|
Clifford Peters |
Suzuki GSXR1000 |
Craig Morley |
Honda VTR1000SP1 |
|
Misho Zrakic |
Suzuki GSXR750 |
Ben Warden |
Honda CBR954 |
|
Mick Canny (1st ride) |
|
Paul Southwell |
Honda CBR1000 |
|
Marty Thompson (leader) |
|
Willem Vandeveld |
Honda ST1300 |
|
Randal Leacock (1st ride) |
|
Rob Langer |
BMW R1200GS |
|
Geoff Jones (rear rider) |
Yamaha R1 |
Dave Ward |
Ducati 1098 |
|
Rhys Williams |
Yamaha V-Max |
Darryn Webster |
Triumph 675 |
|
Chris Thomas |
Yamaha YZF600 |
|
15 bikes, 15 people |
After pre-riding this ride the day before,
my butt let me know it was grumpy before I had even made the
A healthy turn up was present at Berwick, the
meeting point, with riders arriving at the last minute as usual. Rob Langer
managed to leave his ignition on and therefore had to jump start the Beemer and
meet us at Korumburra, a phone call just before departing Berwick alerting us
to his possible presence at Korumburra. Similarly, Renzo was lost on
It was good to see Craig Morley back to a level where his ribs could take the pounding the Vitter dishes out. It appears to go pretty much the same as all Craig’s bikes do.
We headed off about 10.10 am after a bit of a chat with most appearing eager to catch up on the goss’. Geoff Jones most graciously offered to run rear rider duties. The first part was the usual run down the Highway with the intention of turning south at Pakenham and then running across to Drouin. However, the new freeway had opened and funnelled us onto a gravel strewn 60 km/h limited two lane, wide open freeway. What a drag to start the day. It was along this section where the Plod starting checking rego’s from behind on the computer and soon enough pulled over Paul (Trouble) Southwell! Apparently, he had not notified the RTA about the change of colour on his Blade!
After a little confusion about which exit to get off, I just took a punt and took the Nar Nar Goon exit, which turned out to be just about perfect, with a left, a u-turn and then another left putting us on the road to Garfield and eventually Drouin. Across to the Warrigal-Korumburra road and down to Korumburra for morning tea.
At morning tea a certain long standing club member attempted to make amends for a rather unfriendly passing manoeuvre! A few kind words from our leader had the new rider back in good spirits, understanding that it was just an error and not intentional! Mind you, it was probably a bit of a baptism of fire for this rider’s first ride with us. He seems like a pretty hardy soul, so hopefully it hasn’t discouraged another try.
After morning tea we headed back along the
Korumburra-Warrigal road and then turned right for the
One of the new riders on a green ZX9 (I won’t embarrass them by saying which one) did a little gardening on the run up. One series of turns offered a decreasing radius turn on the third corner, after lulling you into a false sense of security with constant radius turns leading up to it. I must admit it made me take a second bite at it and lay the 9 over a tad more. However, this rider took Option B! Fortunately, it didn’t get ugly! I remember some wise old sage telling me on one of the first club ride,”Just lean it over; it’ll run out of clearance before it runs out of grip!” And he is still right!
Five of us walked down to the bridge – about 3 km round trip. Ben noted the new carpark, visitors centre, picnic area and facilities. The locals confirmed Rob Langer’s statement that the road is now made all the way to Yarram, getting the hearts and minds racing with possibilities. The others lounged about eating gourmet sandwiches and sipping tea.
We pretty much reversed the run back to Boolarra
then to Mirboo North for fuel. Then up to Thorpdale and on to Traralgon. Then
we ran up to the
By definition, it must have been a good ride because no-one fell off or got booked!
Marty
Thompson