Coalville MK III Sunday 15^th August 2010

Ben Warden (rear)	Honda CBR954	Cliff Peters (Lead)	Kawasaki ZX12R
Tim Emons	Honda CBR1000	Jason Wilson	Kawasaki ZX9R
Misho/Pina	Honda CBR1000	Geoff Shugg	Suzuki DL650
			6 bikes, 7 people

Thinking to myself on the way to Berwick, “Hmm, I don’t think anyone will turn up today: too cold, too wet, too windy.” Pulling into the servo I catch a glimpse of the bikes: black, white, green, yellow; Geoff, Ben, Cliffy, Jason, Tim. Now add Misho’s blade to make sure green does not rule! Yep, the ride is on…

Off we go the usual way to Moe for morning tea where we ceremoniously pull out tables and chairs from the Subway store on to the footpath with the promise of returning all on departure, just in case the local youth decide to use the furniture for entertainment. Nice coffee too. Misho’s finally worked out what to ask for – Brazilian blend and not too much milk. Bit of blah-blah, then we’re off again.

Geoff departs from here with a knee injury from the past making the ride difficult for him. He made a very smart decision – the day just got wetter and colder for us suckers. Ah well, when we all suffer together it makes it fun, somehow.

Near Hallston, while descending on a rather wet and winding road, Misho feels his bike is not handling well and suspects a puncture. We stop to check and find the rear tyre is flat so it’s off to the nearest petrol station for a quick repair; a chain link clip the culprit. Cliffy administers the obligatory ‘spit test’ which was most useful as it picks up the presence of a second puncture.

All fixed, so off to the Korumburra bakery for lunch. Not much human activity about here, but very noisy with the ‘sunshades’ at the bakery banging incessantly against the supporting poles due to the high wind factor; making it hard to chat and relax.

Time to go. When Cliffy, our wonderful leader for the day, was asked “Where to next?” he replied, very kindly and with a spirit of generosity that “There’s another teabag left if anyone wants”. I think the sound emanating from the crashing ‘sunshades’ distorted the initial query, hence Cliffy’s response. Sorry Cliffy, but this still causes me to giggle to myself whenever I remember this ‘lost in translation’ episode.

We’re back amongst the greenery of Gippsland via many undulating roads, made very atmospheric by the mist filling in the gaps between the hills. The sight of happy cows munching on all the lush grass provided by the incessant winter rain makes me think of creamy milk in abundance.

Many kilometres later, we stop at Loch for the afternoon break. The proprietors of the local coffee shop hurried in to put some hot pies and pasties on, thinking that’s what we might like. We order ice-creams instead! A bit abnormal on such a cold day really but nevertheless, we’re all happy after a fill of south Gippsland full-fat creamy produce, Cliffy licking his lips in a most contented manner.

Final breakup at Longwarry where we humour ourselves by comparing saturation levels of our wet-weather gear. Our gloves are totally soaked and our thermal wear damp from the wicking effect. I felt very sorry for Jason, looking so pale and cold with his Dri-Rider (not!) jacket completely wet and now acting as an evaporative cooler. I think plastification on top of the Dri-Rider, like Cliffy does with his RST gear, may be more effective in this mad weather.

We all bid happy farewells, glad to be heading off home. One hour to go for some, a lot more for Cliffy. An epic winter day’s ride, 600 km door to door. Crazy stuff! We hardly get to do that many kilometres on a sunny Sunday. But then again, it is a ‘Cliffy Ride’.

Pina Garasi