Highlands MK II Sunday 13 July 2008

I had to rug up well today because it would certainly be cold where we were going. I left home at 9 am because I like to give myself about an hour to get to Whittlesea.

I ride to Chirnside Park and Wonga Park where I had some clutch trouble: the bike likes to auto downshift on the hill all by itself. I had to loosen off the clutch cable at the handle bar end and it seemed to be all right for the rest of the day.

Kangaroo Ground, Wattle Glen, centre stand dug into the road around the roundabout- not much ground clearance, Cottles Bridge – you get a few push bike riders through here, so have to be careful. Yan Yean to Whittlesea. I see they have put a new roundabout at the Plenty Road and Arthur’s Creek Road intersection. Whittlesea is going ahead with lots of new houses. It certainly has changed over the last few years.

I arrived at the servo and was surprised to see quite a few people already there. They all must be as silly as each other, riding in this cool weather. There were some new faces including Theo Kalkandis who used to be a member some years ago. He had a Suzuki TL1000 and later a Yamaha R1. If my memory serves me correctly, he had a very nasty accident. (Yep, Licola Road, cartwheel, air ambulance job. …Ed.) That aside, it was good to see him. He was looking well, back riding a RGV250.

Geoff Jones was rear rider till Lancefield. Off we go. The hill up to Kinglake West had a few shiny bits on it. Beware! (slip sliding away) Across the top through Kinglake West to Flowerdale, everyone taking care. Flowerdale to Strath Creek road was better, with the ride starting to spread out. Strath Creek to Broadford is my favourite bit of road, albeit a bit slower on the 400/4, but still fun all the same.

On to Glenaroura, Pyalong and Lancefield. By the time we got there the mercury wasn’t very high - still on the bottom of the gauge. Once off the bikes, it didn’t take long for most of us to find a shop where it was warm and get out of the cold for a little while. A couple of people re-fuelled their bikes; most of us didn’t because we hadn’t travelled that far.

Back on the road again, through Pyalong/Glenoura, I went on to reserve. Not good. I had been pushing the 400 along a bit. We stopped at Seymour opposite the servo. Henry, on the 250, said to Paul “that his bike needed fuel”. Paul asked whether he could go another 30 kms. Henry said he could. I looked at my speedo and thought, if Henry can, I can too.

Off we went again. I kept the speed down to conserve fuel. At Highlands we stopped at the intersection where the school and the CFA are. Randall was having gearbox problems. From memory, he said it was stuck in 4^th gear. They mucked around for a little while and managed to get it to work. I used my Ockey strap to tie his muffler on because the bracket had broken. Someone had used a cable tie early on, but it had broken.

From here I would have been lucky to have travelled a kilometre, when on the down hill run I noticed that I wasn’t getting any throttle response. And then it dawned on me: I was out of fuel. (not happy Jan). I pulled up outside a house where I saw someone on a Honda trail bike and thought I would go and see them and get some fuel. Misho and Pina pulled in just down the road. Nic, who was now rear rider, said he would go and get Misho because he had a length of plastic hose and that he would siphon some fuel out of his bike into mine, which he did. He had filled up in Lancefield. Thanks Nick.

On to Yea to find a servo and fill up. Then I moved to where everyone was parked. I told Paul what had happened and that we should have filled up in Seymour, and that his kilometre reading was out: 30 became 50. I should have known better.

Ken followed Randall home down the highway in case of a breakdown. The rest of us headed for Pleasant Creek Bakery at Kinglake West. It was most enjoyable to get inside somewhere warm and out of the cold weather.

When it was time to leave, Cameron asked who wanted to go to Healesville via Kinglake/Mt Slide/Toolangi/Myers Creek/Chum Creek? Everyone agreed, so off we went. It has been a long time since I have been over Mt Slide. Myers Creek was green with envy in a few places, but otherwise okay.

I got to Healesville and said to Cliff that I was going home from here. When I walked around the back of the bike I noticed the end cap on the muffler was sticking out, so I kicked it in with my foot and continued on my way.

Travelling around the Tarrawarra Estate I went to pass a car and all of a sudden there was a very loud noise. “Shit! What’s happened?” I pulled over and had a look. The guts of the muffler had blown out. I walked up and down both sides of the road but couldn’t find anything, so I just rode it home. It was very loud, even with earplugs in, I can tell you.

So I had a good day, ran out of fuel and the guts of the muffler blew out. Apart from that, it was okay.

Ron Johnston