Noojee Sunday 14^th June, 2009

Dave Ward (leader)	Honda CBR1000	Ha Du	Honda CBR600
Ian Payne (rear)	Honda CBR1000	Tony Stegmar	Suzuki GSXR1300
Paul Southwell	Honda CBR1000	Rob Jones	Suzuki GSXR1000
Misho Zrakic	Honda CBR1000	Matt Orchard (1^st ride)	Suzuki GSXR1000
John Rousseaux	Honda CBR1000	Geoff Shugg	Suzuki DL650
Martin Govett (1^st ride)	Honda CBR1000F	Cameron Stevens	Yamaha FZ6
Ern Reeders	Honda CBR954	Pina Garasi	Yamaha R6
Ben Warden	Honda CBR954	Henry Wright	Triumph 675
Ron Johnston	Honda VFR800	Ray Weston	KTM 990
Robert Croft	Honda VFR800	Tony Raditsis	Aprilia RSV Mille

From the web: “Sunday 14th June, Dave Ward leading, Noojee, 10 am Berwick

Lots of good roads around Beaconsfield Upper, Cockatoo, Pakenham Upper and Belgrave en-route to Launching Place, Powelltown and Noojee for morning tea. Then on through Hill End and down to Moe for lunch and fuel. After topping up the energy levels, we'll continue south in to Gippsland and on to Mirboo North, making our way around to Leongatha to pick up the Warragul road to break up at Drouin. 3 km of good, uphill, hard packed (80 km/h) dirt around Arawata. 310 km for the day.

20 bikes, 20 people, 14 deg., 310 km

Incident #1: Paul (CBRR1000) major cosmetic. Bike gone to graveyard in sky (or Fowles). Paul walked away, minor graze to left knee. Dinked home.

Incident #2: Misho lost footing while corner marking and toppled over, bike slight scratch, rider possible collar bone and/or ligament damage.”

________________________________________________________________________________

I distinctly remember as I was pulling out of Berwick thinking about the weather (rain forecast, sunny at the time) and the sort of roads we would be riding on, that today was going to have a little bit of everything. Well I certainly wasn’t wrong!

First, I found myself all alone near Beaconsfield Upper on the smooth windy road before it turns to 100km/h. The road was completely empty and I was determined to catch up to the group and to let off a bit of pent up steam after not riding for a few weeks, so I absolutely hammered it through there. The 3 cylinder was trumpeting its distinctive call as I scaled the heights of the rev range in 2^nd and 3^rd gears, and a profound sense of Jinba Ittai came over me as the bike whipped from side to side through the chicanes. Jinba Ittai is a Japanese phrase for ‘oneness between horse and rider’ and was used as the guiding principle behind the development of the Mazda MX5. I bet a few motorbike manufacturers must have had it in their minds also as there are some bikes that just fit so well.

I was having so much fun (and a bit lost in my thoughts of Japanese culture) that I almost ran straight into the back of the MSR riders and a large group of BMW riders who had been stuck behind a horse float doing about 50km/h. Back in reality with a group of about 40 riders we kept ourselves in check. I was thinking that one of the BMW riders was a motorcycle cop as he had a fluro vest on and was riding a big white bike. We trundled along 20km/h below the speed limit (must be a MSR first) when around a corner two motorcycle police pulled over every BMW rider, but waved us past! Quite strange as they didn’t seem to be doing anything wrong and they looked like a conservative bunch on mostly new touring BMWs. Perhaps a lucky break for us.

After a respectful distance, the riding returned to the normal MSR fare. I moved near the front of the pack as Dave led us down some great roads around Cockatoo heading to Gembrook. The sun was out. It was not too cold and the roads were dry. As I came down towards one corner, I thought to myself “Hey, that car with a big dent in its side is pulling over in a funny spot right on the corner.” I came round the corner and saw the devastation that used to be Paul Southwell’s Fireblade. Avoiding the wreck, I quickly pulled up and ran back, thankful that Paul had gotten up and was trying to lift his bike but concerned that he might be injured and in shock. We tried to move the bike but the buckled front wheel meant that it wasn’t going anywhere.

Soon the rest of the group pulled up and helped move the bike off the road. Paul was amazingly uninjured having only a scrape on his knee and some scuffed clothing. Mind you, he was understandably shaken and I think Pina’s hug did a lot more good than any of the guy’s words.

I talked to the person in the car and the story from her was that the bike had hit a bump on the inside of the corner and thrown Paul off. Then the bike hit her car on the front wheel and driver’s door. I don’t know how Paul managed to miss the car but hopefully he will fill us in with his eye witness account. With the front half of the bike reduced to plastic confetti (or ‘major cosmetic’ as Ben likes to put it) it was towed away. Ben took Paul home on the back of his 954. In the meantime the rest of us continued the ride, relieved that his injury was only financial and even then, mostly to the insurance company.

The roads coming up to Noojee were the expected mix of fast and slow corners, thankfully quite dry, especially when I had to brake hard for a crossing lyre bird of all things.

Ray, on his KTM, who had been chasing the group, ran out of fuel 15 km from Noojee. Someone obviously helped him and we all had a sunny morning tea in Noojee. As we were leaving, Misho and Pina caught up since they had stayed back with Ben and Paul.

Riding out, I was behind Tony on his (very loud) RSV Mille, when I saw him weave suddenly, just as I was thinking “Hmmm, why did he do that?” I hit the wooden plank that he had avoided. There was no damage but it’s amazing how you can be convinced that you are getting a flat tyre after something like that, even though it’s fine.

After some windy and occasionally damp roads through the forest, we rode into Moe for lunch. Pina and Rob kept everyone amused with some verbal and physical sparring. Someone really needs to open a better café in Moe as it’s a bit awkward with us all sitting on the sidewalk.

After Moe we somehow crossed the highway and headed along the Strzelecki Highway eventually joining up with Grand Ridge Road. Full credit to Dave Ward who didn’t get a turn wrong and I don’t think there was one straight road anywhere. I certainly had no idea where we were going. There were a few interesting corners that may or may not have been marked but thanks to the ‘old hands’ (Misho, Ern) we worked out where to go. I whipped out my camera on a few corner marks and took a few shots of some riders (N.b. I checked for consent afterwards). Check out the Google groups site for photos.

Matt and I were corner marking near the last corner and weren’t exactly sure which of the Fireblades was the rear rider (sheeze, do you all have to be the same!), which meant that we waited quite a while on our own before chasing the group down.

When we got to the break up point we were dismayed to learn that Misho had a 0 km/h ‘minor cosmetic,’ when his bike had fallen over on him while corner marking. (Fireblades appear to be ground magnets). Apart from the considerable mental anguish, (now he has to get carbon fibre engine covers), Misho had done something to his shoulder and he was having trouble lifting his arm. I am sure he will fill us in after a visit to the doctor and will be back in the saddle soon.

It had been dry air all day but with storm clouds brewing we had some hot chocolate and coffee and decided to finish the ride in Drouin.

It certainly was an eventful day; a little bit of everything you could say.

Henry Wright