Ray Walker (GSXR600) (Leader) Peter Van Meurs (TL1000S) (1^st rear rider)

*Zac (R1) (1^st ride) Di Welsford (CBR600) (2^nd rear rider)

*Lee (TLR1000) (1^st ride) (crashed) Andrew Wickes (FJ1200)

*Max "Priya" (GSXR600) Martin Bastock (CBR1000)

*Travis Rattray (RS250) (1^st ride) Martin Hastie (Blackbird)

*Andrew Napier (Fireblade)

*Leigh Third (ZZR600) (1^st ride) * = until Strath Creek/Broadford

I was looking forward to seeing Mt Macedon, a place I still haven’t been to in the 8 years I’ve been in the Club. This was supposed to be a short ride with an early finish, and when Ray asked me at Whittlesea to do the write-up I thought it would be one-page long….little did I know what lay ahead!

We left Whittlesea not long after 10.30, after a few of us had to give Andrew Wickes a push start around the servo, a sign of what was to come on the FJ1200!

Ray led us north through the fantastic sweepers and through Kinglake West. I was overtaken by Lee very early (the last I was to see of him today). I followed Travis along this road and was followed by Andrew Napier, but we all had to take it easy for a while after a car flashed us just before Kinglake West. I never did see any cops though until Lancefield! The roads along this section were great with the only exception being some sections in the twisties after Kinglake West where they’ve left some of those horrible little loose stones when "resurfacing" the road. Vic Roads have a lot to answer for!

I turned left at Flowerdale where Lee and Zac were corner-marking. I chose to take it easy along the road to Strath Creek as I’m not keen on the odd blind corner and substandard road surface you come across on it. With 2 pulling over in Strath Creek to corner-mark, it left just Travis and I following Ray up the road to Broadford.

The hill at the beginning of this road was disgraceful. There were those loose stones again on several corners and I was a bit concerned it would surprise one of the guys if they weren’t ready for it. As it turns out, most of them never came that far. Travis and I corner-marked at Broadford, with Zac and Leigh going on to the next corner. Next came the two Martins. Unfortunately this caused Ray to leave Broadford and head toward Pyalong. Next came Andrew Napier with news there had been a crash just before Strath Creek. I asked him to get word to Ray, so he relayed that to Zac who took off after Ray. Ray was apparently well on his way to Pyalong, and trying very hard to dodge a heap of cockatoos who were bombarding him, along with magpies and skylarks. What Martin B and Martin H didn’t realise was they had passed Lee off the side of the road with no indication there had been a crash. The only way he was spotted was by standing up (with a broken left knee and broken right ankle) to wave in some remaining riders.

The crash happened on a corner just before Strath Creek where they’ve done a shoddy job of fixing and have only succeeded in creating a very long mound of tar around a left hand corner right on your riding line. Lee hit it and was launched across into the ditch on the other side of the road. Photos were taken and he’ll be trying to get the council to pay for the damages.

Zac returned to the accident scene to help his mate and was going to return home to get his van to collect the bike. Ray told those of us in Broadford to make our way to the café while he returned with the two Martins to the crash scene and see what could be done. Lee was taken by ambulance to the Northern Hospital in Epping and Priya went on to the Hospital to visit him.

In the meantime, 2 hours ticked by at Broadford where I tried to convince first-timer Leigh that our normal rides aren’t really like this and he should come on another ride to see. He had to leave here to go to a party, but said he would be on a future ride. This just left Travis, Andrew Napier and I to be driven nuts by the local kids who insisted we do monos and burnouts for them and became little smart-alecs when we wouldn’t. Travis and Andrew amused themselves for a while by returning the smart comments, but when we’d finally had enough and decided we had nothing to lose by returning to the crash site, we put on our gear, just as the others showed up. Travis left for the Hospital and Andrew Napier left for home. And then there were 6!

I took over rear rider duties and Ray led Martin B, Martin H, Peter and Andrew Wickes on toward Lancefield. We all rode together to Pyalong with a brief stop at the servo, and another roll start for Andrew. All went well for awhile. We rode along narrow stony roads, wide open roads, a couple of slippery wooden bridges and did a little u-turn when Ray missed a turn off the Northern Highway to Lancefield (Just thrown in to hone our u-turning skills I think. We’ve been getting a bit of that lately!).

But it was not to last. About 16 km before Lancefield the FJ1200 finally gave up the ghost. I pulled over, decided I didn’t know a thing about the problem and took off after the others for some help. I found them 14km along, just before Lancefield. I explained the problem and Martin B and Peter returned with me. On determining Andrew needed a trailer or new battery to get mobile I found a farmer willing to let us leave the bike there. However, when Andrew went to leave it there he decided to try to start it once more. It started, so he decided to try to reach Lancefield. I returned to thank the farmer anyway, then Peter and I headed off again, only to find Andrew broken down a little further along, this time with no farmhouses in sight! Bugger! (Actually Andrew used a different word, I’m just censoring!)

By now we had all 6 people together again and a decision was made to roll the bike into the bushes and Martin Bastock gave Andrew a pillion ride home to get a trailer. And then there were 4!

After filling up at Lancefield, Peter said he must be getting home as he has a wife and bub to return to. This led to what resembled a bidding war as Ray quoted his wife and 2 kids. Peter had some pets, so did Ray…..not sure who "won" this but Peter did the family thing, and Martin and I pledged our allegiance to see this ride through to the end, which Ray appreciated as he was going to finish this ride even if it was on his own (which at the current rate was becoming a distinct possibility!). We decided surely nothing else could go wrong with only 3 bikes, so off we headed to finally see this Memorial Cross on Mt Macedon.

Soon thereafter, as we rounded a corner we came across a group of tourists with camcorders filming what seemed to be absolutely nothing. Ray told me later it was a section of road that seems uphill to the eye but is actually downhill, so the "thing" to do there is film your friends "rolling uphill"….as you do! This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as this slowed down Ray who had a 4WD do a right-hand turn in front of him on the next corner. I really am amazed we finished this ride!

Anyway, no more problems on the road. We finally reached the Memorial Cross at about 4 pm. For those who haven’t been there, it’s a huge concrete cross which was originally built by a William Cameron (whoever he was) to honour the soldiers who fought in the Great War from 1914 to 1918. It eventually deteriorated due to time, lightning damage, vandals etc and had to be demolished. However the Grollos decided to donate a new one to the people of Victoria and in 1995 a replacement was built. (He must have wanted something higher than the Rialto!) There was one small "bugger" up here though. Apparently the historical direction marker was away for repairs, so instead of these arrows pointing to everything from Ray’s house (so we’re told!) to Tokyo (as you really need to know this!) Ray held out the map in the direction of the City and we found the hill his house is on! Wahoo!

Actually jokes aside it was a lovely place, had an incredible view for miles and was quite interesting. I also had a young man sit on my lap and start yabbering away in a foreign language…Ray said I have the guys throwing themselves at me….the trouble is he was just a little too young….about 5 years old! A certain word leaps to mind Ray…and it’s not legal!

We made our way down to Ray’s house in Sunbury, arriving there at about 5 pm. Ray said he had covered about 300 km for the day in total, which was good considering he had planned a 300km ride, but bad considering he had "chopped out" 100 kilometres! However, we had coffee and pizza and watched a bike video. Quite a nice way to end a day on the bike.

Thanks Ray for leading the ride, especially with it not really being an easy one! Thanks Peter for being first rear-rider and thanks to those who helped Lee after his crash.