Flowerdale Pub                      Sunday 17th July, 2005

 

Whittlesea:

Honda CBR900          Jacinta Thomas   (rear)            Honda CBR929          Ian Payne

Honda CBR1000        Paul Southwell                        Honda CBR929          Ben Warden        

Honda             CBR900          Breht Emmerson                     Suzuki GSXR1000     Lyn Duncan (leader)

Yamaha R1                 Stoimen Stojanov                    Yamaha FJ1100          Steve Lloyd (1st ride)

Yamaha R6                 Joel Haley                               Honda CBR929          Simon & Annalisa Trubiano Honda VFR750          Renzi Cunico                          GSXR1000                 Ron Solomon

 

Flowerdale Pub:         

Dave Ward and Bronywn Manifold, Ann and Trevor Harris, Jo Southwell, Ron and Julie Johnston

 

I awoke at eight to be greeted by another fantastic day. I couldn’t believe that the sky was so blue and clear after the forecast. Annalisa was having second thoughts about going on the ride, but we decided it would be a good chance to catch up with everyone in the Club.

 

Heading towards Whittlesea, I felt the rear end slip around and, out of a roundabout, a few loose stones and cold tyres made me think that I should have checked the tyre pressures!  Following a police 4WD into town, I noticed that there was a large crowd gathering at the servo, an excellent turnout considering the cold weather. Lyn promptly rounded everybody up and explained our plan for the day. Then off we went.

 

Exiting Whittlesea down Plenty Road towards the city, we headed towards Arthurs Creek. Struggling to find my rhythm, I needed to take it easy as it had been some time since riding with a pillion. Weaving towards St Andrews, we found our way up the tight twisties to Kinglake. The twisty road was a great opportunity to take it slow and find some confidence. The roads were fairly dry considering the recent rains, but obviously there was the occasional wet patch which became hairier as the pace picked up.

 

At Kinglake we turned right and headed east towards Toolangi, turning left and north at the Mt Slide intersection onto the Melba Highway, now heading for Yea. At Glenburn we turned left and headed towards Flowerdale turning right at the T intersection for the ride of your life up and down Junction Hill and onto Yea. We skirted past Flowerdale and so I had to ask the corner marker if this was lunch. Fortunately, I was pointed in the right direction and we found our way to Yea, the first stop for the day after traveling 100 km’s.

 

Speaking with Steve on the FJ, he explained he was fairly new to riding, like myself. He decided he was going to head back home to Niddrie.

 

Leaving Yea, we headed towards Seymour and took the road up to Highlands before heading back to Seymour including the small section of gravelly bitumen before looping back to Kerrisdale. Arriving at Strath Creek I needed to fuel up after traveling 180 km’s. Wearing thick winter gloves didn’t help with fuel consumption as I was a bit lazy in shifting up. After fueling, I changed gloves and never looked back.

 

Parking the bike outside the Flowerdale pub I realized a few additional members were there to welcome us. Some of them looked like they could have done with a ride, the sun shining brightly. A very pleasant time ensued with great food, service and company.  Catching up with new people can surprise you how small the world is.

 

Finally, Annalisa and I made our way home. We spotted our first fixed camera and simultaneously started to feel the cold around Humevale. All up, we travelled 250 km, door to door, arriving safely home at 3.15 pm.

 

Thanks to all, especially Lyn and Jacinta for lead and rear riding duties. 

 

Simon and Annalisa Trubiano  (Honda CBR929)