All iN A DAyS WoRK

By Tony Gray, Member #3905

Apparently we have Hipparchus of Nicaea, the Greek Astronomer from antiquity, to thank for the 24 hour clock. Through his observations of the movement of the moon, sun and stars he divided the day into 24 equinoctial hours, based on the 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness observed on equinox days. In modern times we roughly divide the day into 8 hours for sleep, 8 hours for work and 8 hours for play. However in motorcycling terms the 8 hours reserved for play is never enough so we ‘steal’ a bit from those other areas. So was born the concept for the Sunrise to Sunset ride successfully staged on 4 September. Leading up to the ride day, Club historian and life member Gary Bennett, reliably informed me that the club had once actively participated in the Ducati Owners Club 6 to 6 ride (a similar concept), such that the BMWMCQ eventually took over the running of the event from the DOCQ. As an owner of an old Ducati Bevel Drive L twin I cannot understand why the DOCQ would have contemplated running an event that required riding in the dark – electrics were never a strong suit for the bikes from Bologna in the 1970s. I consulted another oracle of club history who just so happens to live on a mountain top, Ron Durkin. Fortunately modern electronic devices gave us the means of communication precluding the need for me to ascend the mountain to consult this oracle.

There had been a question mark raised by Gary as to whether the 6 to 6 ride was linked to another classic ride of the 70/80’s, the midnight to dawn ride. Peter Ferguson made mention of that event on a recent club FB post but Ron assured me that the two rides were very much separate events even though they were run concurrently for a number of years. Maybe our editors can ‘lean on’ Peter or Darryl Gowlett (also heavily involved) for a story on that particular event – I am sure it must have had many colourful episodes to relate. Let’s get back to Ron’s background to the previous 6 to 6 ride: It was originally staged and planned by a collective of three clubs – the Historical MC Club of Qld, British Singles MC Club and Classic MC Club of Qld. Ron still holds the perpetual trophy bearing the names of those 3 inaugural clubs. The event was picked up and run by the Ducati OCQ and then about 1981 was taken over and run by the BMWMCQ. This was a timed navigation trial. Riders were sent off in pairs every 30 seconds and the field was limited to 120 bikes. The event was complex to plan and run and included a catered lunch along the way. Ron recalls the ladies auxiliaries at Kalbar and Kenilworth Showgrounds being used during the years he managed the event. The planning took up about 9 months of the year and many work hours for the organisers. Despite the logistical imposts the event spanned 3 decades. Remember too that there were no GPS devices in play – I wonder how many of today’s GPS dependent riders would make it to lunch if similar self-navigation rides were to be staged today – don’t worry, I have no intention of putting that little muse to the test.

The 6 to 6 Perpetual Trophy

Roll on to the year of 2020 which is best remembered as the year that Covid 19 broke out of China and severely affected the life and livelihood of most Homo sapiens living on this planet. It is also remembered for the severe rain event that washed out our first attempt at a sunrise to sunset ride in July. The Ravensbourne Range claimed another victim. Planning for the 2021 edition, we excluded the Ravensbourne Range from the route (no superstitions here!) and moved it later in the year to early spring. That time of year had the sun duration spanning approx. 12 hours from 5.30 am to 5.30pm. Normally when route planning, we like

to test ride the intended route to ensure that all of the roads are still in the same place that Google Maps and/or Garmin Basecamp tells you they are. In the case of the S to S ride which covered over 500km this was not possible in the weeks leading up to the event. We therefore relied on some wellknown paths sprinkled with a bit of blind faith and a wet finger pointed towards the breeze.

Our Beautiful Brisbane

Getting ready to Rock ‘n Roll

The most important part of the plan was to fix the start and end points and then play around with the middle bit. Mount Coot-tha is a lay down misere as a start point with the best view across an awakening city. Last year we had planned on finishing at the Mt Gravatt Lookout but that required some suburban riding. The chosen alternative this year was a little gem on Mt Glorious called the Westridge Outlook. As the name implies the views from this vantage point are to the west of Brisbane over the D’Aguilar ranges so an ideal spot to see the last rays of the sun give way to the night sky. The weather forecast was for mild conditions with the possibility of early showers so nothing to deter us hardy motorcyclists. Jane and I are only a short distance from Mt Coot-tha and arrived not long after first light to find eight eager souls already in attendance. The roads were a bit damp from some early morning showers but that was it for the day. Perfect riding conditions unfolded.

The sunrise was impressive with a little cloud and some light mist adding texture to the panoramic view before we mounted up for a short ride through the western suburbs to a popular café at Anstead for breakfast. ‘The Reserve’ has been used by the club several times now and the food and service never disappoint. ‘The Reserve’ reserves the side veranda for us which is a bit cramped but allows a clear view over our steeds gathered in the carpark. The first changing of the guard happened at breakfast with Michael departing, Steve catching up just for a feed and Andrew & Ezra joining us for the rest of the day. Ezra had been on the club mid-week ride in August so this was his second ride with the club on his Africa Twin. A new membership awaits for Ezra.

The Reserve

We had a rough handle on the timing of the different stages for the day to keep us on track with some time to spare to keep our 5.35pm appointment with the sun. Some people do like a chat however so the breakfast banter extended a bit longer than planned but everyone was in a happy place so no problem lingering a little longer. Stage 2 to morning tea stop still had a few whiskers on it as our chosen venue at the beautiful ‘Spring Bluff’ Café had closed requiring an 11th hour rethink. The German Bake & Wurst House at Helidon Spa looked to fill the bill as an alternative. It is in the same geographical area but it would prove to be more of a route challenge than first appeared. The Toowoomba By-Pass Toll road has cut a swath across that part of the Lockyer Valley and confused the various mapping systems. Google Maps shows an underpass into Helidon then a back road to Helidon Spa. Garmin’s Basecamp said there is no underpass and the only access into Helidon Spa is via the new A2 toll road and a loop back to join Postman’s Ridge Road. In reality they were both right and wrong. Yes there is an underpass into Helidon but no, it does not lead to Helidon Spa. A scenic loop around downtown Helidon on a Saturday morning did not present any traffic snarls, then it was back onto the A2 and loop around to find our morning tea stop. The German Bake & Wurst House is a hidden Gem and I mean hidden. It is well screened in the trees and it is easy to miss their small sign – Jane and I have been past several times previously and didn’t know it was there. It was worth the effort though as it is in a nice open homely environment and serves what the name implies – German baked pastries and wurst. Our members tried both and neither disappointed.

Wurst or Strudel

The sniff of wurst was too much for editor Duncan to resist as he and Cindy joined us fresh from their bike trip to the tip of Cape York. Bruised, blistered and sleep deprived this was truly a herculean effort to sample a wurst. With Cindy & Duncan relating tales from the wild north the ‘linger a little longer’ held sway once again as we were late away on Stage 3 to the Bunya Mountains for lunch. We did a little detour into Spring Bluff for a peek at the colourful gardens for those on their first visit. We were greeted with an overflowing carpark and temporary pavilion full of the ‘beautiful people’ no doubt enjoying a function associated with the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers.

Not for the first time that day we did a quick U turn and headed back out to Murphy’s Creek Road. These U turns are pre-planned into every BMWMCQ run as a skills enhancement exercise. We had planned to fuel up at Highfields and were presented with fuel prices pushing $1.80/L for ULP and ‘gulp’ for PULP. This was another example of price gouging during the very busy Carnival of Flowers by the Petro Giants. Our route cross country picked up Steve M. at Goombungee where he had ridden from the Sunny Coast, before a nice spirited ride up the Bunya Mountains on the tar from near Kaimkillenbun.

High on a Bunya Hill

Mark G. also joined us from the Sunny Coast for lunch at ‘Poppies on the Hill’ where ensued a lunch of Pythonesque proportions. It was so funny you could not get upset as the harried staff tried to accommodate a lunchtime crowd that was beyond their expectations – we had booked but that was largely irrelevant. The son/grandson of the owners – let’s call him Manuel – delivered toasted sangers to Steve and then whisked them away just as quickly under instruction from Mum before Steve could deliver a lethal bite. A piece of carrot cake couldn’t be given away so was just left in front of me before Manuel was given a metaphorical clip behind the ear from Mum and relocated it to another table. The iced teas arrived after having been turned down by 4 other tables and so it went on much to the amusement of all. Needless to say, when we had all been fed and watered the timetable had gone out the window. A collective decision was made under burgeoning waste lines to jettison the planned afternoon pie stop at the Blackbutt Bakery and push on to the finish post.

Fawlty Towers on the Bunyas

Two horsepower at Bunya

The run down the north side of the Bunyas’ to Kumbia was fun where we turned down past Tarong Power Station to Yarraman. Then it was onto Blackbutt and a 2nd refuelling spot at the United Servo outside of Moore. This was the farewell stop for a few of our riders with Mark & Donna, Steve, Mark G & Craig all leaving the group to head off to their north-side destinations. That left Paul H, Paul J, Andy, Ezra, David, Richard, Jane and me to carry the baton to the finish line. As we prepared to pull out of the servo I checked the ‘time to destination’ on my GPS which showed 5.35pm – sunset hour. I was once again reminded of the classic line from the Blues Brothers Movie – “There’s 106 miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark out, and we’re wearing sunglasses”. The ride to Westridge Outlook was ‘spirited’ with the sun dropping like a stone in the west and the ‘time to destination’ on the Garmin getting shaved minute by minute. Notwithstanding the

best efforts of some Bozo in a pimped up Hyundai Speedbump on the climb up the Northbrook Parkway we still managed to arrive at 5.30pm with a full five minutes to spare. There to meet and greet us were Charlie, Geoff & Ellen and new acquisition Benji the dog. The sunset was truly worth the effort to get there in time and all the smiles were an indication of the enjoyment of those who had achieved the goal. Extra credit to the six who were there at the start and finish – Paul H, Paul J, David, Richard, Jane and yours truly. It was a very enjoyable ride day and one that I hope we can repeat next year – maybe the start of another club tradition.