Geoff Jones — ZZR600* (leader) Ian Payne - CBR900RR* Bruce Saville — VFR800

Ray Walker — GSXR600 Craig Morley - YZF750* Jeff Hornby — ZX6

Rob Wordie — GSXR750 Rob Matricciani — VFR750 Dianne Welsford — CBR600 (R/Rider)

Andrew Napier — CBR900RR* Geoff Barton — ZX7 Bob Kerseboom — R1100RT (1^st)

Nick Casemore & Lisa — GSXR600* Derek Atkinson & Kathy — CBR600.

14 bikes, 16 people. (* Those that had a countermeal).

Off to Yarra Glen for our first night ride of the year. Unfortunately part of the trip would be in the peak hour traffic and riding in the hot and sticky weather quickly negated the refreshing shower I’d had only a few minutes before. I reached Park Orchards and the traffic had actually thinned out enough that I could get up a bit speed!

I arrived at the pub to find Geoff, Craig, Nick and Lisa sitting out on the balcony enjoying a few coldies. Next Andrew arrived on his "NEW Firebird". We then decided to go inside and order our meals from the bistro. Over a very pleasant meal the conversation revolved around bike insurance, tyres, Andrew’s new bike and which route to take for the upcoming weekend away. By the time we had finished our meals quite a horde of people had turned up, all wanting to ride up Lake Mountain in the DARK. We must be mad!

Geoff gave a pre-ride talk on the route he would follow, Dianne volunteered for the rear rider and Bruce alerted us to be careful of the gravel on the Marysville/Cumberland Junction stretch of road. We set off towards the Yarra Valley but detoured along the "Old Healesville Road", then via some back streets onto the Maroondah Highway and the Black Spur. I had a reasonably good run over the Spur but there are always one or two cars that don’t like being passed and try to up the pace!

Down into Narbethong, then the uphill run to Marysville. It had been quite good up till here but with it now being quite dark the old eyes were having a quite a hard time of it, even with the good headlight on the CBR. In this half-light I was being very cautious. Then Craig and Ray shot past and then I had some tail lights to follow. That was until we struck the gravel, great mounds of it that the cars had neatly piled up right where a motorcycle should be. As you could not see the gravel clearly the only answer was to follow the white line, that is until Andrew went by and the superb headlight on his new CBR turned night into day.

We turned onto the Lake Mountain road, but this was no better with the abundance of leaf litter and the occasional road works to keep you on your toes! Still we all made it unscathed with only Andrew reporting a "moment" when he locked the rear wheel on one corner. After getting our breath it was off again for some more FUN. Apparently on the way down Bob had the BM wound up causing sparks to fly on a few of the corners! Through Marysville and Narbethong, then the Black Spur. It being quite late there was little traffic so a fairly brisk pace was set. With no misdemeanors reported, it can only be assumed that everyone had fun, fun, fun.

We regrouped in Healesville but the thought of a late night coffee quickly disappeared as nothing was open. Even the service station was about to close! The only activity seemed to be the local yobbo’s hooning about in their cars. They even came over asking us to do some mono’s, stoppies etc. The ride effectively broke up here with most riders heading for home. Geoff Barton had to go and retrieve his watch from the other servo. Apparently he had left his wallet at home and left his watch as security when he got fuel earlier in the evening!

With the need for a caffeine fix still quite strong, (Ray quenched his with a couple of quick cans of Red Bull) a small group of us headed off to a late night coffee shop in Templestowe, although en-route the destination switched to Chapel Street. Something about there being a greater abundance of females! Thanks to Geoff for leading/organizing this fun night and thanks to Dianne for the rear riding duties.