Lavers Hill via Great Ocean Road - Sunday 17^th November, 2002

Honda CBR929 Pete Weyermayr (Leader)	Honda VTR1000 Dean von Schill
Honda CBR929 Ben Warden	Honda VFR800  Jean Ives (3^rd Ride)
Honda CBR929 Victor Soussan (1^st Ride)	Honda CBR250RR Kate Stewart
Ducati 750SS Mark Easterbrook	Yamaha YZF1000 Trevor Harris
Yamaha XJR1300 John Scholes	BMW R1150GS Rob Langer / Kirsten Anderson (rear)
Honda CBR919 Liz Oliver	12 people, 11 bikes

Shell Westgate at 09:30 said the itinerary - an early start for the day. At least it felt early to me, getting up at 07:00 with no Sunday lie-in this weekend. Great weather was forecast, around 30^o, little wind but with clouds at times. Pete and Liz, on their first Club ride since their return from Europe were already there when I arrived around twenty past, along with Victor and John. The rest (except for Dean) rolled in over the next few minutes. Rob got his traditional coffee and then it was time to gather around. Pete gave the run-down on the day’s route, plus running through the corner-marking system for the newcomers. Kirsten volunteered Rob and herself to go rear rider for the day.

First challenge of the day was the ride out along the West Gate Freeway, which is still limited to 60 km/h and 80 km/h for large sections. We got spread out along here, due to the volume of traffic and no doubt some had concerns about the fixed speed cameras that are popping up all along this road. Exiting at Little River, we ran parallel with the freeway for a while as we headed down to Lara. A bit of left/right/left/round/etc and lots of corner marking, and we were on the road to Deans Marsh. Then off we went onto the first decent twisties of the day to Lorne, down through the forest; this road gets tighter as you get closer to the GOR. Following Pete and Ben along this stretch, we came around a quick right-hander to find a bike completing a U-turn on our side of the road, next to another (stationary) bike, and he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to get out of the way. I’d just hit a large bump and was a little out of shape, and didn’t appreciate this additional distraction. It’s one way to get used to the handling of the YZF after the FJ I suppose…

Ben and I corner-marked at the intersection with the GOR, and found that the group had spread out a fair bit on the 160-ish km first leg. We regrouped at the petrol station, with fuel for some and cold drinks for most as it was getting hot. A few things were learnt here: Jean has three speeding fines up before the courts and he is contesting them all; Dean joined up with us after missing the group at Werribee due to the early start; Pete can be sneaky: he approached me and in a sideways move had me lined up to do the write-up – watch this guy!

The next leg was around 100 km to Lavers Hill, where we would stop for lunch and petrol. The group got spread out leaving the gas station, as we had to turn right, with constant traffic in both directions. There was only a small amount of traffic to contend with once outside Lorne and this was quickly dispatched. I had a fun but uneventful ride along this stretch, passing Jean at one point who had stopped to play tourist at one of the lookouts. I enjoy the parts where you can see the road ahead across some of the small bays, determine if the road is clear and then pass traffic as you go down/around/up the inlets. I was endeavouring to keep my speed close to the 60km/h limit through Apollo Bay, and was passed by Kate on the BabyBlade. She later said that she has a problem with traffic – she wants to pass it all the time! Again, it was a mostly clear road outside town, and I travelled ‘alone’. The road opens up as it moves away from the coast, but gets bark and leaves on the road as a compensation prize.

Lavers Hill arrived. The gas station was out of unleaded, so Ben and Trevor went to the other station a couple of k’s up the road to fill up, or we would have literally been pushing our way back to Apollo Bay. Note cop with radar. Pies and sandwiches for most, while Rob wanted a burger. He was surprised to hear that ‘the grill is turned off’ at 1:30 on a Sunday afternoon, so he tried his luck at the bistro over the road and struck it lucky this time. But he had a coffee with us before heading over there. We also learnt that Kate is expecting – a foal! It should have been born by the time you read this. (It turned out to be a phantom pregnancy! …Ed.)

And then back to Apollo Bay. Leaving as a less-strung-out group, Pete and Ben led, with Liz and Trevor behind. After hearing Victor’s comments regarding Liz’s rear suspension, I thought that I’d follow her for a while and see what it looked like. Pete seems to take this interest in his wife very calmly! I was deciding if I was going to pass her when Dean passed us both, and headed off after the lead pair. Liz soon waved me past, and then it was again a solitary ride as we got strung out. Unusually for a Club ride, this one seemed to be content with everyone travelling at their own pace, with little of the competitive attitude that I have observed. Although I’m sure that the cars we passed have their opinion on our pace… One advantage of returning via the same roads is that you (hopefully) remember the bad sections, and there was one on a left hander to avoid on the way back.

Corner markers (Ben and Dean) on the Skenes Creek road east of Apollo Bay, and up from the heat of the coast to the cool of the hills. There was a small amount of traffic along this stretch, and due to the nature of the road it took longer to find an opportunity to pass it. Onwards to Deans Marsh, and we retraced our path from earlier in the day back to Lara and Little River. Then once again it was the freeway crawl, to break-up at the Shell service station at the Westgate Bridge. My front tyre was pronounced unsuitable for the ride day at Phillip Island in December – unusual for me to wear out a tyre in 3,000 km, with around 2/3^rds of that being taken at a gentle running-in pace.

Here are some of Ben’s notes for the day, to add another perspective:

Ben	Good ride, finished off rear tyre, 540 km for the day, 515km servo to servo. Passed Pete coming back between Lavers Hill and Apollo   in the twisties - knew the road better, pretty technical with some corners off camber, others tightening, Pete still rusty.
Dean	Spent Lorne to Apollo Bay with front wheel coming up out of corners when chasing Ben and Pete. Totally wrapped with ride. Destroyed rear tyre.
Jean	Doing battle with the law and cops -fighting 3 separate speeding fines. Givi Rack and box mounted very high - didn't help handling at all I would suspect - the top of the box was around his shoulders! Complained about economy all day - what did he expect? Was going to write to Honda complaining about false advertising. Interesting .
John	E-mailed me later in the week - totally wrapped, thought we were a great bunch of people.
Liz	Front and rear suspension re-oiled, bike handling average - bald rear tyre and notchy steering head bearings to be fixed this week, spent most of time following or being followed by Victor.
Victor	French guy on Erion coloured bike, wanted medal for oldest rider - 56 yrs old.

Trevor Harris (Yamaha YZF1000)