Tim Walker (ZX7 — Leader) Di Welsford (CBR600) Greg Hales (TL1000S)

Geoff Jones (ZZR600 - Rear rider) Ray Walker (GSXR600) Vic Fkiaras (ZX6 — 1^st ride)

Ian Payne (CBR900RR) Ron Johnston (CB750) Andrew Dunn (K100RS)

Rob Matricciani (VFR800) Ben Warden (CBR900R) Rhys Williams (ZX7)

Mick Bosworth (ZX9) Mark Knight (RGV250-2^nd ride)

Peter Doak (Harley) Chris Reeves (BMW R850R - 1^st ride)

Geoff Barton (ZX7) Nathan Brown (CBR900RR-3^rd ride & signed up)

Jeff Hornby (ZX6) Mick O’Connor (R100RS—1^st ride)

A reduction in the forecast from 33 to 25 degrees persuaded me to use this weekend to give my rear tyre its last ride. When I rode through Yarra Glen at 10.20am I saw only a TL1000. I wondered if I had looked at the correct day on the itinerary. As it turns out, the only reason Greg was there first was he misread the itinerary and thought it was a 9.30am Yarra Glen start. Don’t you just hate that!

By the time I returned with a full tank there were a lot more bikes and it was shaping up to be another great day. Ray’s day could only get better….on his way out to Yarra Glen a Huntsman dropped onto his jacket and crawled up his helmet and onto his sunnies! Ray showed nerves of steel by lifting his visor, grabbing the spider and throwing it away. Personally I think I would have just screamed and crashed…if the heart attack didn’t kill me first!

There was also a large contingency of new bikes with Ben sporting a brand new yellow Fireblade. Ray was on his gorgeous new blue GSXR600 which we all oohed and aahed over at Porepunkah. Geoff Barton was on a black ZX7 (which the previous owner kept in his loungeroom….as you do!), and Peter Doak showed up on his new Harley. Apparently this was his first Touring Club ride with it but he is already on his 3^rd set of mufflers as he keeps grinding them away! I must admit I was impressed with the way he rode it, and I never thought I’d say that about a Harley! My bike suddenly felt so old. However I figured seeing as I at least had a new helmet I still qualified for the Club rides (and the visor stays up on this one…always a very handy feature)!

We had a couple of first-timers so Tim went over the Corner Marking System. Then we headed off.

Yarra Glen to Drouin (120km, lunch stop). I followed Ben (about the only time I was able to follow anyone on this ride!) from Yarra Glen to Healesville. Then the ride went across to Launching Place, and we took that fantastic Powelltown-Noojee road. Ray had his second heart palpitation for the day when a Volvo (what else?!) moved over to the left, so Ray started to go past it, just as a Vitara came the other way, at which time the Volvo decided to move back over to the right again! What can I say…Volvos! After this the roads began to change. Tim seems to have a map of all the goat tracks in the State and has studied it well! We went through places I’ve never heard of such as Jindivick, Tarago (I always thought that was a car!), Brandy Creek etc. It also seemed as if someone had scattered loose stones on every intersection we had to turn at! But everyone obviously stayed alert and rode safely as no-one came off despite all the gravel and cow poop! However I did hear that Greg did a pretty impressive trailbike manoeuvre in taking a particular corner which had a huge pile of stones around the corner!

We reached Drouin at about 12.15 pm for lunch…except for Ron! He’d run out of petrol about 5 km before Drouin! He walked to one farmhouse only to find no-one home. So he walked to another one, only to find no-one home! However his luck changed when the lady turned up as he was about to leave. It turned out she was getting petrol for her pump and offered to get Ron some too.

Ian, Mick Bosworth and Rob Matricciani left us here to head home via the highway as they all had prior arrangements, tasks etc. The rest of us headed off for Korumburra. Andrew must have left here too.

Drouin to Korumburra (130km, arvo tea stop). Not long after Drouin, I went straight through an intersection and up a hill, only to see Tim followed by a couple of others coming back down it…oops, must be an error on the goat track map hey Tim!

We also all rode past a cow standing right beside the road which didn’t seem to even flinch at the bikes, but it did make us skip a breath. We also turned onto one road with a 100kph sign on one side and a 60kph sign on the other. I gather that means we can do 160km/h legally!

I pretty much waved most of the guys past me as the roads were a little narrower and tighter than I’m confident on. However Vic chose to sit behind me as he preferred having someone in front finding the corners with the gravel on and displaying their brake lights. Nathan also seemed to join our little convoy at some point too.

All was well for a while cruising over the wider roads, enjoying the scenery, when all of a sudden I saw corner markers to my immediate left! Oops! I used this corner to test my new brake pads! They worked. They sounded like a mouse lives in them but they did pull up! [Ben I was just demonstrating how great Honda brake pads are!]

Ben and Mick O’Connor left us at this point, being the Arawata turnoff, and I discovered why when I reached the gravel section! Watashittyroad! As I tootled along it with my heart in my mouth I wondered how long it would last. I had just been told by Mick at lunch how much of the Grand Ridge Road was gravel and having no idea where I was I was a little worried we were in for a long stretch of it. I could have kissed the bitumen when 3km later the gravel ended! [Ben, being the editor you can insert your reason for leaving here, was it dollar signs?]

Through Leongatha, Outtrim, Kongwak, Jumbunna and all these towns I think they named while a little "under the influence of a medicinal kind of grass!". I’ve probably lost most of you now, but in a nutshell we did a loop of back roads and ended up in Korumburra…except for Geoff Jones who had run out of petrol! (Do you guys do this to give me something to write about?) Tim and Geoff Barton went back to find him, but a WRX had come to his rescue and gone for petrol. (Maybe we need to replace our first aid kit with a jerry can!)

During our arvo tea break in front of the real estate agency in Korumburra, Geoff Jones discovered he could buy a holiday house for $50,000. In fact you could buy the local milkbar for $50,000! And for those who ride trail bikes, you can buy 3,000 acres at Omeo for a mere $1.65million! Bargain!

Korumburra to Pakenham (90 km). We followed some good roads through Poowong, Longwarry and Garfield to Pakenham. This time Nathan followed me and I didn’t really see much of the others. The guys seemed to be having a blast today and everyone was saying at the stops how much fun they were having.

We arrived at Pakenham at about 4.30pm for our break-up point. Ray informed me that he uses me as a "rest stop" when he needs a break in concentrating. I could have felt deflated until he explained it was because I set a nice steady pace he can follow without thinking…quick save Ray! I might start charging for the rest stop service though!

Thanks Tim for leading the ride. It was a very interesting route and you obviously put a lot of time and effort into it. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the day and you did well in finding the way. I would still be trying to work out where we were if I attempted leading a ride out there! Thanks Geoff for patiently going rear rider again. What a champ!