It rained all the way to Whittlesea, but I was happy. It had been six weeks since I last rode the ZXR, and five weeks since I rode a bike. It was the fateful Eildon via Torbreck River ride back in March where I dumped the Dominator into a tree at 100 km/h. Now the body was sufficiently healed, and the mind sufficiently motivated, to get out there again. I was itching to ride.

It wasn’t particularly cold, just a constant drizzle. I perched on the pre-packaged bags of firewood and waited. Eventually the roar of a throaty VFR could be heard in the distance. Danny Kosinski, resplendent in full leathers made a bedraggled appearance. "I’m not going" he said. And that was it for the day. Perfect weather Saturday, pouring rain Sunday. It is only me who wants to ride.

We discussed some excitement Danny had on last week’s ride, getting the facts from the horse’s mouth as they say. Sounds like he had a big front end lose, followed by a madly fishtailing rear, still managing to hang on. But he scraped along the side of a car in the process. Details were exchanged and Danny has since paid for repairs. Do not ever buy a ME-Z2 rear tyre is one moral of the story. I decided to do a short, short ride - because I could! From Whittlesea I headed to Flowerdale and Strath creek, across to Broadford and back down the Hume and home. Round trip of 180 km.

I was pleased with the bike: after six weeks of non-use, the front tyre was completely flat, but pumped up okay. The bike started on the third or fourth kick. Ah, the marvels of modern batteries. And my new brake carriers look trick, function well, and are better (stronger) than the original after market items. Though I did notice a clicking as I entered Strath Creek, related to the brakes. One of the locating pins had lost its circlip and had almost fallen out, just clipping the fork leg on each rotation. The spring washer had gone, but luckily turned up on the driveway when I got home. And I had a spare circlip. Maybe a new set of ciclips would be in order, as the originals have done a lot of work, and have been taken on and off a few times. Hang the expense. I’ll do it!

I had a very pleasant ride on familiar roads with nary another vehicle on the road. Certainly not Mr Plod as radar and cameras don’t work in the rain. See you out there,