Euroa MK II Sunday 7^th March 2010

Rob Langer (leader)	BMW R1150GS	Dave Ward	Honda CBR1000
Misho Zrakic/Pina Garasi	Honda CBR1000	Ben Warden (rear)	Honda CBR954

After the massive hail storm yesterday, it was a wonder anyone turned up. Havoc was wreaked across the city with U-tube videos showing a torrent of water running down Elizabeth St. Cameron’s photo of his bike parked in Elizabeth St sent to the Google Group highlighted the personal experience for some. Dave noted his Maloo ute had every panel severely damaged – hail stones as big as lemons. Rob countered with, “All three of my cars are wrecked”.

The forecast was for up to 100 mm of rain and potential hail, but still 26 degrees. Very tropical. It started to drizzle as we left Whittlesea. The roads were heavy with water, as if it had just rained, all the way through Kinglake West and down to Flowerdale. The black shiny stretches were very slippery and to be avoided.

At Flowerdale we turned left and headed for Strath Creek, the coldness of Kinglake left behind as we cross the tail end of the Great Divide. The roads are still damp but our spirits are rising. Right at Strath Creek along King Parrot Road to Kerrisdale, then right again towards Yea before picking up the Highlands climb. Near the bridge along the avenue of gum trees, Pina pointed to the left hand side of the road where a koala was striding along. It is the third time I have seen one in this area over the journey, though I thought they had gone, not having seen one for many years. So that makes two in a six weeks, counting the one we saw near Mt Eccles/Leongatha recently.

Past Highlands, getting cold and moist again. On through Caveat – recent widening road works are turning this into a fantastic road. Left at the major cross roads and in to Ruffy for morning tea, parking the bikes under the big oak trees.

It looks like an old farm house has been converted into a coffee shop. I have never stopped here before, not even realising there was a retail service here. Trust Rob to have tracked down such an obscure eatery.

Lucky we were in the country as we dripped and puddled while disrobing, cluttering up the place. Mild confusion reigned as someone paid the whole bill and others paid part. I still owe Rob $5.

Back to Gobur and around to Merton for a splash of fuel. As this was pretty much an economy ride, the rear rider getting the best theoretical economy because he never has to stop, and with my new eco motor not hitting reserve close to 250 km these days, I skipped the fuel up option. It gave me a reason to watch the instant km/l display.

Off the Highway now we head for Polly McQuinns, over Craig Morley’s corner, past Ken Wurster’s Corner and over Ern Reeder’s Bridge. Tricky, occasionally bumpy, technically challenging riding roads from now on. From Strathbogie we continued north east through Boho South and on to Boho. After about 50 km, where the road flattens and straightens for the run in to Violet Town, we stopped, regrouped and did a U turn. Great road; let’s do it again! All the way back to Kithbrook, where we turned right and right again to find ourselves in Euroa.

The last few kilometres saw my bike’s steering feel unusually heavy. At first I thought it was the squared-off tyres making the steering heavy, but the pogo-ing effect from the rear soon alerted me to the obvious flat tyre.

I indicated to Pina via the typically useless finger-pointing-at-the-rear-end method that I had a flat tyre, and was going to the servo to fix the puncture and if anyone would like to help me they were welcome to. I am reminded of that old TV series, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. “Tut, tut. What’s that Skip? The Ranger has broken his leg, follow you in the helicopter for 10 km and you’ll lead us to him?” Not surprisingly, Pina being not a very good Skippy, thought I was strangely pointing to my/her bum and ignored me, the message lost in translation.

A couple of locals in a ute kindly offered to take me to the local bike shop, but I was nearly done. Those liquorice plugs work a treat, plugging the small nail hole, the nail long gone. The hardest part was coping with the heat and humidity. And it took a good five minutes to find the hole, the general background noise making it hard to hear the slight hiss. More air fixed that. Just another puncture.

A very pleasant lunch was consumed while sitting outside, sheltering from the blistering sun under the large beach umbrellas. Dave gave us a few insights into his proposed Tasmanian adventure - he has been offered a bakery management position in Hobart. Now it was just a matter of renting a dog-friendly house nearby – a non-trivial task - and getting all his affairs in order over here. Of course, Bronwyn is part of this adventure too, also needing to find another job. We’ll miss them.

Back on the bikes we headed for Creightons Creek, Ruffy, and Caveat. At Highlands we had a couple of options, either straight down to Yea, or onwards to Seymour. We chose the longer! The roads were now completely dry and conditions perfect for riding. On to Seymour and fuel.

It was 4 pm and a massive black cumulo-nimbus storm head was looming menacingly. (It dumped 70 mm of rain I read the next day.) Time to make tracks. Fast. On to Glenaroua, down to Broadford and around to Strath Creek, Flowerdale and Kinglake West to finish at the temporary Post Office.

We pretty much did all the good roads in the Strathbogie Ranges, from as far north as Violet Town and as far west as Seymour in our 380 km journey. A great ride. Thanks to those few hard-case riders who made the effort, and to Rob for stringing together a route that managed to do the best roads twice. And no-one fell off!

Ben Warden