Trafalgar Sunday 10^th February, 2008

Ian Payne	Honda CBR1000	Ron Solomon	Suzuki Hayabusa
Paul Southwell	Honda CBR1000	Dave Twentyman	Suzuki Hayabusa
Paul Stavrakas	Honda CBR1000	Misho Zrakic/Pina Garasi	Suzuki GSXR750
Nic Jacka	Honda CBR600	Ron Johnston	Suzuki Bandit 1200
Ben Warden	Honda CBR954	Phil Cramer (1^st ride)	Suzuki GSX1100EF
Willen Vanderveld	Honda ST1300	Damian Markovic	Kawasaki ZX10
Dave Ward	Ducati 1098	Randall Leacock	Kawasaki ZX9
Darryn Webster	Triumph 675	Bruce Fleming	Kawasaki GPz900RA

Sitting relaxed on the deck, I sipped my cuppa, listening to the bird song and breathing in the crisp, still, gum soaked air. A knowing smile crept over my face. This is perfect weather for riding. I had been looking forward to the change in the weather. As much as I enjoy the summer months, I get sick of riding the bike in the heat all the time. The weather forecast had predicted mild - read mid 20's - for the day. Sometimes you just feel more at peace with everything no matter what’s going on in life. Maybe all the planets are in alignment, or it's Buddha’s birthday. Who knows? Who cares? It's just great to enjoy life.

Leathers on, I make my way down to the ‘Busa. I think she's one mother of a rocket, no matter what you think. I threw a leg over and gave the ol' girl a kick in the guts. Instant ignition. There are few sounds as sweet as the burbling of an in-line four (a screaming one is adrenalin heaven). I feel part of the bike today.

I head off towards the hook up point at Yarra Glen. It was a good turn out, (no surprise) with 16 bikes and 17 riders. Nic was leading and Willem was rear rider with one newbie, Phil, mate of mine. The ride format was explained, fuel stops, route, corner marking and feed stops.

We left Yarra Glen at 10 sharp and headed out the Melba and along the Old Healesville Road, then up Chum Creek Road to the top and back down Myers Creek Road into Healesville again. Lots of tight twisties with the lads not wasting any time getting the outside edges of the tyres scrubbed in.

From there we head to Woori Yallock, Powelltown and Noojee for our first break. As is par for the course, the first section is not without event. Mono Rono has an undie-staining event with a four wheel drive.  Big piles of gravel from road repairs dot the Powelltown Noojee section causing a few heart races. Ben decides it a good time to let people know that membership fees are not far away and gets Bruce signed up.

With thirsts quenched, nicotine addictions satisfied and tummies filled we head off toward Mirboo North for lunch via Icy Creek, Hill End, Trafalgar and Thorpdale. The field gets a little spread out from the departure from Noojee with the speedsters at the back. Paul, Damian, Mono and Dave  waste no time hauling in the  early starters and disappearing  out of sight by three or four corners of catching us. Misho being two up with Pina isn't backing off the pace too much either.

Roads vary from tight rain forest twisties to open farmland sweepers and straights, with one set of down hill esses  that stretched for  about 2 km, obviously designed by a motorcycle riding engineer who was working for Vic Roads at the time. There is nothing I've experienced in life that compares with this sort of riding. The smell of freshly sawn timber at Powelltown, the cows as they graze near the fence,  air temp changes as  you hit different elevations, and these are just some of the side effects.  When the tacho needle is bouncing around in the top end of the rev range, the bike cranked right over, hand pushing firmly on the bar , bum out of seat  and knee within inches of the road, eyes locked on to the rider in front, road surface, camber and the unknown corner as its rushing towards you. God only knows how many computations you’re doing every millisecond. Every sense is working at its optimum: sight, sound, feel, smell, taste, and a sixth one I reckon: survival!

There is a long wait. Everyone arrives at the servo at Trafalgar safely, but Randall on the Kawa is busted for speeding. Not excessive but still a pain.

Fuelled up, we take off for Mirboo North for lunch, another unmarked copper spotted. Still, with a fairly major cop shop at Mirboo North, it shouldn't be too surprising. The bakery at Mirboo North has great tucker, and the girls behind the counter, well talk about great buns. With needs met, we take off for the last leg towards Drouin via Hallston, Arawata and the Warragul Korumburra Road.

Everyone is in the rhythm. The Warragul Road is a fairly narrow road in open hilly farmland, mostly following the ridge. There is no time to view the scenery. I catch a split second glimpse of a bike through a small open cutting half a kay ahead and without thinking, up the ante. Gotta catch them. On the gas a bit harder even though I'm already pushing it.

As I come flying up to a corner I see Bandit Ron lying in the grass with his bike beside him. Obviously he's not taking a nap because he's tired. The bloke’s tough, picks himself up. He's pissed off big time. The vintage bike is going nowhere. Ron takes some photos of the road, and he's right. The appalling surface did cause his accident, old equipment didn't help. It’s the same corner though that Paul Southwell hung his Honda like drying laundry on the fence. A slight delay. Ben returns and takes charge and the ride is off and running again, heading to Drouin to finish the ride.

Ben, with Ron on the back, catches us at Drouin, the Bandit secured at farmhouse, ready for collection later that night. We all head off down the freeway and home.

Great day with a couple of mishaps. Thanks people.

Dave Twentyman