Pyalong 7^th September, 2003

Trevor Harris Yamaha YZF1000 Craig Morley Honda CBR929

Kate Stewart Honda CBR600 Ben Warden Honda CBR929

Pete Pondeljak (2^nd) Honda CBR600 Ian Payne Honda CBR929

Mario Ibeas Yamaha R6 Mick Hanlon Yamaha R1

Tamzin Knight (3^rd) Yamaha R6 Paul Talents Honda CBR898

Jeff Bishop (2^nd) Suzuki GSXR1000 Mark Easterbrook (1/2 rear) Triumph 955

Dave Nimmo Suzuki GSXR1000 Rob Langer KTM 950LC8

Wayne Nimmo Suzuki Hayabusa Geoff Jones (1/2 rear) Yamaha R1

Dave Ward MV Augusta F4 Peter Rykenberg (2^nd) Yamaha TRX850

Peter and I were really looking forward to getting out on the bikes again after being busy with other commitments for a couple weeks. So we were up in plenty of time to get away by 9am for the 55+ km ride over to Whittlesea. To our relief, the day was looking good with the sun peeking through light the mist, contrary to the forecast showers.

I don’t know where the time goes because I was still late gearing up and getting out of the house. Lucky for me, Peter had the bikes out and well and truly warmed up and ready for me to just climb aboard and head off. Those that know my dislike of gravel would probably be surprised to learn that I now take the 200 metres of deep gravel driveway and two kilometres of gravel road in my stride.

The sight of fire trucks and several police vehicles cleaning up the sight of a serious head on collision at the end of the gravel road certainly wakes one up to the dangers of being mobile on our roads. We cruised away from the scene, sombrely, and headed for Yarra Glen. No, we weren’t mistaking the meeting place, we knew it was Whittlesea. I just thought the country roads would be less cop-prone than the more suburban 60 zones of North Warrandyte. So we crossed the river at Yarra Glen and wound our way along the back roads to the meeting place.

We arrived at Whittlesea to see some of the faster, crazier members waiting. Oh boy... and I thought that fathers’ day would have kept most members at home.

I gave a brief run down on the planned route and suggested that if I'm holding anyone up, they should stop for a piss and let me get further ahead.

The weather was deteriorating rapidly and we left Whittlesea in light but steady rain. The road was quite slick climbing the hill. Fortunately it dried out somewhere before Flowerdale. And that was the last of the wet for the day.

Leading this mob was always going to be a challenge of my resolve to just 'do my own thing'. I tried hard to ignore the line of lights in my mirrors. I did just 'do my own thing' but at a pace a tad quicker than I usually do it. Probably not quick enough for the some of the lads, but then corner marking kept a few busy.

Kerrisdale to Trawool was fun and I toned it down a bit as this is a main road and Mr Plod could be lurking. To my dismay, Ben corner marked at the Tallarook turn off. This meant he wouldn’t be handy at the next intersection to advise me of the direction at the only bit of the route I was unsure of. I had a 50% chance of guessing right and got it wrong.... Damn. I knew where I wanted to head, but was just not quite sure how to get across to the Pyalong road without getting funnelled on to the Freeway.

I knew that Sharps and Taylor Road intersected with the Pyalong Road but didn’t count on the road becoming gravel after crossing the railway line. Not a nice smooth gravel or I would have tackled the three or four kilometres. It was corrugated, and deep with big, loose rocks. So we turned around and back-tracked up the Freeway, through Tallarook and on to the correct road.

During the hold up, the ride collected together. As we travelled at a fair clip towards Pyalong in tight formation, I noticed a very large and shaggy sheep standing in the middle of the road, just before a sharp right hander. I slowed up suddenly and came to a stop, fearing the sheep might make a dash in front of one of the bikes if we tried to pass. It looked at me and the mass of headlights accumulating behind me, seemed to consider going left before finally heading right and well off the road.

Oh boy.... the twistier bit of the road was just ahead and everyone was on my ass! I keep reasonable pace on the straight bits but I'm not very quick in the twisty bits so I hoped a few of the boys might have taken the opportunity to pit stop at this point.

Ben was taking no chances of me missing the turn off and slipped ahead of me as we cruised out of Pyalong indicating the direction as we approached the small side road. Safely negotiated, it was on to Lancefield for lunch and fuel. Upon arriving at Lancefield, rear rider, Geoff Jones, excused himself and left for another lunch engagement. The rest of us set about satisfying our needs in the various food outlets. The bakery had seating and was nice and WARM, so Peter and I settled in to eat our lunch rather than stand around near the bikes in the COLD. I was surprised more people didn’t join us.

Ian Payne and Dave Ward took off after lunch. Mark Easterbrook volunteered to be rear rider for the remainder of the ride. All fed and fuelled, we headed back to Pyalong via Emu Flat. Ben sped past to show me the turn off as I had slowed down too early in anticipation. I think several other riders got my bike confused with Peter’s identical 600 and also passed me in pursuit of Ben. I took over the lead at the turn off, got quite surprised by the first tight corner after such a nice stretch of wide sweepers and made my way cautiously along the narrow strip of bitumen hoping not to meet any on-coming vehicles.

Multiple corners at Pyalong gave me some breathing space, but not for long. Ben, fearing (or perhaps hoping) I needed assistance in direction again flew past, closely followed by Tamzin. Now… I was beginning to wonder who was supposed to be leading this ride and stopped (at the corner which I knew and wasn’t going to miss) to ask Ben or Tamzin if either would like to ‘take over’. Both declined, so I took off towards Broadford along the speedy back roads trying to spread the ride out a bit. I actually had to wait a tic for someone to be a corner marker in Broadford. But not for long…. Craig appeared and I was on my way again. I wanted to keep rolling as I knew I’d be really slow down the steep hill hairpins heading to Strath Creek and didn’t want to hold people up too much. I shouldn’t have worried because it was going to happen regardless. I had a brief glance in my mirrors before descending, saw the line of lights and just crawled my way down, as I usually do, on sharp down hills.

With the slow bit out of the way I was back up to a decent cruising speed and looking forward to the nice flowing stretch between Strath Creek and Flowerdale. Just out of Strath Creek I flew past a P-plater in a maroon Commondoor and obviously revved him up because Peter later commented that he couldn’t even make ground on it, at 50 + over. Having left Jeff and Mario on the last corner I high-tailed it along the road towards Kinglake West. Blood rushing and the amazingly empty road had me travelling along boldly, not really on the lookout for Mr Plod. So it was a great relief to come around a sweeper and see him busy pulled over with a couple 250s. Knowing he was occupied, I took the opportunity to fang the last couple of kilometres to Kinglake West and the end of the ride.

Apparently Rob had hit reserve on his new KTM as he left Broadford and had to turn back. So he and Mark rolled in last. All safe, no incidents. A fun fast ride it was.

The local café owner came out at the sight of the gathered bikes and encouraged us to come in and warm up. Most of us took up the offer and revived ourselves with warm beverages by the woodstove, all with stories of our surprise encounter with the busy Mr Plod.

Kate Stewart (Honda CBR600F4i)