Sixty plus people arrived in Bendigo at the “Park Lane Holiday Park” on Thursday 19th March with registrations beginning at 3pm. By 6:30pm that night we were all transported to the Bendigo RSL for the meet & greet at the VVAA Bendigo S-B’s shed in the rear of the RSL, where the ride briefing was done plus some information on the concept for the 2016 event. The night was extremely well catered for by the Bendigo sub branch with BBQ, salads & all the trimmings, & a few drinks consumed by all. Back on the bus & home by 9pm ready for the ride start in the morning.
Each day was organized with both road & trail rides so there was a good selection to choose from. Alma & I did some trail rides which was a bit different for us as we are normally on the road.
Bendigo was a great choice of venue because of the diversity of routes we could use. Don’t ever let anyone tell you its flat around here, I don’t think we were ever “not” on a climb of some sort either road or trail.
Photo Above: This is young “Bazza” ready to get on the road at the start.
Photo Above: A few of us trail riders enjoying coffee at Maccas.
There were 4 days of riding Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Monday with distances of approximately 80km for the road & 50km for trail rides. Saturday on the road, was, I felt the highlight, as we visited the Morris Minor museum just out of Harcourt. This was a beautiful spot up in the hills with a view out over the ranges (for those not interested in the Morries) & a great place for a coffee.
Some people are keen, this bike & outfit (above image) belongs to John Snelling from Adelaide. John rode all the way from there just to join us for Vetride 2015. Not only did he do the 4 days riding but when finished he was then heading for Ballarat & on up to Sydney on the bike!!
All the evening meals were catered for with coffee (courtesy Paul Beraldo) & Anzac biscuits (courtesy a few of the ladies) each morning to start us all off. We also managed to hold a small service in honour of the Afghanistan veterans on the Saturday night. (Welcome home to the “Operation Slipper” vets was held that day in the city)
A number of wives / partners came along & were driven around Bendigo to some of the major attractions for the day. All in all everyone had a great time.
Photos of the fantastic ride can be found at: http://gallery.kanda.fastmail.fm/#
VetRide 