Maldon II 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

There was lots of rain for me on the way to Whittlesea. I arrived at 10 am to be greeted by Misho at the pumps whom I think was pleased to see me on my new K9 1000. I traded my `Busa but miss the grunt and compliant suspension. Ben used to call it the limo; now I know what he means. I love my new Suzi though: she glides like a bird through the trees!

Ben was going around getting phone numbers, Geoff was looking at the electronic steering dampener on my bike. Soon after ten Geoff did his pre-ride talk which was good.

Off we go up the sweepers to Kinglake West. I find them a decent warm up for the ride, the sweepers being a good road surface and wide. On to Flowerdale, Strath Creek and a good run over Murchison Gap. Love that part. Then across to Broadford, Pyalong and down to Lancefield for fuel and morning tea.

Very windy. The sun comes out. We meet up with sometimes rider, Craig Morley, on his old Honda with possibly alloy mufflers which makes it sound deep like a Ducati. He talked about old spills that had everybody laughing hard. He had had a big night out, woke up late, and decided to meet us in Lancefield.

Geoff Shugg went into the Milk Bar and came out with an energy drink and said it did not smell or taste right. I thought it looked like radiator water. I think he drank some.

Soon after we headed off to Redesdale. I saw Ha Du pull over with a problem with her bike’s clutch lever. One of the nuts had come out. Ben fixed it later.

Misho and I are corner marking. No one comes so he goes back to see what’s happened. Comes back and tells me he is now rear rider. Then Ben rocks up and says he is going off to find rear rider Geoff and will meet us at Maldon. So off we go.

Weather keeps changing: showers, sun, clouds, rain, dry, wet, dry roads, wind. I like riding behind Misho and watching his lines. It looks like Cliff is having fun too as he passes me a few times.

As soon as we stop at Maldon for lunch two girls and a guy with cameras come up and want to take photos of us and our bikes. We say yes and they start shooting. They are doing a photography course in Melbourne, so we might be on display. Then Ben arrives with no rear rider; Geoff just rode off somewhere else - must have been that radiator water.

This is a good town to look at. Very old.

Then another girl rocks up and wants photos, and Ben says “Do you want to do it down here in the shade? I’ll move the group.” and lines us up and she starts to shoot with her pro camera and big lens. Then I suggest to Ben to give his camera to her so she can take a photo with him in the group. So Ben lines up with us, but the pro girl does not seem to know how to use Bens instamatic. After some instruction she takes a few photos. We check! And Ben gives her his email address.

On leaving Ben says he will go rear rider. He seems to do that a lot so I said I will do it if he wants. Then we go on all these interesting roads and scenery, a lot of which I have not been on before. At one point Misho and Ha Du were passing a car so their minds were on that and they went right past a tee intersection with corner markers. So I gassed it up and pulled them over to turn them around.

Everyone is going along at a good pace. Pina and Ha Du are impressing me with their riding. Through Guilford, where I spent the last weekend, and down somewhere to Woodend. Some tower might have been near Maldon. Man, what a view from the top. I look down and I see Ben working on Ha’s bike with tools spread all over the ground and bikes all around. It looked good so I took a photo, and said “wave” to Ben! Thank you Pina for taking a photo of me and the bike.

At the tower, ride leader Geoff heads off and we all follow him. Pina is about to leave when Geoff comes back. He has lost his glasses and while looking for them someone finds them down the road. Off we go. I saw a magpie on road looking skyward on his back, showing his white chest. He still looked warm.

Somewhere before I was rear rider I was going along at a mild to good pace on a road with a left hand sweeper and I hit invisible bumps in the road. The front wheel went skyward with the bike still leaned over. I’m looking at the head stem when the wheel hits the road and a tank-slapper starts. What a sight! I thought this could be it. Then my new electronic tank-slapper stopper comes into play and stopped it pretty quickly.

It was cold on some parts of the ride and when we get to Woodend we have another snack, sitting outside. A blonde waitress brings out three hot chocolates then she comes back with apple pie with cream and strawberry and another hot chocolate. No takers but she goes away. Then it was like seagulls at the beach with chips in the air, apple pie gone. Blonde returns but could only take hot chocolate back inside, the one which had the spoon licked clean of cream.

We head off to Bulla. Along the way I see a cop car go past. I look in the mirror and see lights go on and think “Oh no!” And then further up the road it’s a road block. We ride up to the front of the queue where Geoff talks to the cop who says power lines are down. We head back to Gisborne and that’s it for the ride.

Thanks Geoff for a very interesting trip. We fuelled up, said our goodbyes, and headed home.

Tony Stegmar