Alexandra Sunday 1^st October, 2006

Honda CBR954	Breht Emmerson (Leader)	Honda CBR954	Ben Warden
Suzuki GSXR1000	Lyn Duncan	Suzuki GSXR750	Paul Rojo
Suzuki GSXR1000	Mark Rigsby	Yamaha R1	Geoff Jones
Suzuki GSXR1000	Cameron Stevens (Rear)	Honda CBR954	Ern Reeders
Honda CBR929	Simon Trubiano

"Never had he sensed such gigantic power under him, and he felt exalted to the skies. He forgot everything in the mad delirium of speed; tremendous, maddening speed” Bert Wilson’s Twin Cylinder Racer, 1914

Sun shining, beautiful warm Sunday morning as I arrive at Yarra Glen to join the crew to follow Breht up hill and down dale to Alexandra. Notice three new bikes as I pulled in to say hello. Ern has abandoned the Best of British for the Land of the Rising Sun – a yellow and black CBR954. I met Cameron Stevens for the first time. He has got himself a brand new GSXR1000 K6 in Suzuki blue and white. I also met Paul Rojo on a custom GSXR750 with fibreglass fairing and single seat ducktail – very nice.

It was a good turnout with 9 bikes and 9 people. Breht gives us his usual thorough briefing for the ride. I am sure Breht is destined to be a project manager. With his attention to detail he will probably start adding timing to the itinerary and noting the location of dead animal hazards on the road! In particular he warned of the loose gravel at the left hand corner leading up to Mt Pinninger Lookout at Lake Eildon. Cameron elected to go rear rider as the K6 was bought on the previous Tuesday and was still being run in.

After dropping the GSXR on Easter Sunday, my saga with Swann Insurance and the repairer ended in early August with the return of my bike. Since then I have not had any time for a ride other than commuting to work and to Phillip Island to marshal at the Moto GP for three days. I was keen to see if the performance of the GSXR was impacted by the crash. It came through with flying colours.

We headed to Healesville, up Chum Creek and down Myers Creek Roads and then on to the Black Spur which was fast and smooth with little traffic. I managed to get the “chicken stripes” on my rear tyre down to less than 5mm. Pulled into Marysville for morning tea. It was great to see lots of riders out enjoying the day. We saw some great old sports cars driven by equally old men out enjoying the roads.

On to the straights to Buxton and Taggerty, then the sweepers to Thornton and Mt Pinninger. Then up Mt Pinninger offering magnificent views over Lake Eildon for a stop and photos. What was that Breht said about the gravel on the corner leading up to the lookout? I got off my bike at the corner to see if rider and bike were ok. As the 954 was lifted up off the road all I heard Ben say was “I haven’t dropped my bike in 5 years. Bugger”. Damage was minor cosmetic and I am sure Ben will go for another minimum 5 years.

We headed over the dam wall and picked up Skyline Road across to Alexandra for lunch and re-fuel. Then Molesworth, Yea, Flowerdale and Broadford after another 90 km. At Flowerdale Ern, Simon and Lyn peeled off for home. We had an interesting conversation about Mr Plod, speeding fines, confiscation of bikes and jail terms – not related to anyone in the club of course!

From Broadford we headed towards Pyalong and on to Lancefield via High Camp. This was new territory for me. I was impressed by the size of the dead wombat in the middle of the road, not realising they were so big. Good thing it was on a short straight and not on a blind corner! At Romsey Geoff gave us a goodbye wave and headed home to Gisborne.

We then blasted our way to Wallan where Ben left us. On to Whittlesea where the rest of the ride broke up. It was great to see everyone again after my absence and the ride reconfirmed what makes MSTCV such a great club – the people. Thanks to Breht for arranging such great weather and a fantastic 370 km ride, and Cameron for rear riding duties.

Mark Rigsby