Orbost via
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Honda CBR1000 |
Paul Southwell |
Suzuki GSXR1000 |
Danny Hasnat |
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Honda CBR929 |
Ben Warden (leader) |
Suzuki GSXR750 |
Danny Hawker |
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Honda CBR1100XX |
Peter Feistl (rear) |
Suzuki GSXR600 |
Dave Ward |
|
Yamaha TRX850 |
Tony Raditsis |
Suzuki GSXR1000 |
Cliff Peters |
|
Suzuki Bandit |
Rob Johnston |
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Two firsts for
me. First overnight ride with the club
and first write up. I had a leave pass
for the weekend and was looking forward to trying out the suspension
modifications to the TRX. After working
out how long I thought it would take me to get to the starting point at Yarck,
I left home at 7:45 with the weather report showing a likely wet weekend. Steady run out to Healesville to fuel up and
then onto the Black Spur on a quiet Saturday morning. It only took a few corners to realise that
the suspension improvements had made the bike a breeze to ride through the
twists as it steered better and held it’s line with ease. Fantastic!
Terrorised a few cars through the lower section of the Black Spur (or
Black’s Spur to give it’s proper name).
After Fernshaw the road turned damp followed by rain so at the spring I
stopped to put pull on the wet weathers which stayed on for most of the
day.
When I got a
distance sign to Alexandra I started to wonder whether I would reach Yarck on
time so I upped the pace and arrived with a few minutes to spare, pulling up
behind Peter on the Blackbird. It was to
be a Suzuki dominated ride with Ron, Cliff, Dave, Danny & Danny on S’s plus
Ben, Peter and Paul on their Hondas and myself on the lone Yamaha.
We headed off
for our first fuel stop at Whitfield with a steady and boring run to
After Tolmie we
hit heavy fog which cooled the pace until we slipped into Whitfield for our
first refuel. While taking a breather, a
NSW plated ute pulled in with a slightly second hand R1 under a tarp in the
back. The owner with his arm in a sling,
greeted us with the usual ‘how-u-going’ to which we replied ‘better than you by
the looks of it’ while the wife who was driving went to pay. He had dumped it on the first tight left out
of Whitefield and had broken a few bones and punctured a lung. His missus looked like she was going to break
a few more when she got him back home to Nowra.
Steady pace to
lunch at Myrtleford and then while a few topped up at Harrietville, I followed
Ben up the wet road to our next stop at Dinner Plain. It was an easy pace as Ben decided it was too
early in the day for anything serious on the cold, wet and slippery road. I was a short distance but when we hit heavy
mist he disappeared and I stayed in 1st or 2nd trying to
keep the orange poles on my left and large trucks and other traffic on my
right. Cliff was lucky he didn’t
disappear never to be seen again when the road suddenly turned right while he
tried to wipe his visor.
Shortly after a
corner where I came to a complete stop to figure out whether to turn right or
left, out of the mist loomed the frantic waving figure of our fearless leader
who had stopped at the car park just before Hotham to regroup the team. We couldn’t see anyone coming but could
easily hear them get closer as we waved them down. General discussions about the nil visibility
followed.
After a morning
tea break at Dinner Plain, things got a bit more interesting on the now drying
and clear roads. I was following a
little behind the group who had disappeared ahead and a few k’s down the road I
rounded a bend only to be waved down by Mr Plod who had all of us lined
up. Ben was looking a bit sheepish but
it turns out he and the senior constable exchanged eye contact mid corner and
so he decided
to make Ben’s
acquaintance and at the same time do a bulk licence check. Probably means an early knock-off for lunch
for the senior constable. Our rear rider
meanwhile quietly sailed past lamenting the loss of an outstanding photo
opportunity.
Refuel at Omeo
and we head southeast and at last everyone lets loose as the road is dry and
the weather perfect. I try to stay ahead
of the those GSXR’s but it’s no use as the headlights eventually appear in the
mirrors and Dave howls past with Danny glued to his exhaust. I eventually come up on Ron who is riding the
big Suzuki fast and smooth and after listening to his exhaust realise I can get
on the throttle just a little earlier but although I can stick my nose beside
his exhaust, just don’t have the grunt to get past. I’m not keen to try an out braking manoeuvre
on Ron as it’s my first ride with R1 calipers fitted and I don’t like the feel
from the new pads. I harass Ron for
awhile and he eventually lets me pass for the final run into Bruthen where we
fuel up for the last time for the day.
There’s a bit of a discussion about turning around and going back to
Omeo but Ben stands firm so we turn to Orbost for our overnight stay at the
Pub. Rain put paid to Ben’s concession
to go via Buchan and we head straight to Orbost and a well deserved hot shower
after a long and enjoyable day.
We were lucky
to have our meal in a separate room where the discussion was along the lines of
first bike, second bike, funniest crash etc.
Bens tiger snake crash was pretty good but I thought Peter’s was a
little bit more special. In order to prove
that his off road excursion was due to the road condition and not rider error,
he decided to run a scientific experiment and recreate it. After he successfully ran off the road at the
same corner a second time ending up precisely next to the same bit of barb wire
fence, he decided it was due to rider stupidity!
Next morning, after
breakfast at a café on the quiet main street in Orbost we saddle up and head
for Dargo via the Buchan road. The road
is tight and twisty but as it’s narrow, only two GSXR’s get past! Quick breather at Buchan as a few of the boys
admire an old valiant in a shed opposite.
Back to Bruthen for a refuel. Dargo
is next and Ben tells us he is going to bypass Bairnsdale as he wants to try
out a new road. It’s a good move as the
roads here are terrific as they curve up and down amongst the outskirts of Bairnsdale. We continue towards the Dargo road via Calulu
and Iguana Creek on some very interesting roads involving quite a few
intersections. Plenty of corner marking
means I lose count of the number of times I am passed by those GSXR’s. The upside is I don’t need to corner mark too
often.
We finally hit
the Dargo road and with the dry weather, it’s on for young and old. I lock onto the tail of Paul’s CBR as we
snake up the early section of the
Lunch at Dargo
and Peter mentions that the Dargo road is his favourite. Ben has been keeping an eye on Ron’s front
tyre and after the long fast run decides that Peter relinquishes his rear rider
duties to Ron. This suits Peter and
after a short run to the end of the tar past Dargo, we turn back and I don’t
see him again as he takes off back down his favourite piece off road. A couple of GSXR’s go past as I
unsuccessfully duck the flying gravel!
Ben informs us
he will get us back to
The final run
through the usual the back roads via Crossover and Jindivick brings us to the
finish at Longwarry after two days of sensational riding on some of the best
roads in
Tony
Raditsis