Strathbogie Ranges III Sunday 9^th August 2009

Willen Vandeveld	Honda ST1300	Marty Thompson	Kawasaki ZRX1200
Misho Zrakic	Honda CBR1000	Clifford Peters	Kawasaki ZX10
Tim Emons	Honda CBR1000	Fred Menz	Kawasaki ZX9
Ian Payne (rear)	Honda CBR1000	Tony Stegmar	Suzuki GSXR1300
Paul Southwell	Honda CBR1000	Danny Hawker	Suzuki GSXR1000
Dave Ward	Honda CBR1000	Rob Jones	Suzuki GSXR1000
Ben Warden	Honda CBR954	Chris Pointon	Suzuki GSXR1000
Ern Reeders	Honda CBR954	Trevor Harris	Yamaha YZF1000
Ron Johnston	Honda VFR800	Damian Jones (2^nd ride)	Yamaha R1
Peter Fisher	Honda VFR800	Geoff Jones	Yamaha R1
Ha Du	Honda CBR600	Brett Richards (1^st ride)	Yamaha R1
Damien Denny	Honda CBR600 Hornet	Pina Garasi	Yamaha R6
Ivan Radywonik	KTM 990	Robert Langer (leader)	BMW R1150GS
Tony Raditsis	Aprilia Mille		27 bikes, 27 people

27 riders—what a fabulous turn out! Obviously good riding weather.

The editor keeps telling me, “just write about your feelings”. I think I may be running out of them. There’s only so many ‘feelings’ you can come up with every month.

Here’s a bit of trivia for you guys passed on from a Healesville local who heard us roaring up Myers Creek Road. In 1863, 40 Aborigines of the Kulin Nation were relocated from Gippsland, and were marched on foot to Coranderrk across the Great Dividing Range just outside of Healesville. This area outside of Healesville acquired the name, the blacks’ spur.

Speaking of the Black Spur, what a lovely way to warm up into the ride. Putting into practice some of the manoeuvres I’d picked up from Ben the previous two Sundays as pillion, I was loving every smooth corner and turn, maintaining consistency through the consecutive corners, and rarely touching the brakes. It just warms the cockles of your heart when everything falls into place. J Yes, I was in Happy Land.

Still on our way to Eildon, the group had separated into two packs. I managed to get away from the second group and eventually spotted Paul, who was taking it easy at the back of the first group. Even Paul was feeling my happiness as he gave me a thumbs up from up front. YEAH BABY!!!

After morning tea in Eildon, we hit the road again to Fraser National Park, and then came the unmarked roads. I knew better than to maintain the same speeds as I was doing on the marked roads we’d just been through. It was one thing to push yourself within your own capabilities, but it was also important to remember that the regular crew have considerably more familiarity with the roads and so many more years worth of riding experience to better handle the roads and any potential and unexpected hazards. I slowed down—actually, fear of death didn’t really leave me with a choice, and watched as each rider flew past, smiling at the thought of how much fun everyone was having. My handling of the unmarked roads still needs quite a bit of work, but all in good time. J

As I came around the corner just before the T intersection on Goubra Road, I saw Damian jumping to his feet while his bike lay in the bushes. From what I saw in those brief seconds, Damian handled the incident like a real trooper, all pumped up and eager as anything to get back onto the bike again. We found out later, unfortunately for Damien, that the bike had to go home due to cosmetic damage to the Hornet.

After lunch at Euroa, Marty discovered he had no front brake pads, so Marty bid his farewells. The rest of us kept going to Ruffy, Caveat, Highlands and Yea. I’m sure it wasn’t just my imagination that the pace picked up considerably towards the end as we headed for King Lake West. Far out!

Rob, I loved this ride! Thanks for leading it! Ian, thanks for being rear rider, it was a really nice change to share a whole day’s ride with you. J

Ha Du