Once again there was only a fairly modest turnout for our run to Cape Jervis on Sunday 1st March, the first day of Autumn. Due to Murphy’s Law, the early start once again ensured mild and pleasant conditions. Historic machines were relatively very well represented with 6 of the 8 bikes in this category. In ascending order of machine age were:-
- Charles Oliver 1959 BSA A10R 650cc
- Darryl McWaters 1972 Kawasaki Z1 900cc
- Allan Vaisham 1975 Honda CB500T
- Campbell Blaney 1977 Triumph T140V 750cc
- Simon Scutt 1984 Yamaha FJ1100
- Alan Kernich 1985 BMW R80 800cc
Modern bikes were:-
- Wayne Williams 2008 Yamaha XVS 650
- Louis Peilschmidt 2019 Yamaha Tenere XT690
Graham Riley also attended the start at the Caltex servo at South Road, O’Halloran Hill on his 2016 Indian Scout 1200cc but due to other commitments was unable to ride with us.
We got off to a good start and had a very pleasant ride to our coffee stop at McLaren Flat via Clarendon. After a leisurely break we headed west through McLaren Vale and down to the coast at Aldinga. Along the esplanade down to Sellicks Beach and then back to the Main South Road towards Myponga. Across the reservoir wall then up and over the ridge before descending into Carrickalinga. Here we had a regrouping stop but it soon became apparent that the misfire earlier reported by Campbell had worsened to cause a complete breakdown. Louis generously volunteered to back-track and offer support which was later provided by the RAA.
Meanwhile the rest of us pushed on through Normanville and Delamere and on to Cape Jervis. From the lookout we could see quite a large number of vehicles in the ferry car park. The owners were taking advantage of subsidised fares to travel to the Island to support local businesses in the wake of the recent bushfires.
After a short break it was back on the bikes to fortuitously meet up with Louis at Delamere after his ride back from assisting Campbell. Then off via Parawa and Torrens Vale to Yankalilla Bakery for a well earned lunch. Here we noticed another delay in getting the whole group together there. After a bit of a wait we learned that Allan Vaisham had had a low speed fall at one of the T junctions. He was OK but the bike suffered a bit of damage to lights, mirrors and indicators etc.
Report by Alan Kernich, Club Captain