ZX7R Rhys Williams VFR800 Bruce Saville

ZX7R Geoff Barton VTR-SP Neville Maggs

ZX7R Tim Walker ZX9 Wayne Grant

ZZR600 Geoff Jones CBR900RR Ben Warden

Epic, according to the Webster Dictionary, none of this internet stuff, is pertaining to, or resembling an epic; heroic; majestic; grandiose; imposingly great; of extraordinary scope, size, or extent.

Ben has always used "epic" to describe MTCV weekends away and as this one was a first for me I looked forward to the trip with a mixture of excitement and foreboding as I recalled past stories of crashes, police encounters, bad weather, and on one weekend that I was present at via Comodore some mean social intercourse over dinner. Knives were needed to cut the air, such was the tension. A clash of editors as it turned out; you had to be there. (A slight over simplification me thinks ..Ed.)

The mix this time produced no such antics with maybe Wayne revealing his charming little habit of dobbing in members of the lower classes who dare to display any smoke from their exhausts, especially if they also have any of Wayne's most hated window stickers on their windows. This may have raised a few eyebrows but we all seemed to get along fine, in my case I think I was so wrung out after each day in the Snowy Mountains I could not have fired up if I tried. Others of a more quiet disposition may disagree as I admit I tend to waffle on a bit.

Places and distances and roads used will hopefully be covered by other write ups as I was just going with the flow and had not bothered to do any map reading of the area which I had never been to before. The roads were , as Ben says, "epic". Corners of all kinds: sweepers, hairpins, rising turns, turns that drop down and around, blind corners, open see through bends, rippled corners, smooth corners, some with gravel, some with broken surface, all to be taken at speed, trying to be smooth and keep the speed up to stay with the group, signaling faster members through when they come from nowhere and suddenly filled the mirrors. As Tim said during one of the scenic stops, "Brake, tip in, power out, repeat as needed." Boy did we repeat.

I had fitted new tyres, Pilot Sport rear and Pilot Race front and then had the local bike shop say that the front would never heat up enough to work properly and that its wet performance would be low. Serious self doubt sets in as the forecast says rain Thursday, Friday and clearing Saturday. Too late to change so off to meet Rhys and Tim at Hallam for a 1 pm leave, destination Walwa via Omeo, Hotham then the Tawonga and Granya Gaps and various other demanding roads, all showing signs of the rain that came and went on the first day, Thursday. Geoff Barton joined at Yarragon where Ben also caught up as he had been late getting to Hallam and we left on the dot of 1pm. We reached Walwa at 9 pm, hit the shorts and thongs look and took some cooling ales before a fish dinner. The rain was not cool at all and apart from the top of Hotham showing a pleasant 20 degrees the temperature as we dropped down into the valleys was in the mid 30's and the humidity high.

Rain on the roof all night and much tossing and turning as the rooms were hot from days of high 30's and some 40 degree temperatures. Up for breakfast and after some delay as we all hoped the rain would stop we moved out for Australia Day in the hills. The rain persisted for much of the day

and added some fog areas on the higher locations just to give us some variety. On one section two greasy, wet clay pieces of road work lifted the heart rates as traction was lost and the bikes slipped along, setting their own route, trying to steer a waste of time. Tim had his 7 doing a submarine dive as he went through a deep puddle of muddy water, creating a bow wave which left mud splash all over the bike. Every one stayed upright. As we went further the day cleared a bit and was not as bad as we thought it would be at breaky. Six hundred kilometres for the day.

Friday night as the one before, drinks, food, talk, bed. Still hot in the rooms but a long day on the road makes sleep easy, despite the heat. Saturday morning and most of the rain gone so I use the Ladies shower as I liked the pink decor and there was no ladies staying no risk of being caught with one's pants down, so to speak. 9 am, fuel up an head for the north and the fabled Adelong to Rosewood logging road that Rhys had claimed as his. No rain no traffic, 70 k of tight and open road built through a pine plantation to suit the log trucks. Banked turns and cleared areas on each side of the road, corners that did not tighten up, yum yum. We flew, except Wayne who had killed his rear tyre earlier, as well as balling up his front 207GP. He was very impressed with his efforts and as he had trailered the bike up was not in any trouble about getting home. I think he realized what he had missed as he rear rode the Rosewood road and saw the grins on us all at it's end.

Back to Walwa at about 2.30 pm and not much enthusiasm about a run round the lake. In fact apart from Ben who did a loop to Corryong we all crashed till tea. I surfaced at 7 pm and joined the rest. Wayne had left to go back to Melbourne and we helped Nev load his VTR SP for the Sunday morning departure. 9 pm and a live band starts up in the beer garden, crowds arrive and music and interesting sights go on till around 1 am when the bar shuts, band stops and calm descends, apart from a Harley that starts up and roars off at 3.15am. Sunday morning 6 bikes leave, 3 back over Hotham, Geoff B, Tim and Rhys, 3 head for the King Valley and Yea, Ben, Bruce and Geoff Jones.

The ZZR and I arrive home around 3.30pm, odometer, set at zero at Hallam on Thursday shows 2,222 km. 600ml of oil needed, but no other signs of distress. Rear tyre 70%, front only minimum wear. I should admit to a couple of "incidents": I ran out of fuel 5 km out of Adaminaby and was helped by Tim and Rhys, (Actually I think Geoff supplied to syphon ..Ed.) and (ii), at the bottom of the Granya Gap I knocked my kill switch off and had a panic attack when the bike would not start. Geoff Barton calmly pointed out my stupidity.

Trips like this are recommended therapy and should be on the National Health. 5 stars without a doubt. Thanks for the company all involved, to Ben for leading and as always knowing where we were and the best roads to take. Thanks to the police forces of Vic and NSW for staying away. Rear

riding was a democratic system that worked well and we seemed to stay in close formation for most of the time. I had a ball.