Moto GP BBQ Ride MKII Sunday 17^th September 2006

Paul Southwell(Leader)	Honda CBR1000	Ian Payne	Honda CBR1000
Liz Oliver	Honda CBR929	Paul Dwyer (1^stride)	Honda CBR1000
Cameron Stevens	Kawasaki ZX9	Ron Johnston (rear)	Suzuki GSF 1200
At the BBQ:	Rob Langer	Kirsten Anderson	Andi Sirninger
	Les Leahy	Pete & Danielle Weyermyer	Tom Saville

It has been close to two years since I last went on a club ride - last ride I was pregnant and feeling pretty awful! Anyway, Pete was at home looking after Danielle and my old leathers still fit me and even feel quite comfy. My bike is long gone (finally I can say that without breaking down into tears), so I was riding Pete's bike which is otherwise known these days as "The Family Bike". I thought I might be able to handle a short ride ending up with a BBQ at Rob and Kirsten's. Hopefully Pete and Danielle would manage to turn up for the BBQ.  

I was pleasantly surprised to recognize three familiar faces when I turned up to Yarra Glen - Paul Southwell who was leading, Ian Payne, and Ron Johnston who volunteered to be rear rider as he was getting used to riding with his new glasses. There were two new faces as well: Cameron, who has been riding with the club for a couple of months and loving it, and Paul, who was looking for someone to ride with on the road for the day as most of his mates ride off-road.

After the usual intros and chit-chat, we headed off down some familiar roads. The Old Healesville road seemed familiar but flashed by pretty quickly. I guess after crawling around the 'burbs in a car at 60 – 80 kms everywhere, getting out on a motorbike and going a bit quicker was going to take a bit of getting used to. Out of Healesville we took a nice winding uphill road that I hadn't been on before. It was a great road but I felt a bit cautious as everything seemed new again. Once we got on to the familiar road from Yarra Junction out towards Noojee it all started to gel. Another awesome road with hardly any traffic. Beautiful. Worth coming just for that.

After a quick break in either Neerim or Neerim South (hey, I wasn’t taking notes) and a bit of a chat, we headed out towards Jindivick. Finally I remembered where it was. It had sounded so familiar when I saw it on the itinerary but I just couldn't place it. As with all our rides that are labelled Jindivick, we don't actually stop there, just blast through. Anyway, I knew what was coming after all these good roads - lots of straight roads followed by some freeway work to get back to Rob and Kirsten's. 

Rob, Kirsten and Les Leahy were there to greet us for the BBQ. Rob was already cooking sausages and meat patties on the BBQ. The table in the garage was loaded down with salads and the fridge with drinks. With strict instructions not to feed or play with the new puppy, we settled in to demolish the food. I was starving and the food was great. In some ways it was a sad occasion as Rob and Kirsten have sold their house and were in the process of moving out so it was the last social event for them to hold there.

Finally, Pete and Danielle turned up to join the party, and soon after the racing started. I can't say I saw much of the racing as I spent most of the time being distracted by my daughter, but I did get to see the bike changes near the start and the last few laps (not sure what happened in the middle). 

When the racing was over, we all dispersed in various directions. Surprisingly, I haven't pulled up too sore in the following few days. I guess my Pilates classes over the last year, combined with carting around 11+ kilos of toddler have strengthened me up and sorted out some of my back and neck problems. Thanks to Rob and Kirsten for putting on another great BBQ. And thanks to Paul for leading a fun ride - even if he did dob me in for a write-up. Hopefully my next ride won't be another 2 years away!         

Liz Oliver