With our designated leader Tony Prictor still too ill to lead, Ben Warden had kindly filled in, but already there had been drama on the run out from KBCP as Patrick Davey on his new ZX6 and designated rear rider from the city had become lost!

Assembled at Hallam:

Ian Payne - RF900 Ray Walker — GSXR750 Ian McFarlane — Vmax

Doug (1^st ride) — CX500 Darren Morecomb - TL1000 Neville Maggs (2^nd) — VFR800

Ben gave the pre-ride talk and with still no sign of Patrick we headed off down the usual roads to Pakenham, Nar Nar Goon and Drouin for morning tea. After some eats and a check of the mobile phones to see if there were any messages from Pat we prepared to leave. But with the weather looking increasingly threatening, Peter, Ian.Mc & Doug decided to leave us here and head for home.

The rest of us then went south passing through Poowong, Ranceby and Dumbalk where unfortunately gravel and road works (some sign posted and some not) were dotted all along the route. This combined with the damp conditions made for a less than pleasant ride. We eventually made our way into Mirboo North for fuel and lunch.

After a leisurely lunch we headed out of town to explore a little loop that took in Halyston and a short stretch of gravel road (about 25 metres … we are getting paranoid …Ed.) before proceeding back through Mirboo Nth. This loop looked interesting and I’m sure it will be incorporated into future rides. Onto Thorpdale then the run down into Trafalgar where the abundance of slick bitumen called for careful progress. We stopped at the big servo just as the skies opened up so it was decided to forgo the run up to Noojee and halt the ride here.

After some talking most of us headed straight along the highway to home