Loch                    Sunday 6th June, 2004

 

Honda CBR929           Ben Warden     (leader)            Kawasaki ZX12R        Paul Grosser

Honda CBR929           Greg Hales                               BMW R1200S             Rob Langer (1/3 rear)

Honda CBR929           Pete Weyermayr                       Yamaha R6                  Joel Haley

Honda CBR954           Paul Southwell              Harley Buell                  Nigel Hellyer

Honda CBR954           Liz Oliver                                 Honda  VTR1000        Bill Wee 1st ride

Honda CBR600           Kate Stewart (2/3 rear)            Ducati 748                   Jamie Arnold  1st ride

Honda CBR600           Pete Pondeljak                         13 bikes, 13 people

 

Last January Ben led the club down into South Gippsland via Drouin and I happened to do the write up for that ride. I thought this would be a good chance for me to ‘cut & paste’ the write up for this ride to Loch. Same area, same places. Wrong! Ben once again confused me with twisting and turning that left my head spinning faster that Greg Hales rear wheel.

 

The first leg to Longwarry and Drouin was straightforward. Leaving Drouin and heading for Poowong and Loch via Ranceby was a bit confusing but exciting. Somehow we managed to clock-up 105 km’s that on the map looks more like 40! Having a break at Loch for fuel/snack confirmed that everyone was enjoying the magical mystery tour. At this point first timer Jamie Arnold, on a borrowed 748 Ducati, (Where do you find mates like that?) had to head back to his friend’s place.

 

The next leg took us on a loop, first towards Grantville with an excellent view of the bay, then down to Woolamai via Archies Creek, now with a brilliant view of Bass Strait. Of course this only added confusion to everyone’s sense of direction. And if you weren’t confused enough at this stage Ben lead us back through Archies Creek, via Kilcunda, back up to Loch on roads that VicRoads don’t even know the names of.

 

Lunch in Loch, not usually an experience to remember, was a little different this time. While we were in Loch earlier that morning Ben had snuck across the road to the Café and worded up the staff that a bunch of hungry bikers would be back at lunch time. Note: if anyone is thinking of leading a ride down to Loch, give the Café some warning, it works. The ‘monster burger’ is truly a piece of work and Rob (Langer) did a good job in eating one. Hopefully the Guineas Book of Records will get the photos soon.

 

After lunch Kate and Pete headed homeward while the rest of us followed Ben north to Drouin via Poowong. After Drouin we were in for a surprise, roads that few of us had travelled before. We rode through Brandy Creek on to Neerim South, then through places named Jindivick and Labertouche, finishing up at a petrol station on the freeway somewhere near Tynong. To my great pleasure Ben even found some dirt bits for me to practise on!

 

The Freeway petrol station signalled the end of the ride, a round trip of 320 km from Berwick to Tynong. There was a much excitement over the day’s ride: Paul (Grosser) personally thanked Ben for a fantastic ride. First timer (wild) Bill Wee said that he had never taken so many corners in the one ride before. Greg (Hales) was all smiles. Rob Langer figured lots of planning must have gone into the ride – there were plenty of roads even he hadn’t been on. I was happy with the thought that there are roads out there that still need exploring.

                            

Thankyou Ben for leading us on some (more) of your favourite country roads. And thankyou for bringing us out again!!!

 

Paul Southwell (Honda CBR954)

 

p.s. The new Berwick pickup was very successful. A bit of fine tuning to work out where to park is all that is required. It was a surprisingly good turnout on the ride given it was the first ride on the new itinerary and people hadn't got their magazines yet - they must be reading the Club web page.