Kerrie and I arrived at Café Racer just prior to 11am, ordered the obligatory café latte and waited for the others to arrive. Not long after, Will appeared followed closely by Dave and then Dianne. Waiting for more members to arrive we had a bit of a chat to the newcomers. Will, who comes from Geelong, had rung me during the week after reading about the Club in Just Bikes. Dave, who runs World Superbike Tour, had checked out the Club’s web site after being told about it by a friend and fellow member, Peter Doak.

My attention was drawn to a fast approaching bike. Yep Craig Morley, and, always the showman, attempted a ‘stoppie’. Only things didn’t go as planned when the front wheel locked and the steering snapped to full lock! Fortunately Craig got it back under control and apart from some soiled undies all ended well! With time marching on Dianne, our leader, gave a brief rundown of the ride and then the fairly small gathering of bikes departed in sensational weather for our lunch stop. We left St.Kilda and headed along Beaconsfield Parade to Port Melbourne before taking Williamstown Rd and the West Gate Freeway. William missed seeing Dianne turn onto the Freeway and went straight ahead. Fortunately he easily backtracked through the Westgate Shell servo to re-join us.

Over the Yarra then off the Freeway and down Melbourne Road before taking a side road that bought us out onto The Strand and the trendy Williamstown foreshore. Along to La Porchetta Pizza Restaurant, which was to be our lunch stop. Shortly after sitting down Dave and Bron arrived. Dave showed off his knee-to-ankle plaster cast, which was the reason he could not lead this ride. The cast was for a break in his ankle, courtesy of a dirt bike spill, and will be worn for another 4 weeks.

Menu’s, drinks and orders were taken and then the restaurant wanted ‘payment’ for the meal! We protested and were shown the menu which stated quite clearly "payment required at time of ordering". This is now common practice. Apparently it is to deter people absconding without paying for a meal. We where also assured that if the meal was unsatisfactory a full refund would be given! The food came and a very pleasant lunch was had. Quite a few other bikes where around the area and some stopped but none were Club members. We were entertained by one guy on a Baby Blade (CBR250RR) who seemed to have some fuel/mechanical problem and his remedy was to give the stationary bike a big fistful of throttle and hold it until the rev-limiter cut in! He did this 3 or 4 times until he seemed satisfied and then rode away!

All too soon it was time to leave, so back down The Strand, along Douglas Parade, then under the West Gate Bridge before looping around and onto the Freeway. Off at Kings Way, where a bored Craig had a drag with Dianne and popped a few monos! Right at Albert Road, then along the Grand Prix track until Fitzroy Street and Cavalli our next coffee stop. This place was sensational, as it is a Lamborghini and Ducati dealership where the enterprising owners have incorporated a restaurant and coffee shop into the complex. We all had a look through at the exotic cars and bikes and the $32,000 price of a secondhand Ducati Senna paled into insignificance alongside the $600,000 Lamborghinis.

Dave and Bron again joined us here as we idled away a few more hours while being entertained with stories from Dave Milligan about his Isle of Man Tours and playing golf with Carl Foggerty and other World Superbike riders. What a sensational day, good weather, good company and good venues. Let’s do it again!

Ian Payne and Kerrie Gooding (Honda CBR900RR)