Bathurst, NSW (June 2019)
Each year Australian Scooterists participate in the Motoretta Giro Internazionale. What is this Moto Giro you ask? Started in Italy, this is now an annual international event when groups of classic motorbikes and scooters get together worldwide for a ride of a different nature. It’s a regularity trial, not a race. Basically the objective is to ride three timed laps non-stop around a designated circuit and whoever does each lap in the most consistent time, wins. It’s harder than you think!
Prior to 2019 Steve and I had never participated in one before, but this year someone came up with a great idea to hold a joint ACT/NSW event in Bathurst around the Mount Panorama circuit. “Sounds fun – count us in!”, we said.
So Saturday morning on the Queens Birthday long weekend in June, wearing the warmest riding gear I could find, I jumped on my 1959 Lambretta LI125 to head to Bathurst with Steve. He was riding his trusty 1973 Jet200, loaded up with saddle bags. We were running a bit late leaving so didn’t meet up with the other small contingent leaving from Sydney. The route planned was via Windsor and Mount Tomah on the B roads, to avoid the roadworks on the alternative route through the Blue Mountains. Normally a 200km journey might take maybe 2.5-3 hours in a car, but we knew it would take us longer on our vintage scooters, even though we both have special kits and 5 speed gear boxes. Steve and I would be taking the most direct route whereas the other guys were opting for a more scenic version through the mountains.
Our ride started smoothly. It’s always heavy traffic getting out of Sydney at any time and we had to lane split as we approached Windsor. After we stopped at North Windsor for fuel, it started to get interesting. It got much colder climbing the winding roads into the mountains and it started raining. I was nervous on the wet and windy roads and slowed down, much to Steve’s frustration as he was tailing me. A much more confident rider than me, Steve wanted to go faster, so eventually he overtook me to get up some speed. Then he thought he’d better pull over to wait for me and in the process he skidded on the wet, managing to stay upright but doing a full 180 degree turn. As I approached him I couldn’t work out why he was facing me, so thought he’d pulled over because something was wrong. I decided to stop and braked too hard in the process, also skidding. Fortunately I, too, stayed upright!
After the brief excitement we stopped at Lithgow for more fuel (where Steve gave me a serve for going too slow) then we were quickly back on our scooters for the last leg to Bathurst. This section was much easier, less hilly, less rainy and with wider roads and an overtaking lane. Around four to five hours (and a slightly sore saddle) later, we pulled up outside The George Hotel where we were all staying, to see a few other scooters and Terry’s Lambro already parked up having timed their arrival just before us.
I was freezing after the wet ride and it was around 10 degrees Celsius when we arrived in Bathurst, so even though it was beer o’clock, first I needed a hot drink and a hot shower to warm up. Once defrosted, we hit the bar for a few drinks and chit chat followed by dinner. The food in The George Hotel was delicious but it was getting very crowded and noisy so we decided to venture out to find somewhere else to keep drinking. A few doors down we stumbled across a cute little hipster bar in the back of an arcade called Webb & Co. Some of us tried their inventive beer cocktails (which didn’t appeal to everyone) while I enjoyed a few cocktails and a Caramello koala shot or two. Much chatter and laughter ensued and before long it was gone midnight and we stumbled to our rooms since we had an early start the next morning.
Sunday was Moto Giro day. We awoke to see Bathurst was blanketed in fog and it was a chilly 4 degrees Celsius. First we need to fuel up then we headed up to Mount Panorama.
The fog hung around, although the sun was trying to come through and starting to warm us up. After the greetings (minus one very hungover rider who couldn’t lift his head off the pillow) and a bit of standing around, a few decided to go for it.
I jumped on my Lambretta and joined the first group doing the trial as Steve timed my laps. My plan was to take it easy around the first lap, especially on the top sections where it was still foggy – some of those turns are tighter than they look on the TV. My speedo needle wasn’t working for some reason, I think it was protesting about being too cold. So I couldn’t use my speedo to judge if I was sticking to the same speed at certain points around the circuit. On my second and third lap I had to guess my speed. It felt like I was getting faster on my third lap as I gained confidence so I slowed down. Not a good move, my timings were really close on the first and second lap but completely out on the third. I had no chance of winning but I’d had great fun riding the circuit.
Then I stood on the side lines with a couple of others and cheered the rest going around and timed Steve’s laps. At the end we all took a group ride around the circuit. We kept the speed down due to police speed cameras, the odd police car cruising around and Terry’s 3 wheeled Lambro setting a slow pace. Afterwards the winner was calculated (congratulations Nikki!) finally we all lined up in good spirits for a couple of group photos at this famous raceway track.
After a brilliant few hours riding around the circuit the sun had come out and it had warmed up so we ventured back into town to park our scooters up and find a late lunch. It was difficult finding a place that could accommodate us all at short notice – there were about 15 of us. When we did find somewhere unfortunately we stretched their service capabilities; lessons learnt – give notice and make a booking when you have a large group. After lunch we walked back to the hotel for a short rest before meeting back downstairs in the pub for late afternoon drinks.
As it was again really busy in the George Hotel that night we decided to book for dinner at Church Bar and Wood fire Pizza in the heart of Bathurst, a short walking distance away. Church Bar had a great atmosphere, converted from (you guessed it) an old church. Inside there is a bar serving all types of beer, wine and cocktails, with huge, melting candles and a DJ was pumping out a good mix of music. We sat outside in the beer garden under patio heaters, eating delicious wood fired pizza from their extensive pizza menu. Once the dinner crowd had left we moved inside where it was a bit warmer for more laughter and chit chat.
The next morning we had breakfast, loaded up and left at different times. Steve and I took the same route back along the Bells Road, stopping for a coffee along the way somewhere between Mount Tomah and Bilpin.
We were home around lunchtime, a little tired but satisfied we’d had a great weekend. We are definitely looking forward to the next one!