It is 8:30ish at Catalano’s in Victoria Park… No booming Bozo sermon that usually includes a few gems and an overview of the days ride. What? There was a scramble to find a ride leader and Tail End Charlie. No luck. Who knew?
I reluctantly agreed to lead the ride to Bean2Brook at Pickering Brook and from there every man for himself…
Tail-end-His Royal Griceness took on the role as himself and trailed twelve or thirteen, or thereabouts, riders to the Bean2Brook cafe in Pickering Brook. After a good run up the Darling escarpment on Welshpool Road East, we rolled into the cafe within about thirty minutes.
The boys decided that a thirty minute ride was just not enough. We agreed to continue on to the Gidgegannup Bakery and Cafe. We eventually made it northbound on Bunning Road which meets the Toodyay Road right at the bakery. Along Bunning Road, between Trimble Road and Askrigg Road, five large kangaroos crossed from the in front of me. I slowed, wondering if any more would follow and scanned the fence line to my left. There was a row of jarrah and marri trees and bushes along the fence line and there, hopping along next to me across the fence, were more roos. I slowed as those too leapt the fence and crossed in front of me. By now the bikes were all closing behind me… I looked again to my left and there in the paddock were at least another fifteen or twenty roos. I may be embellishing that a bit but others can add detail. Who knows, one of the riders might embellish the numbers even more - maybe a veritable paddock full of kangaroos… That is the most roos I have had cross in front of me in quite a while.
The Gidgegannup bakery parking looked quite crowded so took our group across the Toodyay Road to the additional parking on the north side of the cafe. Again, reluctance by the boys to call it a day and go and feast on a Gidgegannup pie and coke. After some standing around, chatting and wondering why the ride leader was such a wimp and already wanting to call it a day, we agreed to push on to Toodyay and then to Bindoon for lunch. Now that is more like it…
The ride to Toodyay took us along Lovers Lane, River Road and a by-pass around the main street. A few of us took on fuel and we then pushed on…
The ride to Bindoon saw us take the Bindi-Bindi-Toodyay Road, Dewars Pool-Bindoon Road across to the Great Northern Highway and south a few kilometres. The Bindoon Bakehaus & Cafe had its usual great selection of food. We crammed the team, twelve or thirteen riders, or maybe less, around a couple of tables and enjoyed the break.
Surely the boys were now satiated and were ready to head home. It was, after all, mid-day and time for a nap… I suggested that if they headed southward, the Great Northern Highway would soon open up into a freeway back to Perth. But NO, this group of riders wanted more riding. After some discussion we agreed to head westward to Gingin along the Mooliabeenee Road, then onto the Dewars Road, then a short excursion along the Brand Highway and then westward to Indian Ocean Drive.
We headed off and had a pleasant ride to Gingin and then westward along Gingin Brook Road. Before hitting Indian Ocean Drive we turned south on Military Road and within about 4 km turned east onto the Gravity Discovery Centre and Observatory access road.
We were welcomed at the centre and managed to get the resident physicist to give us a private guided tour of the Foucault Pendulum and associated swinging and bouncing stuff as well as information on the observatory and associated events. Very informative and entertaining.
This photo, taken 20 years ago...
And this one taken with the riders on this ride.
There is a one kilometre long (I may be making-up the length) rubber pipe coiled next to the entrance. Both ends of the pipe terminate at the same location and within 50 cm of each other. Years ago you could speak into one end and then listen for your voice to return on the other end some seconds later. Today they have a drum skin across one end. Presumably since COVID it is better to tap out a message on one end instead of speaking into it.
The last time I took a group of club riders to the Gravity Discovery Centre was in 2006 - 20 years ago. At that time I took a photo of some of the riders in the coil - they included His Royal Griceness and an old club riding mate Paul Keller.
This photo, taken 20 years ago...
And this one taken with the riders on this ride.
The Gravity Centre would be a terrific place to go with family. They have night sessions at the observatory where you can look at the planets and stars. Choose a new moon night to observe these celestial objects. On a moonlit night the moon would be the only good viewing option.
At the conclusion of our session with the University of Western Australia physicist, we made our way back to the bikes for the last leg of the ride. We continued south on Military Road and then turned south on Indian Ocean Drive. The group then stopped just short of the Romeo road turnoff that takes you onto the northern end of the Mitchell Freeway. We re-grouped and from there we headed our separate ways home. I made it home by 4 pm. That six hour ride started as a thirty minute ride to Bean2Brook.
Many thanks to Tail-end His Royal Griceness and to the terrific group of riders on this Bean2Brook Sunday Ride.
This is the first club ride I have led in many years. A most enjoyable ride.
Thank you...
Raider
Editing: courtesy spacey...