Inverloch Sunday 13^th March 2011

Joe Klopfer	ZRX1200S	Jason Wilson	Kawasaki ZX9
Tony Stegmar	Honda CBR1000	Justin Eagle	Aprilia RSV4
Chris Pointon	Suzuki GSXR1000	Brett Chambers	KTM RC8
Raman Biaroza	Kawasaki GPx250	Willem Vandeveld (rear)	Honda ST1300
Jason Duff	BMW S1000RR	John Rousseaux (leader)	Honda CBR1000

I haven’t done much leading for MSR, this being my second attempt at the same run. The night before I had refreshed myself, via our web page, on all the things a Leader needs to do for a successful ride. Very helpful.

So, it’s 10am at Berwick and we had a crew of ten riders gather for the pre-ride talk. I had made a point form list of the things a successful leader might consider and started talking. I may need practice at public speaking. Even with a list in my hand, I felt it difficult to be structured and confident in what I was saying. Ken Goederee had turned up prior to show off his new beaut ute trailer and stood beside me, helping guide me through the main points. Thanks Ken.

I took the time to check over the bikes to ensure they made muster, and would like to point out we had fine machines in good working order. What did miss my eye initially was the poor calibre of safety gear a couple of riders were wearing: sneakers and jeans of some description! I know this is not acceptable within the Club policy. Perhaps I should have asked the two riders to leave the ride with an explanation. I was gutless and turned a blind eye. In future, please take your safety seriously. Or suffer an embarrassment, (from another leader asking you to leave) or injury in the worst case scenario. [According to the Road Rules, Section 16a states “The wearing of sandals, thongs or other open-toed shoes is strictly prohibited when travelling on association rides.” That’s all. …Ed.]

That said, the ride embarked. Planning had me thrash the run out in the RX8 a week prior, and we came across 16 kilometres of dirt on the Loch Wonthaggi road due to resurfacing. The route was thus changed slightly to become Berwick, Tynong, Longwarry, Drouin, Strzeleckie, Ranceby, Poowong and Loch. This saw us at morning tea. All good, especially the weather. Finally I remembered to give the rear rider (Willem Vanderveld) the list of ICE numbers. Hmm. Practice.

The second leg: Loch, Moyarra, Kongwak, Glen Alvie, Archies Creek, and the desalination plant. We managed to get right into the desalination carpark for a group photo. We didn’t see that much, but we were there. Then we cruised past the wind turbines, through Wonthaggi and along the coastal road for some fish’n’chips at Inverloch.

We had a pleasant break. The fish’n’chips were not bad either considering I had a Chicko Roll, two dim sims and a Gatorade to wash them down. After lunch, we packed up camp and headed for fuel and then exited the town, heading straight for the Korumburra Wonthaggi road. The route consisted of Inverloch, Jumbunna, Korumburra, Ranceby, Strzeleckie, Lardner, Drouin and Longwarry.

I like this set of roads. They offered plenty of grip so I laid down a good pace. Maybe a little too good. I sat waiting at the Warragul roundabout for a fair while - long enough for my mind to consider something was up. Then the first rider arrived, the second rider took a few minutes after that. In hindsight, I should have waited for the group to re-form,because there were a lot of corners filtering our way around Lardner and Drouin, and with only 10 riders, I found myself waiting quite a long time at each corner. One corner was cool because there was a motor show on, and I could hear and see the results of a burnout competition. Some of those enthusiasts’ take motoring to an almost intellectual level. I imagined a whole gang of them thumping the ground with a club.

Well, we all made it through Drouin and Longwarry to stop at the “Southern” Longwarry North BP petrol station where I proclaimed the end of the ride. I mentioned to everyone not to get confused with our usual stop because this fuel stop is the mirror image of the one on the other side of the road, I mean, the exact copy. The lady behind the counter said the only differences were the pictures on the back wall of the shop.

North-west of us was an impending storm and so just before we all headed off home, the rain belted down. But it was warm. Brett Chambers shot off and headed east! Between five and ten minutes later you could hear the big V-Twin make its way back west along the highway, to our laughter. Wet weather gear fitted, the rest of us headed home.

Thanks Willem for the rear riding duties. It was good to see Tony Stegmar back on-board. I hope a good day was had by all.

John Rousseaux