The Inaugural Ice-cream Rallyette – Chomp and Chat - 15^th July 2007

 Riders on the day

 Nick and Terese Hicks –riding a two month old Suzuki M109R with only 1029km on the clock.

Chris – a 1 year old Kawasaki ER6NABCDEFGHI etc etc etc

Terry Fenton – 2007 Honda Blackbird singing in the dead of night….

Mark Walker (I wish he’d write better) and his daughter Heather – Vulcan Nomad

Garry McCurley – VFR800 - RIDE LEADER and GENERAL REPAIRS

Andrew Campbell – on a new Mac truck – oh sorry, a Honda Gold wing

Gordon White – Hyosung GT650S (how high has he sung?)

Judy Perry – Yamaha 535 Virago

Flip – My lovely 750 Virago

Steve Holloway – A Moto Guzzi thingy

 Story .....and Pictures!

The day started out so cold that I thought my hands were completely frozen, the icy chill went down my back into places I didn’t know I possessed. When I opened my mouth, my breath didn’t just mist, it froze into great solid gobs of ice…. and then I got out of bed and got in the shower…. BRRRR!!  Nothing could be as cold as my bedroom on a winter’s day in Canberra.  I was eager to hop on my lovely 750 Virago and go for a ride.  For this day was a special day – it was Judy’s birthday and her first year of riding!!!

 I won’t blab and tell you how old she is, but put it this way, her dad came to Australia on the first convict ship……

 I swung past Judy’s place on my lovely 750 Virago and was relieved when we made it all the way to Watson without anyone running out of petrol.  (I have been usurped as the holder of the “running out of petrol” trophy).  We got to Watson, and 10 riders and two pillions where ready to go at a little after 9:30am.  We decided to go out the Barton Highway and up Nanama Road up to Gundaroo and then out to Gunning.  It was still cold and foggy, but we were all optimistic that it would clear - eventually.  We hadn’t even got past the new Gungahlin Drive extension when we lost the first of our group.  It turns out that Steve had busted a clutch cable and gunned it through every red light between Watson and home (actually that’s not true, I just made that up).  Time for a new bike, Steve :-)

 Had a great ride to Gunning on my lovely 750 Virago and pulled in at Bentley’s Café at the Do Duck Inn…. Thankfully they were prepared for our arrival and put on a fabulous spread as usual. As I mentioned earlier, it was Judy’s birthday, so in anticipation, I had gone to the liberty of purchasing some party hats, poppers and whistles (you know the sort - they have a paper thing that blows out). You’ll be pleased to note that I did ask if we could mess up the dining room BEFORE I let the boys have them.   We had a grand feast and then Judy revealed that she had brought out some of her exquisite home made ice-cream for desert to thank Ulysses members for accompanying her on rides. Turkish cherry, espresso, and cumquat were some of the flavours I detected! Be there next year! The staff were wonderful and let us take over the kitchen and plate up 11 divine deserts.  We sang happy birthday and she blew out her candle – one for each year she’s been riding a motorbike!  

 Food eaten, coffee drunk, we set off again, up the old Hume Highway to Collector, my on my lovely 750 Virago.  A tragic event occurred on the way back however, Judy’s top box came loose and despite so many masculine and mechanical minds, no one could manage to get it back on.  It’s a potential tragedy - the ice-cream, and accompanying raspberry coulis and toffee made it out in that little top box!  I strapped it to my lovely 750 Virago and after deciding that it really was too soon for another coffee we took off, me on my lovely 750 Virago, back to Canberra, where the intention was to stop at Tilley’s in Lyneham for a final beverage and farewell.

 We could have settled in for the afternoon at Tilley’s, but we had things to do, such as fixing the top box and other important matters. So the last of us trundled off home, me on my lovely 750 Virago.  Farewell Aunty Flip, we know you’ll be back………Good bye me little lovelies, if you’re not here again next week I’ll rip your bloody arms off!