Terip Terip Sunday 12^th September 2010

Tim Emons	Honda CBR1000	Ha Du	Honda CBR600
Ian Payne 1/3 rear	Honda CBR1000	Cliff Peters	Kawasaki ZX12R
Misho Zrakic	Honda CBR1000	Marty Thompson	Kawasaki ZRX1200
Paul Southwell	Honda CBR1000	Ben Fuller (2/3 rear)	Suzuki GSXR1000
Ron Johnston	Honda CBF1000	Chris Pointon	Suzuki GSXR1000
Craig Morley	Honda VTR1000	Geoff Shugg	Suzuki DL650
John Willis	Honda XL1000	Pierre Ong	Ducati 1098
Ben Warden	Honda CBR954	Tony Raditsis	Aprilia RSV1000
Pina Garasi	Honda CBR600	Peter Fisher	BMW 1000RR

I decided to pick this trip for my monthly ride, plus it looked like the weather was going to be pretty good. The trouble with riding once a month is you don't get around to the regular maintenance stuff like chain lube and adjustment, tyre pressure checks, wash etc because you reckon there's plenty of time left before the next ride.

Anyway, there I am riding to Yarra Glen wondering if the tyre pressures are OK and if the chain needs an adjustment. Just outside the gates to the Lilydale Airfield, the long arm of the law had set up a breath testing roadblock. Seemed to me that they let a few cars slip through so they could get to my bike quicker. I quickly added up how many drinks I had with last night's pizza (one). Mr Plod takes a long slow look at the machine, then slow look at me, then long slow look back at the machine. No worries.

Quite a good crowd was already there as I made a quick round of hellos before I started drooling over Peter's BMW 1000RR. I'll have a chat with him later to see what he reckons. It's my current dream bike but I'll probably have to wait a few years before it comes into my price range.

Ha Du grabs my arm and drags me over to show me the poor state of my rear tyre. I agreed that the rear tyre of the VTR1000 looked pretty slick so it's a good thing it wasn't my bike!

Ron gives us the rundown of the route which was going to be pretty interesting apart from the 3,000 odd pushbikes we were going to share the road from St Andrews to Kinglake and beyond.

The early stages through Christmas Hills and Rob Roy are good fun. I've done the Rob Roy hillclimb in my old Alfa back in the '90s and it's a blast. Bit short, like a long backward "S". Up a slight hill, right hand sweeper then down over a narrow bridge with guard rails. Don't get it sideways as the car is not much longer than the distance between the rails. Get it wrong and you can bounce between the two. Not good. The toughest bit is when you reach the end of the bridge, the left hander is steep and it almost looks like you’re going to hit a wall. Remind the brain to tell the right foot not to lift off but you still chicken out. Not much runoff past the finishing line either, so it is also tough keeping the boot buried right up until the end. Hard little run but good fun.

When we hit the main road at St Andrews, we're met with an endless stream of brightly coloured riders non-stop along the twisty run to Kinglake. It would have to be the slowest ride ever through here but we're kept right on our toes overtaking cars as they overtake pushies. Good fun.

Ron stops at Kinglake to regroup which is a good idea, then onto the Glenburn Road. The signs of the fires are starting to fade but I notice quite a few 'For Sale' signs. On to the Melba Highway and the pushies are back. We're using the same road until Break O'Day but as there's hardly any oncoming traffic, I spent 90% of the time on the other side of the road. I was trying to imagine what it was like riding a bike on the right-hand side of the road. It just felt weird.

Junction Hill. Now we can let rip and I pass Pina and then Ha as we drop over the top and I wrap myself around the tank of the RSV. It’s times like these that I can appreciate the perfect relationship of seat, pegs and handlebars of the Aprilia. Even the shape of the tank allows the arms to fit in, making you feel one with the machine. Those Aprilia guys know about bikes!

First stop Yea and there's a buzz as everyone's really enjoyed the first stage. I disagreed with Ron about the number of pushbikes as I thought I'd counted more than 3,000. Had a chat with Ben about riding on the right hand side and how weird it felt and he mentioned a trip to the UK where they went back and forward to Europe. Does your head in. Tim talked about a trip where they toured Europe in a right hand drive van. Behind a truck you can't see anything so he'd pull over far enough for the passenger to see whether it was safe to overtake then give the go-ahead. His missus wasn't too keen on that method!

Back up the road to Highlands and Caveat. There’s a little sprinkle of rain and it’s getting a touch cool but then what do you expect up on the plateau? The run down the twisties is always good and the cruise at $1.70 into Yarck is ace.

I'm second behind Ron as we turn off just before Molesworth heading for Alexandra. I don't mind this road at all and you can let rip, but I'm nowhere as quick as Ron, or Cliff as he sails past with Chris on his tail.

Through Alexandra and onto Skyline Road. Fantastic! Just before the roundabout Chris passes me again but this time cuts a corner without seeing the silver Honda approaching - which I can. I start braking, expecting a disaster but fortunately the car is travelling slowly and manages to stop as Chris picks it up and saves it before hitting the gravel on the outside of the corner. Phew, that was close. Would have spoilt the good crash stats of late.

We descend on the servo in Eildon and I'm last to leave, waiting for the EFTPOS line to re-establish so my credit card payment can go through. During lunch I quickly adjust the chain and take out a little of the slack.

With the bridge down at Thornton due to the recent floods, the decision is made to retrace our steps back to Alexandra via Skyline Road again. We stop at the lookout for a photo and check out the rapidly rising water level in the lake.

In Alexandra we turn left and take the back road to Acheron and Buxton detouring via Marysville before the finale through the Black Spur. It's just not the same anymore. The no overtaking over the single line means you really take a risk with heavy traffic. I decide to pull my head in after Fernshaw which means grinding my way to Healesville. Turns out to be a dud decision as I'm told by everyone else that once through the traffic it was a clear run. Doh!

It was an enjoyable day. No dramas with everyone home safe and sound. Thanks Ron.

Tony Raditsis