after being abandoned on the Big Road like a few other riders …. 🙂

An intersection that can be VERY confusing to some Busa riders.

A photo that includes Lucky looking splendid. He doesn’t get to appear in many photos since he assumed the role of club reporter.