|
Dave Ward |
Honda CBR1000 |
Dennis Lindemann |
Honda CBR600 |
|
Tim Emons |
Honda CBR1000 |
Tony Stegmar |
Suzuki GSXR1300 |
|
Paul Southwell |
Honda CBR1000 |
Cliff Peters |
Suzuki GSXR1000 |
|
Ben Warden (lead) |
Honda CBR954 |
Cameron Stevens |
Yamaha FZ6 |
|
Rob Croft (4th ride) |
Honda VFR800 |
Penny Green (rear) |
Yamaha R6 |
|
Ha Du |
Honda CBR600 |
|
11 people, 11
bikes |
While descending a bit of a steep and winding hill in
Gippsland, in the nearby distance I see a collection of bikes side by side. I think to myself, “This must be the scenic
spot Ben mentioned where we would stop for a photo. Except
it’s not that unusually scenic; just the usual greeny
vista. I stop at the group (minus
Ben and Tim) and notice all gathered around a ditch. Hmm... it was a rather grassy and muddy ditch. Dennis’s bike
decided to make a bit of contact with “earth”… again – not so long ago is was a
two-dimensional rocky cliff-face.
So interesting to watch the boys strategising on the best
way to disengage the bike from the mud and bring it up to bitumen. Cliffy, being a very experienced farmer and
familiar with all the elements of nature and its various manifestations, knew
exactly what to do and quietly went about doing it, in his usual understated
manner. Soon the bike was on the road
again. In a most thoughtful manner, Cliff slowly washed off the mud on the
wheels using whatever water he could scoop from the ditch to do so. Such a gentleman!
Our urban photographer on the scene, Cameron, possessed by
Ben’s post-crash urgent spirit to “capture the moment”, set about gleefully taking
photos which consequently were exposed to the whole world via our website; so
much for Dennis wanting to keep it all “discreet”, particularly from wife Bianca.
Dennis has decided to view this incident
as supporting evidence to Bianca that he needs a new and better bike which
would grip and negotiate much better when doing fast speeds on left-hand turns
on tight descending corners coming into gravel. The power of
positive thinking.
We left
the scene with a happy disposition seeing how well Dennis and bike had come out
of this incident: Dennis, with a slightly hurt leg from the impact and his bike
with a piece of windscreen missing in the shape of a thunderbolt.
Dennis - you really live up to your number
plate’s name-sake - “Hard Core” (NY)
Penny Green