Ladies Ride, Marysville Sunday 24^th November, 2002

Andi Sirninger Yamaha R1 Liz Oliver                 Honda CBR919RR
Dianne Welsford Honda CBR600 Kate Stewart            Honda CBR250RR
'Goodie'   road/trail Tom Saville Yamaha R1

Liz invited me to join a 'womens’ ride' that Andi organises each year, to be held the following weekend. I was torn by the idea of supporting the girls or doing Mt Baw Baw with the Club. I pondered all week on the choice. Finally, I decided to drop by and say 'hi' to the 'girls' at the Warrandyte Bridge 9 am meeting place, and maybe even ride with them for the first half hour or so before making my way over to Yarra Glen by 10.15am to join the Club.

My plans were tossed aside when it became apparent that not many girls were going to show up. Maybe the heat had put them off. Andi puts a lot of effort into organising these rides so I felt compelled to stay with this very small group. The ride ended up basically being a MSTCV Womens Club ride anyway, with 4 of the 5 riders being Club members.

Goodie, on her road trail bike, volunteered to be rear rider. So, with Andi leading, we took off in typical MSTCV style (cars being only minor inconveniences) through Mt Evelyn, Silvan, Yellingbo, and Woori Yallock to stop for a break at Yarra Junction. I kept on the lookout for the Club riders while we were at Yarra Junction, still with the idea of possibly switching allegiance.  However, with the Club taking in the Myers Creek/ Chum Creek roads along the way they didn’t pass by for another 40 odd minutes (according to Ben). It didn’t matter, as I was enjoying riding with the girls. We stuck together at a pretty good clip until Reefton where Andi and Liz cleared out. The road was the driest and cleanest I've seen for a long time. Lovely. I was surprised at the lack of traffic, in particular bike traffic up there. Tom Saville and a couple mates passed by heading down Reefton but that was about it. We regrouped at the top and Goodie had to leave us to head back to Melbourne, so Dianne took up the rear rider duty.  

Andi had planned a few tourist surprises and the mini bush walk through 'The Big Culvert' (hand made by the bush pioneers) was an entertaining jaunt. Normal tourists looked at us as if we had landed from Mars! Dianne pulled out the trusty camera and we smiled for some happy snaps, then got back on the bikes and took the road up to Lake Mountain. It was my first time up there... what a nice wide and smooth road it is! According to Tom later, a car club had been doing runs up and down all morning so the road was swept clean of any fine gravel that normally collects on it. As usual, my little carbied bike didn’t appreciate the dizzy heights above the snowline and had even less pep than usual. Once back on the road to Marysville it was back to normal.

Lunch was at the busy Marysville bakery. We took an outside table on the verandah overlooking the bikes and watched the passing tourists entertained by a live musician and a rather noisy group of people enjoying themselves dancing. While we were stopped a brief sprinkle of rain fell. Not enough to make the ground wet, but just enough to increase the humidity. Ahhhhh..... summer.  Sweaty leathers and bugs..... love it! The ride down the Black Spur was pretty good. There was not much on-coming traffic, so whatever we encountered didn’t hold us up much.

At Healesville Andi took us to visit the Myers Creek Pottery run by some friends of hers. We parked haphazardly, monopolizing the tiny gravel carpark, and marched up the steep driveway to be greeted by Tom in bare feet and shorts. He had hidden his bike in the garden and stripped off his leathers. It was hot.... but not hot enough for the rest of us to be inspired to do the same. I don’t think I'd fancy the idea of putting it all back on.

We admired the artistic pieces of pottery and the beautiful garden, then sat out on the verandah and enjoyed a cuppa. We heard the sound of loud bikes fanging past along the road, music to our ears. I can understand the owners not being quite as sympathetic to the sound; it must be rather annoying hearing the bikes all weekend. Mind you they put up with the annoying drone of the pump on the dam without complaint. You get used to what suits you.

From there the ride continued on to Yarra Glen, with Tom joining 'us girls' for the homeward stretch, his long plait giving him an honorary girl status.  I waved goodbye and headed home when the group turned off towards Christmas Hills.

It had been a most enjoyable ride, as I'm sure Mt Baw Baw would have been too.

Kate Stewart (Honda CBR250RR)