Yarram Sunday 5^th December, 2004

Honda CBR929     Ben Warden (lead) Yamaha R1               Caesar Frus (1^st ride)
Honda CBR929     Craig Morley Suzuki GSXR750   Barry Alexander (1^st ride)
Honda CBR954     Paul Southwell Kawasaki ZX12R   Jason Peters
Honda CBR1100XX Peter Feistl (1^st ride) Suzuki GSXR1000 Clifford Peters
Honda VTR1000   Bill Wee Kawasaki ZX12R   Paul Grosser
Honda VFR800     James Melford Harley Buell Nigel Hellyer
Suzuki GF1200 Ron Johnston Honda CBR1100XX Wayne Pope and

Yamaha R6               Joel Haley 15 bikes, 16 people Annette Lawrence (rear)

I knew it was going to be a great day riding on Sunday, the weatherman said 30 deg, and this time I believed him. Barry, an old mate of mine, decided to give the Club a try and turned up at my place dead on 9:30am on his naked GSXR750. It’s been naked since the front fairing came at me at high speed while I was chasing him out the back of Mt Beauty a few weeks ago. He asked what was at Yarram before we headed off; all I could remember was milk trucks and cross winds.

We met the group at Berwick exactly at 10 am, 15 bikes, and headed off for some highway pain not long after. Before too long we were on a nice but rough piece of winding road that led into Korumburra. First obstacle I had to avoid was a milk truck, luckily on the correct side of the road (it was me that wasn’t). Doing corner duty just out of Korumburra, I was surprised to see the cops come round the same corner from the mountains. Guess everyone behind saw them as no one complained and they passed us waiting on the corner with a nod, or maybe it was because one of the guys riding had leathers that looked like the police and kept everyone on their toes.

The road out of town heading to Inverloch was great for cleaning out any cobwebs and had me thinking I was holding good ground on my VFR until Peter on his CBR1100XX passed me like I was standing still. Can you ever have enough CC’s?

Next stop was the Toora Wind Farm, an environmental wonder that powers 6,600 homes from just 12 turbines while preventing the release of 48,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per annum. It has to be a good thing! We posed for a few (cough, cough) photos and admired the views and the chaos caused by 15 bikes all screaming to a halt in a gravel car park.

The next short leg leading to Welshpool had me idling the bike along in 4^th with just enough grunt to pull out of the tight but smooth corners leading into town. Joel, on his R6, just in front, was treating the gear clicker like a yoyo on the same set of twisties – maybe I do have enough cubes after all.

Another stop at Welshpool before heading down the road into Yarram, then onto Traralgon via the Hyland Road, sporting some of the best Victorian bush roads I’ve seen in a while. One last fuel stop before we headed out through Tyres and Yallourn North, covering the same ground travelled the week before. So what was everyone’s excuse for overshooting the right hander between Moe and Buln Buln? It’s probably a good manoeuvre to overshoot when you want to stop quickly and suddenly remember the 8 or so bikes directly behind you, and it certainly put a smile on the face of the woman waiting to do a right hander out of the road we were turning into.

Barry and I left the group soon after to head home via Powelltown to Yarra Junction, followed by Craig who had the same thought. I left Barry at the Junction as he wanted to do a few laps of the Reefton before calling it a day. My day had finished half an hour before, as the last of my energy ran out. All up approx 500 kilometres door to door, huge smiles and another case of monkey bum. Thanks to Ben for leading and Wayne and Annette for keeping the rear.

Toora Wind farm facts and more information can be found at:

http://www.toorawind.com.au/toora_wind_farm_facts.htm

James Melford (Honda VFR800 – Now with added Staintune exhaust muffler)