Mt Worth National Park Sunday 12^th July, 2009

Tim Emons	Honda CBR1000	Pina Garasi (rear)	Yamaha R6
Dave Ward	Honda CBR1000	Cameron Stevens	Yamaha FZ6
Ben Warden (leader)	Honda CBR954	Rob Croft (5^th ride?)	Honda VFR800
Dennis Lindemann	Honda CBR600	Cliff Peters	Suzuki GSXR1000
Paul Southwell	Honda CBR1000	Tony Stegmar	Hayabusa GSXR1300
Ha Du	Honda CBR600	16 deg., 360 km	11 bikes, 11 people

After managing to secure a leave pass for the day and chasing the kids around the house to retrieve my gloves and boots (we don’t provide them with ‘proper’ toys it seems...), I wheeled the king of toys out of the shed and headed for Berwick. A few threatening clouds and a strong gusty wind suggested the weather could throw anything at us today. I willed the wind to help dry off the exposed back roads of the Gippsland hills and make for good riding conditions.

I spotted a black Fireblade ahead, and slotted in behind Dave Ward for the commute to Berwick. On arrival there was no sign of Henry who was the designated ride leader for the day - the ‘minor cosmetic’ rearranging of bushes the previous week had escalated to a possible write-off due to a broken steering stop on the frame. Ben came to the rescue, and quickly devised a typically entertaining route based loosely on Henry’s original plan, and led us away east down the M1.

The ride had barely started when some idiot decided to display his inability to merge onto the M1 at Nar Nar Goon and wound up ploughing through a big puddle in the emergency lane creating a wall of spray that was picked up by the wind and blown down the road as a misty cloud of grime for us to ride through. My visor was covered in filth instantly, but I managed to resist the temptation to wipe it with my gloves which would only make it worse.

We took the Tynong exit and followed the back way to Drouin, Tony making good use of the ‘cruise control’ throttle lock on the ‘busa, sitting back with arms folded, steering the big bike by moving his upper body side to side. I couldn’t hold back the laughter as he slowly overtook me without touching the bars.

The next courteous driving award went to the blind geriatric in Drouin who decided not to waste the energy it takes to look for traffic on the right before entering a roundabout, driving his station wagon straight into Dave Ward’s path. Dave responded by tailing him up the main road, thumb held on his horn. I’m convinced that design engineers in motorcycle factories worldwide try to outdo each other at finding the most useless, pathetic sounding horns. The driver didn’t appear to notice...

Heading south out of Drouin we started the ‘real’ ride. The pace picked up on the familiar back road through Lardner and onto the brilliant Warragul Korumburra Road, then right at Ranceby and into Poowong. Always one to mix things up, Ben continued straight through Poowong towards Nyora instead of the usual left turn, doubling back on Pattersons Road to Loch for morning tea.

I went into the cafe for a coffee, and came out with a sausage roll – the warmth from the pie warmer proved too much for my willpower. I asked Ha how she went at sourcing a replacement battery after hers had died on the Walhalla ride last month, only to find that the old one returned to life after filling it up with some of Ben’s magic water! Time will tell... After a lengthy, relaxing break we prepared to follow Ben deeper into the wilds of the rolling green landscape while Paul, Dave and Rob departed due to prior commitments.

The sun was shining and the wind was blowing as we made our way south on the Wonthaggi Road, right through Almurta, right, then right again for Kernot, right again and we’re passing through Almurta again!

I love these Gippsland loops. I imagined doing this ride with a bigger, more spread out group, and thought Ben could do the full loop leaving corner markers along the way, returning to the start before the tail rider, then he and the tail rider could park out of sight in Almurta and leave the remainder of the group to circle continuously until someone figured out what was going on J

The roads were generally dry now, and the pace had increased in proportion with the grip as we wound our way along the tricky Dalyston Glen Forbes Road. Halfway around a blind corner I spotted a pinecone ahead right on my intended line, tipped in a little further and missed it. A few corners later there were half a dozen of them! It would’ve been an amusing spot to sit on the side of the road watching bike after bike appear mid-corner, brake, wiggle around the obstacles and accelerate away to the next corner. To add to the excitement there were plenty of bumps, wet sections sheltered from the wind and sun, fine gravel and mud deposits from tractors, farm utes and cattle to negotiate.

I corner marked at Mill Road while Ben went on ahead. After a few minutes of waiting it was clear that someone had become unstuck. Ten minutes later I saw Ha approaching, but she was not slowing down for the corner. I started waving my arms frantically, realising that she hadn’t seen me (maybe I need a brighter bike...). She continued on down the road. I planned to send the next rider after her, but no one came. Eventually a passing motorist pointed out that she was waiting at the end of the road only about one kilometre away, so I retrieved her and returned to my post.

It turns out Dennis had a bit of a rear end slide on some fine gravel hiding under water mid-corner, had just enough time to think ‘oh no...’ then regained traction for just long enough to think ‘oh yes...’ then lost it again. I’m not sure exactly what happened next, but it ended with the front end of the CBR buried to the top of the front tyre in deep mud beside the road. Dennis had used his groin and thigh against the tank to halt his own forward progress, and no doubt enjoyed a long hot bath that night. As far as crashes go, both bike and rider came out of it relatively unscathed.

We regrouped at a scenic junction near Woolamai for a photo stop and to inspect the damage. It was noted that Dennis’ bike was now sporting a fancy lightning bolt pattern across the windscreen. The sun was shining and we took in the clear coastal views right across to the San Remo bridge. We followed the coast briefly from Kilcunda to Dalyston, then wound our way back to Korumburra via Kongwak for fuel and lunch. As we basked in the feeble winter sunshine one of our members entertained us with animated tales of their dislike for potatoes, cabbage and blond policewomen.

Dark clouds were gathering to the north, so I put on my waterproof jacket before heading off. This usually eliminates any chance of rain. Still, just in case our luck changed, we made the most of the remaining dry conditions and had a lively run up the Warragul Korumburra Road, turned right onto the Warragul Leongatha Road, then followed the Grand Ridge Road to Mt. Worth National Park. We followed a dirt road around to the North side of the mountain for a photo stop on the edge of a spectacular drop-off, with views across the valley below. There were a few tricky moments when sections of the track turned into wet, slippery clay. I was behind Ha, and was sure she was about to go down as both wheels decided to go in different directions, but she managed to stay upright and continue on.

We proceeded down the twisty gravel to the base of the range, and passed through Cloverlea and Darnum en route to the Crossover sweepers – a glorious stretch of motorcycling paradise, if only the authorities would do away with the restrictive 100 km/h limit. We rolled into Neerim South for a break where Cameron appeared with a bucket of hot chips. We descended upon him like hungry seagulls. Cliff decided that a taste wasn’t enough, and went in and got a second communal bucket.

Daylight was fading as we settled in for the final damp stretch through Nayook and on to the official ride finish at Powelltown. Thanks to Ben for leading a great day’s ride that felt much more than its 360 km. Thanks to Pina for rear riding. With still a good hour to home in the dark through misty rain and end of school holiday traffic I bid my farewells.

Yep, you get your money’s worth on Ben’s rides!

Tim Emons