Coalville Sunday 25^th July 2010

Willem Vandeveld (rear)	Honda ST1300	Pina Garasi	Honda CBR600RR
Tim Emons (leader)	Honda CBR1000RR	Ivan Radywonik	KTM990
Chris Tran	Honda CBR1000RR	Rod Merrett	BMW HP2
Misho Zrakic	Honda CBR1000RR	Dave Chisma	BMW F800ST
Rob Bell (1^st ride)	Honda VTR1000	Andrew Bousi (1^st ride)	Yamaha R1
Mark Copeland	Honda VTR1000	Geoff Jones	Yamaha R1
John Willis	Honda XL1000	Cliff Peters	Kawasaki ZX10
Ron Johnston	Honda CBF1000	Geoff Shugg	Suzuki DL650
Ben Warden	Honda CBR954RR	Paul Sorenson	Suzuki SV650
Dennis Lindemann	Honda CBR600RR		19 bikes, 19 riders

The weather wasn’t supposed to be too flash today, but it didn’t stop 19 people from turning up to go on the ride. I left home on time so I wouldn’t have to rush to get to Berwick and had a nice casual ride with not too much traffic about, arriving with a bit of time up my sleeve.

There were lots of familiar faces, with the exception of Rob Bell. He was just passing by, filling up with petrol, saw the group and decided to join in. According to Ben, it was a chance meeting; he didn’t know the Club even existed, and hadn’t seen the web site.

Tim was busy getting names and ICE numbers to hand to the rear rider. Due to the extra people we were 25 minutes late leaving. Willem, on the ST1300, was the rear rider. I volunteered to do the write up.

In all the years I have been in the Club, people are still reluctant to put their hand up to do a write up. We need other people’s views on the day’s riding. It would be nice to have a different view on the ride. Don’t be shy. Give it a try. You’ll be surprised! Bring out a new inner you. Enough. We mount up and head out on to the highway, looking for whatever adventure comes our way.

We travel along the Princes Freeway until Tynong before hitting the back roads. How much better is it since they opened the Pakenham bypass? On the Freeway near Nar Nar Goon I pass a new blue Toyota Kluger with an L plate on it.

Between Tynong and Longwarry we encountered a couple of groups of racing cyclists. With the Tour de France on TV, it is common to see cycle races. At Longwarry North, we head left over the railway crossing and follow through to the freeway, cross over and pick up our favourite road through Jindivick and Neerim South. I noticed daffodils and jonquils are out in flower in the paddocks.

Through Neerim South to Crossover. Then we pick up the Old Sale Road. Part way along amongst the twisties, a few riders are bunched up, but eventually spread themselves out again. Unusually, we turn left at Wilkes Road, about a third of the way in. On a downhill sprint we have to get on the brakes and do a right hand U turn and head back up the hill. We haven’t used this road before, and I wondered where it went. It is narrow and twisty - just what a motorcyclist needs. Out the other end to Willow Grove and on to Moe for the first stop. I passed that blue Toyota Kluger with the L plate on it, going the other way.

Tim said this would be long break. There was a bit of a rush into the bakery while Ben and Tim discussed alternative routes in and around Mirboo North.

Leaving Moe, we ride through a couple of blocks of suburbia, doing a zig zag over a bridge, come roundabout. Soon we reached a turn off and hooked into the back road to Coalville. It is a nice road in the summer, but leaves a lot to be desired in winter. I remember passing a few people before coming to a tight U turn and having a front end slide. The road surface was a bit average, green with envy in a few places. Sometimes you need a wake up call to remind you to take it easy. At the next intersection I corner marked with Dennis. Tim found another little gem, tight and twisty, narrow, green with envy as well. Approaching a T intersection, I applied the brakes and the front end locked up again, the ABS not kicking in. I let the handlebars go, applied steering pressure accordingly and made it around the corner without any mishap and waited at the junction.

Then on to Yinnar. In its heyday, it must have been busy, but not much is happening now. Only a couple of logging trucks were parked on the roadside. The main drag is wide, and you can see where the railway used to be. I even saw a few billy goats gruff in a paddock. (Maintenance free lawnmowers, I call them).

Through Boolarra and on to Mirboo North where we stopped for fuel in readiness for the extended 85 km loop, but in the opposite direction from Ben’s normal way. Instead, from Mirboo North we headed south down to Limonite, Mirboo, Dumbalk, Mardan South and Leongatha before looping north through Hallston and back to Mirboo North for lunch. The roads were good though I saw a couple of green mats laid out on the roads (moss, scary, steer clear). The loop we did around Mardan was interesting; it was narrow, tight, twisty, and steep. Not for the faint hearted.

It was around 2 pm when we got back. There wasn’t a lot left at the bakery so we just had to make do. Last time I was here I left my flask outside the takeaway next to the cop shop.

We had lost a couple of riders from the first stop, notably Rod Merrett. He had waved the rear rider on, expecting to be able to catch up. But at the first T junction he chose wrong. And that was that.

Finally, it was time to leave. We set off to Thorpdale, Trafalgar, crossed the highway and then left into the canal road to Yarragon. Then right, and up to Shady Creek and Crossover. We passed a couple of tank chassis and a couple of Bren gun carriers and other associated war equipment.

From Neerim South we do the loop through Neerim East to Neerim Junction, Nayook and on to Powelltown where the ride finishes. You gotta love the Powelltown road, though it’s getting a bit rough in places due to the logging trucks.

Thanks to Tim for leading. I enjoyed the roads. We had good weather, good company, and no incidents. Thanks Willem for doing the rear rider duties. The ride distance for the day was 368 km. Door to door for me was nearly 500 kms.

Ron Johnston.