Lavers Hill Sunday 22^nd November, 2009

Ron Johnston (leader)	Honda CBF1000	Tony Stegmar	Suzuki GSXR1000
Ivan Radywonik	KTM 990 Adventure	Cliff Peters	Kawasaki ZX10
Rob Langer (rear rider)	KTM 950R Enduro	Ha Du	Honda CBR 600
Misho Zrakic/Pina Garasi	Honda CBR1000		7 bikes, 8 people

What a shocking day: rain and plenty of it. I arrived at Westgate Shell servo at 9am and found Tony had beaten me there. I asked him “Don’t you have anything better to do than ride around in this sort of weather?” His reply was “No cops, less traffic and we have the road to ourselves and I don’t mind riding in the rain”. Ivan is the next person to arrive, “Do you want to go? “I don’t care but I would rather go home”. My phone rings. It’s Ben asking, “How many people?” I said only three so far at the servo and planning to meet Cliff at Moriac.

I said to Ben, “Where are you?” He said he was at HOME. “Aren’t you coming?” “No” he said. I replied “Okay, slacker.” I next phoned Cliff and I told him we will see him at Moriac about 10.30 am. Rob Langer and Ha turned up next. I thought let’s get out of here on time. But then, who else should turn up, but Misho and Pina. Then a young bloke arrives on a Honda CB250N heading for Warrnambool. He was wearing a Dri Rider suit. It would have been a long, slow trip for him.

We ended up leaving at 10.45am. Not too bad, considering. While riding over the Westgate Bridge, I looked down to the left and noticed a lot of water lying on the ground. It was raining heavily, making it slow going down the Princes Freeway, travelling between 90 and 100 km/h.

What a bunch of Fruit Loops I thought, out riding in this weather, when we could be at home enjoying ourselves. But I suppose that’s what happens when you are a die-hard motorcycle rider. As the Club motto says, “We ride every Sunday, rail, hail or shine.”

At Hoppers Crossing the visibility was terrible; down to a hundred metres, and again before the Little River turn off. We picked up a bit of speed on the Old Melbourne Road to Lara and Batesford. By the time we arrived in Moriac it was 10.50am and Cliff was putting fuel in his bike. He wondered whether he had missed us. I told him the conditions were terrible and that we had made good time considering.

I went into the shop for a hot drink. Ha was buying a newspaper to put inside her jacket; poor thing was freezing, only wearing leathers, Dri Rider pants but no waterproof jacket. It was certainly a sight to see her arms wrapped in newspaper with gaffer tape to hold it in place. More paper was wrapped around her body, held in place with her back protector.

After every one thawed out, it was back on the road again. I said I wouldn’t be riding very fast, taking it easy due to the wet road conditions.

Just after we turned onto the Winchelsea/Deans Marsh Road I spotted a red Mitsubishi Outlander (camera car) parked in the grass on the opposite side of the road. At Deans Marsh we turned right at the General Store and headed the back way into Forrest.

Pay attention to the speed limit through Barwon because the cops sniff around there occasionally. I stopped just past Barramunga for a visor clean. By the time we got to Turtons Track my visor was just as bad, but I kept going any way. It was slow going to start with, but the pace picked up as we went along, We passed a few cars travelling in both directions. More fog made visibility poor in places.

I was really glad when we got to Lavers Hill; it had stopped raining and the sun was out. I was just happy to get off the bike. Gloves, helmet, neck sock, jumper, T shirt, and boots were water logged, my feet wet.

The man at the shop let us use the heated back room for us to dry out. Poor Ha was soaked through and frozen. She had had enough and wasn’t going to ride her bike any further. We gave her a hand to get her wet jacket off, and then removed all the newspapers that she had wrapped around herself in a vain attempt to keep warm/dry. Now her arms were black from the news print.

Tony emptied the water out of his boots and rung his socks out. Rob was soaked through like me, and had his gear spread out, trying to dry it. We ate lunch. Despite Ha saying she wasn’t going anywhere, we convinced her otherwise. Cliff lent her his one piece wet suit to help keep her warm on the way home.

Next stop was Apollo Bay where the KTM riders got Premium unleaded fuel. From here to Lorne I sat on a steady pace. There were a lot of Queensland plated rental cars on the road. Lorne to Deans Marsh was okay with next stop Moriac. Hot drinks for some and discuss the day’s events. Ha was a lot better.

Cliff left us at the highway. It was not far for him to go home for a change.

Lara was next stop where the ride ended. The official ride length was 426.2 kilometres. I did an indicated 571.2 km door to door. There were no incidents though we had a lot of wind, rain and a little sunshine. I hope everybody enjoyed themselves.

Ron Johnston