Castlemaine Fuel Economy Ride Sunday 20^th July, 2008

Name	Bike	Odom	Trip	Litres
Stuart Loly	Suzuki SV650	27,095	181.5	8.20
Clifford Peters	Suzuki GSXR1000	106,542	181.0	8.24
Trevor Harris	Yamaha XJ900	89,188	178.5	8.86
Cameron Stevens	Yamaha FZ6	20,553	182.4	9.50
Paul Southwell	Honda CBR1000	45,562	181.0	9.65
Misho Zrakic/Pina Garasi	Suzuki GSXR750	35,294	175.0	9.69
Ron Johnston (rear rider)	Honda CB400F	93,211	184.1	9.75
Ben Warden (leader)	Honda CBR954	123,643	181.3	10.07
Richard Marek	Honda CBR1100	30,420	181.3	11.58

Today is a special day for me: it is exactly a year to the day that that I broke my foot after high siding the bike out the front of my place. I was going on the same ride, except that it was leaving from Whittlesea, whereas today’s ride is leaving from Shell Westgate.

It had stopped raining. Although it was still cold, I thought riding shouldn’t be too bad, providing it stays dry. How wrong I was!

My neighbour, Stuart Loly on the SV 650, came along on the ride because he was keen to see how his bike would fare against the others. The trip to the West Gate was uneventful. We used the tunnels on East Link and it took us 6 minutes from New St to Springvale Road instead of 15 minutes going down the Maroondah Highway to Springvale Road and the Eastern Freeway. Certainly worth it. At the top end of Alexandra Parade at the traffic lights, I had trouble with the carburettors on the 400. It wouldn’t idle below 2000 rpm. The symptoms persisted until we got to Shell West Gate where it cleared itself. Who knows what caused it.

Ben gave us the usual spiel about the ride, corner marking for the un-initiated, no undertaking on the left, no passing the leader, blah, blah, blah! Off we go around the back of the servo, under the bridge, West Gate Freeway and on to CityLink, follow through and tootle down the Tulla staying in the right hand lane.

Oaklands Junction just passed. Wildwood Road is a nice twisty little road with a sharp corner about halfway. At Clarkefield it started to rain lightly. On to Kerrie, Hesket, and Straws Lane up Mt Macedon. The drop in temperature produced mist, causing my visor to fog up. I lift the visor to try and clear it. Waste of time; looking through the visor is like looking through a piece of opaque glass; visibility is just about zero.

Rain has increased. Everyone is taking it easy, especially down Mt Macedon. I’m starting to feel the cold. Think I must have rocks in my head doing this when I could be at home enjoying a warm house watching telly with a cuppa. But then I snap back. This is what bike riding is all about: rain, hail or shine. Sorts the boys from the girls. But what I would give for a set of dry, warm gloves.

Arrive at Woodend and head for the Bakery. Bikes get parked on the footpath and under the veranda to get out of the wet weather. Visors get cleaned. Everyone tells each other how bloody cold it is. Some head inside where it’s warmer, some stay outside. Tough lot we are. Tea and coffee for some to warm up, loos over at Information Centre. We must have been here half hour or so before it was time to rug up and move on.

At Tylden they are altering the main road outside the general store / servo. On to Spring Hill and Glenlyon. From here we did a loop in to Daylesford and back out. We went through Shepherds Flat, home of the Australian Willow Cricket Bat. Franklinford, Midland Highway to Yapeen, turn off to Chewton passing through Vaughan, Fryerstown, Irishtown and Spring Gully.

A lot of history through here with old gold diggings. There is a large brick tower which looked as if it has some restoration work done on it since I was last through here. Also in the bush there is a poppet head mining shaft, and a couple of sawmills. I love this road in the summer on the 1200: it’s narrow, it’s twisty, and it’s fun. Going the other way there is a hill, and when you go over it fast, the front wheel becomes airborne. But not today. Chewton: what can I say? There is still that house painted blue and purple with a green roof standing out like dogs balls.

Into Castlemaine (Hot Rod Capital of Australia) and up to the servo to fill up. Ben takes down kilometres travelled and litres put in tanks and then tells us who did the best kilometres per litre. Stuart won on the SV650 but because he wasn’t a member it didn’t count, so Cliff on the GSXR won. Ben made a mistake with Cameron and put the dollars down instead of the litres. A bit of maths sorted that out. I think everyone was glad to get off the bikes, wring out wet gloves, clean visors and then go into town to get something to eat and drink and get warm.

By now it had stopped raining. Thank God for that. Misho and Pina went looking for a bakery, but there were none open. Lots of cafes and restaurants, fish and chip shops, even a Subway and local supermarket. I went for a walk but couldn’t find what I was looking for, so I settled for the fish and chip shop. (eat a bit of grease for the good of your health) Ben and Richard headed for Subway. I ended up going over there as well for a coffee and a biscuit and to get warm.

Back at the bikes, Pina said they found a shop, but no seating inside, so they had bought a couple of pies and went outside to sit down. She took one bite of the pie and it fell out of the bag and to the ground. (She was in fits of laughter while telling us about it). She had to go and buy another pie. Misho… there was place called Mishos Café and Restaurant, opposite Subway and up the road a few doors.

The weather had been good, not raining that is. While we were at Castlemaine, it was cool but okay. Time to depart for the next destination. Chewton to Elphinstone, almost, then we turned left under the new Calder bypass. From here the clouds opened up. No speeding here with visibility poor and water running across the road everywhere. More fog, meaning there was no time to sight see because you had to keep your eyes on the road - what you could see of it. The last time I rode in weather like this was in Tasmania three years ago. We had just left the Salamanca Market in Hobart and the clouds opened up and it rained big time.

Metcalfe, Redesdale, Mia Mia, Burke and Wills Track to Lancefield, Romsey, Chintin to Wallan. By the time we got here, the rain had stopped for a while. We stopped outside the bakery next to the servo, which was closed. A hot drink would have gone down well.

Everyone was cold, wet and miserable. (Cameron was shaking uncontrollably, drenched and freezing, probably suffering the onset of hypothermia. His recently acquired “guaranteed waterproof” jacket and pants had failed the ultimate test. He got the jacket replaced under warranty later in the week. …Ed.)Some of us were wringing water out of our gloves including me. I went to the servo to get some paper towels to clean my visor, and when I got back to the bikes, some people were eating hot pies and sausage rolls. “Where did they come from?” I wondered. It turns out a sympathetic old lady from the bakery brought the food out to us. Probably better in our stomachs than put them in a bin. It was certainly a nice gesture and a very welcome one. Made the day. This was the break up point.

A good day was had by all. (Who am I trying to kid?) Shit weather, no incidents. Thanks to Ben for leading, me for rear rider and write up.

Ron Johnston