Girder Fork Rally, Cooma

On the 23rd, 24th& 25th of October 2009 Cooma held their 14th annual Girder Fork Rally, and it was good to see a very strong attendance of Victorian classic club members. On Tuesday the 20th I left for Melbourne and stayed the night at Neal Videans so first thing Wednesday morning we could be on the road. It was a little overcast as Neal and his partner Nok and I headed north, by the time we arrived at Yea for a coffee the sky had cleared. The next stop was Beechworth at the famous bakery, as we were standing at our bikes and older gentleman was really giving them the once over, he asked are they your bikes, I felt like saying, no, they belong to the lady down there in the tennis dress, but I thought best not be cheeky, then he asked are these genuine originals or the copies they are now making, I pointed to mine (1950) and said that is 2002, then pointed to Neal’s HRD (1947) and told him that's a later model its 2008, I thought so he replied, didn't think they were the real ones and walked off quite happy with himself, good one Burger ,Neal replied certainly roped him in. After a good day's riding Corryong was a welcome sight, next morning on the road again early, travelling some magnificent roads to Cabramurra then on to Adaminaby for lunch at the Snow Goose hotel, they were the biggest and best hamburgers we have ever had, I must point out that Nok has never seen snow and a couple of days before we left, on TV were some scenes of a snow blizzard somewhere in Europe Neal pointed to the TV and said that is Cooma, poor Nok was terrified of what may be coming and was wearing enough clothes for about three men, It wasn't  long and we arrived at Cooma. The next day was Friday and the club had a short ride in the afternoon to Nimmitabel where we had afternoon tea and a wander around an old town, Friday night the club had organised a barbecue at the motel that everyone was staying at, it was a good time to get to meet everyone. Saturday was the big ride, there were 50+ entries the oldest bike being a 1928 AJS, cut-off date for bikes being 31/12/1947, my bike was classed as a modern, allowed entry because of girdrolic forks, but not allowed to be judged. We had all gathered in the car park rear of KFC for a 9/30 start, the last to turn up was Phil White on his Indian with the police siren going (that was a real crowd pleaser). There was a long ride (227Kms) & a short ride (176Kms) both ending up at Lake Eucumbene for a great lunch, and that is where the bikes were judged. Saturday night there was a dinner and presentation night at the Alpine Hotel; I must comment this was an excellent venue. As the presentations were handed out it was great to see a couple of them came to the Victorian classic club, Stan Mucha winning best 1940/1948 bike and John Fontanella winning People's choice. Sunday morning was a shorter ride (70Kms) out past Numeralla for an absolutely splendid morning tea, I’ve never seen such a quantity and variety of food at a rally as Sundays morning tea, then back to Cooma, it was time to pack our bags, on our bikes and head home. This time Neal, Nok and I were coming back through Gippsland, before we left Cooma I asked Neal do you think we are going the right way? the sky was black looking towards Bega, he asked me had I lost my spirit of adventure and by the time we got the Bega if I had one it was well washed away. After a hot coffee and ringing out our gloves etc back on the bikes and heading south, about 10 minutes down the road it was dry, even the road was dry as we headed for Cann River our riding gear was drying out in the wind, but I knew it was too good to last and about 15 Kms before Cann River it just poured, I didn't think clouds could hold so much water. Thank goodness the Hotel had a log fire as we spent about three hours drying all our gear, we had jackets, trousers, helmets, gloves all hanging over the backs of chairs etc drying out. Next morning there was just enough drizzle to be annoying as we headed towards Orbost, we stopped at Bruthen for coffee and a bite to eat, Neal asked do you want to spend a couple of days getting home or keep moving today, my answer was immediate, let's keep going, we stopped at Yarragon for lunch, by then I had Ballarat in my sights arriving home about 4:30 PM. It was a great ride and a fantastic rally so well organised and catered for, by the time I arrived home we had covered1346 miles (2155Kms) and we are looking forward to next years event.

Burger