Licola Sunday 10^th April, 2005

Impressions from my first ride with the MSTCV

Honda CBR929 Ben Warden (leader) Yamaha R6 Joel Haley

Ducati 620 Anton Tzar Honda CBR1100XX Wayne Pope,

SuzukiGSXR1000 Lyn Duncan Suzuki SV1000 Orlando Iluffi & Rachael

Yamaha R1 Geoff Jones BMW GS1150 Rob Langer (rear rider)

Yamaha YZF1000 Peter Parissis

The first thing I noticed upon arriving on Sunday as a pillion on Orlando’s trusty SV 1000 at the Caltex servo in Berwick was that all the bikes were ‘serious machinery’, designed to be ridden fast, obscenely fast.

None of the rear tyres I observed had very discernable ‘chicken strips’. Okay, no posers here, these are down-to-business kind of riders, who look like they will ride their bikes as the manufacturer intended. With the first hint of twisties, that fact was made abundantly clear.

Orlando was having a ball carving it up through the corners and I was fully occupied just hanging on. I was sure that my radius and ulna entered into a pact to push their way through my wrist to form two new fat fingers as my hands were almost full-time on the tank.

My personal ‘great ride checklist’ came up with ticks in all the boxes:

• Organisation was exceptional. The two person corner marking system is particularly impressive.
• No politics, bitching or whining. The ride was about what it should be, getting out there and going for a blat.
• No unnecessary stops; nothing more frustrating than going on a ride to feel that you spend more time standing around than in the saddle.
• The ride flowed as there were no big gaps between riders. Whenever Orlando and I were corner-markers we never had to wait long for the tail gunner to arrive.
• Roads with lots of twisties through beautiful countryside, parts of which were almost as good as my favourite section of road between Swifts Creek and Bruthen.
• Good company, it was great to meet everyone.
• Last but not least, no offs.

The only shortcomings were those that were out of our control. The first was the weather. At the start of the day it was stinking hot and then Mother Nature decided to remind us that, yes, we live in Victoria and on the way home (thankfully out of the twisities) dropped the temperature by 15 degrees, whipped up the wind and produced a thunderstorm which meant a fair bit of leaf and branch debris on the road. The other downer was a suspected speed camera in a little town. There are a few of us living in hope that those flashes were just lightening. (It looks like we all escaped …Ed.)

I have not been riding long but I have participated in group rides before and have even managed to claw my way up from the back to mid-pack. You lot have now well and truly sent me straight to the back of the class. You really know how to make a girl feel inadequate.

For the moment there is probably one event that I might have a good shot at taking out, the economy run. That is, until I can ride like a demon escaping from the pits of hell, then I may have a chance of keeping up.

Ride safe.

Rachael