Walhalla Sunday 13th February 2005

 

Yamaha R1                  Stoimen Stojanov                     Honda CBR954           Mark Rhodes  

Yamaha R1                  James (1st ride)                         Honda CBR954           Rob Jones                   

Yamaha R1                  Ron Solomon                           Honda CBR929           Ben Warden

KTM620                     Rhys Williams                           Suzuki GSXR1000       Lyn Duncan                 

Harley Buell                  Nigel Hellyer    (lead)               Honda CBR954           Steve Cowburn (3rd ride)

Triumph                        Ian Black                                  Suzuki GSXR1000       Danny Hasnat              

Kawasaki ZX9             Dave Hives                               Honda CBR1100XX    Wayne & Damian Pope (rear)

 

Berwick was the scheduled departure point. The forecast was for 25 degrees and the solid turnout of 14 bikes and 15 people reflected the positive weather forecast.  Nigel had managed to get his Buell repaired in the nick of time after the output shaft bearing collapsed, not such an uncommon occurrence apparently. After forking over lots of dollars he and his bike were raring to go. Wayne, with son Damian on the back of the Blackbird, volunteered to be rear riders for the day and we were off.

 

Left onto the Freeway saw us heading east to Packenham where we followed the standard route through Bunyip to Longwarry. We crossed the Freeway and headed towards Labertouche. We missed the tricky right turn to Jindavick and proceeded straight for another 5 km until the road turned to dirt. Obviously we don’t travel on this road unless in error and it was quite interesting  with lots of right angle turns, bumps and later, undulating hills in dairy country. The bugs were out in force, the heavy rains and then hot weather promoting rapid grass growth and a bug explosion – literally all over our visors. Frequent cleaning was a must all day.

 

Back to the turnoff and off to Jindavick. I understand that we were meant to turn right at Jindivick and head south to Drouin West and pick up the start of the Old Sale Road. But we found ourselves enjoying the twisties all the way to Neerim South where we followed the high speed main road back to Rokeby and then we picked up the Old Sale Road near Buln Buln.

 

Heading east the group was fairly compact and making swift progress. Now Rhys was feeling the pain. His bike  - engine/riding position – are not designed for sustained high speed riding. The Reefton Spur is more to his liking. Soon enough Moe came into sight.

 

Knowing it was our scheduled stop, I pulled in for fuel at the servo at the northern end of town, Lyn right behind me. She figured that I would know the best thing to do. The Bakery was shut, but we found a good takeway place in the next block. Ron “Balls Engineering” Solomon had brought along another new rider. Ron used to run very frequent rides down the The Great Ocean Road – and we would regularly run into his group. Now he sees us as a viable option, expanding his repertoire of roads, and someone else doing all the organising. Plus guys used to fall off all too regularly on his rides, so now he is more selective on who he invites to ride with him.

 

From Moe we headed to Yallourn North via the main roads, sweeping past the giant coal fired power station billowing sulphur dioxide laden steam. It certainly is an impressive engineering feat, if only for the sheer size of the cooling towers.

 

On to Tyers along the heavily policed section, though not many people seemed to be aware of this. Now heading up the hill on the fantastic road to Rawson we encountered a car club choking up the twisties. Throw in some late-signposted road works mid sweeping corner and there were a few sphincter clenching moments.  But we all survived to the Walhalla turnoff, cunningly signed with the “Dangerous for Motorcyclists” yellow sign, code for “Fun Starts Here”. As usual, the road is highly technical with lots of decreasing radius turns, off camber and blind corners. New rider James came to grief on one of the slow corners, the bike sustaining minor cosmetic damage but quickly resuming normal vertical duties. I think Jame’s pride was the most hurt, and I note we haven’t seen him since.

 

We stood around in the glorious sun. Lyn introduced me to this old bloke Gary and his girlfriend. At first I didn’t recognise him, having not seen him since he worked as a tyre mechanic at Pablo’s on Burnley St Richmond. We used to play F Grade squash at Northcote Squash back in the late 70’s early 80’s. He had a GSX250 which was much better than my Z200! Those were the days.  He was now riding an R1100GS.

 

Rob Jones and drinking partners had felt beer o‘clock coming on early and left at Walhalla, depleting our numbers by three.

 

The plan was to get fuel at Rawson but the servo is now gone, so Erica for those in need. But most pressed on to Willow Grove, Hill End and Noojee, a great combination of roads. We spent quite a while in Noojee enjoying the upside coffee shop, sitting outside around the tables. Lots of bikes, including trail bikes, were coming and going, Noojee is a veritable bike Mecca.

 

Last hop back to Launching Place via the fast Poweltown road. Rhys went straight ahead at the Y junction and headed back to Drouin, Koo-Wee-Rup and home, definitely a big smile on his face as he rounded up the road bikes through the Hill End to Icy Creek section.

 

The ride was over now, after 350 km of mainly twisty roads in pretty good condition. The weather had been perfect for riding and it was a very successful ride. Thanks Nigel for leading and Wayne for rear riding.

 

Lyn, Stoimen and I made our way across to Healesville, Yarra Glen, Christmas Hills, Diamond Creek and the Ring Road around to the north and western suburbs to arrive home around 5 pm after 480 km. A big day. Looks like I’ll need another rear tyre for Tassie, now only 13 sleeps away.

 

 

Ben Warden (Honda CBR929)