Mirboo North 23/12/01

 

Honda 929 Fireblade    Ben Warden    (lead)               250 Baby Blade           Matt (1st ride)

250 Baby Blade           Kate Stewart    (1st ride)           CBR600                      Di Welsford (rear)

VTR 1000 SP              Neville Maggs                          Kawasaki  ZX900R     Rhys Williams

Kawasaki  ZX900R     Mick Bosworth                        Yamaha YZFR1           Geoff Jones

Kawasaki  ZX900R     Dave Alvarado (1st ride)           Suzuki TL1000 Greg Hales

BMW 1150RS             Rob Langer                              Aprilia V1000              Ken Wright

 

Hallam, fine weather and the bikes start to assemble for the first run into Gippsland for quite some time.

 

Ben, leader, appoints Dianne rear rider and gives the corner marking details for some first time riders but does not call for write up person. So we all relax, kit up and start the drone down to Drouin along the rail line through Nar Nar Goon, Tynong, Garfield and Longwarry to turn south and head for Poowong and Loch for first break after about 100 km. The road offering some variations on the sweeper theme to set the tone for the rest of the ride and so the pace began to pick up a tad as the ride dynamics settled in. Lights in your mirrors or tail lights in your sights, depending on your role: pouncer or pounced on.

 

So how come the write up is now testing my memory bank on Christmas Eve. Ben has his own method of allotting the write up. End of ride time and whoever is still around gets that "Hey you, do the write up". I must have been an easy target and after much use of the adrenal gland on roads such as these not able to resist. Also love to see my name in print, 15 minutes of fame and all that. The people list and any bikes I may have missed should appear as an insertion by the editor somewhere with this.

 

Just a thought on write-ups: if it’s known before the ride who is the nominated scribe for the day, then any juicy details are more likely to be passed on at the break times to the writer, and more detail might mean a wider view of the day than just my recollections. (Noted: …Ed.)

 

After fuel, food and talk at Loch we retrace the way in then turn west to Nyora and pick up the road back into Poowong which has a pleasing brace of twisties with some cow type views to the left side if you dared look, rolling green hills and valleys. Through Poowong to the Ranceby "T" intersection, turn right onto the Korumburra road but turn left to Arawata and then the 2 km of dirt to Fairbank. All of these places are really just dots on a map and are just ways to join up the roads which are the main point of the day. Tight roads through small sections of uncleared forest, sweepers along ridge lines, sweepers along creek lines in the valleys between the many hills of the region. Some of these many sweepers have developed a nasty trait of large raised areas, pushed up by the milk tankers which run on these roads seven days a week. I had some R1 head shakes on these and heard Rhys and the other ZX9R boys discussing one particular incident when Rhys checked his mirrors at maybe the wrong time, looked back and found himself into a corner a little too hot, held his line and got around. Phew.

 

Speaking of the Rhys meister, I had mirrors full of that ram air snout on one "interesting" piece of road before Mirboo North (Boolarra twisties …Ed.), my corner speed too slow for the ZX9R but the R1 low down torque out of the corners able to keep the Yamaha ahead of the Kawasaki. Apart from the bike noises filtering through the ear plugs I can recall hearing my breath coming in pants. Hard work indeed but smiles at Mirboo, "Audacious" being the Rhys comment on that piece of road. Hopefully all on the ride had some similar "events".

 

Prior to the Mirboo North lunch stop the various bike sounds were enjoyed as I corner marked the Mardan Road turn off the Strzelecki Highway: three different V twins giving that deep boom, ZX9Rs with after market cans running up the rev range to the ram air zone, the BMW with a more even tone, the Baby Blades, doing a great job keeping up with the litre bikes, wailing up to stratospheric rev levels. I think they idle at 6000rpm

 

So to lunch, fuel and more tales after passing through the two Boolarra's

Neville, on the VTR-SP, left here for home. Rob took over the rear ride role so giving Dianne a chance of some Gippsland fanging. We looped out of Mirboo North to Hallston and back before turning north through Thorpdale, flying up that series of see-through sweepers, designed by a motorcyclist, for motorcyclists, I'm sure, to the highway at Trafalgar. Stop at the servo, then on the Princes among the four wheelers to Yarragon and a loop around to Warragul where Rhys and Ken left. Then North through Neerim South to Piedmont and a great run with Mick on his ZX9R to the finish at Yarra Junction, fly boy, indeed.

 

This final section had some shower activity with sections of damp road but as the ride was at its end game, not too much effect. Just enough to require a bike wash once home (if you are that way inclined).

 

So thanks to Ben for the lead: done good. To Dianne and Rob for rear riding and to all who turned up on the day. Nice to see new faces. Hope all enjoyed the day and no "incidents'" reported. Go out and measure your tyre tread depth. Maybe at the current prices for rubber that may be as expensive as one of those "blue light" encounters that we didn't have, thank you Mr. Plod

 

My day topped off by a brisk ride to the Western ring road with Ben and Greg, doing the "knife through butter" trick with the traffic. Must get a 208 for the front before Walwa.

 

 

Geoff Jones  (Yamaha R1)

 

 

 

 

 

Email received from Di Welsford next day:

 

 

Hi Ben,

 

It was another fun ride yesterday.  I had a ball.  I was quite happy to go rear rider in the morning as I was so tired. However, before we left Rob offered to swap at lunchtime so I took him up on that and had an absolute ball chasing people in the afternoon.  I couldn't chase the others in the morning as firstly the 250's held me up, then Rob stopped at a milk bar, then took off leaving me on my own, then Greg stopped at the Gent's, then took off leaving me on my own.

 

Earlier on Mick and I were a little late leaving Loch as he had to fish his bike key out from his leathers, after taking them off....I think he has holes in his pockets and it slipped through.  I couldn't resist hiding his key later to see his reaction. He started feeling his ankles again!  I didn't put him through doing a strip again though. See, I'm not as bad you as you think! 

 

I'll give Kate a call soon to see how she enjoyed the day.  She did really well for a learner didn't she.  It certainly helped the ride stay together more when the 250's stopped Corner-marking. Matt said he found it easier when you said to stay with him. 

 

Apart from the foul-mouthed abuse I got at Yarra Junction for walking out of the Ladies much to the embarrassment of two idiots pee-ing on the back of bus station (beats me why they didn't walk ten more steps down to the toilet block!) (I'd say what they said but refuse to use that one word women HATE!) the ride was fantastic.

 

 

Di Welsford (Honda CBR600)