Dams Ride Sunday 5^th September, 2004

Yamaha YZF1000R	Trevor Harris (Leader)	Honda CBR929	Ian Payne (Rear)
Buell 1200	Nigel Hellyer	Honda CBR954	Liz Oliver
BMW R1150GS	Rob Langer	Honda CBR929	Ben Warden
Honda VFR750	Renzo Cunico	Honda CBR954	Paul Southwell
Honda CBR954	Pete Weyermayr	9 bikes, 9 people

Yarra Glen for a 10:00 departure for what was marked as a short ride. I get to the Original Cafe about ten to the hour to find Nigel waiting and Rob getting a coffee and breakfast. More bikes arrive, and it looks like we’ll get away pretty much on time. It’s Liz and Pete’s’ first ride after their recent holiday.

Well, we would have except for Mr Bike Cop dropping in and giving us the license check routine. Seven bikes, six riders, and a defect notice to Ian ‘worn rear tyre’ Payne; thankfully it was not accompanied by a fine, so long as he showed up at a cop shop with a new tyre in the next week. Where was the seventh rider you ask? Mr Plod didn’t notice he was one short; Rob was feeling all shy in the back of the coffee shop… Ben and Paul were running a little late and missed out on the Official Business, but were seen riding up and down while waiting for the coast to be clear.

With the departure of the White Bike, I gave the attendees the rundown on today’s ride. No one put their hand up for the write-up but Ian volunteered to be rear rider (as did Rob and Renzo). We passed the White Bike as we went through town, with another customer in his clutches, as we headed for Christmas Hills to the first dam of the day. Nice road. I’m still pissed off with the reduction of the speed limit from 100 km/h to 80 km/h three years ago. This has to be one of the shortest legs on a Club ride in a long time – less than 10 km.

Sugarloaf Reservoir - the only dam wall that we will get to ride across today. This is basically a big holding tank that is fed via the Maroondah aqueduct. Water can also be pumped up from the Yarra River.

The weather was calm and getting warm. The reflections across the water had Ben taking the first of many pictures for the day. The reservoir even has Gilligan’s Island in the middle, but there was no sign of any castaways or wrecked boats. Somehow, I managed to be volunteered by Ben to do the write-up: something to do with my producing a small list of facts and figures and this was considered to be a good reason to flesh it out for the magazine. So bear in mind that this is written as seen ‘from the front’. A few more minutes of taking in the serenity, and then it was off to the next stop.

Back down to the Christmas Hills road, turning left towards Eltham. Right into Alma Road just before the road works got us onto some tight and bumpy roads with back scenery. Right turn at the end of the road and we were in Panton Hill. Sharp left at the roundabout, through Cottles Bridge and then Arthurs Creek. The road was opening up a bit, and so did we. The final leg to Yan Yean took in some open straights, but we behaved (mostly).

Into the park/picnic area and a loop around the hillside into a car park. Remembering Ben’s recent comment that stops should involve “toilets, shops or both” had us stop by the toilet block. And about half of us took the opportunity to check it out - good planning or what? This was the first water catchment for Melbourne, and is pretty impressive when you consider that it was built without heavy equipment, just men, wheelbarrows and horses. If you follow the pipeline towards the city you’ll come to a suburb named Reservoir. I wonder how it got that name? More historical facts, more photos, and then off to Dam 3.

I took the group on a loop via Doreen and Arthurs Creek that ended up back on the road we took earlier, but this time we headed in the opposite direction, back towards Cottles Bridge. Later on Renzo commented that “I’ve lived around here for years and I didn’t know about these roads”. Makes all of the poring over maps looking for new roads worth it when planning the ride to hear that. The St Andrews-Kinglake road was next. I was surprised to see a number of Hardly Rideables coming towards us at the St Andrews end. There were also a number of vintage bikes out for a run; I don’t know if they were together. I passed a couple of bikes, a scooter and an L-plater at the bottom before it got interesting, but it sounds like most of the group had to contend with them in the tight stuff.

At the top, it was eastwards to Mt Slide and Toolangi. Rob and I waited a couple of minutes for the group (I said they were held up!) at the Chum Creek / Myers Creek intersection by the store. Rob asked when we were stopping for morning tea, as it was around 11:30. I replied that the next dam was not too far away and that when we got there we would decide where to have lunch. The group appeared (what’s the motorcycling equivalent of ‘pelleton’?) and we headed down the Myers Creek road to Healesville. We turned left into the Maroondah Lookout, a couple of k’s up the hill out of Healesville, stopped, looked while I gave the attentive throng more history and facts. That completed Part A of the ride.

And then it was Decision Time:

• Option 1 was to eat in Healesville and head south to the Cardinia and Silvan reservoirs (Part B).
• Option 2 was to take the Black Spur to Marysville, eat there and then head over the Reefton to the Upper Yarra Dam, heading back along the Warburton Highway to Launching Place or Woori Yallock (Part C).
• Option 3 was Option 2 followed by Option 1 minus the second lunch.

Of course, everyone voted for the Spurs – especially an enthusiastic Paul - and so off to Marysville we went. Traffic through the Spur wasn’t too bad except for the final couple of kilometres. I’m pleased to report that Pete’s cop wasn’t waiting as I led the ride through the leg from Narbethong.

Lunch was leisurely as we chatted and ate too much. There were the usual good number of bikes in town. Nigel appeared with a bowl of chips, offering it around to the already overfull group.

Fed and watered we remounted and headed off up past the Lake Mountain turnoff to Cumberland Junction, then onto the Reefton Spur. Ben passed me a few k’s in while the rest were content to follow. A few R6s (probably John and Eric …Ed.) and some other bikes came up as we headed down. There was almost no traffic – just the way we like it - not even the food caravan at the bottom.

Dam 4 for the day – the Upper Yarra Dam. Not full, not empty either. Officially rated at 56% full according to the Melbourne Water web site when I checked it around 08:30 that morning. This has a large catchment area of its own, plus it is fed from the Thompson Dam out Walhalla way. The water looks blue – not at all like the Yarra. More photos, more facts. Pete started volunteering some info, but he was reading it from an information board. The spillway looks like an impressive place to test your skateboarding skills.

The final leg of the day was into Warburton, where we broke up. Hopefully Nigel found his way back to central Victoria or wherever it is that he calls home. Back to Healesville (petrol), Yarra Glen and the Christmas Hills for me. According to my Sigma BC800 cycle computer I covered 338 km door to door, with 4 hours 41 minutes riding time at an average speed of 72 km/h. Thanks to Ian for rear rider duties, and the Big Finger to Ben for getting me to do the write-up for my own ride! At least that’s one way to get points. Everyone stayed shiny side up and no one got booked for speeding equals good ride.

Reservoir	Built	Capacity (Ml)	% Full
Sugarloaf	1981	96,000	99.7
Yan Yean	1857	30,000	74.1
Maroondah	1927	22,000	100
Upper Yarra	1957	200,000	56.6

Trevor Harris (YZF1000R)

p.s. I’m leading another Dams Ride at the end of January for those who are not going on the Australia Day Very Long Weekend ride, this time leaving from Berwick. Part B to begin, with the second part to be decided on the day.