ANZAC Day Ride Woolamai Wednesday 25^th April, 2007

Lyn Duncan	Suzuki GSXR1000	Ben Warden (lead)	Honda CBR954
Cameron Stevens	Suzuki GSXR1000	Andrew Kennedy	Honda CBR1000
Clifford Peters	Suzuki GSXR1000	Jacinta Thomas	Honda CBR900
Tim Emons (3^rd ride)	Suzuki SV650	Craig Morley	Honda CBR929
Ron Johnston (rear)	Suzuki GSF1200	Dave Ward	Ducati 1098
Ken McKay (1^st ride)	Suzuki DL1000	Darryn Webster	Kawasaki ZX6
Tony Raditsis	Yamaha TRX850		13 bikes, 13 people

I could hear Lyn coming down the street smack on 9am as agreed, so knew it was time to get a move on, struggling to remember all the things that are required for a ride: water bottle, 2 museli bars, notebook and two pens, cap, camera, spare itineraries, spare ear plugs, Mr Sheen and two cleaning rags, wallet, sunscreen, roll of duct tape, maps in plastic pocket. I managed to forget the can of Mr Sheen. I must develop a better system – maybe a list near the bike. Next process was getting dressed – luckily all the bike clobber lives in the garage and about the only thing it is possible to forget is the back protector which I only wear on Sunday rides, not commuting to work each day, which may be unwise, but I figure the speeds are less on average.

Right on 9.10 am I hear Jacinta coming down the street, as agreed. Still fluffing around we eventually hit the road at 9.20 am. It takes 35 minutes to do the 61 km to Berwick including 14 minutes to get to the other side of the Burnley tunnel via the Bolte Bridge. We travelled in convoy, Lyn leading early until I took over leading slightly too fast, one way of reducing the boredom and pain, forcing me to keep my eyes peeled and concentration up.

I wasn’t surprised by the goodly number of riders and bikes on this glorious day. A public holiday, most of the shops shut, brilliant weather, should normally be at work: a perfect opportunity to go for a ride. Former member, Andrew Kennedy, had joined us for the day, noting that of the rides offered via various web sites, we looked like the best choice, knowing I was leading (back handed compliment, thanks). But I figure he was out learning new good roads, places to stop and eat, and to brush up on the corner marking system to take back to the Ulysses and Honda Riders Club at which he regularly leads rides. Good luck to him. Andrew also brought along friend Ken McKay on the V-Strom Suzuki DL1000, another use of the brilliant TL1000 motor now used in over 100 models across numerous manufacturers.

Tim Emons also made another appearance after 12 months or so and felt sufficiently guilty about not being a member which was soon fixed by the lightening of his wallet and the filling out of a membership form. This ride was his last chance before his second child was due in a couple of weeks, so he was out to make the most of it.

Of course, Dave Ward was out riding his new highly desirable Ducati 1098, red of course. It only had about 900 km on the odometer after 2 days riding in Tasmania on a trade plate before bringing it back to Melbourne and having to wait over a week to get it registered before being able to ride it again. A lowering of the gear change lever was performed at the first stop. Other than that, it performed faultlessly and had many a photo taken of it.

In the process of meeting everyone and checking their membership status and bike roadworthiness, I also gathered the “In Case of Emergency” numbers. Craig and Andrew could provide no number, posing an interesting dilemma. Ron volunteered for rear riding duties and so we set off at 10.10 am, slightly late, but with the route, distances, and stops identified. A call for a scribe clearly failed, particularly when Tony and Cameron were absolved from scribbling duties because of their frequent contributions.

At Pakenham we turned right at the lights and then headed out of town under the new freeway overpass which seems to have gone up in only a few months, the bypass now taking definite shape. Out in front, I kept at or below the speed limit as the numerous traffic lights en-route to this point, and quite heavy traffic, sees the group spread out a long way. It wasn’t long before Cameron started his usual antics of trying to corner-mark every corner, supplying me “just in time”. On through Bunyip and Longwarry and the beginning of the twisty roads to Drouin after 55 km. The weather was magnificent: sunny despite a cool and unusual east wind, the tail end of the “high”, which was consistent all day, and noticeable stronger on the ridge roads. Around to Lardner and the first of the big sweepers before heading south through green paddocks. Yes, green! Recent good rains have transformed the landscape. There was even a fair amount of cow manure on a couple of roads with the attendant insect cloud depositing the usual 5 or 6 insects onto the visor at each crossing.

Lots of corner-marking saw me ride almost the full length of the Korumburra-Warragul road before Cameron slipped by, accepting the standing invitation to pass – so long as he knew the route or to wait at the next intersection. Of course, corner-marking at every opportunity has its downside as he waited for about 10 minutes at the final turn into Korumburra while the majority of riders set about ordering morning tea from the old bakery, newly sited above the public car park near the public toilets, making it an ideal stopping place for a large group. Ken made a grand entrance by toppling over from an almost stationary position, the bike making a loud crash. Minor cosmetic, as they say. No real damage other than pride to the rider who continued on the ride.

It had taken 70 minutes to travel the 105 km from Berwick, arriving at 11.20 am. This always poses the question, “Is this the lunch stop?” Well, I tend to think of it as the first lunch stop. For some it is too early for lunch but for me I am usually pretty hungry by this stage and so sample the local ham and salad roll.

It was a leisurely break, the mild weather, streaming sunshine, cloudless sky, lots of bikes and people making for plenty of distractions. But the call of the roads saw us back on the bikes and heading south west to Kongwak, the wind now behind us. At the large roundabout on the other side of Kongwak I took the correct exit, not heading for Wonthaggi, but soon suffered a crisis of confidence when the road narrowed significantly to what Jacinta referred to as a “goat track” and hence stopped to check on the map, shaking the myth that I “know every road in Victoria” that Andrew had introduced me to Ken with. Bugger! I was right all along. A few corners later as we powered up hill, the road widened into a set of fast sweepers – just as I remembered.

Now with magnificent views of the sea around Wonthaggi and the occasional glimpse of the wind warm whirring away, we turned right at the cross roads and headed for Dalyston, according to the sign, along 10 km of dead straight, if slightly undulating road, allowing a small respite from the corners for some, and an opportunity for others to open the taps, shall we say.

At Glen Alvie I toyed with the idea of heading for Woolamai as declared on the itinerary, but the temptation of the recently sealed Glen Forbes road was too great and we missed Woolamai by a few kilometres though I don’t think anyone noticed, particularly as at this point most people were completely lost! A white on-coming 4WD gave one or two riders a scare along here through the “walled” section.

On the map I had noticed a dirt link road across from Glen Forbes to my favourite Anderson loop. If it was made, it would cut off 12 kilometres of straight stuff down to the Bass Highway, up to Anderson followed by a right turn back into the good stuff. It was made! Though only recently and was fairly thick with gravel, as per the cheap road making method: hot wet tar with fine gravel spread evenly on top and let the traffic do the compressing and excess stone removal. Twelve kilometres gained meant I could spend 12 kilometres and not fail the “88 km to next stop” deliverable. And I knew just the loop!

A few kilometres after Kernot I stopped for a visor clean. We had done about 60 km and Dave’s 1098 had hit reserve and he wasn’t sure about the bike’s fuel consumption. So we decided to wait while Dave, with Darryn in tow, headed into Anderson to top up. It turned out he still had 4 litres left. Meanwhile we enjoyed the views and company complete with wise cracks. Tony was off hiding in bushes, some way a way. Lyn headed in that direction until some wit quipped that that one was “full”. Later Cliff asked Tony which way Melbourne was. He pointed in the absolute opposite direction, further evidence that he, like most others, had no idea where we were. The concept of “succession planning” springs to mind at the moment, probably because I am in the process of changing jobs. How do I get this “corporate knowledge” (or Club knowledge in this case) into other people’s heads other than by leading?

The large tractor missed running over my bike, strategically parked in the middle of the road, and so did the ute behind it. Now with Dave and Darryn returned, it was back to the bikes for more fun. We climbed away from the coast to pick up the Loch road heading north, making swift progress to our next break at Loch after 89 km, arriving at 1.15 pm. Alas, our normal cafe was closed, it being a public holiday. Luckily the milk bar across the road was open and some essential energy snacks were purchased. Fortunately, most had eaten well in Korumburra, so we were not too inconvenienced.

I put on my Committee hat and set about distributing itineraries to a couple riding a Blackbird. The male rider was particularly disinterested but the female pillion recognised the Club name and gladly took the card, having her own R6. In the same vein, I approached another four likely types, all riding older model Japanese machinery. It turned out that one of the guys had tried to meet us en-route a couple of years ago but we didn’t show. I remembered the email conversations we had engaged in. I can’t remember the exact circumstances but the route was changed and we arrived an hour or so after predicted by which time the waiting visitor had departed. It is almost impossible to predict where we will be at what time and I strongly encourage new riders to meet us at the start of the ride and hence get the benefit of the pre-ride spiel noting route and planned activities etc. It is just too hard to cater for one person. Suffice to say that this gentleman was under-whelmed with finally catching up with us. But later his mate approached with an offer of accommodation at his chalet on Mt Hotham. He is a part owner and interested in attracting motorcyclists in the off-season at $25 per head. He noted my email address and sure enough that night I received an email formally inviting us to make use this of this facility. He provided a comprehensive web page and some recent photos. This is a business and very well organised. It looks very interesting, the only down-side being the requirement of a sheet and pillowcase or a sleeping bag.

Enough Club work; back to the ride. So, after another leisurely break we departed at 1.50 pm heading for Nyora and back through the uphill twisties to Poowong where I turned left and right picking up the Main South Road to Drouin. Very pleasant with more open country riding. At the roundabout just over the railway line in Drouin I waited. Darryn arrived to corner mark, but not using his bike as a pointer, or having his blinker on, the first bike afterwards (Andrew Kennedy) turned left, not right. I indicated to Darryn to pursue while I corner-marked until the others arrived. I could see Darryn was already with Andrew at the next mini-roundabout opposite the toilets where we sometimes end rides and assumed they would quickly rejoin the group, which had now arrived en-masse. I headed off and dropped two markers a few hundred metres up the road on the Brandy Creek exit.

On the other side of Buln Buln I stopped for a visor clean and regroup. And there were only 11 bikes! Not the 13 starters. I immediately saw that Darryn and Andrew were missing, guessed what had happened, and figured they knew the next stop was Powelltown and would either make their own way, or more likely in Darryn’s case as he was getting tired, head home. This proved to be the case on both counts. Andrew caught us in Powelltown and confirmed the hypothesis.

We continued on along the Crossover twisties to Neerim South, Neerim East, Neerim and Nayook before picking up the Powelltown Road in the lowering sun to make Powelltown by 3.15 pm after some 310 km of mainly twisty, tyre eating roads. Still no volunteer scribe. I figured it was about my turn anyway, so didn’t press too hard.

Jacinta, Lyn, Craig and I continued on to Yarra Junction, across to Healesville and Yarra Glen where Craig and I pressed on more urgently, but much restrained. Right on cue, a low slung marked TOG vehicle cruised past at the Kangaroo Ground end. Diamond Creek saw Craig deviate and head for home in Sunbury while I continued on to the Western Ring Road with much eye shielding from the bright, low sun. Home by 4.45 pm after around 470 km door to door. Thanks to all who attended and shared the day.

Ben Warden