Eildon Monday 5^th April, 2010

Misho Zrakic/Pina Garasi	Honda CBR1000	Geoff Shugg	Suzuki DL650
Ivan Radywonik	KTM 990	Simon Trubiano	Honda CBR929
John Rousseaux/ Kate Stewart (rear)	Honda CBR1000	Rod Merrett	BMW HP2
Ben Warden (leader)	Honda CBR954	Rob Langer	KTM 990 Motard
Ron Johnston	Honda CBF1000		9 bikes, 11 people

This is write-up number two; I lost about a third of the previous one. Gone forever. Computers are horrible things when you don’t know what you are doing. I can’t blame the computer because it only does what you tell it to. Death by misadventure. GRRRR. Now for the story…

This was my second ride in about six weeks; I have sort of been under house arrest for a little while! (not by Julie LOL) The weather was cool in the morning but ended up being 26, despite the average forecast. It was a good turn out of people, considering it was the Monday after Ben lead 16 people the day before on an intense 400 km ride down to the Grand Ridge Road deep into Gippsland. John Rousseaux, Misho and Pina were back for more.

I was surprised to see Simon Trubiano who I last saw about 18 months ago. He used to bring his wife along on club rides, but once you have kids, things change. It was good to catch up.

Rod Merrett was on his BMW HP2 Sports. I am not a BMW fan, but the bike is a head turner, looking smart and a cool colour.

Ben gathered together, after names and numbers were taken, and gave us the run down on the day’s events. John and Kate nominated themselves to go at the rear and so it’s time to move out.

The ride takes us through Christmas Hills. You have to take it easy through here in case the forces of the law are hiding somewhere. We took Alma Road which is very tight and twisty, heading for Panton Hill. It’s up hill and down dale. Ten years ago there were only a handful of houses in here, but now it is being built out.

On through Panton Hill picking up the very tight and twisty St Andrews road, all the while watching out for cyclists. At Kinglake we right turn at the pub past the CFA shed and head for the bush. There are lots of new houses being built after the bush fires and the place is certainly changing shape for the better.

This road has only been sealed in the last two years, so you have to watch for gravel on the odd corner. Nothing like a bit of excitement when you least expect it. We came out at the Melba Highway, a few kilometres short of Glenburn. We pass the vacant block where the pub used to be. In amongst the long grass there is a chair with the publican’s wife’s name on it.

At Devlins Bridge we go back-tracking to Murrindindi. I can’t remember who I followed in, but I gave chase and had a good sprint up the hill.

Some years ago I was riding the Bandit on the same road but coming back on to the Melba Highway at the Yea end. A magpie swooped out of a tree, got to headlight level, then flew horizontally in front of me. Bang! Feathers and shit everywhere. I stopped at the highway and had a look at the bike. The bloody thing had smashed a hole in the head light, about the size of a 50 cent piece. I was surprised to see a hole, because the headlight lens is polycarbonate, supposedly very tough. It must have been a fair impact. I had to buy a new headlight for $500.

On to Yea for the first stop. There were quite a few other motorcyclists out enjoying the day. Simon left the ride here.

After a leisurely break it was back on the bikes. We left Yea taking the highway to Molesworth where we turned into Whanregarwen Road heading for Alexandra. Everybody just cut loose! Grouse!

On through Alexandra and along Skyline Road into Fraser National Park and Eildon. I love this road!

We cross the weir and head a few kilometres out of town before turning left on to the Torbreck River which takes you to Jamieson. This is a good road too, but it has claimed a few scalps over the years. It is a road that takes no prisoners… it is challenging with tightening radius corners, blind corners, often no runoff, and it has a suspect variable surface. As we climb into it, I see they have been doing a lot of road works, shaving banks for better visibility, getting it ready for a higher traffic load when they complete the last 14 km of dirt to Jamieson.

We ride past the bridge for a few kilometres before we hit the gravel, turn around and come back and regroup at the bridge. Rob Langer and Kate stayed back in Eildon, which gave John time to go for a spin one up. He seemed pretty chuffed, but still riding very conservatively.

Back out the 37 km of twisties to Eildon for lunch, but not before getting fuel first. The bakery wanted to shut at 2 o’clock, but judging by the number of people queued up, I think they had a struggle. What were they thinking on a public holiday with lots of holiday makers floating around? The other two eateries were busy as well.

After lunch it was back over Skyline. It doesn’t get much better than this; twice in one day! Yee ha! Back to Alex and on to Yarck. With the amount of holiday traffic around and the promised police presence after the recent sensational Channel 9 footage of speeding motorcyclists on the Black Spur, Ben wisely had a change of route. We would now head for all the good and “safe” roads picking up Gobur, Ruffy, Caveat, Highlands and on to Seymour. At the service station Ben offered for the ride to breakup as it was getting late and he was continuing in a south westerly direction, away from home for some. John, Kate and Geoff left, taking the opportunity of heading home via Broadford and Kinglake West.

The rest of us headed along the Pyalong Road to Glenaroua before veering left to Broadford. At Broadford we crossed the main road where my bike stalled when I went to take off. Bugger.

On to the Broadford Wandong Road, a road we don’t use very often, but it’s smooth and fast. Rising over the freeway on a sweeping right hand down hill run, I spotted a Vic Roads car on a side road. The authority had pulled a few vehicles over and had obviously booked one or two towing trailers and boats.

We did a bit of flying under the radar through Wandong and Heathcote Junction to Wallan where the ride finished. Ivan left here, so that left Misho and Pina, Rob Langer, Ben and I. We sat outside the shop for about half an hour discussing the day’s events, suspension, etc. A drama unfolded on the main highway involving the police, a Falcon driver and probably excessive alcohol consumption. The driver accompanied the police, probably back to the station, for further blood analysis we surmised. Not long after the wife and kids appeared to recover the night’s tea of fish and chips from the front seat of the car. Life goes on.

Thanks to Ben for leading, and John and Kate for rear riding for the majority of the day. We had good weather, good company, and great roads. The official ride length was 400 kms for the day. You should have been there. Until next time.

Ron Johnston