Trentham Sunday 6^th September, 2009

Dave Ward	Honda CBR1000	Cliff Peters	Suzuki GSXR1000
Ian Payne (leader)	Honda CBR1000	Tony Stegmar	Suzuki GSXR1000
Paul Southwell	Honda CBR1000	Geoff Shugg	Suzuki DL650
Chris Tran	Honda CBR1000	Ivan Radywonik	KTM 990 (rear rider)
Ron Johnston	Honda CBF1000	Geoff Jones	Yamaha R1
Ben Warden (part lead)	Honda CBR954	Cameron Stevens	Yamaha FZ6
Dennis Lindemann	Honda CBR600	Pina Garasi	Yamaha R6
Ha Du	Honda CBR600	Viet Nguyen	Kawasaki ZX6
Henry Wright	Triumph 675	Marty Thompson & Tatyana Ostapovich	Kawasaki ZRX1200 18 bikes, 19 people

Part 1. Whittlesea departure. I am impressed by the number of people that have been turning up for the rides lately. Just terrific!

Tony Stegmar was there on a demo GSXR1000 K9. It was pearl white with gold wheels and some after market party pipes made by the bike shop. Different, to say the least, but they didn’t make any difference to the performance, other than producing a loud buzzing noise.

Note new rider, Viet, on the ZX6, Chris Tran’s friend. Henry on his new matt orange Triumph 675; Ron on his Black CBF 1000. Even Marty Thompson put in an appearance with friend Tatyana. I asked Marty what he had done about his brakes: “Bought some decent pads”, he replied. The others had only lasted about 4,000 kms. Everything okay now.

After Ben’s speech it was time to rock and roll and hit the frog and toad. Off we go. Kinglake West: all the frame work was up for the General Store. Things are starting to take shape slowly with new buildings going up here and there.

Flowerdale, then Strath Creek to Broadford, another favourite road of mine, taken cautiously on my new bike. On through Broadford taking the usual road out and then we turned on to some rarely used road: slow and twisty, blind left handers and rises. Nothing like a bit of variety. Pyalong and into Lancefield, the first stop. It was cool and everybody was glad to get off their bike and get something warm inside.

Part 2. Ben, off to the footy, stopped leading now and Ian took over. From Lancefield we continued on to Woodend. We went past the Rochford Winery which covers a few acres. Last time I came past here we were going the other way. Straws Lane: the group starting to spread out a bit. Woodend: we certainly got spread out here by the traffic lights at the Ashbourne Road intersection.

There is this magnificent old house on the left at the lights used as a Bed and Breakfast. The Ashbourne road takes in some nice scenery. We continued on to Trentham East, Spring Hill and round past the Lauriston Reservoir. The reservoir is a mere shadow of itself; not many cups of tea left in it. Last year there were a couple of blokes in a boat netting all the carp and putting them into two large skips. It was on TV and in the papers.

Kyneton was the next stop for lunch. We stopped outside a café and fish and chip shop, using the chairs and tables. Lots of idle gossip and tall tales. Cameron said he was following Viet down a hill and he hit a bump at the bottom and went into a bad tank-slapper. I thought he was going to go down in front of me, but he hung on. Brave man.

Part 3 After leaving Kyneton we back tracked past the Lauriston Reservoir. I noticed the old bluestone buildings at the Kyneton railway station and the water tank for the steam trains sitting on top of the first building. Nice architecture, if you like that sort of thing.

On to Trentham. Geoff Shugg and Ivan left us and went bush. I took over rear rider duties.

Blackwood, Greendale to Ballan. The road through here is not too bad either. Fiskville: the CFA have a training centre here though the houses look as if they are 1950s vintage. Mount Wallace: who can forget this place? This was the spot where we used to have our annual hill climb. We stopped at the top of the hill and reminisced, those that could remember participating. The road has improved marginally. You used to see eagles soaring above the valley. Very impressive.

Ha was trying to get everyone together to take a group photo on a pile of gravel, but everyone was being silly and uncooperative.

Back on the road again, taking it easy down the hill, waiting for the others to catch up.

Coming into Rowsley there was a sea of yellow: acres of canola. It certainly brightens up the landscape, making a change from brown and green.

Coming into Bacchus Marsh, Geoff and Ivan reappeared and joined the cavalcade of bikes. At the top of the cutting on the Western Highway we turned left. It’s a bit awkward when you are on the inside lane passing cars and notice at the last minute that you suddenly have to cross three lanes to do a left hook turn without getting cleaned up.

Travelling down this road you could be in the bush. But there were a lot of houses, big ones at that, and probably on a few acres to boot. On to Toolern Vale and Diggers Rest where the ride ends.

Everybody receives their final card, Ha having the best poker hand. See Ian’s notes below.

There was a lot of discussion about the K9 Tony was riding. Dave Ward went for a spin and someone took Pina on the back. Cameron also went for a spin and a few people tried to convince him he should buy one. But Cameron decided he was safer on the FZ6.

A good day was had by all. No incidents. It was a bit cool but otherwise okay. Maybe we should revisit Mt Wallace one day for old time’s sake. Who knows what the future holds.

Ron Johnston