Mt Bunninyong Fire Tower Sunday 25^th June, 2006

Geoff Jones (Leader)	Yamaha R1	Lyn Duncan	Suzuki GSXR1000
Ben Warden (rear rider)	Honda CBR929	Breht Emmerson	Honda CBR954
Cameron Stevens	Kawasaki ZX9	Tony	Kawasaki ZX7
Ern Reeders	Triumph 955i ST

Route:

· Whittlesea, Kinglake West, Flowerdale, Broadford, High Camp, Lancefield, Carlsruhe (1^st break)

· Coliban Reservoir, Spring Hill, Little Hampton, Musk, Daylesford (lunch)

· Leonards Hill, Spargo Creek, Gordon, Yendon, Bunninyong fire tower (2^nd break)

· Yendon, Ballan, Greendale, Myrniong, Bacchus Marsh (fuel), Toolern Vale, Diggers Rest.

The pre-ride talk was dominated by an in-depth discussion of carb icing as I had just had my bike repaired for this fault and first timer Tony on his '97 ZX7 was complaining of similar symptoms. Geoff gave a pre-ride corner marking system talk and mentioned a nasty left hand corner at the end of a long straight before we hit the road.

Our first stop for fuel was at Carlsruhe where Ern decided to head for the comfort of an open fire. The forecast was a max of 13 degrees and we were heading just south of Ballarat so it looked like the ride might not get much warmer.  The weather forecast was for afternoon showers developing but luckily for us they didn't eventuate.

The roads were damp all the way through to Daylesford where we stopped at a bakery in the main street for a hearty lunch. Then we made our way out of town and on to drying roads.

On reaching the fire tower we stopped for a quick break before deciding to climb the stairs to the top. It was worth the effort as we were greeted by 360 degree views for as far as the eye could see. Ben took some photos of all the riders together and then the view. After climbing down Lyn went looking for koalas in the surrounding trees but unfortunately came up empty handed. We broke up just before getting on the Calder Highway and headed home.

A big thanks to Geoff for doing an excellent job as lead rider and a special mention to Ben for doing tail end duties.

Cameron Stevens