Kawasaki ZZR600 Geoff Jones Suzuki TL1000S Bradley Cain

Honda CBR919R Ian Payne Honda CBR929RR Ben Warden

Suzuki GSXR600 Ray Walker BMWR1150S Rob Langer/Kirsten Anderson

Ducati 996SPS Dave Ward Suzuki TL1000S Greg Hales

I'm typing, it’s 9 pm Sunday night, and it's pouring rain. It has been raining on and off since 7 pm. This is what was forecast for the afternoon and thankfully we missed it. Though we did cop the strong northerly gale all day. Never trust the forecast.

I was 5 minutes late for the West Gate Shell service station pick-up, scheduled for 10.15 am. The phone had rung at 7.30 am to report the disappearance of "Emma Nicholas" — my daughter Fiona’s small, threadbare, much loved teddy bear. Yesterday we had been out to visit Baringo Fauna Park with Ray Walker and his wife Katrina and their two children Jai and Riley, discovered on Les Leahy's Navigation Trial. Later we had visited Mt Macedon to enjoy a flurry of snow flakes at The Cross. Somewhere en-route we left teddy. Trying to track down Baringo in the White Pages on the web early Sunday morning took a little longer than expected, things not working exactly like they used to now that the kids have their own ISP. Ho-hum.

In the mad race to beat the clock and not get left behind, I managed to completely overlook the Club Emergency kit, which winked at me when I arrived home. Bugger.

Nevertheless I wasn’t the last to arrive and we ended up leaving 20 minutes late, Geoff leading and Rob and Kirsten taking up station at the rear of the group.

Across the West Gate Bridge the strong north west wind immediately made its presence felt. At least it was dry. We took the second exit after the bridge and crossed the freeway into Laverton and skirted our way around the back streets eventually picking up Boundary Road and heading west. The plan was to get to Mt Wallace, carry out the hill climb contest, and then, depending on the weather and wishes of the group, set off for a ride, either short or long.

The roads are long and straight out west. The only fear is coppers hiding in the trees, as per last time. Geoff was skooting along out front, acting as the sacrificial lamb, and generally inspiring the group to push on. About this stage I realised a visor screw was working itself loose, the visor not closing tightly. The cross wind was swirling around inside my helmet trying to peel my eyelids off. Blah. The joys of motorcycling.

Later Greg told me he waspondering the idea of us wearing out the right hand side of our tyres as the bikes "leaned" on the wind while travelling in a straight line. A least the wind was a constant blow rather than gusty, though scything through the cutting at the back of Melton had my bike moving around as it was buffetted from different angles, a little disconcertingly.

At last some gentle twisties before stopping at the bottom of Mt Wallace and the timed Hill Climb part of the ride. I tightened up my visor screw with a loaned 10 cent piece. Val, Melissa and Andrew were at the top of the hill, and Ben (Jones) was at the bottom, in separate cars. Andrew was to time the bikes with a stop watch, co-ordinating with hand signals to Ben when he was ready for the next bike to depart. Andrew was using a pair of binoculars to better gauge exactly when the bikes were leaving, nominally from an invisible line across the road lining up with the front bonnet of the car. The system worked as well if not better than other years. No times were lost and they all seemed very reasonable. Below is a table of the riders’ times.

Name	Trial 1	Trial 2	Trial 3
Ian Payne	50.54	49.50	46.70
Dave Ward	45.40	43.40
Rob Langer	54.44	51.40	49.60
Greg Hales	47.97	47.00	45.90
Ray Walker	53.00	51.70	51.00
Ben Warden	53.44	50.80	48.40
Bradley Cain	51.30	48.70	47.70
Geoff Jones	57.25	55.30	54.50
			2001

Dave Ward was the winner, his first time a startling fast 45 seconds. Greg Hales, having a very competitive nature, and having the horsepower and skill to give it a good crack, was close to Dave and felt he could go quicker next shot. He dropped a second on his second attempt and was well chufffed, until Dave’s second pass — two seconds quicker than his first! Sensational. Dave teased us, suggesting that the first run was only the sighting lap, and he wasn’t really trying — his tyres were mismatched and his tyre warmers were at home. He sat out the third run, suggesting his clutch may not withstand the rigours of the starts. Everyone improved with each run. Times were noticeably quicker than last year. I think there was slightly less gravel this year, though the pot holes (!) were worse. And the hairpin was just as diabolical as always. At least the forecast cold weather kept the cars away. See table for last years results:

Craig Morley’s presence was missed, his monoing over the crests on his old YZF a feature of last year’s event. And I understand Tim Walker, two time winner, has headed to outback NSW in his WRX to an annual farm machinery display. When Tim won the results were as follows:

Every year the times are coming down, and we have started at the same place. The year before that we started a further 600 metres down the road and hence the times are not comparable. Note also the change in machinery over the years. Back to the story.

After the three runs were expertly tabulated by Melissa we were treated to coffee and cakes. There was a homemade carrot cake, a homemade apple tea cake (care of Mrs Val Jones, thanks very much) and Geoff’s favourite orange jaffa cake purchased from the local bakery. The gas stove was heating water continuously for the thirsty group.

The formal part of the day now complete, it was time to head for the hills! The Brisbane Ranges to be exact. Bradley took his leave and headed home. We made our way south to Durdidwarrah and across to Meredith. The roads were in excellent condition with barely another car around. My bike was handling the sometimes bumpy roads very well, the new Ohlins really supplying a plush ride. It is amazing how much better my back feels after a Sunday ride. It is just a matter of dialling in a speed to cruise on. We were now out of the wind, or it was behind us. All was well with the world, even the wattles were blooming, Spring just around the corner.

We did a sharp right turn back along the She Oaks Road to see where it went — back to Meredith — but not before it turned to dirt. Geoff wanted to explore the 4 km of dirt, so I lead the group back from whence we had come, back to Meredith for fuel and lunch. It was now about 1 pm. Geoff had already fuelled up, so happily corner marked for the group.

A pie and thingies aboout the size of dim sims but were beef and covering in pastry with bread crumbs went down well. Ian struggled with his bike and gloves and helmet in the wind and lost, his helmet tumbling to the ground and doing a bowling ball impression, rolling around.

Time pressing for Dave, work ovens waiting for no-one, we made haste. We were somewhat delayed when Kirsten spent time looking for her sunglasses, I was later informed. Sitting on corners half way to nowhere gives you a good opportunity to catch up with people. Greg told stories of playing basket ball on Thursday after joining an over 35’s league and finding himself the fifth player spending the full 40 minutes on the court, ie running, running, running. Then finding that his recently broken collar bone is not completely healed and now is very sore again — back to the 3 week mark. He then followed up with a full day’s dirt riding on Saturday and a dozen or so crashes, and now Sunday out on his road bike. A very understanding wife Maree. She believes thinks he is much easier to live with after he gets his riding fix, though she wonders at his appetite for pain.

From Meredith we headed back along the Durdidwarrah road and down to Anakie Junction before winding our way back to Werribee where we disbanded at a set of traffic lights. Ray and Geoff headed north through Hoppers Crossing to Melton and Sunbury, the rest of us picked up Geelong Road and the West Gate Freeway.

Home by 4.10 pm, a round trip of 220 km. Thanks to Geoff for leading, Val for cooking, and Ben, Melissa and Andrew for time keeping. A great day was had by all. And to all those who missed out: next time, ignore the forecast and come for a ride. It is worth it.