Licola Sunday 31st August, 2008
|
Ben Warden (leader) |
Honda CBR954 |
Cameron Stevens |
Yamaha FZ6 |
|
Paul Southwell |
Honda CBR1000 |
Chris Pointon |
Suzuki GSXR1000 |
|
Ian Payne |
Honda CBR1000 |
Cliff Peters |
Suzuki GSXR1000 |
|
Ron Johnston |
Honda CB400F |
|
7 bikes, 7 people |
I was going to go for a ride with the Missus today but she declared herself a fair weather pillion after hearing the forecast of rain developing with a possible thunderstorm, so a solo day pass was issued allowing me to ride with the Club.
The route:
Leg 1: Berwick, Longwarry North, Jindivick, Neerim South for first break after 70 km.
Leg 2: Neerim South, Crossover,
Leg 3: Tyers, Toongabbie,
Glenmaggie, over the wooden bridge, Licola,
Leg 4: Licola, Glenmaggie, Toongabbie, Tyres (90 km)
Leg 5: Tyers,
When I turned up at the meet point I thought that we going to do a South Gippy run and wasn’t until we got into Tyers for the second stop I realised we were going to Licola! Oh well J that was fine by me as the roads out that way are great. Not everyone was as excited as me to head to Licola as Ron, Ian, and Chris decided to head for home for various reasons, leaving myself, Paul, Cliff and our intrepid leader to continue. (Ian had a party to attend to, Chris’s knee was killing him, still not right after the accident, and Ron felt he was holding up the ride, his 400 struggling with the strong headwinds. The limited range on his tank may have been a contributing factor as well….Ed.)
The roads leading up to and around Tyers were mostly wet but they dried out as we headed north to Licola, allowing for some spirited riding. The dry roads didn’t last for long however and the rain started to fall quite steadily around Devils Elbow. We didn’t go directly into Licola at first because we took the right hand turn just before the bridge and headed down about 17 km of windy road into the National Park until it to turned to dirt. Ben and I charged off to leave Paul and Cliff to take a more cautious pace; not a bad option considering the amount of road works, water, wind and wandering livestock on the road. By the time we had got to the end of the bitumen the heavens had fully opened up to a torrential downpour. During the ride back to Licola the rain backed off a bit as we stopped for lunch at the general store.
After lunch we headed back to Tyers for another fuel stop which also turned out to be a steering head bearing check. The FZ6 has got rust coming out onto the lower triple clamp from what maybe is the lower steering head bearings. With the assistance of Cliff and me, Ben checked them and found a slight notch either side of the handled bars being centred but declared another 25,00km of life before replacement is needed. Paul also had his CBR bearings checked and they were ok as to be expected from a bike that has only travelled 15,000km. (Actually, I think he said 85,000 km …Ed.)
Leaving Tyers going down Old Sale road the heavens opened up again like you wouldn’t believe causing rivers of water to cascade across the road, sometimes right in the middle of a corner, which made for some exiting riding. The ride ended at the standard break up point at in Longwarry North. Quite a few k’s were put under the belt and a good time was had by all. Thanks for leading Ben.
Paul asked me during the day how many kilometres I was getting out of my tyres and after looking up my records this is the story. The bike originally came with Bridgestone 020’s and since then I been running 021’s. The front has been replaced at 7,500 km, 12,800 km and 19,500 km. The rear 5,400 km, 11,500 km, 17,000 km and both need replacing now at 24,200 km.
Cameron Stevens