Grand Ridge Road Friday 25^th April, 2008

Willem Vandeveld (1/3 rear)	Honda ST1300	Mark Rigsby (1/3 rear)	Suzuki GSXR1000
Ken Goederee (4^th ride)	Honda CBR1000	Chris Pointon	Suzuki GSXR1000
Paul Southwell	Honda CBR1000	Rick Whitehead (3^rd ride)	Suzuki Hayabusa
Ben Warden	Honda CBR954	Greg Trainor	Triumph 955
Dave Williams (1^st ride)	Honda CBR600	Jeff Gavin (1^st ride)	Yamaha XJR1200
Damian Sant (1^st ride)	Kawasaki ZX10	Geoff Jones	Yamaha R1
Randall Leacock	Kawasaki ZX9	Dave Nelson (1^st ride)	Yamaha R1
Mick Canny	Kawasaki ZX9	Pina Garasi (1/3 rear)	Yamaha R6
Dave Ward	Kawasaki Z750	Cameron Stevens	Yamaha FZ6
Rob Langer	KTM 950		19 bikes, 19 people

Berwick start point after around 100 kilometres from Gisborne. A fill up to test the final jetting changes on the replacement 2001 engine  yields around 6 litres/100km; best ever fuel use. Main and pilot jets are now 130 and 15 respectively. Needles from Ivan Performance in the US dropped down a clip seems to have addressed the previous fuel use issues, finally.

Gathered on this notable day which seems to have more importance than Australia Day, were:

Honda Group: Ben Warden CBR954, Leader,   Paul Southwell CBR1000, Ken Goederee CBR1000 (4^th ride),  Dave Williams CBR600 (1^st ride),Willem Vandeveld ST1300; 

Suzuki Group: Mark Rigsby GSXR1000 Rear Rider,   Chris Pointon GSXR1000,  Rick Whitehead Hayabusa (3^rd ride); 

Kawasaki Group: Randall Leacock ZX9 Rear Rider, Mick Canny ZX9, Damian Sant, ZX10 (1^st ride),   Dave Ward Z750;

Yamaha Group: Cameron Stevens FZ6, Pina Garasi R6, Rear Rider, Dave Nelson R1 (1^st ride),  Geoff Jones R1,  Jeff Gavin XJR1200 (1^st ride);

Greg Trainor Triumph 995,   Rod Langer KTM 950 Adventure.

Peter Feistl and Kate Stewart pushed their Honda into the servo but could not proceed due to the well known Honda "lack of charge" gremlin.

Detailed ride spiel delivered by Ben due to the high turnout of new riders. Then off on the drone along the Pakenham bypass. Next over the bridge with the carcass sculpture and up goes the front wheel of the Nelson R1.  Mono Ron would have approved. Tone setting for the day off to an early start. 

Off the freeway to Drouin, past the Anzac gathering, then along to Ellinbank on the Lardner road for the swoopy run passing Tetoora Road to Ranceby.

Noting the emergence of the flying trio of Paul, Dave and Cameron featuring in a rear vision mirror near you.  First time riders duo of Dave and Damian also indulging in some throttle cable extension as we settled in to the Gippsland theme. Willem's ST sounding very nice, running Two Brothers cans.  Strange smoke haze, soft light, no wind, and not too cool: top bike weather. April in Vic.

Through Poowong picking up the tighter stuff towards Nyora, then into Loch for first fuel and food break after about 115 km. Pina doing the rear ride thing on this leg. Talk the talk done here and a chance to check out the latest R1 with Dave. All the right decals displayed, exhaust changed and in the same colours as my `98 model. Sort of R1 bookends of the bikes’ model run.  

Another new bike, Ken's 07 CBR1000 in red, giving the rider some comfort issues due to the 600-like dimensions. Stay tuned for clip-on, footpeg mods and added bling in the near future. My R1 still doing the 6 litre/100 km thing but I still feel compelled to fill up at every stop.

Now well into the tighter roads, we move on to Poowong backtracking to Ranceby, then through Arawata on the Fairbank road with its 3 km of ball bearing type dirt with the tricky short bit of  bitumen that cons you into thinking the dirt is over and its time to open up. Back onto dirt after about 100 metres and shut down for tippy-toe final dirt to the Mt Eccles turn off. Regroup here to check all stayed rubber side down on the dirt, then up to the Mt Eccles Hall for a photo. Dodging a road going cow complete with a couple of cow cockies, past a spooky looking collection of car wrecks that looked like the set of "Deliverence"  or "Mad Max".

Back to Fairbank then on to the Strezeleckie Highway for a short section to the Mardan road. South to Dumbalk, north to Limonite and on to Mirboo North.  Sounds quick when you read it but the roads demand full concentration as the corners do not stop; there are very few sections that allow any 
relaxation. I had fitted oil temp and pressure gauges but did not get to read them once. Distractions not an option around here.

Lunch stop at Mirboo North after around 110 km. Mark doing rear rider duty. Limited food options due to the holiday but after accepting the pace of customer service would be slow, all seemed to get fed.  

Seven people left the ride here: Dave R1, Damian ZX10, Jeff XJR, Mark GSXR, Chris GSXR, Greg 955 and Mick ZX9.  Randall took up rear rider position and the remaining twelve "Certifiable nut cases" completed a figure 8 loop out to Hallston on the Grand Ridge Road, back to Mirboo North, down through Limonite to Boolarra South, along the Grand Ridge till the dirt, then back to Boolarra and Mirboo North for fuel after about 120 km.  The roads on the Club rides do not get any better than these and still more to come as the group heads for ride end at Longwarry North.

North on the Strezeleckie to the Thorpdale road with its see-through series of nicely banked "S" bends. On to Trafalgar, across  the rail line to run west to Yarragon where Rob left to take the Freeway home.  More open going here saw the group covering ground at a very tasty rate along the Old Sale Road towards Buln Buln, through Crossover and into Neerim South for the turn to Jindivick, Labertouche and ride end at Longwarry North.

All through okay. No "incidents" to report. Tyre wear high. That tired but satisfied feeling after a hard ride setting in and still another 170+ km till I get home around 7pm.

Traffic on the freeway not too bad but I did not run all the way with Ben, Pina and Willem but fueled up at the West Gate taking 12 litres. I would have made it to Gisborne.

Thanks Ben for a great day and to the rear riders for the extra effort.

Geoff Jones    (small carbon footprint R1)