Who’s News August
2010
The Club web site at www.melbsportsbike.net.au accumulated 734 hits during July, up 96 on last month. Total visits are 61,937 since April 1996. The counters on the other pages after another month indicate that the Calendar page took 564 hits (total 11,522, up 57 since 28th October 2008) and Great Roads 154 hits (total 3242).
Membership now stands at 54. Official kilometres for
the month of July: 1378 km, down
166 from last month. Official Club kilometres for the month (people x ride
length): 20,089 km, up 4,538 on last month – due to a couple
of large attendances. The 2010 year
total is 183,899 km; average yearly total 324,241 since 2005. We are on track
to make the average. The people km per injury is 45,975 so far for 2010; long
term it is 104,775 km. Not good but improving with each injury free month.
Seen at the AGM/Social Sip, Tower Hotel on Thursday 1st July: Julie and
The Club Participant of the Year is based on aggregate points accumulated at 1 point per ride, an extra point for leading or being rear rider, and 1 point per magazine article (maximum 2 per magazine). Attending one or more days of a weekend event scores 3 points for leading, 3 for rear riding duties and 2 points for participating.
The count is for the 20010/11 year ending the ride before the 2011 AGM in July. After one month the top ten positions are: Ben Warden (11), Cliff Peters (7), Pina Garasi (6), Ron Johnston (6), Ian Payne (4), Misho Zrakic (4), Paul Southwell (4), Jon Willis (4) and Dennis Lindemann (4).
Front
Cover: Eildon Ride, Jamieson Road, 11/7. Back row: Geoff Shugg, Damian Jones, Paul Sorenson, Cliff Peters,
Ron Johnston, Chris Pointon, Mirko Strasser. Front Row: Ivan Radywonik, Tony
Raditsis, Pina Garasi, Pierre Ong and Jason Wilson. Ben Warden behind the lens.
On the 15th August I SMSed first time Club rider, Ben Paterson, who’s R1 stopped dead on the Walhalla Road (Thomson Dam, 13/6). The bike had 500 km at the start of the day, it conked out at lunchtime, and he got home 9.45 pm. The shop had the bike for two weeks before diagnosing and replacing a faulty ECU. He is working in Burma and will attend another ride when he returns.
We now have 54 fully financial members (last year 84 members). Thanks to all those people who have paid including two new members, Paul Sorenson, riding a Suzuki SV650 who has eased his way in to the Club by gradually building up in ride length and difficulty. He notes that Cliff’s Torbreck River ride was the hardest and longest of his life. I thought if he survives this ride intact, then he’ll survive anything. Paul has updated his rear shock, doing all the right things. We wish him many happy and safe years riding with the MSR.
The second new member is Jon Willis who used to ride with us 12 years ago and has returned to the fold. Of course, strictly speaking, he is not new. He has just purchased a Honda XL1000 Varadero – because they were giving them away! He started out on a Honda CBR600, then a Yamaha FZR1000 and was last seen on a Suzuki TL1000. He reckons he’s missed a lot of good rides in the past dozen years based on the couple he’s been on so far. And nothing has changed! Other than the faces.
Email 22/7 from Henry Wright: I fell off my bike this morning. Not the motor powered one, the pushy! I was riding before work on my road bike with a guy from work in the Gurdies near Gurdies St Helier Road, going down a hill at about 40km/h when my foot unclipped from my pedal at the top of the stroke. My foot slipped forward and the cleat on my shoe was picked up by the spokes of my front wheel. My foot jammed the wheel and I cart wheeled over the handlebars landing on my right shoulder and head followed by a bit of bitumen sliding. Then my mate, who was unable to avoid me, ran over me, just below my ribs and went flying himself!
Lying on the road trying to breathe, my first thought was to try and roll over. I thought a car wouldn’t see us because of the fog. But damned if I could move for the first two minutes! My mate came over but he was not in good shape. I noticed his arm was bending the wrong way! We waited for a car for about five minutes but none came so I decided to limp 500m up the hill to the intersection. I flagged down a guy going to the pipeline with his ute and he gave us a lift back to our cars. We put everything in my wagon and drove back to work (Holden) where we called an ambulance. My shoulder was really starting to hurt and we were both a bit in shock so we stayed in the car with the heat up. We had to wait 40 minutes for the ambulance.
Of course, all our friends from work were driving in and we passed the time talking to them. The ambulance came and we both got painkiller kazoos to suck on. At Dandenong Hospital Xrays etc were taken, after a lot more waiting. My collar bone was broken. At least my shoulder is okay as I had it reconstructed a few years back and I didn’t want that broken again. My mate had to wait a bit more as some more critical emergencies came through but his wife was on the way. Looks like he will be in plaster for two weeks with a dislocated elbow and chipped bone, but no other injuries.
I’m at home now, typing with one hand and not in too much pain. I have plenty of Panadol Forte in me. The things we do to stay fit!
It is amazing how much damage was done in a 40km/h crash. I was wishing for my leathers and armour. The helmet worked well as I sustained no head injury. Ironically, I had bought a new helmet the day before but not brought it with me that day so the old helmet took the fall.
I will be out of action for a few weeks, but full recovery is expected! Ride safely.
P.S. Recently bought ‘The Long Way Round’ series on DVD; it inspired me to sign up for Towong!
Points Analysis: I have done some analysis of the points for last year. I was interested to see what would happen to the order of the table if we removed the points associated with attending Social Sips, writing articles, and leading or rear riding. Just capture the pure riding aspect of the Club, the fanatics who just ride. For comparison here are the two tables:
|
#1 |
Points |
Name |
#2 |
Name |
Rides |
Delta |
|
1 |
107 |
Ben Warden |
1/2 |
Ben Warden |
57 |
same |
|
2 |
81 |
Pina Garasi |
1/2 |
Pina Garasi |
57 |
Up 1 |
|
3 |
73 |
Ron Johnston |
3 |
Misho Zrakic |
45 |
Up 4 |
|
4 |
70 |
Ha Du |
4 |
Cliff Peters |
43 |
Up 1 |
|
5 |
58 |
Cliff Peters |
5 |
Ha Du |
41 |
Down 1 |
|
6 |
54 |
Ian Payne |
6 |
Ron Johnston |
37 |
Down 3 |
|
7 |
49 |
Misho Zrakic |
7 |
Dave Ward |
32 |
Up 1 |
|
8 |
47 |
Dave Ward |
8 |
Paul Southwell |
27 |
Up 1 |
|
9 |
46 |
Paul Southwell |
9-11 |
Dennis Lindemann |
24 |
Up 1 |
|
10 |
45 |
Dennis Lindemann |
9-11 |
Ian Payne |
24 |
Down 3 |
|
11 |
40.5 |
John Rousseaux |
9-11 |
Geoff Shugg |
24 |
Up a lot! |
The analysis is not eye opening. Pina went on the same number of rides as Ben for the year but misses all the extras and doesn’t lead; hence down 36 points. Misho jumps up four places – he goes on a lot of rides. Cliff is a hard case, only a couple of rides less than Misho, but maintains relative position, plus or minus. Ditto Ha who was right up there but tailed off towards the end of the count. Ronny does lots of articles. Similarly Dave, and Dennis maintains relative position. Ian hasn’t ridden as much this year as he would have liked for various reasons, but has contributed in the other areas, reflected in his drop down the table. John Rousseaux dropped off the second list, replaced by Geoff Shugg who goes on a lot of rides.
Towong (Melbourne Cup Weekend) is fully booked. It was advertised on the Google Group (16/7) and was fully subscribed 10 days later. The starters are: Ben Warden, Pierre Ong, Peter Jones, Misho Zrakic and Pina Garasi, Ern Reeders, Cliff and Barb Peters, Henry Wright, Ron Johnston, Tony Raditsis, John Rousseaux and Kate Stewart. I am taking names if you want to go on a waiting list but probably the best advice is to seek alternative accommodation in Corryong.