A HA NDY RID E

By Tony Gray, Member #3905

We all know that riding and drinking do not mix – but what about another vice: Gambling?

Last year we introduced the club to the concept of the Poker Run. It proved very popular so why not make it a calendar fixture? The second iteration of this novel concept was adopted for the August Club Ride but with some very important changes to the rules of the game. The game of poker has several variants but the most common and popular allocates five cards to each player and the winning hand is determined by the highest hand on a hierarchy of card combinations. As applied to motorcycling the participants proceed along a set course stopping at several waypoints to collect their next card and thus complete their hand of five cards. This leaves open the opportunity for players to swap cards and improve their hand along the way. In order to give every player an equal chance the rules adopted for this year’s game were designed to prevent such card swapping. A ‘secret’ hand was chosen at random at the start of the day and sealed in an envelope for the day. The prize winner was the person having a hand closest to but ABOVE the secret hand. In the event that the secret hand was the highest then the prize winner was the person having a hand closest to but BELOW the secret hand. The prize was a $50 Bunnings Gift Voucher so high stakes indeed. We were lucky that the Covid 19 lockdown kept notorious Poker King Shane Warne in Victoria. Another variation this year was to have Tar and Dirt options for the ride but with each group passing the same waypoints to collect their cards. The different courses were trialled by a group of willing volunteers as was the chosen lunch venue at the Royal Hotel Kalbar. All received an emphatic tick of approval so we knew we were on a winner if Mother Nature played ball on the weather front. A healthy group (talking numbers here not endurance athlete standards) of 20 assembled at the BP Blacksoil on a cool sunny winters morning for which the Sunshine State is famous. Apart from a bit of breeze it was perfect riding weather. The start time was 8.30am for 9am departure so Jane and I as ride organisers ensured we were there early but clearly not early enough. There was already a solid group there when we arrived at 8.20am. We

Wow! Is that really the legendary Gray Ghost?

can only assume that others had wet their bed in excitement at what the day was to bring – a bit like kids on 25 December. The assembled bikes covered a good spread of BMW models from the K1600 to a R100GSPD, the regular two Triumph attendees of our esteemed journal editors and a Triumph Street Triple – are they breeding?

Everyone at the briefing was trying to work out how they’d cheat - none succeeded

The first leg took the group through Walloon, Rosewood and onto Merryvale where the group split with the Tar riders turning to Warrill View and the Dirty riders continuing on through Rosevale with about 6km of smooth dirt on the way to Aratula. The Tar group covered a short section of the Cunningham Hwy before heading into farm country on the single track Kents Lagoon and Muller Roads. We all arrived within a few minutes of each other to meet Steve Maney who had ridden down from the Sunny Coast and John Eacott who was ‘just’ out for a ride on his K1600 from the Gold Coast. What

do ‘normal’ people do on a sunny Sunday morning? The surprise at Aratula came from Phil Harding on his first club ride on his brand new R1250R who inadvertently followed the dirty group instead of the tar – I just assumed that was normal for a club ride to cover some dirt was his comment. I must introduce Phil to Merv Bone to set him straight. Phil had enjoyed the dirt even though the R now needed a wash but he swapped allegiance at that point to join the latte sippers.

Not called the Scenic Rim for nothing

Stage 2 was a short leg on Charlwood Rd to Haig Park at Moogerah Dam for the tar team while the dirt team took the longer route to the Dam via the unsealed Lake Moogerah Road. The picnic area is a very popular spot and on that day there were quite a few bikes to take our attention as well as some smart Italian Fiats and Alfas on a club run. We didn’t wait for the dirt team but completed our third and longest leg via Croftby and Coochin into Mt Alford as our third way point. The dirt team were meant to back track from the Moogerah Dam waypoint to the Lake Moogerah Rd then proceed down the unsealed Croftby Rd before completing the same loop via Croftby and Coochin into Mt Alford. The Croftby Rd is a delightful dirt road with only a couple of cattle grids requiring care due to restricted view lines. The tar team were surprised to be met at the Mt Alford waypoint by the dirty team who had covered a greater distance in a shorter time? Suspicions were aroused and it would appear that a GPS ‘glitch’ had turned off the section down to Haig Park – either that or the lunchtime ‘worms’ had started to nibble. The final leg took us from Mt Alford past the crowded Dugandan Hotel and the equally crowded Flavours Café (Boonah is fast becoming another

39 Canungra or Kenilworth) over the Hoya Road through Teviotville and onto lunch at the Royal Hotel, Kalbar. The Hotel staff had kindly accommodated the whole group on the terrace for lunch even though we had an additional 5 attendees. In fairness to the lunch venues we really need to be precise with our group bookings as the cafes/hotels are all operating on a reduced capacity and need to have all seats full to run at a profit in these tough Covid times. The final act of the organised day apart from eating a very good lunch was to determine the winning hand. The secret hand had been drawn by the 5 ladies in attendance – Cheryl, Kate, Anita, Cindy & Jane. They were very good at their task as the three 6’s they picked could not be bettered. Plan B was then enacted and the closest hand BELOW the secret hand was a pair of Aces held by Jack Abbott

who scooped the $50 prize pool.

A John Deere GS joined us for the dirt

There were a few things to be learned from the day. There are many great roads in the Fassifern Valley waiting to be ‘discovered’. There are a lot of club members who want to ride some dirt – there were about 25km of dirt on this route and would be classed in the very easy category. These roads are ideal for someone wanting to learn or improve their dirt riding skills. Stuart on the very street focussed Triumph Street Triple did the dirt without problem. Members are looking for the club to provide variety in the monthly rides – this was not a led ride as such but the two groups had no problems keeping together. If you have any suggestions for something ‘different’ or have a favourite road that is not well known then please let our Events Co-ordinator, Mark Mustchin, know.

We are already looking forward to next years’ Poker Run after the success of this day. Thanks to all for your enthusiastic attendance.