|
Name |
Age |
Bike |
Front |
Rear |
|
Ian Payne (leader) |
55-60 |
Honda CBR1000 |
Pilot Power |
Pilot Power |
|
Ben Warden |
45-50 |
Honda CBR954 |
Dunlop 208F |
Pilot Power |
|
Misho Zrakic |
35-40 |
Honda CBR600 |
Pilot Power |
Pilot Road |
|
Tony Raditsis |
45-50 |
Yamaha TRX850 |
Pilot Power |
Pilot Road |
|
Lyn Duncan |
45-50 |
Suzuki GSXR1000 |
|
Pilot Power |
|
Chris Pointon |
35-40 |
Suzuki GSXR1000 |
Pilot Power |
Pilot Power |
|
Cameron Stevens |
35-40 |
Suzuki GSXR1000 |
Pilot Power |
Pilot Power |
|
Rob Langer (rear rider) |
45-50 |
BMW R1150 GS |
Metzeler Tourance |
Pirelli 150/70/17 |
|
|
Av: 44.5 |
|
|
|
Lyn dropped by to pick me up on the way to
Berwick. We left
Ian was in earnest conversation with an elderly gentleman riding a Honda 650 shaft drive. I think I engaged in email ping pong with him a few weeks ago and finally he had summoned the courage to attend a ride – or so it appeared. Despite Ian’s fine efforts, the gentleman decided we were not for him, even before the ride started! Either Ian’s powers of persuasion are failing, or the sight of a girl riding a GSXR1000, or having the smallest bike, or the sheer look of us, or a combination of all these factors was enough to send him packing. He missed a great ride.
There were other “strangers” on the ride: Rob Langer was on his first ride in two years, the last one being Tassy in 2005. Guess where we are going next week? Chris hasn’t been on a ride for ages and Misho, a very regular ride during December and January had disappeared off the face of the earth after Towong. That last 800 km day could have been the final nail. It turned out work commitments were the primary reason for him going missing. And a bald rear tyre.
Ian outlined the day, an “old style route”
with two stops and 100 km or so between them.
With Rob assuming the rear riding position, we set off around 12 minutes
past the scheduled 10 am leave time heading north through Berwick, veering left
at the first roundabout after the lights on to the Harkaway Road. Later we
turned right heading east along Ian’s regular loop picking up Boundary,
Manestar, Alber and
We continued along the Highway through Pakenham turning right at the usual long lights. Instead of running parallel to the highway through such places as Bunyip and Longwarry, we continued straight south through the roundabout on the Koo Wee Rup road. The Pakenham bypass is taking shape with lots of earthworks and diversions. We continued on to Bayles and Lang Lang, the “old style” part of the ride now very clear. In general, the roads are straight, a lot less bumpy than they once were, and more heavily used. Speeds were mighty conservative compared to the old days – I reckon it was about 10 years since I had deliberately ventured down this path on a club ride.
From Lang Lang the roads became more
challenging with the number of corners increasing steadily. On to Nyora and then
the hilly tight twisties to Poowong which are certainly easier in this uphill direction.
(People familiar with my rides will note that we often do this section in
reverse.) Right at Poowong and down to
Our local café was inundated with 30 or so
Honda riders, possibly one of the
I had nominated myself to write the article as four of the other riders had already contributed to this month’s magazine. And I could guarantee a timely delivery, this week being somewhat busy with Tassy commitments. For the heck of it I gathered tyre statistics, and, at the next stop, rider ages. See table at top of the page. Analysis of the statistics (real ages supplied) sees the average age of today’s group around 44.5 years. Michelin is doing very well out of the Club with 12 of the 16 tyres worn today that brand.
After watching the 30 Hondas trundle off down the street, luckily in a different direction to us, we set off heading south along the ridge road towards Wonthaggi. Spectacular views greeted us – if you had time to look – the sea popping into view every now and again. I was last away after discovering my visor still buggled and needing a hasty Mr Sheen spray and wipe. Cameron was cornermarking, Rob at the rear. It was a great run down to Archies Creek (apart from a nasty insipid tank slapper) where Lyn and I corner marked. When Rob came we realised that Cameron had not come through. An option was to return to look for him but we figured he had gone straight at the Kongwak Y junction rather than following the white line around the corner. Or he had crashed somewhere. By mutual agreement we abandoned him.
Rather than turning immediately left and
heading for Woolamai we continued straight on to Glen Forbes. Marty Thompson
dropped by on Saturday looking for routes between
We overshot the return loop through
Woolamai five km before Glen Forbes and ended up regrouping at the
Back to Woolamai and around to Archies
Creek and down to Wonthaggi. Then on to
We gathered at a street-side table and
consumed lunch. Misho had a hamburger
and a large supply of freshly cooked chips which he happily shared. Rider ages were extracted, Rob’s new address
noted down, Misho’s contact numbers and the possibility of
After regrouping at the servo, we set off
on our final leg back to Drouin. We
headed straight north to Kongwak, and after a quick consult of the map, turned
left and then right at the large roundabout picking up the long and windy road
to Bena. Lots of gravely corners kept the speeds down. At Bena we rejoined the
Cameron had regained his mojo and would race ahead and then prop, wait for Ian and I to go by, and then race ahead again. At Ellinbank I corner marked with Cameron. No sign of Rob so I back tracked and immediately met him. Not sure what the delay was.
Drouin and the end of the ride was fast approaching and I was now on very familiar roads, increasing the confidence level. Rounding a blind sweeping up-hill bend at Lardner, chasing Cameron, I was extremely surprised to see an oncoming cattle-truck slowly crossing the road. The situation was further compounded when I realised that this was no ordinary length truck but rather a B-double. Suffice to say we survived, back end fishtailing slightly as I stood the bike on its nose. Phew! Adrenalin charging through my veins saw out the rest of the ride to Drouin where I now realised the last big bump had settled the new steering head bearings, and yes, the top nut was now finger loose.
Out with the tools, loosen the top triple clamp bolts (6 mm Allen key borrowed from Lyn; 929 had 12 mm nuts), tighten up the lock bolts an eighth of a turn and reassemble. Of course it took twice as long to get back together as to pull apart. Brake master cylinder housing and clutch assembly had to be loosened to allow access. And the weight of the bike was flexing the bottom triple clamp such that nothing lined up! Pushing the front wheel towards the motor (in gear), with Tony’s help, saw it all fall in to place.
Ride over, Lyn, Misho and I made our way home down the 110 km of highway. The only excitement was an unmarked police car hiding in the middle of the median strip near Bunyip. Cameron got spooked and disappeared. But there were too many cars and the bikes were bunched, so the odds were in our favour.
Home by 4.30 pm after 470 km for the day for an official ride length of 290 km. Lyn dropped by for a cuppa and ride debrief. Thanks Ian for leading and finding a new “good” road. And it is good to see Rob back riding again.
Ben Warden