Reefton Spur Sunday 30th
March, 2008
Guilty by association:
Mick Canny – Kawasaki ZX9R
Marty Thompson –
Bruce Fleming – Kawasaki GPZ900 Ah it's nice...ya should see it! 6 piston
brakes! aftermarket shock! Original
paint and bodywork!
Dave Ward – Honda CBR600
Misho Zrakic –Suzuki GSXR7fiddie and the Ra….err ride leader!
Pina Garasi – Yamaha arsehix and bringing it up the rear too. Thanks once again
Pina!
Wow!
What a fantastic day of motorcycling it turned out to be!
I
rolled into the meeting point just in time for the usual riders
briefing..."Racing is dangerous...blah, blah, blah, what’s the lap record,
etc, etc!" Soon we headed off up to Toolangi and back down to Healesville
via the Chum Creek and Myers Creek Roads. We had a couple of hold ups along
here.
The
first was rescuing a learner who was not on our ride and had tipped it over the
edge. Rider okay, bike ridable. Ben, Ian and Dave retrieved it from the
engulfing bush! Ian exacerbated his sore neck from yesterday’s gardening
excesses.
The
second hold up was a motorcycle cop doing licence, rego and roadworthy checks on
Misho, Pina and Bruce at the
Under
way again we rode around to Yarra Junction and up to Warburton and The Bakery
for a bite to eat. Here, we did something unusual and swapped lies.
After
a rac...err, brisk run... up to the top of Mt Donna Buang and back down, the
run up to the bottom of the Reefton was sedate, with all of us wary of
"The Presence".
We
passed three separate "members" on the Reefton itself alone! The run
up Reefton was still fun. It's a tight road and 100 km/h is fine for 90% of it.
So we just chilled in those other 10% bits! But in the 90% bit, we gave it at
least 70%! It was a great run up with Misho GSXR mounted, the Rex (ZRX …Ed) up it's chuff, closely
followed by "that" well ridden 954! I used 4th gear all
the way up with very little brakes, just using the motor to control the pace!
The
Rex's throttle is like a volume control on a big stereo! What noise would you
like? 100dB? 160dB? 90dB? It doesn't really matter. Just twist the round black
bit to the spot you want and its there! It's a bit of a giggle actually...sitting
on a $1.00, and then you decide you want to make it $1.60...just twist and you are
there! It's almost instant, just like that stereo's volume knob!
The Reefton’s
surface was exceptionally clean and grippy, with the three of us freight-training
our way to the top. We had a bit of a lift in pace through the last section of
fast constant radius turns up at the top, as Misho decided he wanted to attempt
to gap Ben and I. The Rex and the 954 just dialed up a little bit more turn
speed and put the pressure back on Misho! A few corners later, he ran it a tad
wide entering a bowl shaped left hander which tightens on the exit! He managed
to slow it enough on the wrong side of the road to pull it back and make the
turn ever so slowly! One corner later was the T-intersection at the top!
We
stopped at the top to allow a few minutes to catch everyone’s breath and then
we continued up and over to Marysville. The road was again clean and clear,
apart from a couple of patches and the usual shiny leaf litter across the top
after Cambarville.
We
stopped in Marysville at Fraza's Cafe for a bite and refueled at the servo
before heading up to Buxton. Ian and Mick departed the ride here with other
things to do. Just before Buxton our ride leader had to stop and have an
expensive chat. Apparently it was the very same member, who licence checked us
in Healesville!
We then
did the Molesworth Road (I hear you ask, and it's about $40 these days I think!)
and then back down to Yea, across to Junction Hill, down into Flowerdale and up
to Kinglake West for the ride end.
Once
again the same three protagonists engaged in a bit of a derby from Junction
Hill all the way to Kinglake West. This series of easily spent $1.40-$1.60
sweepers is awesome fun! The three of us left the usual territory marking signs
to let the others know where to open the taps.
Four
hundred kilometres door to door and a brilliant day of motorcycling had by all!
Marty
Thompson