For the third Sunday in a row I headed up Springvale Road to Yarra Glen for a ride through the Reefton Spur. At the Mitcham road intersection I encountered Tim and Mark. We then rode out to Yarra Glen together for the start. In attendance we had;

Tim Walker-ZX7R (Leader) Enzo Cunico-YZF1000 IanPayne-CBR900RR

Dave Moore-YZF750 Dave Ward-748SPS Bronwyn Manifold- RGV250

Rob & Mandy-VFR750 Tim Casemore-T509 # Nick Casemore-GSXR600 #

Mark Hay-CBR1100XX (R/R) # Roger Stevens-R1 # Darryn Webster-TLR1000 #

Darren Morcomb-TLS1000 # Ray Walker-GSXR750 Tanya Walker-GPX250 # David Walker-RGV250 # Danny Kosinski-VFR750 Neville Maggs-VTR1000SP #

Michael Jones-VTR1000 # Wayne Mays-Triumph Tiger #

20 bikes, 21 people

(Craig Morley & Paul Tallents - didn't make the start)

With a group of this size, corner-marking can sometimes go wrong. But luckily most of the riders were or had been members and hence no problems were expected.

Tim gave the detailed talk about the days activities; Mark volunteered for the rear riding duties and soon we were on our way across to Healesville, Launching Place and Warburton. Without stopping we continued up the fantastic Mt Donna Buang road. After a regroup and chat at the top we then back down to the Warbi bakery.

Over a coffee I noticed Darren Morcomb’s TLS looked different! He then explained that due to a little "oops" the original body panels were being repaired and in the mean time a painted Race Glass fairing and ducktail had been substituted. Also had a chat to Neville Maggs who was aboard a brand new "SP" VTR. Neville had ridden with us before on a yellow VFR800. We also learned that Craig Morley had been seen on the side of the Christmas Hills road fiddling with his YZF! Craig has been having some intermittent problems with the bike and we assume that Paul Tallents stayed with him to assist in the repairs.

With the coffee stop over it was time to head for Reefton. Along the way David on the RGV ran off the road on a slight bend. I was so astounded by his action that I literally followed and then realizing what I had done applied the brakes quite hard, which resulted in the new brake pads locking the rear up! David managed to stay upright and I continued on, mentally noting "be gentle on the rear brake". We eventually made it to the Spur and after the first few corners the pecking order was sorted out with Dave, Dave & Roger disappearing out of sight. I sat with Enzo & Darren but halfway along my rear tyre started sliding around quite a bit which left me perplexed as to the cause. Was it cooked due to a couple of ride-days at the Island & Sandown? Was it suspension settings or was it the nut that holds the throttle?!

We continued down into Marysville where a stop at the bakery was planned but with the large crowd already in attendance, Tim decided to head straight to Healesville then onto Kangaroo Ground. Quite a few of the group elected to stay at Healesville. So only about half a dozen riders continued on to Mt Slide, St Andrews for the finish at the Kangaroo Ground General Store. Once we stopped, Ray discovered he had lost his brother & sister somewhere along the route! We also learnt that Wayne Mays on the Triumph Tiger had run off the Black Spur and dropped the bike resulting in some minor damage. At this point the ride finished with Danny Tim & I riding to the Alfred Hospital to visit member Ken Wright who had crashed on the Dargo road the day before.

Thanks to Tim for leading and Mark for the rear riding duties.