Grand Ridge Road MK I Sunday 4^th April, 2010

Paul Southwell	Honda CBR1000	Cliff Peters	Kawasaki ZX10
Misho Zrakic	Honda CBR1000	Michael Srb	Kawasaki ZX10
John Rousseaux (rear)	Honda CBR1000	Dave Ward	Kawasaki Z1000
Ben Warden (leader)	Honda CBR954	Damir Djikic (4^th ride)	Kawasaki Z750
Pina Garasi	Honda CBR600	Chris Pointon	Suzuki GSXR1000
Kurn Bridgeman	Honda CBR600	Tamzin Brundrett (2^nd ride)	Suzuki GSXR750
Paul Coughran (1^st ride)	Yamaha R1	Rod Boulter	Suzuki DL1000
Rob Langer	KTM 990 Motard	Geoff Shugg	Suzuki DL650

Easter Sunday. The sun rose over the horizon, heralding the beginning of a new day. Today commemorates a pagan ritual based on a man called Jesus, who rose from his death. Amazing! Good one, Constantine. So we left the pagans to it and went for a ride.

Berwick, our departure point for the day, had us gather. We had a new rider, Paul Coughran, on a great looking 2008 R1’ (not a cross-plane crank). It was nice to see Tamzin Brundrett riding with us again. Pina Garasi has seen the light and has a brand new CBR600RR; very nice. It was also great to see Paul Southwell back on board a 2008 CBR1000, (purchased from Dave Ward), after a recent (scary) off, due to a mechanical failure up Chum Creek Road. Misho also has his Blade re-sharpened and ready for the day. Very trick. Let’s go!

Leg 1: Out of the service station, left up the Freeway for a nice conservative cruise behind our leader, Ben Warden (CBR954), 15 bikes sandwiched by the rear rider, John Rousseaux (CBR1000). Turn right at Tynong for back roads to Drouin. Once out of Drouin, the pace picked up as we rode along well worn roads to Loch via Ranceby and Nyora. Along the way Kurn’s rear pillion seat fell off, dislodging his hat and pain killers. The hat was retrieved but the painkillers were nowhere to be found. Kurn agonizingly remounted and shot off at 100 mph! (Metaphorically speaking… Ed.) Great set of roads to start the ride topped off with morning tea at Loch.

“Damir,” Ben calls out, “Time for you to join our club.” Damir rides a lovely green Z750, and punts it around quite well. Welcome aboard, Damir.

The coffee was a little burnt at the Loch bakery today, but with 4 sugars, I really couldn’t tell. As Rear Rider I’m reminded to get my act together and be ready at the same time as the leader for a prompt get away. I did sit there a while though, watching Kurn remount his CBR600, and then he shot off at… 100 mph!

Leg 2: Loch to Arawata to Leongatha had 3 km of dirt. “I don’t do dirt,” I said to Ben, who just smiled and headed off. The dirt was compacted and could be termed “loose bitumen” so all was fine, though there was a patch of real bitumen in the middle that had me back up to 100 km/h only to hit the loose bitumen again. “Phark! I don’t do dirt - my bike gets dust on it!” Ben’s smile would only widen if I told him that.

Grand Ridge Road had us ride to the end of the hard stuff where we stopped for a chat, then re-mounted to filter our way to Boolara and Mirboo North for lunch. Rod Boulter thought he might put the DL1000 through its paces on the dirt and continue along Grand Ridge Road and meet us for lunch… but he turned around and re-joined the group.

Lunch: Appropriately, we all park our bikes in front of the police station at Mirboo North, take our custom to the shop next door and have lunch. Against Kate’s nutritional advice, I had a greasy chicken leg with extra grease and salt, and a dim sim flushed down with a Big M. I find that a meat pie and a coffee with four sugars give me heartburn. So my advice would be, drop the meat pie and coffee, and go the grease! Beautiful!

Rod Boulter visited the police for something to do. He came out none the wiser.

Leg 3: This is a standard 60 km loop from Mirboo North down to Hallston and back. The slackers, Dave Ward and Paul Southwell, did not participate in this section. Paul, understandably, may have been in a world of hurt, and Dave kept him company until we returned.

Misho and Pina took Pina’s new beaut CBR600 two-up for the loop. Big, fast sweepers from Leongatha to Hallston. It was an enjoyable, fast run. We were back in no time. Then on to Thorpdale and down to Trafalgar after another 27 km. Some needed fuel after this leg, while others had fuelled up prior. This created a disjointed departure for our homeward run to Longwarry North servo.

Leg 4: Trafalgar – Neerim South – Jindivick – Longwarry North servo. A well travelled set of roads. They flow fast, particularly as everybody was on the pace. The only hiccup was Kurn’s rear seat fell off again, hat flying out. Misho and I retrieved the articles and I waited while Kurn re-fitted his now slightly damaged seat. He then agonizingly remounted and shot-off at 100mph! These set of roads are just great and we all had a smile on our face when we arrived at the servo. Love that last section.

It was a great day of riding with no incidents to report. Even Mr Plod was only keeping an eye on the plebeian traffic flows and left all the good roads alone. I only saw one police car on the way home on the freeway just out of Longwarry, Mr Plod pointing his radar wishfully into the myriad of cars, bumper to bumper, in the hope someone was able to speed a couple of kilometres over the limit, briefly. This will save lives.

Thank you, Ben, for leading yet another great day of riding.

John Rousseaux