Flowerdale Pub Sunday 23^rd July, 2006

Honda CBR1000	Joel Haley	Suzuki GSXR1000	Lyn Duncan (leader)
Honda CBR1000	Paul Southwell	Suzuki GF1200	Ron Johnston
Honda CBR1000	Ian Payne (rear)	Yamaha R1	Geoff Jones
Honda CBR954	Breht Emmerson	Triumph 955	Ern Reeders
Honda CBR929	Ben Warden	Yamaha YZF1000	Trevor Harris/Barbara Rolfe
Honda VFR750	Renzo Cunico	Suzuki DR400	Les Leahy

I was hoping that Sunday’s planned ride to Flowerdale for lunch was going to be a mostly dry ride. Sunday started with 11 riders and one pillion eager to experience the relative open country north of Yea and Broadford. Lyn settled us down with a brief description of where the ride would be taking us and suggested petrol stops.

Lyn’s route took us to Yan Yean, then cut across St Andrews via Arthurs Creek. Basically this section is an 80 km zone, which proved interesting watching 11 sports bikes weave in and around 30 plus Triumph sports cars. The Triumphs were immaculately turned out but unfortunately were cruising just below the speed limit.

Once through these little chicanes it was up through Kinglake National Park to Kinglake. We turned right and headed to the Melba Highway, then down to Glenburn. Open it up a bit and head to Yea via one of my favourite sections in the area, Junction Hill. Given that these roads were damp in the shaded sections, due care was needed.

We had our first stop in Yea where we had the usual social catch up of who was leading the Supers or what brand of tyres to run next or how Lyn’s job was going. Back to the real stuff, the “Highlands Road”. This road gets better the more times you ride it. Once again damp to wet conditions in various sections but good fun all the same. Fast forward to Broadford via Trawool and Tallarook.

My little yellow reserve light showed me what to do next: fuel up. Most others seemed to be in the same situation judging by the large amounts of money being paid to the cashier. You’d reckon the petrol station console operator would smile considering the amount we pay for a tank of petrol.

Lyn made an executive decision at this point to lengthen the ride slightly. We were going back to Yea via Strath Creek. This meant we would be going back over Junction Hill. You’ll get no argument from me about that.

While riding along the highway to Yea, I started thinking about the average age of the members on this ride. So during lunch I asked each ride member a couple of questions. These are the results after number crunching:

· Average age of ride members: 46.5 years

· Average age of the bikes on this ride: 4.5 years

· Average kms travelled in the last 12 months: 19,500.

· Average number of motorcycle speeding fines in the last three years: 0.5.

So, on average we are a mature, law abiding, dedicated and powerful purchasing force within the community. It just goes to show you can make any result very interesting if you ask the right questions in the first place.

Thanks Lyn for doing a great job leading.

Paul Southwell