Coalville Sunday 4^th February, 2007

Ben Warden (leader)	Honda CBR954	Lyn Duncan	Suzuki GSXR1000
Paul Southwell	Honda CBR1000	Cameron Stevens	Suzuki GSXR1000
Ian Payne	Honda CBR1000	Dave Ward	Suzuki GSXR600
Bronwyn Manifold (1/3 rear)	MV750 Brutale	Ron Johnston (2/3 rear)	Suzuki GSF1200
John Ristell (1^st ride)	Yamaha R1	Darryn Webster	Kawasaki ZX6
Marty Thompson	Yamaha R1	Tony Raditsis	Yamaha TRX850

The weather forecast preoccupied my mind in the lead up to Sunday’s ride with a maximum of 38 degrees predicted. But the weatherman kindly changed his mind the night before and downgraded the temperature to 34 and when I got home it was only 27 degrees.

We had a good attendance on the day. Dave Ward’s better half, Bronwyn, turned up on the MV Brutale and we had a new rider, John Ristell, on a silver R1. Along with the usual suspects, Marty Thompson made a special guest appearance on Dangerous Dave’s R1. We met outside the tyre shop next to the servo as that offered some shade instead of the sunbaked parking bay near McDonalds. Ben asked for a volunteer to do the article for the ride, which was greeted with pin dropping silence. I wonder if doubling the points awarded for doing the write up would overcome eternal writers’ cramp?

The ride was a bit of highway-haul for the first 55 km to Drouin. First rest for the day was at Loch which was pumping with a Quilt Convention. So, much to our surprise, we didn’t have the whole town to ourselves. Bronwyn and Ian Payne left the ride at this point and headed back to Melbourne to fulfil other commitments. Rocking Ron Johnston took over rear rider duties from Bronwyn and, after half the fleet refuelled, we headed off to the lunch break at Mirboo North.

I reckon Ben knows the Gippsland area fairly well. I have no idea how many turns were made as we did four circuits of the surrounding area, with Mirboo North being both the lunch point and hub. All the roads were sensational, mainly tight to medium radius corners; Dave Ward 600cc territory for sure.

The ride didn’t have any major incidents though I nearly created one. It was on a dirt section of road (Arawata 3.3 km of dirt …Ed.) that went from bitumen to dirt, then back to bitumen, where I gunned it, only to have it go to dirt again. Being unable to control my survival reaction, I grabbed the front brake too hard for the loose conditions inducing a front end slide into the fast approaching right hand corner. Marty Thompson, who was right behind me, found this manoeuvre quite entertaining. I can’t say I that I shared his good humour in this near underpants-staining moment.

The next stop was Moe where a big drink of water was called for as now the temperature had picked up. At this stop I got talking to Tony about his Trixie which is still going strong after 71,000 km. Tony enlisted me to lean the bike over onto its side stand in order to get the rear wheel off the ground and facilitate chain lubrication. This made me nervous as I didn’t want to be responsible for dropping his bike, but all went well. A discussion about the eternal question of which chain lube is best ensued before we saddled up and headed off to the ride break up.

Near Labertouche we came across a free-range cow by the side of the road. This was where my second incident happened as I nearly put the Marty’s R1 Micron exhaust pipes into the air intakes of my Gixxer. Ben and Marty had rapidly slowed as a precautionary measure to make sure a collision with the cow was avoided whereas I thought trying to get past the cow and put it behind me was the best way to go.

I’ve had some reflective thoughts since the completion of the ride in regards to the whole motorcyclist versus cow collision scenario. Commonsense would probably have it that the rider would come off second best, but not having much of that, I can’t help but wonder if the cow was T-boned, pardon the pun, what is the possibility of a rider travelling at say 80 km/h, actually travelling right through the animal and out the other side. Just a quick wipe of the visor and continue on your way! I’ll consult with the great Ian Payne who managed to negotiate his Fireblade over a dog recently and not crash, as to whether he could make his way up and over a cow. I suspect not, but I’ll ask the question anyway next time I see him.

Ben tells me he had a run in with a magpie. The bike’s mirror just had to be bent back to its correct position. No other damage was sustained.

A big thanks to Ben for leading and to Ron and Bronwyn for rear riding. And a big wave to first time rider John who I hope to see on another club ride soon.

Cameron Stevens

I had three requests for the ride route after the ride. Here it is:

• Leg 1: Berwick, Pakenham, roads parallel to highway through Bunyip, Longwarry, Drouin, Ellinbank, Warragul-Korumburra Road to Ranceby, Poowong, Nyora, Loch. 115 km
• Leg 2: Loch, Poowong, Ranceby, Arawata, Leongatha, Dumbalk, Mirboo, Limonite, Boolara South, Boolara, Mirboo North. 112 km
• Leg 3: Mirboo North, Marden South, Leongatha, Hallston, Allambe South, Mirboo North, Thorpdale, Narracan, Coalville, Moe. 95 km
• Leg 4: Moe, Old Sale Road, Buln Buln, Crossover, Neerim South, Jindivick, Longwarry North. 70 km
• 395 km Berwick to Longwarry North (560 km home to home)

Ben Warden