CBR900RR Ian Payne(Leader) CBR900RR Ben Warden

YZF1000 Enzo Cunico TL1000S Darren Morcomb

GPX250 Tanya Walker RGV250 David Walker

CBR1000 Martin Bastock ZX7 Rhys Williams

TL1000S Greg Hales(Rear rider) CBR600 Dianne Welsford

R1 Dave Ward, Bronwyn Manifold GSX750F Martin Quinn

TRX850 Bradley Cain(1^st) GSXR600 Ray Walker

Triumph Michael(1^st) CBR600 David Cooper (1^st)

16 bikes, 17 people.

I guess this ride will go down as the "shortest" ride of the year with less than 100 kilometres covered from go to whoa! But I digress. Off to KBCP to pick up 5 enthusiastic riders and then down the arterial to Hallam where a further 12 riders had gathered. This was a good turnout considering the forecast was for "some light showers then becoming fine".

I had planned a fairly short ride of about 240 kms for the day with the route encompassing Pakenham, Gembrook, Cockatoo, Woori Yallock, Healesville and a short stretch of Mt Donna Buang. Then back to Wandin, Monbulk, Kallista, and Upper Beaconsfield. Then the servo on Heatherton Road at Narre Warren North for breakup.

While waiting at Hallam I had a talk with the 3 new guys explaining the Corner Marking System, the emergency kit, Club Rules and emphasized "ride at your own pace". I then gave the spiel with Greg volunteering for rear rider and we were away. Being out in front you feel very conspicuous and as my demerit points are on maximum the difficulty was to NOT speed but still maintain a reasonable pace for the enjoyment of all!

There being quite a few intersections on the first stretch enabled the faster riders to corner-mark often and hence not be up my exhaust pipe. The run from Pakenham to Pakenham Upper proved interesting as a truck had left quite a large trail of oil/diesel along the road, the worst of it being right where we were riding!

Once past the Cockatoo turn-off the road opened up and I thought I had set a pretty good pace as no one had caught up. WRONG! There in my blind spot sat Dave and Bron on the R1. We continued along to Gembrook on what must be the roughest stretch of road in the state. Martin, on the GSX Suzuki, actually stopped to check his rear suspension thinking that it had seized up!

Through Gembrook then along to Cockatoo and the back way into Emerald where a stop was planned to enjoy some eats at the local Bakery. After parking the bikes, I joined the queue for a coffee and some cake but then noticed everybody who was outside suddenly running for cover! Couldn’t work it out at first until I realized it was raining. In fact it was bucketing down. After seeking shelter under the Post Office verandah I thought maybe it was just raining in Emerald but then Darren, who had been on the phone talking to a mate who lives in Healesville, informed me that the weather was about the same over there as well. That was a pity as that’s the way I had planned to go. As it had not rained for several days I knew the roads would be quite greasy and then a local came up to tell us that the police had been targeting motorcyclists in and around the area! The weather and that remark virtually spelt an end to the ride.

With many of the riders now contemplating leaving for home from here, I decided to officially end the ride with just a small contingent heading back to Hallam for breakup.

This small group proceeded along to Upper Beaconsfield, Harkaway and Hallam. At one cross road, Tanya, not seeing the intersection until the last minute, performed some spectacular brake-lockup-release-brake-lockup-release maneuvers before finally coming to rest on the other side of the intersection. Fortunately we all made it back to Hallam with no other problems.

As it was quite dry and still early a decision was made to proceed to Oakleigh and have lunch at the very trendy Café Frappe. Here we where joined by Dave and Bron and Bruce Saville who related the sorry tale of recently having his VFR800 serviced and getting a "free" dent in the petrol tank!

Thanks for all those that came on the ride and sorry about the weather, but we need the rain!