Day 3 – Saturday 7th November – Snowy Ride
Saturday morning was a slow start for some, must have been the long hours in the saddle on the two previous days. Cooked breakfast included in the tariff at the River Inn between 7.00am and 9.00am during breakfast the group slowly assembled and starts to plan the day ahead. Breakfast was good, cereals and a full cooked breakfast, a great way to start any day.
After breakfast we walked down into centre of Thredbo to register for the Snowy Ride, check out the Honda and Ducati demonstration rides and visit the merchandising shop. This year Ducati have joined Honda in supporting the charity putting on test rides on a large range of bikes throughout the day. Test rides at both Honda and Ducati booked out for most of day so decided to give it a miss again.
A blue sky day with lots of people and bikes about.
Got our entry ticket stamped to go into the draw for the Honda after a wee bit of negotiation, they usually put 4 stamps on the ticket in Threbdo to save you visiting all the check points around the locality, but this year they had been told only one stamp per ticket by the organizers. Bought $25 of raffle tickets and got the 4 stamps. No problem as during the day we plan to visit most check points on the planned route.
The ride plans for the day, first a quick fang down to Jinabyne for petrol, then up to Charlotte’s Pass, out to Dalgety for lunch finishing in Cooma at the classic car show before heading back to Thredbo for the Charity rally and concert
The ride along the Alpine Way to Jinabyne can be a fun stretch, just long open sweeper after sweeper. It was late morning by the time we mustered and set off so there were a lot of bikes on the road, most going at a sedate pace, spread across the lane and reluctant to over take the cars and utes. We picked them off one by one and finally flashed past the vehicles about halfway down the mountain. With an open road in front just let the bike do what it likes to do whilst enjoying the cooling rush of the mountain air.
The petrol stations in Jindy were full of bikes making the fuelling a long winded process, good chance for Bugger to suck in some more tobacco smoke.
The ride up to Charlotte’s Pass was a blast, it just gets better every year, guess that is because we are starting to remember the road and know that there are no real surprises. The road winds up the mountain with sweeper after sweeper and ample room to overtake on most sections and corners. Couple of tight corners above the tree line to watch out for but other than that and a few slower riders a high speed climb especially during the Snowy Ride weekend
Only one road up to Charlotte’s Pass so we know the way back to Jindy and it is going to be faster than the ride up.
From Jindy we head out along the Barry Way and Snowy River Way to Dalgety. This another fast open section across the high plains. Need to watch out for the tight section just before Beloka, not much warning as you come over a rise the roads just drops away in to a hard right turn then twists down into the river valley. Guess this catches a lot of unsuspecting riders, but I haven’t heard of any accidents here.
Over the Snowy River and down to the Dalgety reserve where the locals put on entertainment and the best spit roast buns, beef, pork or lamb. Snowy Ride check point so anybody that didn’t get the entry cards stamped in Thredbo now is the time.
The mercury is now climbing so a short walk across the road to the Buckley’s Crossing Hotel for a refreshing light ale in the historic bar. The walls are covered in interesting old photographs of the town and region; the locals are more than willing to provide a more detailed background to each and everyone.
Now refreshed a quick dash across the high plains to Cooma to the next check point and the annual classic car show. Had to ease back on the wrist when Mr Plod came up fast behind us, he just followed us into Cooma, this ended up being the first section within the speed limits. Gave us a friendly wave as he went his merry way (that is the way the police are over the weekend, don’t bother you unless you are ding something stupid)
A bit to hot mid arvo to spend to much time at the car show, so jump back on the bikes and head back to Thredbo and the River Inn for a freshen up and cold ale outside our rooms before heading for an early dinner and the free concert. Quick stop at the bottle shop in Jindy (cheaper than Thredbo) to stock on the refreshments for the night. I will be interesting to see how a couple of slabs travel in top boxs and paniers.
Dinner was pre-arranged with the Hills Motorcycle Group out of Sydney; chance to catch up old acquaintances from last year. Good food and service, all over by the time the concert starts, better than fighting with everybody else trying to get meals in the restaurants or bars, although a little on the pricy side.
Dinner over, we head to the tennis courts for the concert, this year the Hoodoo Guru’s are playing. In the mountains when the sun goes down the temperature goes down with it and the old get to party. Presentations and addresses before the concert, a total of 3200 bikes registered for the event raising over $600,000 for Childrens Cancer. In the 9 years the charity has been running survival rate has increasd from 40% to 70%, but you can tell from the proffessors voice that he is passionate about getting this to 100%. Parents of a child going through operations and treatments tell us of their heart rendering year and they joy of their child pulling through. Local police advised no accidents this year and only one infringement (overtaking a semi on double white lines, on a blind corner, at 157klm/hr, with two police bikes sitting on this tail, when they eventually pulled him over he was a p plater riding an unregistered 1000cc bike) no big deal.
Found out that Bugger was a roadie for Hoodoo Guru’s way back when
Concert over we head back to the River Inn to finish out the night with a few cold beers. The bar was buzzing with a few old stagers and off duty staff. Roger can’t help himself and orders a round of shots (schnapps) then it’s on again. Except this time the staff join in and get out the “shotski”, this a snow ski with four holes to hold shot glasses. The ski is held by two people, the shot glasses filled with schnapps and four volunteers stand up to the ski with their lips to the shot glass and hands behind their backs. On the chant of “shotski” the ski is turned to pour the schnapps whilst the volunteers try to drink it. Hard luck for the short guys and gals as they seem to be the ones that wear the schnapps. The bottle of schnapps is on the house so the shotski continues until the last drop has been drunk or spilt.
End of another great day and well past bedtime seeing we have another long ride planned for Sunday and breakfast is 7.30am.
