RIDE REPORT - TANGAMBALANGA 25 AUGUST 2006

Saturday morning 25 August. The weather was spectacular – blue skies, no rain about 17 degrees Spring was in the air. Gibbo, Sandy, Foggy and I, (Fugue) met up at the Truck City FUP, where we had a chat, received our personal maps and brief that Gibbo had done up for us and we set off up the Hume towards Tambang. The reason that we were visiting Tambang was quite simple we had been invited and we never ever turn down an invitation. Friends of Gibbo and Sandy's , Rick and Fiona and their two boys live in Tambang and offered us a place to stay, a fire to warm our toes on and area to collapse after drinking much too much alcohol.

We had just passed the Ruffy turn off when a high pitched whistling sound could be heard and a blurred object filled my mirror for a millisecond prior to falling in to the riding formation with us. Fred had joined us for the ride up. He had recently burnt himself when working on his bike – he said something about the exhaust pipe - I have a sneaking suspicion that one of his jet turbines may have backed up from too much pressure, but anyway he was stoically soldiering on and incidentally was ensuring that he didn't suffer too much with liberal application of his own brand of medicine-handy little flask that it comes in too.

We stopped at Euroa for a few minutes and then continued on our way to Glenrowan where we met up with Roadkill and Murray and then we turned of the Freeway and continued inland towards Tambang. The scenery was truly stunning, rolling hills, the odd rolling cow and once on some gravel at an intersection, almost a rolling me( it's OK, no-one saw it so it doesn't count), anyway we got into Tambang just before dusk and we went straight to the pub, and that is about all I remember.

Nah, there was more, After a quick coldie to refresh himself Fred bid us all farewell and jumped onto his sled and returned to Ruffy solo and then Rick came down and led us to his house where we then set up our farters in the best appointed Shed known to Man and he and Fiona put on a barbie for us and we settled into an evening of good times and shedloads of laughter and the odd tube. We finished in the wee hours of the morning and then woke up to see Gibbo with a coffee for us in his hands and Rick and Fiona putting on a breakfast fit for kings (and the odd Queen). What a hard, hard life we lead. After identifying that there was something in the water at Tambang that gives you slight headaches and queasiness first thing in the morning – we ate our breakfast and then discovered that we were all well again and after warming up the bikles out the front of Rick and Fionas only long enough to have a negative impact on their house and land values and to ensure that they would never be bothered by neighbours for any reason - ever, we thanked them for the wonderful hospitality and left to burn our way down the freeway to home.

All in all – a great trip with and for the Patriots once again.

Regards

Fugue