Mirboo North Sunday 13^th September, 2009

Paul Southwell	Honda CBR1000	Cliff Peters	Kawasaki ZX10
Tim Emons	Honda CBR1000	Viet Nguyen	Kawasaki ZX6
Dave Ward	Honda CBR1000	Tony Stegmar	Suzuki GSXR1300
Chris Tran	Honda CBR1000	Geoff Shugg	Suzuki DL650
Ben Warden (leader)	Honda CBR954	Cameron Stevens	Yamaha FZ6
Ron Johnston	Honda CBF1000	Pina Garasi (rear)	Yamaha R6
Ha Du	Honda CBR600		13 bikes, 13 people

Apologies to Ben. The dryness of this write up really doesn’t do the ride justice at all, but I’m spent, so bullet points it is.

· Forget what the Club mag or website tells you about this ride—or any other for that matter! The odometer doesn’t lie: 556 kms door to door today. Now that’s bike satisfaction for ya!

· Lots of fun, so many twists, turns, sweepers, loop-de-loops, in, out, up, down, all around, and the most indirect route home possible from Powelltown through the dark Christmas Hills.

· I was very relieved with the cooler temperatures after yesterday’s unexpected heat, and loved the brief downpour during the start of the ride.

· We left Berwick for the Korumburra Bakery through Drouin, via Korumburra-Warragul Road.

· Just outside Drouin, Cliffy and Dave overtook me only to find a red sedan sitting in the middle of the road around a blind corner at a right intersection. Cliffy and Dave braked hard to avoid the car, whilst I braked hard to avoid Cliffy, Dave and the car. Cliffy went round the left of it, and just as Dave went to go round the right, the driver decided to indicate right and moved forward about a metre, but then stopped again. Dave took this moment of hesitation to pass, pausing only momentarily to gesture a “what-the?”, and I quickly followed, only too happy to get away from the deranged driver. A quick inspection in my mirror found her still sitting in the same spot with her indicator still on after we passed her. Mental.

· Choosing to lean in harder than apply the brakes at the last marked 40 km corner sign of the Korumburra Road, I felt a wiggle in the rear tyre and used this as a reminder to take it easy on the leaning on the slippery roads.

· Next stop: Mirboo North Bakery via Korumburra, Arawata with 3 km of dirt road, Leongatha, Dumbalk, Mirboo, Limonite, Boolarra South, Grand Ridge Road until the dirt – back to Boolarra South and Boolarra.

· Three layers of thermals today ensured I didn’t get cold; not that it was that cold to start with anyway.

· I didn’t realise we stopped at so many bakeries, but there you go. It seems we also rode to the Neerim South Bakery via Mardan South, Leongatha, Hallston, Mirboo North, big “S” sweepers through Thorpdale, Trafalgar, Yarragon, Old Sale Road, and Crossover.

· From there, we wove our way through Neerim South, Neerim East, Neerim, and Nayook. The sun was a real killer, blinding us as we wound our way through the sweeping turns and corners to Powelltown for the break up.

· We sat outside the Powelltown cafe debating which direction home would be the most enjoyable, yet least blinding. Pina and I, being the two most geographically dependent riders of the group, decided to follow Ben through Yarra Junction, Healesville, Yarra Glen, Christmas Hills, Kangaroo Ground, Diamond Creek, Greensborough bypass, and the Western Ring Road for home.

· A super day. Outstanding weekend actually, having done yesterday’s winery ride as well.

· Big thanks to Ben for leading, and Pina for hanging back as rear rider.

Ha Du