Melbourne Scooter Connection Rides
Monday, August 06, 2007
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Saturday, June 30, 2007
HART Instructed Toolangi Ride
The HART Instructed Toolangi Ride, was a special ride organised through Honda Australia Rider Training (HART) and the Yarra Ranges Council. This was the standard ride they put on for all motorcycles but they put on a special scooter one for us in their off season (since we missed the on-season ones).
The ride was brilliant! Standard MelbourneSC rides involve a bunch of scooters pointed in a general direction and, with luck and a lot of mucking around, most arrive at the destination. However on the HART ride, those that like to go fast, could without being concerned about loosing others, those that wanted to go slow, ditto. All everyone had to do on the ride is just enjoy themselves and enjoy we did. There were people directing all the way and even a backup van with trailer. It was an excellent day and although almost 30 scooters were on the ride, it went like clockwork. Even the 2 that missed the fluorescent clad directors were hunted down and returned to the group (and I heard even a passing scooter rider who wasn't on the ride was nabbed at one stage).
On top of the ride, everyone learnt some new road skills, in both classroom presentation and "on road" feedback. This made a great theme for the day and the way the ride was organised is was easy for us to put our new knowledge into practice.
We had regular catch up stops, including the Toolangi Pub (with BBQ lunch for $7), so we also got to socialise a lot more than normal rides.
It went so well that we are already planning on a few more training events!
Below are pics and links to more information:
Honda Australia Rider Training (HART)
http://www.hondampe.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/hondampe/Home/Motorcycles/Training+%26+Licensing+%28HART%29/About+HART/
Yarra Ranges Council
http://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/
HART Instructed Toolangi Ride
http://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Page/page.asp?Page_Id=1776&h=1
Motorcycling in the Yarra Ranges
http://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Page/Download.asp?name=Motorcycling_in_the_Yarra_Ranges.pdf&size=865583&link=../Files/Motorcycling_in_the_Yarra_Ranges.pdf
The ride was brilliant! Standard MelbourneSC rides involve a bunch of scooters pointed in a general direction and, with luck and a lot of mucking around, most arrive at the destination. However on the HART ride, those that like to go fast, could without being concerned about loosing others, those that wanted to go slow, ditto. All everyone had to do on the ride is just enjoy themselves and enjoy we did. There were people directing all the way and even a backup van with trailer. It was an excellent day and although almost 30 scooters were on the ride, it went like clockwork. Even the 2 that missed the fluorescent clad directors were hunted down and returned to the group (and I heard even a passing scooter rider who wasn't on the ride was nabbed at one stage).
On top of the ride, everyone learnt some new road skills, in both classroom presentation and "on road" feedback. This made a great theme for the day and the way the ride was organised is was easy for us to put our new knowledge into practice.
We had regular catch up stops, including the Toolangi Pub (with BBQ lunch for $7), so we also got to socialise a lot more than normal rides.
It went so well that we are already planning on a few more training events!
Below are pics and links to more information:
Honda Australia Rider Training (HART)
http://www.hondampe.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/hondampe/Home/Motorcycles/Training+%26+Licensing+%28HART%29/About+HART/
Yarra Ranges Council
http://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/
HART Instructed Toolangi Ride
http://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Page/page.asp?Page_Id=1776&h=1
Motorcycling in the Yarra Ranges
http://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Page/Download.asp?name=Motorcycling_in_the_Yarra_Ranges.pdf&size=865583&link=../Files/Motorcycling_in_the_Yarra_Ranges.pdf
Labels: HART, Melbourne Scooter Connection, Toolangi Ride
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Brisbane Ranges/ Meridith Sunday Ride
The Sunday ride was event free, except for the usually
lost sheep that happen on any long ride. Speaking of
sheep we managed to worry quite a few as we buzzed
past, bought a tear to Paul's eye.
Did anyone try the deep fired Mars Bar at Meridith?
Those that managed to keep to the map earned their off
road badges, with flecks of dirt to prove it.
Rubicon Cafe
Corner of Geelong-Ballan Rd and State Quarry Rd
Meredith Roadhouse
lost sheep that happen on any long ride. Speaking of
sheep we managed to worry quite a few as we buzzed
past, bought a tear to Paul's eye.
Did anyone try the deep fired Mars Bar at Meridith?
Those that managed to keep to the map earned their off
road badges, with flecks of dirt to prove it.
Rubicon Cafe
Corner of Geelong-Ballan Rd and State Quarry Rd
Meredith Roadhouse
Friday, November 24, 2006
Mountain Goat Scooter Run 2006
Mountain Goat Scooter Run 2006
Some review of the Mountain Goat run... text to come...
Mountain Goat Scooter Run 2006 Flyer
Lots of pics to come...
Mountain Goat Scooter Run 2006
Here are some videos of the run from Derek and Al
Here is a write up from Sharon - HOBART MOTOR SCOOTER CLUB
As ever, my trip to a scooter rally began with 300kms of riding to
reach the ferry for an overnight voyage. This time was a little
different as for part of the way I travelled with Ifan, on his LI
Lambretta. It wasn't slow either! After settling in to the cabin, we
hit the restaurant - and the red wine...
The next morning we were met off the ferry by Dave, an Arriba rider
I know from a couple of scooter forums I'm on. He guided us through
the unintelligible (to me anyway) Melbourne highway system, and set
us on the right road to meet up with the other Melbourne scooterists
at Yarra Glen. Some riders I'd met before, others I only knew from
the forums I'm on. Isn't the internet a wonderful place???
Our first stop after this was Yea, where we had the first breakdown
of the trip. It was... a Vespa! Albeit a tuned one. We couldn't
tease Ifan any more about his Lammy now! The Vespa recovered enough
to complete the trip, thankfully. It was a buzz riding with a large
group of scooters, but we had arranged to meet Jock, from Adelaide,
so we left the group and headed for Benalla. On the way we got
random breath tested. First time I'd been asked by a policeman to do
a wheelstand, perhaps he was a teenage boy in disguise?
Once we picked up Jock we continued on to Glenrowan, home of Ned
Kelly, and took pics of our scooters in front of the giant Ned Kelly
statue. After that it was straight on to Bright, and then over
Bogong Gap to our destination, Mount Beauty Holiday Centre in the
Snowy Mountains region of country Victoria. I found the Gap hard
work, all uphill until it was downhill again with loads of
switchback bends signposted 30 or 40 km/h. Character building!
That night we all sat around the campfire, after a barbeque dinner
provided by the centre. I was sharing a cabin with two Bolwell
scooter "girls"; others had similar accommodation or were camping.
As well as two riders from Tassie and one from South Australia,
Brett from Bega in New South Wales had beaten everyone to get there
first. The rest were from the Melbourne area. We all got stuck into
the alcoholic stuff; I had brought some special Tasmanian very
alcoholic cider with me which seemed to go down well!
The next day, once everyone got up, we rode over the Gap again to
Harrietville for lunch, on the way to Mount Hotham. I actually got a
lift in a ute as I was a bit tired (wimp, I know). The trip was made
a bit more exciting by us having to chase down three riders who had
gone the wrong way, flashing the lights and sounding the horn at
well past the speed limit! We had lunch at a pub in Harrietville,
under shade cloth that did nothing to protect us from the heat. Wind
chill factor can sometimes be a good thing! When we got back, some
of the blokes bared their chests and jumped in the waterhole at the
camp. Remarks were heard about beached whales! Later in the day we
had the slow race. Some people are VERY good at this!
In the evening we had dinner at the local pub, followed by some
awards, ably handled by Derek as the MC, once he could get everyone
to shut up for a minute! Congrats to the organisers for getting the
prizes, and indeed the rally, together. Top job! By this time, John
had arrived - riding from Melbourne on a vintage Vespa 90! Full
marks for persistence! (Although he did do the return journey with
the scooter loaded into the ute!)
Some people left the pub early, must have been past their bedtime,
while others hung on later for a drinking session with some locals.
At about 2 in the morning, after I'd gone to bed, some nutter woke
me (and no doubt the campers) by zipping around the tents on a
scooter for what seemed like ages. I've heard that it's just about
compulsory behaviour on a rally though! I was hoping for some nude
scootering myself...
The next morning was an even slower start, except for those early-to-
bed-ers, many of whom were away by 8am. Interestingly, it seemed
that those all seemed to be riders of the larger commuter scoots,
whereas us later risers were mostly riders of "traditional" style
scooters. Make of that what you will... the rest of us departed at
around 10am, with various petrol stops along the way and lunch at a
cafe in Mansfield, where a brace of large "spiders" were consumed.
After several run-ins with rude people in vans etc. one of our own
came a cropper, running off the road and hitting a tree. Thankfully
the driver was in the only car with us, not on a scooter, and he had
only minor injuries. This caused a delay in the Tassie contingent's
return to Melbourne and as a result they wouldn't let us board the
ferry home. Luckily Ifan was well organised for this sort of
emergency and had us booked into a hotel within minutes. An excuse
for Indian food and red wine, and the next day I was able to take
him around some scooter shops including Vespa House (Melbourne's
oldest Vespa dealer). We also visited Klaus Wolf's new venture, the
Retro Scooter Cafe, which has some lovely restored vintage scooters
on display as well as tasty food!
We returned to the dock for our ferry nice and early to make sure we
wouldn't miss it, and were among the first few to board. Another
overnight trip and we were back on Tassie's roads, Ifan returning to
his family early and myself another few hours away from home. To
celebrate my return, that night I went out with my sister for more
Indian food and red wine!
I would just like to thank the organisers, Paul, Derek & Richard
from Melbourne, and anyone else who had a hand in helping. Around 25
scooterists participated, and I believe, all had a good time. Now,
roll on the National Rally, 26th January at Mount Gambier, South
Australia! I should have the bugs cleaned off "Scootie" by then!
Some review of the Mountain Goat run... text to come...
Mountain Goat Scooter Run 2006 Flyer
Lots of pics to come...
Mountain Goat Scooter Run 2006
Here are some videos of the run from Derek and Al
Here is a write up from Sharon - HOBART MOTOR SCOOTER CLUB
As ever, my trip to a scooter rally began with 300kms of riding to
reach the ferry for an overnight voyage. This time was a little
different as for part of the way I travelled with Ifan, on his LI
Lambretta. It wasn't slow either! After settling in to the cabin, we
hit the restaurant - and the red wine...
The next morning we were met off the ferry by Dave, an Arriba rider
I know from a couple of scooter forums I'm on. He guided us through
the unintelligible (to me anyway) Melbourne highway system, and set
us on the right road to meet up with the other Melbourne scooterists
at Yarra Glen. Some riders I'd met before, others I only knew from
the forums I'm on. Isn't the internet a wonderful place???
Our first stop after this was Yea, where we had the first breakdown
of the trip. It was... a Vespa! Albeit a tuned one. We couldn't
tease Ifan any more about his Lammy now! The Vespa recovered enough
to complete the trip, thankfully. It was a buzz riding with a large
group of scooters, but we had arranged to meet Jock, from Adelaide,
so we left the group and headed for Benalla. On the way we got
random breath tested. First time I'd been asked by a policeman to do
a wheelstand, perhaps he was a teenage boy in disguise?
Once we picked up Jock we continued on to Glenrowan, home of Ned
Kelly, and took pics of our scooters in front of the giant Ned Kelly
statue. After that it was straight on to Bright, and then over
Bogong Gap to our destination, Mount Beauty Holiday Centre in the
Snowy Mountains region of country Victoria. I found the Gap hard
work, all uphill until it was downhill again with loads of
switchback bends signposted 30 or 40 km/h. Character building!
That night we all sat around the campfire, after a barbeque dinner
provided by the centre. I was sharing a cabin with two Bolwell
scooter "girls"; others had similar accommodation or were camping.
As well as two riders from Tassie and one from South Australia,
Brett from Bega in New South Wales had beaten everyone to get there
first. The rest were from the Melbourne area. We all got stuck into
the alcoholic stuff; I had brought some special Tasmanian very
alcoholic cider with me which seemed to go down well!
The next day, once everyone got up, we rode over the Gap again to
Harrietville for lunch, on the way to Mount Hotham. I actually got a
lift in a ute as I was a bit tired (wimp, I know). The trip was made
a bit more exciting by us having to chase down three riders who had
gone the wrong way, flashing the lights and sounding the horn at
well past the speed limit! We had lunch at a pub in Harrietville,
under shade cloth that did nothing to protect us from the heat. Wind
chill factor can sometimes be a good thing! When we got back, some
of the blokes bared their chests and jumped in the waterhole at the
camp. Remarks were heard about beached whales! Later in the day we
had the slow race. Some people are VERY good at this!
In the evening we had dinner at the local pub, followed by some
awards, ably handled by Derek as the MC, once he could get everyone
to shut up for a minute! Congrats to the organisers for getting the
prizes, and indeed the rally, together. Top job! By this time, John
had arrived - riding from Melbourne on a vintage Vespa 90! Full
marks for persistence! (Although he did do the return journey with
the scooter loaded into the ute!)
Some people left the pub early, must have been past their bedtime,
while others hung on later for a drinking session with some locals.
At about 2 in the morning, after I'd gone to bed, some nutter woke
me (and no doubt the campers) by zipping around the tents on a
scooter for what seemed like ages. I've heard that it's just about
compulsory behaviour on a rally though! I was hoping for some nude
scootering myself...
The next morning was an even slower start, except for those early-to-
bed-ers, many of whom were away by 8am. Interestingly, it seemed
that those all seemed to be riders of the larger commuter scoots,
whereas us later risers were mostly riders of "traditional" style
scooters. Make of that what you will... the rest of us departed at
around 10am, with various petrol stops along the way and lunch at a
cafe in Mansfield, where a brace of large "spiders" were consumed.
After several run-ins with rude people in vans etc. one of our own
came a cropper, running off the road and hitting a tree. Thankfully
the driver was in the only car with us, not on a scooter, and he had
only minor injuries. This caused a delay in the Tassie contingent's
return to Melbourne and as a result they wouldn't let us board the
ferry home. Luckily Ifan was well organised for this sort of
emergency and had us booked into a hotel within minutes. An excuse
for Indian food and red wine, and the next day I was able to take
him around some scooter shops including Vespa House (Melbourne's
oldest Vespa dealer). We also visited Klaus Wolf's new venture, the
Retro Scooter Cafe, which has some lovely restored vintage scooters
on display as well as tasty food!
We returned to the dock for our ferry nice and early to make sure we
wouldn't miss it, and were among the first few to board. Another
overnight trip and we were back on Tassie's roads, Ifan returning to
his family early and myself another few hours away from home. To
celebrate my return, that night I went out with my sister for more
Indian food and red wine!
I would just like to thank the organisers, Paul, Derek & Richard
from Melbourne, and anyone else who had a hand in helping. Around 25
scooterists participated, and I believe, all had a good time. Now,
roll on the National Rally, 26th January at Mount Gambier, South
Australia! I should have the bugs cleaned off "Scootie" by then!
Monday, October 23, 2006
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Mt Baw Baw Snow Run Part 1
More pics (part 2) and text to come...
Rubicon
Derek and Graeme
Petrol stop before lunch
Bryon's pride and joy
Al arrving at the summit
Julia
Rubicon
Derek and Graeme
Petrol stop before lunch
Bryon's pride and joy
Al arrving at the summit
Julia
Mt Baw Baw Snow Run Part 2
text to come later...
Melbourne SC chilling out on Mt Baw Baw
Lets make a snow man
Side Panel Snow Boarding
Standing around looking cool
Snow Scooting 1
Snow Scooting 2
Snow Scooting 3
Melbourne SC chilling out on Mt Baw Baw
Lets make a snow man
Side Panel Snow Boarding
Standing around looking cool
Snow Scooting 1
Snow Scooting 2
Snow Scooting 3
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Right Around Australia Charity Ride
Torsten and Ulick are riding around Australia with the aim of adventure and to raise money for the Cure for Cancer Foundation. Details of their journey can be found at www.rightaroundaustralia.com and also how to donate to the cause.
The MelbourneSC decided to provide a charity escort out of the city, where attendees were requested to donate to the Cure for Cancer Foundation to participate. Despite the short notice and changing dates, a gaggle of scooters turned up to take up the challenge (Paul, Derek, John, Julia, Stuart, Al and Peter).
The plan was to head West towards Perth, through the Brisbane Ranges and then one group splitting off to go to Perth (via Uluru) and the rest heading back to Melbourne.
We ended up on our own little adventure. Doing a tour of closed wineries, closed cafes and closed petrol stations. Until the inevitable happened, a few people ran out of fuel. We should have realized the road to Anakie (the small town near the Brisbane Ranges) was fraught with perils. It was an adventure though and we all had fun and wish we were carrying on to Perth also.
Packing up to leave (slightly narrower than a Gold Wing)
At the Rubicon, checking out the camera equipment
On the road to Anakie, speaking to a local Anakist
Al testing out his slicks on the dirt roads to Steiglitz
One of many dirt road shots for Torsten, Ulick (and Julia)
Twisty Roads
Julia misses her yoga but gains karma by rescuing some scooters
The MelbourneSC decided to provide a charity escort out of the city, where attendees were requested to donate to the Cure for Cancer Foundation to participate. Despite the short notice and changing dates, a gaggle of scooters turned up to take up the challenge (Paul, Derek, John, Julia, Stuart, Al and Peter).
The plan was to head West towards Perth, through the Brisbane Ranges and then one group splitting off to go to Perth (via Uluru) and the rest heading back to Melbourne.
We ended up on our own little adventure. Doing a tour of closed wineries, closed cafes and closed petrol stations. Until the inevitable happened, a few people ran out of fuel. We should have realized the road to Anakie (the small town near the Brisbane Ranges) was fraught with perils. It was an adventure though and we all had fun and wish we were carrying on to Perth also.
Packing up to leave (slightly narrower than a Gold Wing)
At the Rubicon, checking out the camera equipment
On the road to Anakie, speaking to a local Anakist
Al testing out his slicks on the dirt roads to Steiglitz
One of many dirt road shots for Torsten, Ulick (and Julia)
Twisty Roads
Julia misses her yoga but gains karma by rescuing some scooters
