Farroad [Harold and] Maude Ride

[Taffey]

Come as your favourite Harold and Maude Character if you wish. A prize for the best character...

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Registrations now open on Ride Master.

Check-in point - Post Office Hotel, Maude (Maude Pub) located at
34°28'25.5"S 144°18'06.7"E.

Standard Farroad rides rules apply. Dockets showing your start date, time and location need to be presented at the check-in point (Maude) within the 30 minute window to be considered a qualified finisher.

24 hour runs cannot not start until 12:01pm the day before and 12 hour runs cannot commence until 12:01am on the same day, but rides can commence at any point within the 24/12 hour window in which the 11:30 to 12:00 noon falls.

You may finish your run at check-in or you can check-in part through your ride. All you need to do is finish the ride within the nominated time period.  For example, I will commence my 1000km ride at 4am on Saturday and finish around 7pm in the same day, checking in part way through my ride at Maude at 11:30am.

Everyone is encouraged to stop for lunch at the hotel to support this regional pub.

As I will periodically check this thread, any questions you have can be posted in replies to this post.

[Taffey]

Registrations for Maude Farroad Ride open in Ridemaster.

[Gateman]

Just registered.

[ZigZag]

I'm registered too. Just forgot to tell anyone.

[Taffey]

Same...

[Large]

24 hour runs cannot not start until 12:01pm the day before and 12 hour runs cannot commence until 12:01am on the same day, but rides can commence at any point within the 24/12 hour window in which the 11:30 to 12:00 noon falls.

 
[/quote]


But a starter from SA can start at 11:31 SA time as that puts me at a 12:01 start time NSW time.

[Taffey]

Same here!

[Langers]

Just registered. I'll be coming down from Cobar and intend staying the night at the Post Office Hotel.
Cheers Mark

[Taffey]

ZigZag and I will be staying in Euston if that sounds a plausible alternative.

[Langers]

Thanks Taffey, I've already booked and I suspect both towns would like a bit of cash spent so I'm happy to stay in Maude.
Cheers Mark

[Large]

I've just got back from the Maude NSW FarRoad event today at The Post Office Hotel.

4 riders showed up, Jeff, Dominic, Dave (taffey) and me. Not long after about 15 Harleys turned up from a HOG chapter from somewhere, but I digress...

I left home to a local servo with a start docket time of 02:54, out through the Adelaide foothills, SE FWY, Tailem Bend, Pinnaroo for fuel and into Victoria. Murrayville, to Ouyen, brief stop at Walpeup to shelter from some rain at the caravan park where a resident got up to have a chat and offered me a coffee. Crossed into NSW at Tooleybuc, Balranald for fuel, into Hay, and more rain, then back tracked to Maude for check in.

The Post Office Hotel is a nice pub and the people were very friendly and camping available out back if needed. Some nice meals on offer and this is from a pub in a town of just only 24 people. I'd go back.

Anyway, after lunch and sharing a few motorcycling "war stories", it was time for me to depart to return to Adelaide. Departed Maude, Balranald, Euston, into Victoria at Mildura and Back into SA at Yamba. took the road from Yamba down to Murray Bridge and back to the southern suburbs of Adelaide.

Back home at 19:45, with 1392kms for the day and a FarRoad 1250 done and dusted.

No matter how many FR rides you've done, something can always bite you in the ass, somehow, 2 LD riders almost came undone by being on the wrong time zone.... but all riders did check in on time!!

Bummer about the guys that could not make it due to road conditions in NSW.

Thanks Dave for organising, I had a great day all round.

[ZigZag]

  The first thing that struck me about the post Office Hotel at Maude was the cleanliness. A very well presented establishment and with delicious food and friendly staff who called me by my name for the whole time we were there. Definitely worth another visit.

I started 11;30 Friday SA time and headed south east with Taffey. No dramas along the Coorong and refueled at Kingston SE. Struck out east through Penola, Casterton and the National Smoke House Hotel in Coleraine for dinner and a nights accommodation. A great old pub that the owner and licensee is restoring. Still a bit of work to do but great to see someone having a go at bringing the place back to life. Great food and very friendly staff. We left at 5 am for Horsham but encountered roos and wallabies so for 2 hours it was 60kmh in the dark. Stopped at one point to don warmer clothing when one of us discovered his hotel room keys in his pocket. They shall remain nameless. Too far to go back, sort that problem later. Refuel at Horsham, toasted sandwich for body fuel and drain the human tank and we are back on the road. Taffey is confident we won't get rained on until close to Maude. Wrong, 10 minutes later there is some light showers but not enough to worry about. A moment of indecision about the route and Taffey heading in the wrong direction, sort of, I sent him a message. "Wrong w". With gloves on and no glasses it was the best I could do. Soon we were on the right track but Victorian C roads aren't the smoothest. Another stop for water and a comfort stop in the scrub and a realisation we were cutting things close. Taffey takes the lead through Swan Hill over the river and on to Balranald for fuel. Half the pumps are tagged not working and a gent almost backs over me in his Mercedes looking for a diesel pump. Tafffey has an issue with his fuel filler, the person behind the counter is on the phone, things are really looking tight. Then Taffey realises he is running on SA time. And we should be fine.We roll into Maude for the aforementioned delicious meal and some great conversation with Large and Jeff. After luch we headed for Euston for the nights accomodation at the 'Resort Club'. Which was a bowling club in a previous life by the looks of things. Then today rode home in sunshine through the Mallee to Adelaide. Overall around 1500 kms and a great weekend. Thanks for organising it Taffey and thanks Jeff and Large for the company.

Dominic

[Taffey]

We left Totness in style, not like a boomer on a Harley, more like an X'r with purpose in that kind of morning that makes you feel like anything is possible. The bikes hummed with quiet purpose, and the sky—washed in soft blues—seemed to approve. We had just under 500km to get to Coleraine, Victoria, and the road felt alive beneath us. There's something sacred about making hay while the sun shines—especially when you're chasing the horizon.

Our destination was the National Hotel in Coleraine, a 90-year-old country relic recently pulled back from the brink. Renovations were still in full swing—walls half-painted, character fully intact. We ate well, drank red wine that tasted better with each shared laugh, and told a few stories that were probably truer for how much we bent them.

We turned in early; not because we're old, but because the road waits for no one and kangaroos definitely don't.

"Don't be shy, just let your feelings roll on by..."

Morning came with a soft yawn of fog and the ever-present watch of the bush. Between Coleraine and Horsham, the ride turned tense—dozens of kangaroos and wallabies hopping through the shadows like forgotten thoughts. One wallaby misjudged the situation. I clipped him; my riding mate finished the job. It was sobering, and a reminder: life doesn't always dodge you in time. We dropped our speed to 60 km/h. Turns out that's the tempo at which kangaroos can figure things out. A strange sort of truce.

As Horsham woke, we pointed north, cutting through light rain and clear intention. My companion, ever the romantic lead, gave up pole position. It was a good move. We were up against the clock—needing to reach Maude by 11:30am South Australian time... which, thanks to a sneaky timezone shift, was actually 12 noon in New South Wales. Cue the scramble.

We rode like the wind had something to prove. In the end, we pulled in at 11:45am—1,000 kilometres in 23 hours and 45 minutes. Just inside the envelope. Just enough to matter.

"Well if you want to live high, live high. And if you want to live low, live low..."

From Maude, the tempo softened. We drifted to Euston and checked into a riverside cabin that didn't pretend to be more than it was—and that made it perfect. More wine, more laughter, dinner at the local sports club. The kind of evening that feels like it comes with a nod from Maude herself—reminding us that life's not about avoiding death, but fully living the bits in between.

Next morning, with no clock breathing down our necks, we chose the road less travelled. Through Robinvale, up to Ouyen, and on to the recently reopened Cobb & Co Café in Murrayville for lunch. It was the kind of day where time becomes a polite suggestion, and every little detour feels like an invitation.

We rolled back through Lameroo and Karoonda, hearts full and tanks slightly less so. The ride was behind us—but not the meaning we found along the way.

We didn't just ride. We rode with purpose. We rode with curiosity. We geocached here and there for no reason other than because we could.

"And if you want to be me, be me. And if you want to be you, be you..."

In the end, we weren't chasing distance. We were chasing the spark that Maude talked about—the irreverent, imperfect, beautiful mess of being alive.

And on that front, we found it.

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