Eildon Sunday 19^th October, 2008

Paul Southwell (leader)	Honda CBR1000	Geoff Jones	Yamaha R1
Dave Ward	Honda CBR1000	Pina Garasi	Yamaha R6
Ian Payne	Honda CBR1000	Ken Goederee	Yamaha FZ1
Martin Bastock	Honda CBR1000F	Cameron Stevens	Yamaha FZ6
Ben Warden	Honda CBR954	Graeme Tattersall	Yamaha MT01 (5^th ride)
Graham Brown	Honda CBR919	Misho Zrakic	Suzuki GSXR750
Peter Fisher	HondaVFR800	Dave Hives	Kawasaki ZX10
Andrew Kennedy	Honda 780 DeVille	Bronwyn Manifold (rear)	Kawasaki Z750
Kurn Bridgeman	Honda CBR600	Renzo Cunico	Ducati 916

MSR itinerary for October suggests a short ride with a total of about 200 km. Start at Whittlesea, finish at Healesville, Paul leading. Come and find out as it could be completely different. Indeed it was.

It was a bit of a blast from the past to see Martin and Andrew, Martin still punting the CBR1000F, white wheels as pristine as ever and running better after a Morgan carb tune. As mentioned in another email from Martin to Ben after the ride, the bike has cost around $1000 a year to run for the past 18 years. Better value than various investments being affected by the current global financial situation. Much discussion on this at the start and during the day.

Andrew, riding another of his frequent Honda models, this one with deep black paint and faired-in luggage. Back in 1991, Andrew was on a black CX500 on my first ever ride with the Club. Lavers Hill, as I recall. What an eye opener that day was. The start of a pleasant pastime; just don’t ask about the costs!

Paul did the pre-ride spiel and included the corner marking details for the newer riders and added a bit extra into the first part of the ride: Alexandra via Yea, Highlands, Caveat and Yarck.

Up the sweepers to Kinglake West, through Flowerdale and over Junction Hill for a short break at Yea. The main street was closed for either a big crash or a demonstration by the Emergency Services. We talked the talk on the weest side of town before heading west to the Highlands Road turnoff, weather now much brighter and grip assured. Through the Highlands intersection and east to Caveat before looping north to Terip Terip and through Gobur to the highway at Yarck where we regrouped before the drone down to Alexandra for fuel and food.

The Ducati 916 and Yamaha MT01 were adding some aural variety to the four cylinder chorus, the Yamaha not rattling its clutch which is an exclusive Ducati sound variation.

Up Skyline road past one of Ben’s many crash sites (be sure to keep up with his 1,000,000 km epic for more detail) climbing up to run along the ridge with Lake Eildon views, glimpsed when not concentrating on corner entry. Lots of twists along here. No stop, through the town and on to the Goulburn Valley Highway to Thornton, Taggerty, Buxton and Marysville. Martin and Andrew left the ride here and maybe Ian and others also. The rest headed for Lake Mountain. Dave Hives did not do the run up to the car park but rejoined the ride at the bottom of the Lake Mountain Road.

Paul changed the Black Spur and finish at Healesville to Reefton Spur and finish at Warburton. Too many police on the Black Spur, his reasoning. Through Cambarville and on to the tasty Reefton. Oncoming bike does the slowdown wave, so what to expect? Crash or cops? Through the tighter stuff and then on to the straight, holding speed to around 100 km/h and another blast from the past, an amphometer complete with two policeman mounted on camp chairs near a 4WD. No waves, so I must have been under the speed limit. Phew!

Down to the bridge at the bottom of the Spur, past the corner markers and on to East Warburton where police breath test awaits. Off the bike, no licence check, blow and continue on. Into Warburton for ride end and regroup at the coffee shop.

Headed for Gisborne and home. Rossi wins Malaysian MotoGP. Ride length approximately 310 km. Thanks Paul for leading and Bronwyn for rear riding. Second ride for me in the one month and I have a ride lead next weekend, Sunday 26^th October.

Geoff Jones