Ian Payne — CBR900RR (leader) David Cooper — CBR600 Dianne Welsford — CBR600

Peter Doak — GSXR1000 (R/R) Chris Burn — TLR1000 Tim Tyler — GSXR750 (1^st)

Jeff Hornby — ZX6 Martin Quinn — R6 Martin Hastie — Blackbird

Wayne & Joanne Nimmo — Hayabusa

10 bikes, 11 people.

Hallam, Narre Warren Nth, Harkaway, Upper Beaconsfield, Berwick, Clyde, Fiveways, Pearcedale, Tyabb & Hastings for morning tea. Down to Bittern, Shoreham, Red Hill South, Moats Corner and Arthurs Seat. Down to Main Ridge, Boneo and Cape Schanck. Home via Flinders, Shoreham, Bittern, Skye, Lyndhurst and Hampton Park.

With our designated leader Jack Youdan unable to lead this ride I had volunteered to do so. The ride being in the middle of a long weekend and "cool overcast with occasional showers" forecast, I didn’t expect to see many, if any riders out for this trip down to Cape Schanck. But surprise, surprise on arriving at the servo 7 bikes were already waiting and another 2 arrived shortly after. Amongst the group was Tim who had heard about the Club while living in Sydney and had checked out our website before moving to Melbourne. We also had Peter Doak on his new GSXR1000 which with less than 500 kays on the clock. He would be our rear rider.

Another surprise, two in fact, was Jeff Hornby & Dianne Welsford! Jeff who had crashed on the Reefton Spur a week ago had managed to repair his bike in time for the ride and Dianne, who had initially planned to go to Omeo for the weekend, had decided not to!

With Tim being the only rider not having been out with the Club before, I gave him a rundown on the corner-marking system, the road rules, and advised him to ride at his own pace. I then gave the group a quick outline of the route and where we planned to stop.

Due to the abundance of straight roads on the Mornington Peninsula we made a short detour around to the twisty roads through Narre Warren North, Harkaway and Upper Beaconsfield before heading south to Beaconsfield on the Princess Highway. We then took a back road which joins onto the main Cranbourne road but unfortunately the last bit was still unsealed so a quick backtrack through a new housing estate had us back on course. We droned on down to Clyde, Fiveways, Tyabb and Hastings, where the Bakery was an ideal place to stop.

This relaxed stop gave us a chance to socialize and also check out the tiny video cameras that Martin had attached to his Blackbird. He had one mounted facing the front and one facing the back with both of them linked to a small recorder housed in the tank bag. Either camera could be operated independently with the theory being he could film another bike in front and then when passing it switch to the rear mounted camera! Can’t wait to see some footage from the ride.

We also had a chance to check out Peters new 1000cc Suzuki and the similarities between it, the Hayabusa and Tim’s 750. Although Peter had agreed to act as rear rider it was not because of the running—in process, as the bike was "restricted" to 185kph but more, as he put it "to instill some self restraint!"

We continued on through Bittern, Balnarring and Merricks before heading west along some interesting roads through Red Hill South, Red Hill and the top of Arthurs Seat. We parked the bikes and some of the group did a few laps up and down. It being a very fine day the area was extremely busy with cars and bikes everywhere. After his run Tim exclaimed "Arthur’s Seat was the tightest piece of road he’d been on!

Off again and not a moment too soon just as the police arrived. We continued down to Main Ridge then around to the Boneo road, or that was the intention but I missed the turn off! While stopped getting my bearings a mini bus full of Croatians stopped and asked directions on the best way to get to Sydney via Sale! I was confused enough without this, so fortunately Chris took over and told them were to go! With a bit of help from David we where soon on our way.

We eventually reached the Cape Schanck turn-off and proceeded down to the car-park, which now had boom-gates installed! These would allow access to the area but required a $4 token to exit. Fortunately motorbikes are small enough to use the "free" pedestrian walkway.

We parked the bikes and inquired about the lighthouse tour but at $8 per adult and NO group discount. Only about half the group were keen for a look.

The lighthouse had a bit of family history for Joanne Nimmo as her great, great grandfather was the lighthouse keeper from the mid 1890’s to 1902. The rest of us did the beach walk while we waited for the others to finish the tour.

Out through the footpath and onto the Boneo Road to Flinders and Hastings, then the straight and boring stretch through Tyabb, Skye and Lyndhurst where the ride broke up. At the stop I was surprised to hear that Jeff had dropped his bike in the service station a few kilometres back! It had just overbalanced and no real damage had been sustained. Fortunately it was the same side as Jeff’s Reefton Spur crash the week before!

Thanks to everyone that came along and made the day a success.