Canberra Ride Saturday 28th January 2006

Canberra 2006 - A Memorable Experience

Riders from around Australia will descend on Canberra on Saturday, January
28 to draw public attention to the need for car drivers to be more aware of
motorcycles on Australia's roads. Thousands will join former Deputy Prime
Minister John Anderson, Speaker of the House of Representatives David Hawker
(on the Melbourne Ride) and other political and celebrity riders who are
calling on car drivers to look out for motorcyclists.

The main ride will assemble in Canberra at a road closure on the Federal
Highway from 11.30am. At 1pm the assembled throng will head off for a ride
through city streets to the lower grassed area of Federation Mall (near Old
Parliament House) for a public gathering and speeches.

A Little Bit of Motorcycling Magic

Organiser Bikers Australia has arranged to bring a little bit of
motorcycling magic to this awareness ride. Famous for its Brass Monkey Rally
on the outskirts of Lithgow in May each year, it plans to bring elements of
this rally to the grassy confine of Federation Mall so that there will be
heaps of fun, rally awards, water on sale and things to look at as well as
listen to the speeches.

"This will be a memorable experience to be part of the mass ride into the
heart of Canberra. Along with the important message of `Look out for Bikes',
the excitement will continue as motorcyclists from all over Australia mingle
and check out the displays and trade stalls"
-Noel Andrew, National President

Where to Join In

Riders are encouraged to obey local road rules as they head to Canberra
direct or join one of the informal rides organised by riders to join from
the North, West and South:

Melbourne : Leave Elizabeth St. at 10am Friday, January 27.
Contact Damien Codognotto OAM on 03 9846 8621 for more information.

Orange : Meet at 7.30am at Sam Laws Motorcycles to leave at 8am Saturday,
January 28.

Sydney : Leave Uncle Leo's Roadhouse, Hume Hwy. The Crossroads at 9.30am
Saturday January 28.

Canberra : Leave 1pm Federal Highway Watson, Saturday, January 28.

Sponsors and Supporters

Bikers Australia is appreciative that Harley Davidson has come on board as a
primary sponsor of Canberra 2006 and that the event is now supported by
Motorcycling Australia. Other sponsorship and support details are expected
be announced soon. Any and all profits from Canberra 2006 will be donated to
the Celebration of Australian Motorcycling for its ongoing motorcycle
awareness activities.

Regards Leon

RVT1000r-RC51

 

Ooopsies you guys have been advertising 1.30 everywhere else...

See you there

JL
04 Matte Black Cagiva X Raptor (I doubt there'll be more than one or two
there, mine will be the grubby one with the gearsack rack)

 

Heh, I was wondering where all the bikes were going in the opposite
direction to myself. Serves me right for not reading the newsgroup for a few
days
DavidR

 

Well it was kinda interesting - about 5-10,000 bikes I'm guessing ? (4
wide for as far as I could see in both directions - at least a couple of
km each way). Not as many as 01 though. They did have drinks for sale at
parliament house this time (yay) but they didn't have any food so
everybody hung around for about 1/2 an hr and then buggered off

JL

 

FWIW, one of the police on point duty at Parliment House said that they
had estimated around 2,500 for the ride through Canberra.

Rumour was that the local Lions Club was organised to provide food (as a
fundraiser of course), but pulled the plug at the last minute.

A 36 deg day, and no entertainment (unless you like heavy-metal bands)
didn't help either.

 

I wasn't real impressed with the organisation - was expecting that since
there was a police escort, they'd have blocked off the sideroads and left
the lights green all the way - would have turned an hour of start-stop and
insane amounts of overheating bikes into an enjoyable 20 minute ride..
Would have been nice if they'd thought about advertising it too - there was
what? max 50 people on the side of the road watching? if that.. Our group
hung around for 30 mins or so, then decided the aircon back at home sounded
better, so we all headed off back to the Castle.

Oh well, on the upside, we had 25 canberra ocau.mc'ers turn up for the
event, which surprised the heck out of us - didn't know we HAD that many
guys here

Speaking of drinks, I've never seen so many happy people as when I opened
the top box on the beemer, and the ocau'ers (and a few others who'd parked
close by our group) discovered the two slabs of solo packed in with ice in
there .. Also discovered a design flaw in the beemer rear fairing - sure,
it'll take > 100kg of DOWN force, but there's nothing stopping the top rear
fairing from flexing and lifting a good 10-20cm.. So I spent last night
fibreglassing up the rear fairing, and attempting to putty and respray it..
Then discovered that the 'marine polyurethane paint' the previous owner used
isn't compatible with primer, spray putty, enamel, or acrylic.. So tonight
it's 80-grit and the palm sander, and the whole rear fairing comes back to
fibreglass, then back to the 400-grit, primer, putty, and new paint... sigh!

Pics from the ride:

http://castlepantsoptional.net/gallery2/v/ocau/2006/awareness/

Cheers,

DG
'84 K100RT

 

And the Canberra times estimated 15,000.... split the difference ?

JL

 

Yeah, well on the one hand they did better than last time - they did at
least have cold drinks for sale, on the other hand in '01 they did
manage to get the lights sync'd and the word out ('01 had a lot of
spectators).

Like you we stayed about a half hour and then left - if they'd had those
BBQ's churning out sausage sandwiches we'd have stayed longer. Hadn't
eaten all day so by 3pm we were getting hungry, and it was pretty hot.

JL

 

According to Greg Hirst:

"At the road closure the police gave up counting as there were so many
bikes.Estimates range from 8,000( Dr.Brendan Nelson) to 10,000 plus (
Noel Andrew Bikers Australia) bikes. With pillions that means somewhere
around 15,000 although many stayed in the shade and only a small number
ventured down to the stage area."

The federal police have not yet released an official estimate. The 2,500
came from one of the motorcycle police handling road closures at the site.

In light of the information from Grep Hirst, the 2,500 estimate sounds a
little low.

David

 

Oh and here's some pics of the Raptor and EskimoBob on the R1 (thanks
Damien for the link and the pics)

http://castlepantsoptional.net/gallery2/v/ocau/2006/awareness/P1282785.JPG.html
http://castlepantsoptional.net/gallery2/v/ocau/2006/awareness/P1282786.JPG.html
http://castlepantsoptional.net/gallery2/v/ocau/2006/awareness/P1282787.JPG.html

The girlie wisely had the visor closed so you can't cast nasturtiums
about her mug

JL
(I didn't, but at least half the face was covered

 

Well it was bloody hot near the stage and sod all reason to go down
there* !!

FWIW I'd reckon the 8-10K number sounds right, I'm very skeptical of
2500 - I could *see* roughly that many people and the queue went out of
sight in both directions. But hey, I didn't count them !

JL
*(bought half a doz drinks (2 ea.) wandered around the 4 other stalls,
retired to the shade)

 

~
Half your fingers too!
Maan you look righteous in them gloves John....

 

Maaan, they're really kewwwwlll...

JL
(when it's 30 something degrees and you're doing 20Km/hr in first gear,
I'm willing to take the risk