Hill End                       Sunday 5^th  July 2009

Paul Southwell (lead)	Honda CBR1000	Cliff Peters	Suzuki GSXR1000
Ian Payne (rear)	Honda CBR1000	Dave Ward	Kawasaki Z1000
Ben Warden	Honda CBR954	Penny Green	Yamaha R6
Ha Du	Honda CBR600	Henry Wright	Triumph 675
Cameron Stevens	Yamaha FZ6		9 bikes, 9 people

Here I was corner marking with Cliff, thinking to myself “how unusual”. You see, I never catch up to Cliff – he’s way, way quicker than me. Eventually all is revealed as Ha comes up to us to tell us that Henry had a crash and the others are there with him.  Cliff, Ha and I decide to continue on to the petrol station at Longwarry North – the planned break-up point for the ride, where we wait for the other riders to come. Paul, the ride leader, was already there and was informed of the “incident”.  Eventually the rest of the group arrive, including Henry and bike – the beautiful pearly white Triumph now tarnished - the aftermath of a bit too much speed on a corner overtaking manoeuvre.

I’m relieved to see that Henry is okay and when he explains how the accident happened I find myself focusing on his contained and pleasant demeanour, admiring the clarity of thought this young man displays given that he just had a crash.

Although the bike has a few bits and pieces missing, Henry decides to ride it home.

I go home thinking how often I have harboured a false sense of security that all is well when we’re heading to the break-up point of a ride.  This incident was a bit of a reality check for me.

Penny Green