Trafalgar April 16^th, 2006

Honda CBR929	Ben Warden (leader)	Suzuki GSXR1000	Lyn Duncan
Honda CBR1000	Paul Southwell	Suzuki GSXR1000	Mark Rigsby (rear)
Honda CBR954	Steve Cowburn	Yamaha TRX850	Tony Raditsis
Honda CBR954	Breht Emmerson	Honda VTR1000	Matt Settle
Honda CBR1000	Ian Payne	Triumph ST 955i	Ern Reeders

Easter did its usual thing by raining on campers. A couple of cool and showery days in the lead up to Sunday probably accounted for the smallish turnout. The Bureau of Meteorology promised isolated clearing showers with the possibility of sunny spots in the afternoon.

Setting off from Yarra Glen we found we were pretty evenly matched and there was little waiting at corners (except for one). The roads kept their damp patches until about noon and this, along with cow droppings, mud from farm vehicles and sand washed onto the black stuff by the rains kept us on our toes.

Lynne was on auto pilot and had gone to Berwick for the start, catching up with us at Drouin. Ben worked his magic yet again by planning a route that included three roads I’d not covered before. The names Buln Buln, Mardan and Narracan come to mind. The Narracan section was a tasty bit of narrow twisting road following a river valley.

In her latest novel Ruth Rendell has a character say that men like to do a sport that gives them a fright, and a few were to be had on this Sunday. Tony’s front end washed out on gravel at walking pace and his TRX suffered a broken brake pedal, knocked off indicator and some plastic damage. Mark went further and did some trail riding and sliding coming into Noojee. Both bikes were rideable and both riders whole. Tony kept up a cracking pace after his off showing that if he had been shaken he’d also been stirred.

In the spirit of the Games (and Geoff Jones wit) the following medals have been awarded:

· Stephen: for wearing textured protection (on his tank)

· Paul: for starting to wear out his protection

· Matt: for the fine V-twin note on his Firestorm

· Lynne: for putting up with a good deal of ragging with good grace

· Ben: for planning and leading a fine ride

· Tony: for showing how stylish riding on a nimble bike can beat horsepower

· Brett: for getting the most out of his last ride for a month

· Mark: for going for the biggest adrenaline hit of all

I’m claiming the wooden spoon for thinking I could stare down a 4x4 at an intersection.

From Yarra Glen to Powelltown all up was 375 km. The sun made a brief appearance.

Ern Reeders