Walhalla Sunday 15^th November, 2009

The day dawns sunny and cool with the promise of a bite in the sun later on. After a couple of cuppas it’s time to crawl over the bike doing basic checks. The tyres get a bit of air after sitting unused for three months. Yes, it’s been that long and I miss the adrenaline hit. Usually it comes after going too hot into a corner and having to choose between braking later or cranking it over further.

It’s a trundle through the suburbs to the Christmas Hills road and Yarra Glen for the flag. The hit comes early as the back end steps out on a fast roundabout. Hmm. Could be the newish tyre. Maybe some muck on the bitumen, or maybe a bit ham-fisted with the throttle.

A medium sized group is gathered for Tim to round up and head out. Over the day we’re evenly matched as to speed and the waits for corner marking aren’t long. Our leader has stitched together a series of familiar roads with a couple of new links and he maintains fast but tidy lines through the bends. As appetisers the Chum and Myers Creek roads are tasty as usual but the ‘blade steps out again on a right hander. Distracted, I get a false neutral in the next change up and Ken blats past me. As we accelerate out of Toolangi there’s an oncoming law enforcement vehicle and we were lucky with that timing. During the day another three are spotted.

In fact we find ourselves in convoy twice. Going down to Poweltown the pace was below the legal and after some tailing Tim slowly overtakes the boys in blue. And heading out to the Thompson Dam again our style is cramped until Tim declares a u-turn not far from the end and we sweep the sweepers back to the Rawson turn-off.

It’s a sudden transition from high speed turns to low speed ones once on the Walhalla road and one which caught Pina out as she laid the R6 down in a tight right hander. No damage to speak of other than to dignity. The fine weather has brought out too many car drivers who think it’s fun to cruise around looking at the scenery, so there’s a bit of overtaking excitement. The absence of a centre line on the Icy Creek road seems to have been taken as permission by some drivers to use the whole road. In a tight oncoming pass I drop the right elbow just in case.

It’s on that road that the traditional source of adrenaline is offered. Again, too hot into a left-hander. Going wide there, on a blind-ish corner leading into another, is not an option. I go for deep braking. Normally it would be cranking over further but the rear tyre problem has me spooked. The braking choice has its problems too; you don’t know if you’ve overdone it till it’s too late. But the gods are smiling on me and the Diablo Corsa up front delivers. And the rear does too for the rest of the day.

It reminds me of my brother’s tale of hurrying to get to Baw Baw during the season. On the road from Neerim Junction to Noojee, early in the morning on the downhill sweepers he lost traction in the 4WD and did a full 360 degree pirouette. His daughter in the back seat was audibly impressed; her friend went pale and declined subsequent invitations to ski with them.

Tim had scoped the ride on a week day and we ended up doing more stops than strictly necessary as there were more fuel places open on the weekend. But the social side of the ride is just as much fun as the fanging. Somehow Craig and Pina get into a wrestle on the forecourt of the Tyers servo. These volatile Mediterranean types. And there’s time to check out Stuart’s stripped down Street Triple. All day he’s announced his overtaking with a howling muffler note. There’s carbon fibre parts including a composite front brake disc, and an alloy subframe. He’s after an improved power to weight ratio, a figure that’s not much quoted these days in magazine reviews of bikes.

Back on the road, the red mist must’ve descended on some of the group, or maybe it was left over aggression from the track day, as the stretch into Crossover was turned into a fast roller coaster. Then Tim made an executive decision to end at Poweltown, not being enamoured of the long boring run up the highway. Good call. But when he turned off to Neerim East I wimped out and headed down to Nayook etc. And got another shot of legal drugs. Belting around a blind corner coming up to Gladysdale a car was pulling out of a drive and halfway across the road. I hit the anchors and the rear started to break loose. The guy saw that he was about to eat a rubber sandwich and planted the foot and we were both home free.

So several months of abstinence were made up for a little too quickly.

From then on things were boring. Too much traffic. But the country was looking good, with lush paddocks, full dams and flowing creeks.

Back home the clock showed 476 km from Yarra Glen. The rear wheel was also making an ominous scraping noise. Closer inspection had the noise coming from near the axle and I recalled Ben mentioning compressed spacers between wheel and swingarm. A few days later and a trip into town and the replacements were ready to go in.

But that wasn’t it. I should’ve pulled it all apart first. It was the brake pad spring clip. One tab had bent preventing the moving pad from returning. Another wait.

Well that’s it folks. Many thanks to Tim for leading and to John for riding shotgun.

Ern Reeders