We did tuck in, at the Do Duck Inn
Sunday 13 June 2010

The ride went kinda like this:
Highway, old highway, highway, back road, old highway, back road, highway, back road, highway.

Or to put in another way the ride went up the Federal Highway, then onto the old highway from the Tulip Farm to Geary's Gap, then back onto the Federal Highway until Collector. From Collector to Bredalbane, then down the old Hume Highway to Gunning, where 15 of us had a lovely lunch at the Bentley Cafe. (aka Do Duck Inn). From Gunning we changed the plan and went through the tiny townships of Dalton and Jerrawa and back to the Hume Highway. After about 5 kms on the Hume, then we turned down the Yass Valley Way and came home via the Barton Highway.

Well that's not exactly true. If you think about the two different descriptions above you'll see that we made quite a few turns at corners, and several turns on back road / at unfamiliar intersections.

Before we left on the ride I pointed out that if anyone didn't want to wait, then they should not sit in second spot in the ride, because they would have to be a corner marker. I checked that everyone understood how corner marking was meant to work.

One person was "counselled" on the way out (an honest newbie mistake). But after lunch and on the way home, some riders came home to Canberra from the north east via Gundaroo while the main ride group came home from the west via Murrumbateman.

No biggie really, except that 4 people waited nearly an hour wondering if there'd been an accident behind them. That was because one corner marker didn't wait for tail-end charlie to arrive at the corner before they took off.

The ride was fun (if a little chilly). And although relatively short at about 250 kms total the ride was interesting in that it covered a variety of roads and surface conditions, from a couple of one lane bumpy back roads to two sections of four lane highway. The Chomp & Chat goal was well and truly achieved too .... with flair. Yum. Bentley cafe's food never seems to disappoint us.

So then just one more thing - if you are a corner marker then PLEASE wait until tail-end charlie arrives. If you are in doubt, go back, not forward. There may have been an accident and you could be the first on the scene with help. If instead, you ride on as soon as you get bored, you may strand others and cause considerable concern. And if you're not prepared to wait for the last riders to catch up, then just don't ride second in the group. EASY.

Gordon

 Tail End Charlie - watching for Bandits