Eildon via Broadford           Sunday 7th December, 2003

 

Suzuki GSX1200         Ron &Daniel Johnston              Honda CBR929           Ben Warden

Yamaha R1                  Steve Collett (3rd ride)                          Honda CBR929           Pete Weyermayr

Honda CBR600           Pete Pondeljak                                     Kawasaki ZZR250       Con Kardaras (1st ride)

Honda CBR600           Kate Stewart                                        Honda CBR954           Paul Southwell

Kawasaki ZX6 Orlando Illufi                                        Yamaha TRX850         Pete Rykenberg

Suzuki TL1000S          Dave Skitt                                            Honda CBR929           Greg Hales

Kawasaki ZX9 Mick Bosworth                                    Suzuki GSXR750         Matt Clark

Honda CBR600           Di Welsford                                          Ducati 996                   Dave Ward

Honda CBR1100         Martin Hastie                                        Honda CBR954           Liz Oliver

Suzuki GSXR1000       Ray Walker                                          Kawasaki ZX9 Dave Hives

Suzuki GSXR750         Clint Vertigan                                       Honda CBR954           Rob Jones

Triumph 900                 Tom Reynolds (2nd ride)                       Yamaha YZF750         Rick Star (1st ride)

Suzuki GSXR1000       Derek Tomlinson                                  Apilia RSV1000           Ken Wright

BMW R1100S             Darryl Chivers                                      KTM950LC8              Rob Langer

28 bikes, 29 people

 

A word of warning: don't ask Ben and Greg "Who's doing the write up for the Club magazine?" while having a late lunch at Eildon, because they both said in stereo “You are!”

 

Sunday is looking a little overcast but the weather forecast was for fine 25 degrees so it's off to pick up the bike leaving Carmen at home with a bad case of the flu. I geared up, then headed off down the Ring Road observing the limits.

 

On the Greensborough bypass I noticed a bike coming at a reasonable pace. It was Ray. At the next set of traffic lights he excitedly pointed to his camera mounted on the front faring. Ray also pointed out that it was 9.50am and we needed to get to Yarra Glen before the leave time of 10.15am. So our pace quickened through Hurstbridge, Rob Roy and Christmas Hills where we came across a convoy of hotrods with one of them hugging the middle of the road.

 

Ray had to go very wide to get past and when I got closer I noticed a bike rider behind the hotrod laying on his tank trying to see ahead by looking through the rod's small rear window. It turned out to be Greg. Once I got past I didn't catch Ray till Yarra Glen.

 

Twenty eight riders turned up for the planned ride. Greg was soon giving the corner marking instructions to new riders. We headed off about 10:20am down Melba Highway turning off at Old Healesville Road, riding around the bends at a good pace. By the junction of Old Healesville and Yarra Glen roads, Dave and I had caught up with Greg, so we had our first corner marking duties. The rest of the group followed with Di performing the rear rider duties.

 

Next, up through Chum Creek, Toolangi, Melba Highway to Glen Burn and then twisties through Flowerdale and Strath Creek where a jealous car driver was flashing his lights to indicate a non-existent Mr Plod. It was just his way of slowing us down. A couple of corners later we all stopped while Greg referred to his map to get us into Broadford. He meant to go left, but went right instead via a loop around Trawool and Tallarook, adding 45 km to the original route. Great roads.

 

At Broadford, some of us filled up our bikes and emptied our bladders, had some drinks and looked at the film footage Ray's camera had caught on the ride so far.

 

Leaving Broadford we had quite a few less riders including Kate and Pete, Rob Jones and Dave Hives. While heading northwards towards Seymour, I had to swerve to avoid the wild life slipping across the road. Then on through Highlands to Yea. The bugs were like Kamikaze pilots crashing into my helmet, leaving the occasional splatter of innards across my visor.

On through Alexandra and up the Fraser National Park Road, I was catching the group.  After corner marking, I came around a corner to be waved frantically at by a woman in the middle of the road.  Someone was down and the first impression wasn't good. Most of the other riders stopped to give assistance to Ray who was laying motionless in the middle of the road, his bike partly on top of him, leaking oil from broken forks. I did a U-turn to warn the other riders following the accident. Ben's email report to the members the following day notes:

"At About 2pm yesterday, Ray Walker, riding his GSXR1000, was involved in an accident with a car, 12 kilometres out from Alexandra on the Fraser National Park Road. Right now he is in the Alfred Hospital  suffering a "bruised brain". He is sedated and it is expected that he will be there for the next 4 or 5 days, according to his wife Katrina. Remarkably and luckily he appears to have no broken bones. Ray's bike was recovered by a cousin last night. It was severely damaged.”

 

I indicated to Ben that I would go and inform the leader of the accident. At the next corner I told the corner markers what had happened. Then, while proceeding at a slower pace towards Eildon riding around a right hand corner, I came across an Aprilia laying across the road. Where was the rider? I did a U-turn and found Ken under some trees on the opposite side of the road. He was in a great deal of pain but still conscious. He told me he couldn't make the bend as the bike was sliding and hit the embankment full force on his left side. He thought he had broken some ribs and his shoulder.  After trying to move, the crunching of his left shoulder made him lay down.

 

Cutting and pasting Ben's report:

"Ken Wright also crashed his RSV1000 five or six kilometers further on towards Eildon. He sustained a broken shoulder blade which will repair itself with time. No operation is necessary. He spent the night in Alexandra Hospital and will return home today to recuperate."

 

Ken's bike was rideable and it was left at a local house. Typically, mobile service was out of range, so I had to wait (what seemed an eternity!) for someone to drive past and help.  Eventually a car came past, said they would organise an ambulance and would also tell the other bikes already in Eildon. I tried to make Ken as comfortable as possible using his bag as a pillow and then got his bike off the road. Inspecting the damage it seemed only cosmetic: left hand side faring, mirror and indicators, right side fairing where the bike came to rest after hitting the embankment.

 

Ken was concerned about his leathers being cut off by the ambos so we attempted to carefully get off his helmet and jacket. It took some time as every time he sat up he almost passed out. We got it off but then the march files came out in droves, biting both of us. Another car pulled up to offer assistance and I got some Aerogard to spray Ken but forgot to spray myself.

 

When the ambulance finally arrived they checked out Ken, then left him as they were originally en route to Ray's crash site. A while later they returned to say that another ambulance had got to Ray so they proceeded to treat Ken. By the time we had loaded him onto the stretcher and into the ambulance he had sucked on the pethadine pain tube so long he was spaced out.

 

Some of the group went back home from Ray's crash site. Others turned up to offer assistance at Ken's crash site. Di volunteered to go to the hospital and see if anything else could be done to contact the boys’ partners and keep Ben informed of any other issues. After the ambulance left and Ken's bike was ridden down the hill, the rest of us went onto Eildon for a fuel and food. It was a late lunch.

 

Greg wanted to finish the ride but only six bikes followed him out of Eildon, down the highway through Marysville and on through the Black Spur. We regrouped at the first set of road work traffic lights in the Spur and again at the second set of traffic lights (the 2 minute cycle on the lights changing is a real pain). By the third set of road work lights, the group had started to spread out. I was up Greg's exhaust pipe. I have to say doing the Spur every week, even though it is in the car, I know where some of the bad bumps are. Pushing the car till the tyres scream for mercy and bumps that kick the car sideways, it helps me to tackle the Spur on the bike at a better pace.

 

We got to Healesville and stopped to regroup and break up the ride. I said my farewells as I needed to get home and have a cold shower, arriving around 5:30pm having travelled 475.5 kilometres.

 

Special thanks to all who helped, Greg for leading, and Di for being the rear rider. I wish both Ray and Ken a speedy recovery.

 

Martin Hastie (Blackbird CBRXX1100)

 

 

 

 

Some additional reflections at Ray’s crash scene:

 

  1. Thanks to Mick Bosworth for the use of his CDMA phone which offers full mobile coverage anywhere, without which I could not have called 000. Mick and Matt corner marked at the top roundabout for a long time, in the heat.
  2. The vehicle Ray collided with was a Toyota Hilux driven by two women who, most conveniently and very luckily, turned out to be outdoor education teachers from Eildon. Consequently they had a very high level of First Aid and managed the scene skillfully and calmly. Ray was having trouble breathing and they freed up his airway by moving him. This was a particularly distressing time as we thought the worst.  These ladies monitored Ray for a full 40 minutes until the ambulance arrived in very hot and fly infested conditions.
  3. Thanks to Steve Collett, on only his third ride, who quietly and efficiently changed the Hilux’s damaged rear wheel with the spare, thereby making it drivable for them.
  4. The ladies’ boss contacted me through the week asking to be the point of contact for information regarding Ray’s state of health. The ladies were quite traumatized by the incident and were very concerned for his health, wanting to be kept informed of his progress.
  5. The SES requested that Ray’s bike be relocated to a clearing on the other side of the road to reduce the risk of another accident. They then proceeded to dump sandy soil onto the oil slick, a most uninspiring act, setting a trap for the next unsuspecting motorcyclist.
  6. I called Katrina Walker and Louisa from Eildon to inform them of their partners’ situations.
  7. Pete, Liz and I caught up with Ray and Ken at Alexandra Hospital. I don’t think we left until Eildon until about 7 pm, once we had sorted out the retrieval of the bikes.
  8. I ended up with Ray’s phone that had all the family contacts in it.
  9. Thanks to Ron for collecting Ken’s bike. (Ray’s cousin came up from Geelong around 9 pm to collect Ray’s bike, left at the side of the road.)
  10. Thanks to Di Welsford who followed Ray’s progress to the Alfred Hospital, arriving home very late.
  11. Ray was unconscious for the best part of five and a half days - his stay at the Alfred. He was moved to Bethesda (specializing in brain trauma) for the remainder of his recuperation. He may be there until the end of February. Currently he is accepting visitors and is quite lucid but there are short term memory issues. He is using a walking frame.  He expects a full recovery in time. He is bored and frustrated. Go visit him.

 

 

Ben Warden