Heathcote MK I Sunday 18^th April, 2010

Corbin Spur	Suzuki GSX1300	Ron Johnston	Honda CBF1000
Lyn Duncan	Suzuki GSXR1000	Misho Zrakic	Honda CBR1000
Jody Stalenberg	Suzuki GSXR1000	Ben Warden (1/2 rear)	Honda CBR954
Marty Thompson	Kawasaki ZRX1200	Pina Garasi	Honda CBR600
Cliff Peters	Kawasaki ZX10 (1/2 rear)	Ha Du	Honda CBR600
Damir Djikic	Kawasaki Z750	Dennis Lindemann	Honda CBR600
Robert Langer	KTM RC8	Damian Jones	Yamaha R1
Ivan Radywonik	KTM990	Geoff Jones	Yamaha R1
Dave Chisma	BMW F800ST (leader)	Raj Malhotra (2^nd ride)	Yamaha FZ1S
Pierre Ong	Ducati 1098	Shane Byrne (1^st ride)	Hyosung 650

I was well primed for today's ride. I'd spent Friday wearing out the front tyre on the Great Ocean Road and Saturday fitting a new one, cleaning the bike and checking tensions of small screws and wheel spokes.

Raj dropped by on his way to his second ride with the club. He needed to remove the expansion bolts we’d installed a week earlier to attach a set of mirrors to the ends of the handlebars but it was too early in the day to effectively think of a way to remove them.

So we headed out along the Ring Road to Whittlesea. The skies were cloudy but not dark and the air surprisingly mild with no hint of rain. As we approached the Plenty Road exit another rider joined us. Although he looked familiar, I couldn’t quite place him. It turned out to be Damian on his R1. We arrived just before 10am. It was clearly a well attended ride with 20 bikes and riders.

We fuelled up and joined the group. There are lots of familiar faces, now that more than a year has passed since I joined the MSR. It was good to see Ha again; we share an anniversary, our first ride with the club. She was delighted to see that I’d finally replaced my garbage tail-bag with something more proper!

In the ever-warming sunlight our lead rider, Dave Chisma, addressed the troops with a thorough rundown on what to expect. I was left intrigued as to what qualified as a ‘D’ type roads. Ben elected to rear ride.

It was after 10 as more bikes arrived, one being Geoff Jones. I know he lives in Gisborne, so the thought crossed my mind that I could have slept in and met the ride at Woodend. Chatting later, he told me he expected to meet the ride along the way but wound up catching the start.

The pace was brisk but not rushed as we headed north west toward Wallan, an ‘urban badlands’ landscape, suitably nestled between a forest and a freeway. We then proceeded to Romsey and Woodend for morning tea. Parking was tight as we squeezed into the few available spots, settling around several outdoor café tables.

I chatted with first timer Shane about his near new Hyosung 650, another mid-life escapee returning to the wild, a purchase inspired by motorcycling relatives. He had not ridden for some 20 years and that was on a 250cc machine. He remarked on the fast pace of the ride. I smiled as I recollected my impression that the ride so far had been most restrained. It occurred to me that we had traversed very few twisties, so we had never really wound ourselves up. In any event, his fluorescent jacket would mesmerize anyone who came too close.

After the break we picked up the pace, perhaps spurred on by the proximity of the legendary Hanging Rock? Before I knew it we were in Lancefield for a quick fuel stop for those with a shorter range. I took the opportunity to lube the KTM’s chain before heading off toward Heathcote via Pyalong, Emu Flat and Mia Mia.

The roads remained open while a series of corners made the group spread out, progressing like a slithering snake. I soon found myself corner marking and then cranking up the Adventure’s V twin motor along the highway’s lazy curves. Ha was going for it too and several times we wound up passing each other.

Lunch was very relaxing as I joined a small group on a quiet lawn area away from the busy highway that runs through the centre of Heathcote. (Are there any other roads in this town?) As usual, the conversation revolved around bikes. Raj and I were still trying to work out a solution to removing the expansion bolts from his bike’s handlebars; someone else was concerned about being low on oil, and so on.

Soon we were on our way for the last leg of our journey. I was one of the last to leave so I noticed that Cliff had suddenly become rear rider. We headed for Seymour and it soon became clear that we were a smaller group now – several riders had left us at lunchtime or before, including Ben and Marty (as Ben explains below).

The road from Seymour wound along the picturesque Goulburn Valley Highway - a pity about the traffic - before we turned off near Kerrisdale for Strath Creek, Flowerdale, Kinglake West and the iScreamery in Whittlesea. They have just about every flavour ice cream you can think of.

Perhaps ice cream really is brain food because by the time Raj and I returned to tackle the expansion bolts we hit upon an incredibly simple solution to their removal: using a long bolt screwed into the handlebar and a small hammer to shock the nut free of its sleeve allowed the entire fastener to slide out. Easy when you know how.

Ivan Radywonik

What happened to Ben and Marty I hear you enquire? Marty’s battery in the ZRX1200 died completely at Lancefield, at the 100 km point of the ride.  We were all just moving off at the time of this discovery. I nominated Cliff to pick up the rear riding position – he was the only one left at that stage – while I stayed with Marty to determine the cause of his bike not starting. I also knew the proposed route including where the next stop was, the plan being to rejoin the ride at a later time.

No electrics whatsoever. I suspected the battery though Marty was suspicious that it was all working perfectly well five minutes before; how could it go from perfect to absolute nothing in the blink of an eye? He checked the fuses which all looked good.

To prove my dead battery theory I removed my 954 battery and connect it up to his bike. Voila! All good, which meant hopefully nothing else electrical had failed.  Marty tried to get a battery from the local servo while I put things back together. Not surprisingly, no luck with sourcing a battery. So I dinked Marty (he rode – what possessed me!) the 85 km back to Melbourne to Williamstown where he picked up a ute and drove back to pick up the bike.  A lazy 255 km of boring highway for Marty.

He arrived later in the afternoon to return by seat bag which had been abandoned to make space for the additional pillion. 

Marty attended the following Monday’s ride into Gippsland, after installing and charging a new battery the night before, not even bothering to test start it. No issues reported.

Ben Warden