Thompson Dam Sunday 21^st February, 2010

Paul Simonson (2^nd)	Honda CBR1000	Graeme Tattersall	Yamaha MT-01
Misho Zrakic	Honda CBR1000	Garry Buckland (1^st)	Yamaha MT-01
Chris Tran	Honda CBR1000	Damian Jones	Yamaha R1
Tim Emons	Honda CBR1000	Brett Richards	Yamaha R1
Dave Ward	Honda CBR1000	Peter Jones	Yamaha R1
Els Timmermans (1^st)	Honda VTR1000	Rodney Williams (1^st)	Yamaha FZ6
Ben Warden	Honda CBR954	Pina Garasi	Yamaha R6
Peter Fisher	Honda VFR800	Danny Hawker	Kawasaki ZX10
Dave Williams	Honda CBR600	Cliff Peters	Kawasaki ZX10
Dennis Lindemann (leader)	Honda CBR600	Mark MacDonald (1^st)	Kawasaki ZX7
Ben Fuller	Suzuki GSXR1000	Rob Langer (½ rear)	BMW R1150GS
Rob Jones	Suzuki GSXR1000	Pierre Ong	Ducati 1098
Brien Armstrong	Suzuki GSXR750	Tony Raditsis	Aprilia RSV Mille
Geoff Shugg (½ rear)	Suzuki DL650	Adam Wright	Triumph 675

I have missed out on a few rides due to social commitments and so was looking forward to my ride. I had to go to India, hoping the travel wouldn’t interfere with leading the ride. I organised the flights, planning to arrive back in Melbourne on Friday, jet-lag not quite over by Sunday. But as soon as I was on the bike, tiredness was pushed into the background.

On my way to Berwick I overtook Cliff and Danny on the Monash Freeway and arrived at the servo with already a few guys waiting for their leader. I filled up the bike and waited for my herd to gather – and they came and came and came. I soon started walking/running from one end of the group to the other to make sure I captured everyone’s ICE details. Cliff and Danny arrived 20 minutes later having managed to squeeze a cup of coffee in. I was already wondering if I had waved to some strangers. Four first time riders this time.

I gave my pre-ride speech to my 27 fans with an additional safety reminder from Ben regarding the recent crashes and corner marking issues.

As I took off at the lights in Berwick I had a look in my mirror - 27 bikes following me. Pretty cool.

We rode through Harkaway, then the usual way on to Boundary Road and towards Beaconsfield Upper. Before I came to those few 60km/h corners I was slowed down by a fireman. I saw a police car on the side of the road, but couldn’t really see what had happened. I saw the fireman slowing down the oncoming traffic which I took as a signal to ride on. While I was cruising through the tight blind corners I started feeling my jet-lag coming back and a slight increase in body temperature – which turned into a nice cold and fever Sunday night. Well, at least that gave me some time to write the article while I was sitting at home during the week.

We continued down towards Pakenham Upper and then back up to Gembrook. I was overtaken by a car club while I was waiting for the corner markers. Smiling under my helmet, I took off as soon as both corner markers were in place. Dave Williams was behind me and we went chasing after the cars. I guess I got a bit too excited, according to Dave, but luckily I was already gone by the time the car drivers reached the next intersection. Dave copped a severe head shake. Sorry.

I took the shortcut via Milners Road and then stopping in Powelltown for morning tea. Ben suggested to continue on to Noojee as the Pub would probably struggle catering for 28 people.

In Noojee I soon heard that something had happened to Rodney while he was on Milners Road. Ben mentioned at the last general meeting that Rodney had contacted the club from England as he was planning a bike trip through Australia and wanted to attend one of our rides. He had hired a bike from Garner’s and had our ride as his last trip before heading home. He actually extended the lease for one additional day to ride with us, leaving for home the next day.

There is one downhill right hander which tightens up. He came in a bit too hot, locked up the brakes and parked it. He was okay, but the bike was a write-off. He continued the ride as a pillion with Rob Langer on his BMW after notifying Garners of his accident. They told him to leave the bike where it was and they would organise collection. He was told to see them on Monday to discuss some outstanding payments. $3,000 excess – ouch!

Tim, Brien and Rob were looking after him and were slightly confused not to find any of us in Powelltown because we were now in Noojee. Luckily, they were listening during the briefing and made their way towards Moe, the scheduled lunch stop.

Back in Noojee, Pierre and Peter left us early to refill in Neerim Junction, Noojee having no fuel. Just before we left, the Noojee entertainment came out. A local woman was singing while playing the guitar. Rob Jones and Ben Fuller decided to give her some support and started dancing in front of her. It was quite amusing, but a little too late… It was time for us to leave.

We headed up through Neerim Junction and Neerim South, then left through Crossover and onto the Old Sale Road. Coming into Moe I was looking out for the missing riders. I saw Tim waving while I was passing the bakery and continued on for fuel. At the servo someone told me that Brett Richards on the R1 had crashed on the Old Sale Road. Possibly gravel and too much speed. Fairings were taped up and he retired home for the day.

Tim, Brien Rob and Rodney were sitting in the bakery in Moe and wanted to know what had happened to us. Rob had already guessed that we had changed morning tea to Noojee due to the number of riders. Rodney showed me the pictures of his FZ6 after the crash. The bent forks were quite obvious. He had a few scratches on his arms. According to Rodney, the Kevlar pants wear well in a crash. But I still prefer leathers!

I spoke to Tim noting that two crashes already was a bit concerning as the tough riding was still to come. He said, “Don’t worry, Dennis, that’s the two crashes for the day. We’re fine now!” I spoke to Garry and Els in the bakery who gave me their impressions of the ride so far. It was pretty much: too fast with dangerous overtaking manoeuvres, but overall a good ride.

I announced the five minute warning and then told by Adam that Ben and Tony were still in the queue at Subway. They came out when everyone was ready to take off and Ben told me that they would catch up with us at the dam. And we were off.

It’s a great road to the dam; fast sweepers with nice 60 – 70 km/h corners and tight 30’s just before the dam. I checked my mirror every now and then, but I didn’t see anyone for the whole ride until I stopped at the dam, took my gear off and then saw the first bikes riding over the wall. It was Dave Ward, Danny and Paul, and a bit later, Cliff. Dave said that something must have happened as there were no more bikes coming. Then Garry came down and told us that Misho had crashed in the tight left hander where the traffic island is.

We headed back. A few riders were coming towards us, but soon returned to where Misho had crashed. He was alright – most importantly. He said, he was going after Dave and the other riders and just overcooked it while he was going into the corner. Bike damage included the left handlebar snapped off, a few scratch marks on the left fairing and engine cover as well as a snapped off left foot peg. The left mirror was already taped up. Minor cosmetic! Rideable! You could see the skid marks coming down to the traffic island into the dirt and then stop. The rest isn’t hard to imagine.

Ben Fuller, Rob Jones, Graeme Tattersall and Peter Fisher left us here. According to Rob, “There is no beer here!” Fair enough. They went straight to the pub in Powelltown.

Misho wanted to head back home via the Freeway, instead of leaving the bike somewhere in Moe or Rawson. Pina went with him. He left first and I soon followed, waving as I passed him.

Back to Rawson and then the fast road down to Tyers. I had today’s crashes in the back of my mind while coming out of Rawson, but as soon as the pace quickened that was forgotten. Not a good place to be distracted.

Arriving in Tyers I turned right to Yallourn North and Moe. As I turned into Moe at the roundabout I saw a silver commodore with a policeman sitting in it heading towards the group. I hoped he wasn’t trying to radar anyone coming into town or worse, going to hide somewhere to wait for us.

Fuel for the last time and a few refreshments for the riders. It was hot, hot, and hot.

After a quick break we’re off, back towards the Dam and then a left turn on to the Icy Creek Road. I was looking out for that Commodore, but after a couple of corners I convinced myself he had continued towards Erica.

Chris Tran was behind me until we got into the twisty part. I think coming this way is a lot quicker and easier to ride as you’re not constantly close to where all those tall wooden things are standing. A few 4WDs came my way, but always on a straight. It’s always a surprise when you go down into a corner and a 4WD comes around and it looks twice as big as normal … particularly when they don’t stay on their side of the road!

At the end, I stopped at the T-intersection to regroup and to make sure everyone was alright. Pierre was the first one who appeared out of the woods – his Ducati making a great sound. Everyone through and I was off again to Noojee and then right back to Powelltown. Damian Jones and I had a pretty quick run with me looking out for those Commodores and numerous white 4WDs. I bet they only buy white ones because they think it’s funny when we age by five years every time we see one.

Rob and company were awaiting us with a beer in hand. They told us about an unmarked police car which was going our way. I couldn’t remember seeing a white car coming our way and was now hoping he wasn’t coming back to look for us. He didn’t come back, but that was probably because he had to go somewhere else. A few moments later a couple more riders arrived and told me that another rider had crashed. I couldn’t believe it. We were almost finished. Four crashes!

We couldn’t determine who had crashed as only the colour of the helmet was known. Garry arrived and told us that Danny had crashed pretty hard. The way he described it was very concerning and until Monday morning I didn’t know whether he was alright or not. Luckily he is… sort of.

A few more riders arrived and left. A couple of riders were still with Danny and as we couldn’t really do anything, we headed home as well. Damian, Adam and I were the last ones to go. We went back to Healesville where Adam turned left and Damian and I continued on towards Healesville and Yarra Glen. I guess we both had different ideas of how to get home as I turned left and took the back roads around Lilydale and he probably turned right for Eltham!?

I wish Danny all the best and a speedy recovery, and to the other fallen riders, trouble-free insurance claims.

Thanks to Geoff and Rob Langer for rear riding and everyone else for coming. See you next time.

Stay upright!

Dennis Lindemann