Maldon Sunday 27^th September, 2009

Misho Zrakic	Honda CBR1000	Tony Stegmar	Suzuki GSXR1000
Craig Morley	Honda VTR1000	Geoff Shugg (0.5 rear)	Suzuki
Ben Warden	Honda CBR954	Geoff Jones (leader)	Yamaha R1
Ha Du	Honda CBR600	Pina Garasi	Yamaha R6
Cliff Peters	Kawasaki ZX10		9 bikes, 9 people

Gale force winds predicted for the bays; frequent heavy showers; North Central district 40-50 km/h winds with peaks of 55 km/h; 12 degrees maximum. a recipe for pain and suffering. An even worse forecast than yesterday’s Grand Final weather, though the game didn’t suffer much for it.

I knew Pina and Ha would be there – they always are – but who else would show apart from Geoff Jones, the designated leader for the day? Only the true die-hards. No visitors today or the usual CBR brigade.

Tony rolled up at Whittlesea on his new, ex-demo, white GSXR1000, this time with a proper aftermarket exhaust system, not the truncated plumbers’ nightmare he sported last time. The system had lots of bends and a proper muffler, even an oxygen sensor. Very tasty. Not sure if he has still got the orange ’Busa, but Tony notes this bike feels like a 600, its diminutive size the biggest change.

Geoff regaled us with positive Bureau of Meteorology readings indicating heavy rain down south - confirmed by Tony who said it was bucketing down when he left Dandenong earlier this morning - and almost nothing in the direction we were heading. He did note that frequent light showers don’t show up on the radar. His positive outlook was generally vindicated as we avoided most of the rain all day, with about 75% of the roads dry. Mind you, the wind prediction was also accurate – it blew a gale from the west all day. Apparently it rained heavily in Melbourne.

With Geoffs book-ending the ride front and rear, the fearless few set off. Clearly Geoff J. figured all the extra police scheduled on for the Grand Final aftermath in the CBD and Geelong were now home sleeping and hence the roads would be relatively “safe”. Or does he always lead like this? Madness comes in many hues. Life’s short. Live fast.

The trees are sprouting furry leaves from ground to top, the see-through look soon to disappear. The grass is starting to grow and Silver Creek has turned clear. It was running high today with all the recent rain. It seems we have already exceeded our monthly average rainfall with more to come.

Kinglake West, Flowerdale and Strath Creek with nary a car on the road. Too cold. Too windy. Stay at home in front of the fire and watch TV. The pace is a cracker, the ladies flying, my fuel economy gauge struggling to get above 10 km/l. This will be an expensive day.

Past the racetrack, through Broadford, the group now strung out, but not for long as Geoff regularly runs out of corner markers and we automatically bunch up again, a feature of a smaller riding group.

On to Pyalong and time to make a pass and enjoy the off-camber tightening fast sweepers. Brilliant road. Very strong head wind for the final run down into Lancefield, ducking behind the screen to escape the blast.

We refuel, then around to the General Store for the cheap $4.90 ham and salad roll. The old girls always look after me, quick with the rapid fire one word question: Butter? Onion? Salt and pepper? Anticipating, I respond in with a staccato “Yes” to all, and the build just flows, the process honed to a fine art over the years. Footy is the conversation today.

Craig Morley has reappeared on his annual ride, hung over and almost voiceless. He remembers going out, and nothing much more. The girls love him, his stories outrageous and self deprecating, his manner laconic. The stories first hand, our history is long, my memory accurate, his narration hilarious. A good team. Pina begs for more but Father Time waits for no-one. Please come again, she implores.

Northwards and a vague tail wind sees us in Redesdale and a top up for a few, Geoff reminding me I ran out last time on this ride. Confusion ensues as we leave Geoff Shugg paying at the till and head-off back the way we had come, turning left 200 metres down the road back in town. A 50/50 choice sees certain failure and Geoff sets off in hot pursuit of the phantom club, heading the 27 km to Kyneton before figuring something amiss. Cliff and I wait patiently before Cliff grows tired and checks out the servo, now long since deserted. Enthusiasm for the chase wanes and I nominate myself as the new rear rider and we set off in pursuit of the gang.

About 4 km down the road Ha is parked on the opposite of the road seeking assistance. On the approach, I look for telltale signs – flapping fairing, dangling blinkers, skewed mirrors. Nothing. The clutch lever has lost its locknut but the screw-in pin is still tight. The lever certainly flaps around a bit, which has nothing to do with losing its locknut. More the cumulative effect of minor knocks. My nut supply had been replenished a few days ago after the last plastic bottle ground a little hole from vibration and then proceeded to wick up water and rust the contents. Now the spare nuts and bolts are in a glass container, with plenty of tape, ready for action. As we were a long way behind the group, and no danger was imminent, next stop was deemed soon enough to affect the repair.

At this point I felt guilty about abandoning Geoff Shugg, after all, he would come back eventually. Wouldn’t he? And that’s why we have Corner Markers – to chase errant riders. I nominated Cliff to be rear rider, indicating I would catch up with the gang in Maldon, the route well documented in the September magazine. And yes, just in case, I did have the area map with me, ready to give to Ron to facilitate his ride planning. But too cold for him on his naked bike today.

After about 15 km of highway work I figured my obligations were met. No sign of Geoff, and I was more than half way. If he had turned around, we would have passed each other by now. Chances were he had already gone past before the chase began – or had bailed out and gone home. I gave up and set off in pursuit of the ride.

Back to Redesdale, with already 38 km on the odometer, and across to the Sutton Grange cross road. A look at the map saw me head north and then west along brilliant roads. Note: cows are all sitting down, ducking out of the freezing wind. Highway, Old Highway, new Freeway, half memories, perfect guess work saw me blasting towards Maldon to find the bunch of bikes congregating high out of town, parking, as always, an issue. Ha came running towards me, hand outstretched, Geoff on the phone at Heathcote, 50 km away. His day was done, home and a cup of tea beckoning.

A youthful woman wielding a large Canon camera offered to take photos of us: individually, as a group, and of the bikes. Seemed like a good idea and I facilitated the stage management of the group into a more evenly lit area in front of a shop. She took lots of photos and used my camera to take a group shot. I gave her my email address. Who knows what will become of this slightly bizarre random act of kindness.

Of course, Craig, having missed the morning spiel, was unaware of no petrol in Maldon, Castlemaine now the forced next stop, only 15 km away. But I reminded Geoff of our advertised visit to the lookout which we duly rode up, a few kilometres out of town. And Ha reminded me of the missing nut which I duly attended to. Afterwards, I scurried up the tower for a few landscape photos and then we were away. Tony was now performing rear rider duties.

After refuelling in Castlemaine we headed out through Chewton and down through the Gold Rush diggings towns of Vaughan and Guildford. Now heading south we sampled the waters at Mt Franklinford and Hepburn Springs. Alas, fine drizzle was all that was on offer. No ice, thankfully.

Round through Spring Hill, down to Trentham East, Ashbourne back road to Woodend to regroup after another 120 km, fuel gauge 30 km into reserve, light on at a frightening early 190 km. Misho, Pina, Tony, myself and Ha sat outside. It must have been a toasty 8 or 9 degrees. None of that log fire nonsense for us.

As is the want in the small towns, more than two people represents an unmanageable crowd. Take your money, figure out later who ordered what, just keep delivering till everyone stops looking expectant. So we ate Geoff’s apple pie with real cream. Did us all a favour really. The conversation was excellent, the view even better – local lass in low cut t-shirt (!) which probably explains why Geoff, Cliff and Craig stayed inside. The rain squall passed and time stood still.

The plan was to head up Mt Macedon, down Straw’s Lane, around Cameron’s Corner and on to Bolinda, Wild Dog Road and finish at Bulla at the servo. Under the flight path was deemed just too unsociable in this wintry windy weather.

Now on the dead straight Lancefield Sunbury Road, the plan was going well until the receding 4WD police vehicle’s blue lights came on in our mirrors, a long way back. Cliff bolted. A road block, regular police car, materialised in front. And then I remembered Pina noting that a woman on the side of the road somewhere was furiously writing down our registration numbers. Something about all of us passing a learner car driver, possibly double white lines involved. Hmm. A police sandwich.

Fear not. Powerlines across the road required the police to divert all traffic from whence it had come. We ended up heading all the way back to Gisborne – handy for Geoff – to break-up. Geoff’s rear tyre had long streaks of metal beading showing through. Last ride, as they say.

After leisurely farewells and certain evidentiary photos, we rejoined the human rat race on the Calder. A local woman driver set a very healthy pace, a couple of week’s worth, and seemed oblivious as we slotted in behind her. On to the Ring Road and down Pascoe Vale road saw me home at 5.33 pm after 533 km. Official ride length 405 km.

Thanks to the hardy brave souls who made the day so enjoyable. Sorry we lost Geoff Shugg, our regular rear rider these days. I didn’t need my spare gloves, though heated grips would have been a bonus. Must look into that. Hot thawing shower first priority.

Ben Warden

P.S. My bike clocked over 170,000 km on the ride. Maintenance issues addressed this month include replacing the stator (80,000 km), engine oil and rear pads. I am currently using an old battery but will revert to the original as cranking power seems barely enough. Also replaced the front tyre with second hand one; on track for a new tyre for Melbourne Cup weekend!