Geoff Jones — ZZR600 (r/rider) Ben Warden — CBR929RR Tim Walker — ZX7

Ian Payne - CBR900RR Dianne Welsford — CBR600 Rob Wallace — YZF600

Rhys Williams — ZX9R Bruce Saville — VFR800 (leader) Ric Brabin — ZZR250

Paul Tallents — CBR900RR Dave Ward — Monster 750 Craig Morley — YZF7

Ray Walker — GSXR600 Darryn Webster — TL1000R Dave Moore — R6

Stewart Carse — GPX250 Steve Bailey — VFR750 Mark Knight — RGV250

This was Bruce’s first ride as leader and he had taken the task seriously enough as to stay home on Saturday night and go to bed early! It was a very good turnout with a huge variety of bikes. Even Dave had bought the Ducati out, or to be exact Bronwyn’s new 750 Monster. His excuse was it had been too difficult to get the 996 out of the garage. More likely he’d heard the weather forecast "for some drizzle!" Bruce gave details of the route, and with all riders having been out with the MTCV before, we were soon away with Geoff taking up the rear rider duties.

Off along the Christmas Hills road and Paul blasts by testing out his new 1997 Fireblade he had just bought and restored. Along to St.Andrews where on the tight twisties a gaggle of bikes are trying to decide who should be the lead rider. Eventually Dave ‘monsters’ his way to the front and we’re off.

At Kinglake a fuel stop was to be made but there is some misinterpretation and before long a full-blown food stop is made. Although not planned this stop allowed us to catch up with Tom Saville and Andi Sirninger who were out on their second road ride for the year! They have been out dirt riding preparing for their trip to Western Australia and the Canning Stock Route. Unfortunately unseasonable heavy rain has closed the track and will not see it reopen until about December!

We pushed on to Toolangi and Healesville. Along the way Steve struck a very large bump that had a disastrous effect on a certain part of the male anatomy. The pain being so severe that he departed from the ride and planned to visit the local medical centre to ensure no damage had been done!

Healesville came and went as we re-visited Toolangi and Kinglake. Then onto Kinglake West and eventually Yea. While corner-marking at Yea word came through that Rob had run off the road just near Mt.Slide. He had been thrown off the bike, which had careered on and into a tree. Fortunately he was not hurt and the reason for his crash seemed to be that someone had removed the ‘45kph speed advisory sign’ from the bend so Rob had gone into it at ‘open limit’ speed!

Over lunch we learned that a ‘hot’ early model Holden Monaro had given the group some competition along the Yea road. Apparently Craig, using ‘hand signals’ told the driver what he thought of him!

It was quite cold and foggy in Yea so most adjourned inside for some hot food. Craig again took centre stage as he explained his recent test ride of a new Fireblade. It’s ‘sick mate’ was all he could say as he described the ‘stoppies and monos’ it would do at will. One 3^rd gear mono sounded pretty memorable. Anyway he was so impressed that he planned to stop by Redwing Honda on the way home to see what sort of deal they could offer! The shop had opened today for a special promotional sale. (News just to hand is that Craig has actually bought a NEW FIREBLADE!)

After lunch it was up to Molesworth and across to Alexandra and the Maroondah Highway to Healesville. The Black Spur was a real hoot with not much traffic clogging it up. Apparently a Subaru Liberty driver thought he was in the World Rally Championships and endeavoured to give the bikes a bit of hurry-up!

Thanks to Bruce for leading a well thought out and enjoyable 1^st ride and thanks to Geoff for the rear riding.