Patriots Australia Townsville

• Home Hill 15 March 09, Sunday

After a few aborted attempts to get a run going this year we finally got some sunshine and met up at Cluden BP. Good to see some new faces, Rusty and Knackers came along for the ride and a few of our long suffering Nom's.
Due to the heavy rains of the past few months the state of the road wasn't too good and there was a lot of weaving and dodging going on but we arrived unscathed only to find that Pattie from the Crown Hotel Home Hill was away. Not to worry, we hooked into a few coldies.
Harry had ridden all the way from Mackay to say G'Day and it was great to see him there. Hopefully we will be able to get a Chapter up and running down that way so they can host the soft cocks that can't ride to Rocky in one hit on the June long weekend bash.
Having said goodbye to Harry we headed home stopping at the Giru International.

• Ravenswood 28-29 March 09, Sunday

Wires were corssed on the start time but the turn up was good. Rod came down to farewell us.
We headed off, about 12 of us in all, and made the slow procession out of town. Charters Towers road is long, straight and boring but the day was fine and the company good. Calcium flew by and then the Mingela range was upon us.
40 odd k's past Mingela we rode into Ravenswood, a reasonably quiet town with a couple of Pubs. We headed for the last one, The Imperial and parked up for a well deserved refreshment. Rooms were sorted, bikes parked around the back and the ale began to flow.
The feed was great and afterwards we had a little ceremony to remember our fallen Patriots and others.
There are stories of the old pub being haunted and I think that is why our Secretary snuck off just before 10 to hit the farter. Personally I don't remember any Ghosts but Lungers was sawing wood around 6am.
The plan was to get down to Mingela the next day and join in on their Sunday lunch, I had to get back to Townsville but it looks like Rod made it. Anyway, good run and thanks to those that attended.

Photo's Here

• Long Pocket 26 April 09, Sunday

Mort's Nom Ride

A great turn up for my nom ride we met at the Yubulu service station, Andy, John and Gaye, Mark, and Mick P.
The ride brief was short, all experienced pack riders which was a bonus for me as I was leading the pack we formed up and headed off I kept the cruise speed low due to the Honda's, Triumph's and Kawasaki who may have found difficulty keeping up to the Harley up front, the road was good with most of the pot holes repaired with minor works about 36 klms north.
The trip up was quite with little traffic and only had to pass a couple of times, during the ride up on the long stretches I caught sight of Andy's front tyre and was tempted to be my normal self and screw the throttle down, or was this a test by Andy of my road captaincy ?, I don't think a pass was would have been in order with the pack pulled over by the boys in blue and fines issued.
I successfully led the pack to Ingham and turned left, it was a top ride through the cane fields with some excellent corners and straights we arrived at Long pocket and parked up out the front, Cathy the proprietor met us at the bar and we downed a couple of bevies, Lunch orders were taken and as usual the burgers were huge.
We left the Ashton Hotel refreshed and full with Micky P in his rightful position as Road captain leading us back to Townsville, we arrived in Ingham and refueled at the BP Mick led us off and 200 meters down the road were the boys in blue with speed camera in hand but we cruised on through with out incident.
Thanks to Mick P for being my mentor and steering me through my Nom period and the camaraderie of the chapter during this time.

Photo's Here

• Forrest Beach 17 May 09, Sunday

We all met at Yabulu at 1000 hrs, after everyone had arrived and assembled, I conducted a quick brief to all members explaining the route to Forrest Beach on the way to Ingham we encountered a large amount of traffic heading to the Ingham Italian festival so it made it a little harder to keep the pack together. Lucky for us there were no candy cars around on the way and most of the pack had fun on some of the large sweeping corners of the road from Ingham to Forrest Beach.
Once we arrived the locals at Forrest beach were most welcoming. As I had found out on my recon a few weeks earlier the kitchen was still not complete as it was 12 months ago on the last ride there, which was someones Nom ride. But we just order our meals thought the Pub which was done by Bee By the Sea and had it delivered to the pub the burgers where of good quality. At About 1400 we made the move back to Townsville.
As we proceeded home we stopped in Ingham to get fuel. Then it was off to the Rollingstone Pub for a final few beers and to say our final goodbyes. I would like to thank everyone that helped me though my nom period and also a special thank you to John my mentor.

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• Meena Creek 04 - 05 July 09

We formed up after the ride brief myself and Deidre, Rod, Moy, Knackers, Rusty John and Gaye and Lungers a small but quality pack.
We got away as planned at 11.00 with perfect weather conditions but had to dodge numerous pot holes along the way, first stop was Cardwell for fuel a drink and a quick choof for the smokers.
Back on the road and headed north with little traffic to worry about so we were able to get along at a decent pace, we turned off at the Silkwood turn off to Mena creek, Rod led us through the cane fields and eventually reached the pub.
We were met by Cathy and Neville got the rooms sorted and parked the bikes at the back of the pub undercover in the beer garden. We settled in and downed a few jugs of well deserved cold ale and a few good laughs and conversation.
The evening agenda was set with a 60th birthday party, a send off for one of the barmaids and us, The food served was excellent and washed down with a few more drinks, after dinner we settled in for the night yarning with the locals and managed to hold the pool table at one stage 6 games undefeated not a bad effort as we had been on the turps since 14.00.
The next Morning we said our goodbyes and thanked Cathy and Neville for their hospitality and were welcomed back any time, a good time had by all.
The run back was not to bad a bit more traffic to contend with, we refueled at the Ingham BP servo downed a few pints of water as we were all pretty dehydrated after the night before, when we pulled out we caught up with a Police car heading south so we had an escort all the way back to Blue water, one Ford driver went to water and pulled off the road, so still under escort were able to get along at a faster pace, eventually we caught up with some slower traffic and was able to pass the boys in blue with out incident, a great time had by all.

Photo's Here

• Mingela 02 August, Sunday

On the ride calendar we were originally going to Charters Towers but due to family commitments and people working on the weekend it was decided we would postpone the run to a later date, Mingela was decided as a the alternate destination as there is always a good feed and cold beer available.
A quality crowd turned up for the run Mort, Deidre, Padre, John, Mark, Bear, and Cameron.
We departed at 11.00 sat on about 110k, not a cracking pace but able to take in the scenery for a change, the go fast boys left us at the bottom of the range to blow the cobwebs out but waited up the top to enable us to ride in as a pack.
A good turn out at the pub about 50 bikes all up, as usual a good feed and cold beer, a good run had by all.

Photo's Here

• Mareeba 29 August, Sunday

We had a good turn out for the ride to Mareeba, Rod, Moy, Padre, Mort, Peter, and Rowie, and were met at the show later by Deidre and Deb.
The ride up was great first stop for fuel at Cardwell and a stretch and re-align the back after travelling over the pot holes and lumpy bitumen between Ingham and Cardwell, fuelled and next stop Mareeba, we turned off at South Johnston and on to the Palmerston Highway and had a great ride up with some spectacular views and riding conditions with some great stretches of highway to blow the cobwebs out.
We settled into the accommodation and made our way to the bike show as a cold beer was in order, a lot of nice bikes at the show, from the Harleys, British to the Japs a lot of money and time spent to get them to the standard presented.
It was great to catch up with the Cairns Chapter and have a few beers with those guys and hopefully plan a joint over nighter in the near future.
The nights entertainment at the show was excellent, great burn outs by the Suzuki GS850 and a couple by a young fellars chook chaser, live bands with some great music played and even managed to burn some rubber on the dance floor myself.
The ride back was a little longer than anticipated quite a lot of traffic, Padre was riding at the back of the pack and got caught at some rode works, we continued on and waited at the South Johnston turn off after about 30 minutes still no Padre, Rod rode back towards Atherton to check for a broken down or lost Padre, the rest of us continued on to Tully to wait still no calls from our lost buddy in the meantime Rod was calling in every 30 minutes to see if we had heard anything.
Finally I made contact with Padre as he checked his phone for missed calls, Called up Rod who was now back at Atherton and gave him the news, some where along the line Padre made a wrong turn and managed to get on to the Gillies highway, and mistook riders up in front for us, eventually met at Tully and rode back to Townsville, Rod Hammered back by himself from Atherton, I cant remember who sent the email with members phone number and said we should place them in our phones for contact if needed a good idea for future rides.
A great time and ride had by all.

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• Tully 7th November 09, Saturday - Sunday

A good turn up for the run north Rod, Moy, Bear, Lungers, Mort, Bear, Knackered, Craig, Shakie VVMC, Cowboy VVMC, and Sinner VVMCA we all expected the worst as rain was forecasted north, Dryazabones were out of mothballs in preparation for the potential arse wetting.
We got away about 11.30 due to the late arrival of Bear and headed north we were lucky not a drop, the road up is still crap plenty of potholes and only minor repairs completed since the last wet so expect interesting riding as you head north next year, we refuelled at Cardwell and headed up to the Euramo pub to meet with the Cairns chapter, the Euramo pub was great, cold beer and a great atmosphere with bike friendly licensee’s Robyn and Greg who welcomed us back for an overnight run in the future and participate in burnouts as they have the Softail in the back room ready to go.
Robbo and Cheffo arrived from Cairns another beer and we headed off to the Kincora pub as a combined pack at a leisurely pace through the cane fields a great run up. We sorted the accommodation and headed up to the pub and met up with Proudy Cairns chapter Secretary.
It was a great afternoon and night with plenty of beers enjoyed, games of pool and people all speaking the same lingo it was good to have a combined ride with the VVMC and catch up with the Cairns boys.
The trip back to Townsville was steady as road conditions were damp with a few showers encountered as we headed back, a great time had by all.

Photo's Here