Mt Baw Baw MK II

I arrived early in anticipation of the masses. Brilliant weather today, unlike two weeks ago, when we did the ride to Lavers Hill where it was cold, miserable and pouring rain. This was the first time we have been to Baw Baw this year.

More people kept arriving, coming out of the woodwork everywhere. Great to see. We had three first timers, two on their second rides, and even some former Club members. I got myself busy doing the ICE names and numbers. I recall Ben saying something about it was time to go, but I hadn’t finished doing all the names; it took me all of 30 minutes or so to do.

Ben was obviously doing his bit as well with the new people. After getting all that done it was time to do the pre-ride spiel. I am usually prepared, take some notes, but not on this occasion. So, after getting on my soap box and explaining things, I fell horribly short. I couldn’t remember what to say. Speechless. A quick glance at Ben who didn’t look too happy. “How many kilometres to the first stop”, he asked. I just looked at him. Don’t you hate that? You should know. You have been there before, but just a blank. Dave Hives volunteered for rear rider. Ben said “No, because he was not a member”, so Willem Vandeveld got the job. Time to move on.

I had to watch carefully with such a lot of traffic about including a lot of vintage cars. From Berwick we travelled to Harkaway where we came across a group of Ulysses riders heading in the same direction. I figured it was safer to stay behind rather than pass them at this point, because it would cause mayhem. Neither group would know who was who. You can guess the rest.

I was secretly hoping that they wouldn’t be going where we were going. How wrong I was…After turning into Boundary Road I decided to take action and pass them. At the Red Hill and Albers Road T intersection, the Ulysses riders turned left and we turned right. Good. No more interruptions.

I am corner marking at the Beaconsfield/Emerald Road waiting for the next rider when some dude on a R1 goes past me. Nick, on the Aprillia doesn’t realise I am the leader and chases the dude on the R1. Someone else has arrived by now to corner mark and so I give chase.

It took a while to catch up. At the Lewis Road intersection, the Ulysses Club were doing a left turn back onto the Beaconsfield Emerald Road. The dude on the R1 was low flying as he came around the sweeping left hander into the Ulysses riders, and turned around on his seat and shook his fist at them, as if it’s their fault. Expect the unexpected I say.

I passed Nick and more Ulysses riders and got Nick to corner mark at Paternosters Road. Andrew Kennedy, former MSR member, was corner marking for the Ulysses. Andrew spoke to me later in the week and said there were 30 riders in their group.

I spoke to Nick later about it. He said he couldn’t understand why he wanted me to get him to corner mark, when there was already a rider there! I explained that there was another group of riders that just happened to be going where we were going, and that it would cause confusion if you were unfamiliar with who you were riding with.

On to Mt Burnett, still passing the Ulysses riders, Ken on the Ducati following me through here.

At the Pakenham Upper roundabout I could see more chaos looming, so pulled in behind one of the Ulysses riders, but too far back from the corner. There were three Ulysses marking, watching in their mirrors for our group. Peter, on the VFR800, shot past along with Pina on the R6 and a couple of others. I had to move quickly to catch them. Pina figured it out and stayed to corner mark. Peter looked a bit confused, not knowing know who was who.

On to Gembrook where the Ulysses group turned left and we went straight ahead. Phew!

The Gembrook/Launching Place Road to Hoddles Creek is quite good. Beware a couple of tight corners. When I first came to Australia 20 years ago, it used to be gravel across the top from Kurth Kiln Reserve to Warwick Road. How things have changed for the better.

On to Noojee for first stop. No fuel again. People went to both shops. Plenty of other motorcyclists. Ben spoke to me about fuel and suggested we get fuel at Neerim or Neerim Junction and do the ride in reverse. But I wasn’t keen on the idea. I wanted to get the Mt Baw Baw ride over and done with first. Do it when you are fresh, not late in the day, for obvious reasons. To speed up the process (one bowser only) some of the boys went to Neerim for fuel while the rest went to the General Store at Neerim Junction.

I took the main road to the General Store, and on the way back we went the Neerim North/Noojee road into Noojee, the goat track according to Pina. It is very tight and twisty but okay. We waited for the rest of the boys to turn up. From memory, it was fairly warm day. (26 degrees …Ed.)

Mt Baw Baw here we come, at last. Coming down the hill to the Icy Creek turn off, I had a bloke in a D Series Ford truck with a horse drawn buggy on the back, do a slow right hand turn in front of me…came out of the Willowgrove Road. My brakes required an extra squeeze… After a short distance climbing up the Mt Baw Baw Road, I let a group of the faster boys go. I like to take my time on this road as there is no margin for error.

A few kilometres up the road, Dave Ward flagged me down. I checked out what had happened and then continued on. Ben Fuller had crashed his Hayabusa a long way over the edge, but he was walking okay. Quite a few of the others stopped to see if they could help, but by all accounts, not much could be done.

I arrived at Mt Baw Baw car park and waited for the others who arrived in dribs and drabs. People were getting hungry, deciding whether or not to go to Neerim South. Ben said you could get something to eat at the building after the car park. So I went for a walk and found a café sort of place. I looked at the menu and there wasn’t much to eat but I thought it would be better than nothing. Rob Jones and Dave Hives with Ben Fuller on the back, finally arrived. While most of us went to the shop, Rob, Dave and Ben decided to head back home. Rob used his truck and crane on it to get the bike out of the bush on Monday.

After a very late lunch, we got on our bikes and headed back to Icy Creek and then down the Willowgrove Road to Moe picking up the Old Sale Road for the return trip to Neerim South, a welcome stop considering how warm it now was. Ken was sweating about fuel because his reserve warning light had come on and there wasn’t much left in the tank. Ben said it was only 20 kilometres away to Longwarry and that he should make it. Ben even gave him his fuel siphon hose just in case.

We rode via Jindivick and Labertouche to the servo at Longwarry North, another welcome stop. Ken’s Ducati ran out of fuel coming into the driveway. How lucky can you be?

Everyone fuelled up, did a bit of gas bagging, said their goodbyes and headed home. The ride was 332 kms long, 447 door to door for me. Good weather, good company, good roads, one accident, no one hurt, bike a write-off.

Ron Johnston