Licola Sunday 29th March, 2009
|
Honda CBR1000 |
Paul Southwell |
Yamaha R1 |
Geoff Jones |
|
Honda CBR954 |
|
Yamaha YZF1000 |
Trevor Harris |
|
Honda CBR954 |
Ern Reeders |
Yamaha R6 |
Pina Garasi |
|
Honda CBR600 |
Dennis Lindemann |
Yamaha FZ6 |
Cameron Stevens |
|
Honda ST1300 |
Willem Vandeveld (rear) |
|
Darryl Lyons |
|
Honda CBR1000 |
Misho Zrakic |
|
Cliff Peters (leader) |
|
Suzuki GSXR1000 |
Rob Jones |
|
Michael Zrb |
|
Suzuki Hayabusa |
Ben Fuller |
BMW K1200 |
Geoff Shugg |
|
Suzuki Hayabusa |
Tony Stegmar |
Triumph 955 |
Jared Wade |
|
KTM 990 |
Ivan Radywonik (3rd ride) |
|
19 bikes, 19 people |
I was first to arrive at Berwick servo this morning at about 9.25 am. I topped up with fuel and only had to wait for a few minutes for other like-minded people to start arriving. Out with the note book for names and emergency contact numbers. I informed the riders of the destination and route we were taking today, fuel stops etc. Expected distance around 460 kilometres. With that done, the worst part of my duty as leader was completed.
We head down the freeway to the Nar Nar Goon
exit and on to Longwarry. Then across the
freeway heading towards Jindivic. Along
here has been burnt in the bush fires from a few weeks ago. It was a stark reminder of the fire down on
the farm, four odd years ago, where I spent the first 48 and a half years of my
life. We are now living in
Our fire was started by a lightning strike on my cousin’s property next door to us, about 7 kays away. The CFA thought they had it under control, but the next day turned out hot and windy. The fire jumped the fire break they had put down with bulldozers and came rushing towards our place. I just had enough time to yard all my sheep and lambs in the shearing shed yards and move another mob onto a summer crop, which was green at the time, before the flames arrived. It was 22nd January 2005, I think. We lost around 500 acres of grass, 60 rolls of hay and silage, and about ten kilometres of fencing.
Quite an expensive exercise when you take
into account the cost of repairs and agistment for more than half of our sheep
on neighbouring properties for six months, whilst waiting for the rain to allow
the grass to grow back again. But we were lucky compared to the people on the
outskirts of
Some of our next door neighbours have Elvis, the sky crane, to thank for still having their homes because it was water bombing them. An amazing sight. Dropping water on them as the flames went rushing past. You have to experience a bushfire to understand what it’s really like. It gets the pulse rate up and the hair on the back of your neck stands up as well. It’s very frightening, to be honest. I’ll be happy if I never experience that feeling again.
Back to the ride. We continued past the
burnt area and on to Jindivick, Neerim South, Crossover and the
I was chatting to Daryl about his recent track days on his 636 when Cameron moved his bike from the pumps to park with the rest of the bikes. In doing so, he went slowly past where Daryl and I were standing. He had bought a chocolate bar when paying for his fuel and tucked it under the ocky strap holding his bag on the seat. As he went past I pulled it out and stuck it up my jacket. Well, you should have seen him looking for it. He looked back where he had come from: nothing. He looked around the bike on the ground: nothing. He started to delve deeper into the bag; you should have seen the expression on his face. Where the *&%$ did that go, he was thinking. I turned around with the bar in my hand and said “What are you looking for mate? Did you lose something?” I couldn’t help laughing at the same time. Well, he saw the funny side too. Sorry Cameron. You’re a top bloke, mate.
Ben walks over and says we better go, Cliffy. Yep, two minutes and we head off, turn left onto the Highway towards Toongabbie. Then around the back way to Glenmaggie and over the old wooden bridge. The water has receded a lot since the last time we were here. That was a few months ago and it was full to the top then.
It’s a great ride from here into Licola and then down along the river to the end of the tar. One black cow put the wind up me, as Misho can tell you. It came out of the bushes on the side of the road, then thought better of it and went back, as I went past. I was sitting a little higher in the seat after that.
The end of the tar seems to be further along today. I ask Ben when we stopped, “where the gravel starts at the end of the tar?” Nope, he said, and he was right.
Last time we were here it was pissing down rain. Water running every which way including down the back of my neck. There was mud and clay gravel washing across the road, Cameron almost went bush, if I recall correctly. Not today though; it’s as clean as. A few horse floats towed by four wheel drives today, but!
Back on the bikes to lunch at Licola. Some of the boys called in for lunch instead of doing the river section, so we all join up again, except Ern, who headed back early and Tony who didn’t know we were lunching in Licola and went straight past. Sorry Tony. My fault. I should have corner marked for you. (I walked back over the bridge to the corner, taking photos of the incredibly red/brown water and watched Tony skoot by and sent Geoff off in hot pursuit. He gave up after 9 km – “Not a chance in hell of catching him” were his words. …Ed.)
We returned the same way that we came except by-passing Glenmaggie. We arrived in Tyers and Ben informs me Pina’s R6 has stopped. Misho and Geoff are there with her, as is Willem, our rear rider for the day. The rest of us fuel up. Ice creams are the go. It’s quite warm.
Pina and the guys rock up after having gotten her bike going again but it’s using fuel like there is no tomorrow. (She ran out again on the way back, two 600 ml bottles just not enough. And Geoff got a lung full of fumes when siphoning, the tube not deep enough into his tank, Misho’s tank and finally Cameron’s tank. Always make them do the sucking is my philosophy …Ed.)
Her bike has a problem which is hard to pin down. The R6 keeps cutting out, is idling rough, has excessive fuel use, most likely one of the sensors such as throttle position, fuel, air flow, or maybe the ECU. Hard to pin down the fault until it dies altogether. (Geoff and I reckon with only two sensors, an air flow in the exhaust and a water temperature sensor, and judging by the smell of unburnt fuel and poor economy, it is behaving like it is running the cold start, rich fuel map – as if the water temperature sensor is malfunctioning. Chances are it only senses cold (for cold start = rich fuel map) and hot (for regular, lean fuel map).. That is our latest theory anyway. Time will tell. Misho is off to the wreckers trying to source an ECU/ignition/key kit to swap and see what happens. …Ed.)
Next we head off to the break up point at Longwarry North, by the servo. Everyone with full tanks, yes? Not quite. Ivan, on the KTM, runs out with about ten or so kms to go. He thought he could make it, like most of us have done at one time or another. He got ten litres from a farmer, he tells me, when he finally shows at the servo, full of apologies for the hold up. I said that’s okay, everyone stuffs up from time to time, me on more than one occasion. However, it’s best to fill up at each fuel stop, therefore avoiding running out and having corner markers spread out over half the country, especially if you have a large group on the ride.
Thanks everyone for coming. Another great day, and I hope you all enjoyed it. 460 kms, no tickets or crashes. Around 650 kms door to door for me. Yep, great day. Thanks Willem for a sterling job as the rear rider, enduring quite a number of unscheduled stops, not only from those who ran out of fuel.
See you next week.
Cliffy
Peters