Blackwood Sunday 28^th October 2001

GPz900R Wayne Grant (leader) CBR929RR Ben Warden

CBR900 Liz Oliver (2^nd rear) GSXR750M Pete Weyermayr

R6 Martin Quinn (1^st rear)

The forecast was abysmal but all it did was blow. No rain, no hail. Amazing. We few brave souls, or those without a life, congregated at Whittlesea to hear Wayne’s pre-ride spiel. Martin affixed the emergency kit with the aid of an ocky strap and we were away on familiar roads once more.

Heading up hill towards Kinglake I sat behind Liz waiting for my brain to come to terms with daylight saving time. A late night followed by an hour earlier start leaves the head a little groggy. I swept around the right hand side of Liz in the big left hander, tipped it into the following right hander and poured on the power and had a massive rear end slide, finding myself in the other lane by the time I had collected myself and the bike. It was damp, the as new Pilot Race tyres were cold and hadn’t been over on the right hand side since fitting the day before. And Liz thought I did it on purpose! Lucky she wasn’t next to me was my major concern.

I didn’t notice flowers at Joe Cook’s tree heading down the sweepers this week. Wayne was setting a good pace, a changed man since switching to Dunlop 207 GP race compound tyres. At Flowerdale we turned left and headed for Strath Creek followed by the Parrot Creek Road to Trawool. Just after the intersection I set off in pursuit of a maroon late model Falcon catching him mid-corner, on the very fast, off camber left hander just after the bridge. He saw me coming and moved over allowing me to squeeze by. A fantastic corner. I realised later that the Falcon was going at least the metric tonne.

Tallarook came and went. Soon we were in Pyalong for morning tea. No-one filled up, a radical change from the last time we were here when half the group had to fill up! Martin bade his farewells and Liz took over the rear riding duties after strapping the kit very securely to her pillion seat.

Pete was having trouble with the GSXR not revving right out in the upper gears, a bad sign when he has booked in the Superbike School at Phillip Island next week. It sounded like a fuel starvation problem at high revs and I suggested a kinked fuel line. Pete had fixed that. I suggested a blocked fuel filter – doesn’t have one other than the coarse one in the tank. He had lined the tank with that cream that stops leaks due to rust. I think he mentioned that he had removed the filter – otherwise it could have been blocked. Plugs had been changed 8,000 km ago as had the shims been set. Pete had checked the float heights – there was the possibility that they were low, but that low? Air filter okay, exhaust system standard, carby jets and needles all standard. Pulls cleanly in the lower gears right through the rev range. One for Rhys to nut out. I could only suggest changing the plugs as a first, cheap alternative before chasing more serious solutions. (Turned out to be bad fuel as it all came good for the island. ..Ed)

Pete (and Liz) have impressed me with their fanatical keenness. I think they have been on 4 of the past 5 rides. They rode with a similar club in New Zealand but when they came to Australia heard that our police were terrible and so rode sedately and in fear for the next five years – until they found us! When I suggested that Pete’s badly weaving bike was probably as a result of tired original suspension and that he didn’t have many choices other than to shut his eyes and pay the money to a suspension house he accepted the opinion. The next time I asked how it’s going he says he has had the whole lot fixed by Kruz Tune – new springs front and rear, revalved and re-oiled, front and rear. Transformed the bike. And now they are off to the Superbike School to pick up their skills. Pete said he had a GSX1100 back in NZ and a GPz1100 in Australia which wouldn’t go around right hand corners without scraping the muffler. He hasn’t been confident in right hand corners since. And now he is chasing power!

Heading out of Pyalong we picked up the Emu Flat road and continued heading west to Kilmore including the 1200 metres of hard packed, sandy dirt. Wayne had planned to have lunch here but it was only 40 km since the previous stop so we headed south to Trentham via the twisty bits around the reservoir and Spring Hill. I thought we might stop here but we pressed on to Blackwood, Greendale and Ballan for lunch.

New Greek owners at the takeaway were doing their best to go out of business, language a problem, counting another. Never-the-less we enjoyed a meal inside and out of the wind, an unpleasant strong northerly blowing, and about to change to a cold southerly for the final leg home.

Liz and I had hit reserve (around 215 km) and so we all fueled up. It is the sort of servo where you pay cash because it is just … easier. Besides, they round down to the nearest dollar!

Heading south out of Ballan we overshot the barely signposted Mt Wallace (Hill Climb fame) turnoff. I convinced Wayne that it was indeed the road. Liz and Pete were impressed by the steepness, tightness and amount of gravel on the corners, and couldn’t believe we ran the Hill Climb without closing the road. Hmm.

At Bacchus Marsh we rejoined the Highway for a couple of kilometres before turning off and heading north picking up the Toolern Vale Road to Diggers Rest where we broke up for the final time.

It turned out to be an excellent ride in pretty reasonable weather considering the forecast. Thanks Wayne for leading an obviously planned route, and thanks to all who attended and enjoyed the ride. Wayne’s homework is to replace his chain and sprockets before his next ride. They were making terrible graunching noises. I lubed his chain probably out of fear of his chain snapping and collecting me as it was spat out behind. Or maybe it was just the mechanical sympathy I was feeling for the metal against metal pain. The lube was off in 50 km, all hope lost. Wayne’s odometer showed 39,000 km and he said it was the original chain and sprockets. Not a bad innings.

Ben Warden (Honda CBR929)