Simpson MK II Sunday 17^th March 2011

The Club was coming down my way for a ride this weekend and I hadn’t had the Gixxer out of the shed since Jindabyne. So I was pretty keen to participate. The tank was full of juice and the tyre pressures right. I even had an early night (I’m getting old, ya know) in anticipation. I woke up/got up about 0700 and looked out the window only to see the road was soaked as was the garden, paths and lawn. “Pooh”, I said to myself. It’s wet and I think its gunna stay that way all day!

I checked my phone and there was a text from Cliff asking if I was riding today. There was also one from Mark asking roughly the same thing. I replied to both saying I hadn’t made up my mind but I didn’t like the look of the weather. “Don’t worry about the weather”, said one, and “I know what you mean, but I don’t have a choice” said the other. Work out who said what!

Out of pure laziness I decided not to go, but instead to drive the car over to the start line, Moriac, to say, “Hi”, and have a coffee. When I arrived, a few local MSR riders were there, and a few prospective members! I chewed the fat for a bit before the Melbourne crew arrived. I greeted them as well. Then I listened to the pre-ride brief wearing my thongs, shorts and singlet. I knew I’d made the wrong decision. And everyone gave me stick for being a pussy.

I watched them all take off and hopped in my car feeling like I’d just won the local footy club raffle with the first prize being dinner for two at an abattoirs of your choice.

Ph#@ck it, I said to myself. I’ll go get my gear on and go for a ride after all. I decided to ride in the opposite direction and hopefully catch the ride somewhere near Princetown. To cut a long story short, that’s pretty much what happened. In fact, it worked out almost perfectly. My tank of juice had 40 km’s left in it when I got to the coast near Port Campbell and it got me back to Simpson just nicely.

From there the ride was as per Cliff’s route and was a lot of fun. The weather turned out great and it was a nice return to riding after my enforced layoff. For those who don’t know, my wife has been unwell but she’s now fine!

Coffee at Deans Marsh is always fun and telling Pina some of my ‘true stories’ usually gets a laugh. Like this one:

“Just the other day I was in the supermarket and noticed an attractive woman waving at me. She says hello and I was rather taken back because I can't place where I knew her from. So I said, 'Do you know me?' She replied, 'I think you're the father of one of my kids.' Now my mind travels back to the only time I have ever been unfaithful to my wife and I say, 'My God, are you the stripper from my bucks party that I screwed on the pool table with all my mates watching while your friend whipped my butt with wet celery?' She looks into my eyes and says calmly, 'No, I'm your son's teacher.’”

A true story. Honest!

Another great MSR ride. Can’t wait for Dargo.

Billy Simpson