Ben Warden (CBR900RR) (leader) Greg Hales (TL1000) Ian Payne (CBR900R)

Geoff Jones (ZZR600) (1^st rear) Di Welsford (CBR600F) Rhys Williams (ZX9)

Rick Surwillo (ZZR 1100) (1^st ride) G. Barton (ZX7) (2^nd rear) Mick Bosworth (ZX9)

It was quite a turnout considering the grey sky in the morning. However it seems we were at the best place to be today. Apparently it rained most of the day in Melbourne, but we were very lucky with the weather down the GO Road with barely a spit all day. The wettest I got was when I hit Springvale Road on the way home.

No new bikes….what’s happening? No wonder we’re heading for a recession. No Club members have bought any new bikes this week. Greg made up for it with a new hair do…none! He’d had a "close shave", which at least that gave us something to talk about in the absence of any new bikes! We had one first-timer too, Greg’s next door neighbour Rick on a ZZR1100. (Greg must have brought him along for support with the new hair do?).

We headed down the Geelong Road with Geoff Jones taking up initial rear rider duties, though we usually all seemed pretty close together. We managed to avoid confusion with the other crowd of bikes who left just before us. We took the turnoff towards Little River and headed through the usual back towns. Though I have been through them so often, I still can’t name them, but you get the gist, all those little towns that link Lara to Moriac to Anglesea.

We had a morning tea stop at Anglesea where those of us with more thirsty bikes or more size-deprived petrol tanks filled up. Geoff Jones also showed us his Scott oiler, a device that oils your chain while riding and which is Scottish, hence the name. I asked him if the Irish version sends the oil straight onto the tyre!

We had a goss and then off we headed again. A few k’s out of Anglesea there is a little straight where the Police always sit with a speed camera. I looked to the left out of habit and saw on a dumpy old red pick-up truck. Thank goodness I looked again as I went past and noticed the flash sitting miles out in front of it…..after jumping on the brakes and making the front of my bike bike do a duck dive. My actions alerted Rick behind me causing him to the same. I think I may have saved myself a little money. I toyed with the idea of doing a U-ey and warning the others, but noticed quite a few single headlights in my mirrors and thought the others were behind and would have noticed it too. Unfortunately Rhys and Mick had corner-marked in Anglesea putting them further back with Geoff Jones. It seems Geoff or Mick may have had their colour portrait taken. They’re waiting anxiously now, and so am I as I’m on a guilt trip for not turning around when I thought of it. (Sorry guys, I’ve got all fingers and toes crossed for you!).

The Great Ocean Road was in fantastic condition. A few magnificently resurfaced sections, fairly dry, and only 2 sections of shitty roadworks. F…U…N! I followed Ben, with Greg and Rick right behind and Ian not far behind them. Apart from the odd wind gust causing my bike to sometimes swerve a little more than I’d like when I had it lent right over, the weather was very kind to us.

We regrouped at Apollo Bay, where Greg used the ladies loos….remember my last write-up of the GO Road where Ray did too….what is it with these guys?! Believe me guys, we have nothing in ours that you don’t! After a brief discussion about the speed camera in Anglesea, everyone headed off again with Geoff Barton becoming new rear rider. I took a bit longer to leave this time so left on my own. However it wasn’t long before ZX9 headlights appeared in my mirrors and Mick provided some company through to Lavers Hill…again FUN! These roads were FANTASTIC. There was a lot of bark but it was mainly in the middle of the road, which apparently caused Rhys to stay out longer than he planned when passing someone. The roads were only a little damp in places but not enough to cause concern. So it made for one fantastic sweeping bend after another.

We refuelled at Lavers Hill having done about 250km so far. Rhys entertained us by telling us about a discussion on the Motorcycle News newsgroup where people were saying how bad race tyres are on the road. Then someone emailed a Dunlop technical guru in the States, who replied to MCN setting the facts straight, and putting them back in their place. Race tyres warm up quicker, grip better, wet or dry. No argument.

Rhys also noticed a car with a numberplate reading "cowpat"….hmmm….what can I say?! They breed ‘em strange dem country. (And before I get any flack from country people on this, I was born out woop-woop myself so I can say this. Mind you I still wouldn’t put that on a numberplate!).

Ben also noted there were "4 blokes in their 50’s and 3 in their 40’s…Ulysses look out!". Come to think of it, there wasn’t one rider there under 30. Rather unusual for a ride down the GO Road with a bunch of sports bikes. I figure my grey hairs qualify me for this older, oops, sorry, more experienced version of the Club though, as just this week a friend saw my licence photo and said "look, that’s when your hair was REALLY red"….must be all those corners sending me grey!

We flew back through the Otways and at Apollo Bay turned left at the Skene’s Creek turn-off. I had Ian right behind me at this point but I didn’t really like the road as it was damp and not really clean, so I waved him past in case he wanted to "play". Just after I waved him by he was surprised by some stones which were hard to see….he later "thanked" me for waving him by! Ah yes, it can be so much easier having someone out front to "scout" for you!

We had a regroup at Barwon Downs. From here the pace certainly seemed to pick up….big time! Again I held up the rear rider as my hair rubber broke….this may sound petty to you guys but you try brushing one big dreadlock after a day riding with long hair flying loose! So after some emergency repairs to the hair-rubber (don’t we carry them in the first aid kit Ian? Shame, shame!) there was time to be made up! It was time to blow the cobwebs out of my bike….all 220 of them if you get my drift! And I still didn’t lose the rear rider! (Of course no speeds will be mentioned to protect the innocent!)

We caught with up the group, who seemed to be doing the same to their bikes! It was a brilliant ride, everyone basically stayed together and seemed to have a blast. I have to admit at one stage I was rather surprised to see ZX9 headlights growing rapidly in my mirrors when I had long passed the speed limit. What can I say? It was just one of those rides where you couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.

As we went the back way around Geelong we saw a black Commodore about to pull out, with a driver with a blue shirt and patch on his arm…hmm….saw a few brake lights applied. At this rate I’m going to need new brake pads very soon. Personally I think he was on his way home as he didn’t really look too phased to me. We made our way onto Geelong Road where we weaved through the heavy traffic, noticing yet another cop, this time in an unmarked WRX in the median strip just before the Westgate….must be John Howard trying to get extra revenue to compensate for the petrol excise reduction!

We finished the ride at about 4.45pm at the Westgate servo after doing about 500 km with the only incident being lots of fun! Thanks Ben for leading, (Ray you’ll have to do one on the next itinerary!). Thanks Geoff and Geoff for being rear riders and thanks Mick for letting me use your bike for the next 12 months in return for doing this write-up!