Great Ocean Road via Lavers Hill Sunday 19^th February, 2006

Suzuki GS1200F	Ron Johnston (Leader)	Honda CBR929	Ben Warden
Suzuki GSXR1000	Lyn Duncan	Suzuki GSXR750	Danny Hawker
Suzuki GSXR1000	Cliff Peters	Kawasaki ZX12R	Jason Peters
Suzuki GSXR1000	Mark Rigsby (Rear)	Triumph 955	Ern Reeders
Honda CBR1000RR	Joel Haley		9 bikes, 9 people

I wasn’t sure if I was going to make this ride, the family coming down with the flu and all. After the good turnout on Saturday for the Club’s 50^th Anniversary photo shoot at the “G” I started getting keen to go on Sunday. Apollo Bay to Laver’s Hill is one of my favourite roads, a chance to stretch the GSXR’s legs!

Up early on Sunday. The family look like they could do without me for the day so I’m off to meet the crew at the Westgate. Ern and I are first to show up. Ern is keen to try out his new (2^nd hand) Dunlop rubber. It seems the Pilot Roads were running out of edge on some of the corners! Good turnout with 9 bikes and 9 people. Cliff and Danny had come up for the Saturday photo shoot and would join the ride to Laver’s Hill and then continue home to Portland. Joel was ready to go, the Fireblade just run in and 500 kms of spectacular roads ahead.

I’ve had the GSXR for 3 weeks. What a difference from the VFR – better power, brakes and handling. My riding skills are still developing but the GSXR inspires confidence whereas the VFR was just plain hard work in comparison. Ron gave us a good pre-ride talk. Today was going to be a long day, good weather, good roads, talented riders and hard charging Ron leading. I volunteered for rear rider duties so I would not hold anyone up.

We departed the Westgate at 9:30 heading to our first stop at Moriac via Lara. Once you get down south of Geelong the ride is really enjoyable but the Princes Highway to Geelong must rank as the most boring stretch of road in the country – should be at least 120 kph speed limit. Once out the back of Lara, we all started to open up the throttle on the way down to Moriac for our first stop.

In Moriac, while Lyn had her usual ice cream, I saw Jason was unpacking his toolkit. At the Westgate I had noticed that my GSXR’s handlebars were at different heights so I borrowed a 10mm spanner from Jason and adjusted the handlebars back to the standard setting. While I had set up the bike the week before, I never looked at the handlebar heights – reaffirmed with me that when you buy a second hand bike, take nothing for granted and check everything! When we left Moriac, the new setting felt different for about 3 seconds and then it felt great.

We headed to Deans Marsh and down the Range to Lorne. Danny, Joel and Jason had the odd blast down some of the straits. I saw Joel lift his front wheel on one occasion, Danny on a number of occasions, which is usual. Maybe he could teach me how to do a wheel stand! Not too much traffic and the road surface was good with no gravel or leaf litter. This was my first time down the Range into Lorne. As Joel started to disappear into the distance I picked up my pace, but it was over pretty quickly as we descended into Lorne and lots of traffic.

We fuelled up in Lorne and couldn’t wait to get out of town, the traffic a nightmare. At the fuel stop Lyn had some concerns about her rear tyre. It was pretty shredded in places. After some deliberation she decided to call it quits and head home. We headed down the Great Ocean Road with the usual traffic and road works to contend with. About 5 mins out of Lorne, Lyn flies past me - guess the tyre isn’t so bad after all. This is the Great Ocean Road, after all.

Lyn checked her tyre again at Apollo Bay and decided to push on to Lavers Hill. Apollo Bay to Lavers Hill was fantastic – no Smokies, just fast and smooth. We arrived for lunch at Lavers Hill – the entertainment was watching the unmarked Smokie coming in and out of town. After lunch, Danny and Cliff left us to head home. Ron, Joel and Ben got away from Lavers Hill back to Apollo Bay before the rest of us. Lyn, Jason, Ern and I got caught behind the dreaded black Commodore as we left town. You could feel the tension. Lyn was all over the back of the Commodore like an angry mosquito! Luck was with us but not the Falcon wagon in front of the Smokie. The wagon sped to about +105kph and was immediately pulled over, releasing us to enjoy the run to Apollo Bay.

From Apollo Bay we headed up the twisties through the Range back to Moriac. As usual I was lagging behind up the Range but once over the top started to open the throttle up. Ern and Joel who had stopped to corner mark must have had big knowing grins on their faces as they heard the ?00kph+ Gixxer howling down the strait before coming over the hill before the turn. If it had been a T junction I would have ended up in the middle of a paddock next to the cows!

On to Moriac for a quick stop and then Lara where the crew split up. Thanks Ron for showing us the delights of the Great Ocean Road and the Otways. Great weather, no incidents, no bookings. 565 kms home to home.

Mark “The Roadworker” Rigsby