Danny Vits– R1100S Rhys Williams – ZX7R Jon Riddett –SZR660

Terry – VFR800 (1^st ) Kevin – VFR800 (1^st) Ian Payne – RF900

Bernie – VFR800 (1^st ) Barry Pritchett – TRX850 Ian McFarlane – Vmax

John Moore & Francine –Bandit1200

Darryn Webster– GSXR750 (leader)

Trent & Heath Brinsley – FZR250 (rear rider) 17 people, 15 bikes, 10 members.

Darryn gave the pre-ride talk and Wayne explained the corner making system to the newer riders while Trent made the hard decision of volunteering for rear rider. He thought with his brother on the pillion seat the little FZR may be struggling. Then when he was given the emergency kit he knew he would be struggling just to fit them all on the bike! But Dave Ward to the rescue, he offered to pillion Heath on the Kawasaki ER5 loan bike he was riding and boy was he "RIDING" it!

We left Hallam and headed to Harkaway and Upper Beaconsfield then the fast flowing roads up and into Cockatoo. Out to Yellingbo where en-route, a line of slow moving cars hampered our progress. Danny then attempted to overtake and found a car turning right across his path!

Across to Silvan at a relaxed pace as one of the locals had warned "tell your mates there’s coppers down the road with a speed camera", though we didn’t actually see one until Emerald! Through Monbulk then a stop at the Emerald bakery for morning tea.

This was Darryn’s first ride as leader and the thought & planning he had put in was showing through with no wrong turns or fumbling for maps. He could also modify the planned route to suit the progress of the group; quite impressive! What made it all the more impressive was he was riding his new GSXR750 and had had only about 2 hours sleep the night before. The break also gave us a chance to talk to the new riders and to Ian the owner of the Vmax, with the most common question WHY? Ian had previously owned a ZX6 but found he tended to speed on it hence he thought a "cruiser" would better preserve his licence.

We soon left, bidding farewell to Jon & Wayne and headed for Upper Beaconsfield, Berwick, Clyde Five Ways Tyabb & Balnarring. We then picked up the good roads around Red Hill where one 60klm corner caught a few out! Up the back of Arthurs Seat then down to Dromana for fuel.

The sighting lap down Arthurs Seat showed that double white lines had now been installed but no police were seen; therefore the run back up was a bit more spirited. This was our lunch stop and the top café proved quite popular, but as we chatted with the group it became apparent that many had decided to leave from here as it was after 2 pm and quite warm. At final count left 3 of us to continue the ride but after some discussion it was decided to ‘call it quits’ as this would allow Darryn to catch up on some well needed sleep and Ben could service his bike in preparation for the Tallangatta weekend. I could join my younger brother down at Balnarring at the Mud Bash.

Thanks to Darryn for a well thought out first ride of which he had more planned for the afternoon. Thanks also to Trent for the rear riding duties.

p.s. the Mud Bash was quite a show as highly modified 4WD’s (454ci V8 powered) racing through a series of deep mud filled depressions and jumps are quite unstable, so out-of-control vehicles, roll-overs and breakages were quite common. Very entertaining.