Mt
Baw Baw
Ron
Johnston (leader) |
Honda
CBF1000 |
Chris
Pointon |
Suzuki
GSXR1000 |
|
Paul
Southwell |
Honda
CBR1000 |
Roman
Biaroza (3rd ride) |
|
|
Chris
Tran |
Honda
CBR1000 |
Phill
Hotschilt |
Suzuki
Hayabusa |
|
Jean
Eldridge |
Honda
CBR1000 |
Rick
Van (2nd ride) |
Yamaha
YZF600 |
|
Rod
Merrett |
BMW
HP2 |
Raj
Malhotra |
Yamaha
FZ1 |
|
Henry
Wright |
Triumph
675 |
Willem
Vandeveld (rear) |
Honda
ST1300 |
|
|
|
|||
Julie and I had been in NZ for
the last week for my mum’s funeral. We stayed overnight with friends in
Wellington near the airport but did not get much sleep because you have to be
at the airport two hours before the 6 am flight to Sydney. And with NZ being two hours ahead, the lack
of sleep and different time zone really mucks up your system up. Next day I
rose early enough but still ended up dragging the chain to get to Yarra Glen on
time.
I was grateful for Paul Southwell
getting all the In Case of Emergency
details for me. I gave the usual spiel about where we were going, food and fuel
stops. I was a little uncertain, but it all worked out in the end.
From Yarra Glen we took the back
road to Healesville and on to the Healesville Koo Wee Rup Road. Just past the
Rail Trail we turned left into Allsops Road, crossed the highway, right into
Wickham’s and then Milners Road (Hoddles Creek) to the back of Yarra Junction.
Let the fun begin… Gladysdale, Three Bridges, Powelltown, Nayook to Neerim
Junction, our first stop. Brilliant! We had a long wait, but everything was
okay. Paul spoke to Roman and suggested that it was in his best interests not
to proceed on the rest of the ride because it was not suitable for first time
or inexperienced riders. He accepted the advice and departed.
After the break, I lead the
unwilling(?) in to the unknown. At the top of the Neerim Junction hill I lead
the troops down that goat track into the back of Noojee. Let even more fun
begin… Noojee to Icy Creek: dial it on; don’t spare the horses.
At the Icy Creek intersection
there were about a dozen Hardly Dangerous riders waiting to go up Mt Baw Baw. As I went past, I thought the other MSR riders
would get caught up amongst them. For
the first few kilometres you had to take it easy because of leaf litter on the
road, then let all hell break loose. After Tanjil Bren, Chris Pointon was in my
mirror. I kept my hand on the brakes to indicate to slow down because of all
the gravel and mud across the road.
I continued on up to the summit. The
old toll booth is now gone; it’s just a patch of bitumen.
At the top I waited for the
others. After four or five bikes had arrived, someone mentioned that Chris had
had a spill. I asked if it was where all the gravel and mud was across the
road. “Yes”, was the answer. Chris said later that when Rod had come around the
outside, he had taken his eyes off the road for a split second and run off into
a ditch at low speed. He had broken the right front indicator, cracked the
fairing, scratched the pipe, and muddied the foot peg.
There was a young lady from the
Resort operating a six wheeler motor bike. It was hot enough for the sun to
melt the bitumen in the carpark.
I took some group photos before
we rode back down the mountain, dodging a handful of pushbike riders. Between
Icy Creek and Noojee, on the steep downhill section, Phil caught up and passed
me. I didn’t get to pass him again until we caught up with the same Hardly
Dangerous riders, the main group stopped at the pub. That got them out of our
hair.
On to Neerim South where we had
our last stop before Longwarry North finish. After about 15 mins and still no
rear rider I suggested that “someone must have crashed”. But then Phil and Rod
arrived and said that a couple of riders had inadvertently taken the Powelltown
Yarra Junction Road. It was too late to give chase, so Phil and Rod continued
on to Neerim South. While we were there, Rob Jones and Bart arrived. They had
been to Licola (spotted by the returning
Dargo group earlier in the day …Ed.) and stayed for 10-15 minutes before
disappearing in the opposite direction.
Just as we were about to leave,
Rick on the YZF600 turned up. He said Willem had headed home. Rick had taken
the wrong turn because there was a biker on the corner, who he thought was one
of us. Realising his error, he found his way back to the group.
From Neerim South we continued on
through Jindivick, Labertouche and Longwarry North where the ride finished. The
ride covered 273 kilometres with good weather, good company, and only one minor
incident. Thanks to everybody who attended.
Ron
Johnston
Mt
Baw Baw MK II Sunday 5th
December, 2010
I've been asked to scribble a few
words about the ride due to being the first one to ''stuff up''... see later. I
usually do the same as everyone else at the mention of a write up... find
something more interesting on the ground to look at!
Despite most of the hardcore
contingent away on the Dargo ride, we still had a healthy turnout of 12 riders.
The weather was blue skies and looking promising for the blast up to Mt Baw
Baw. Ron was our crusading leader for the day and after formalities were over,
we were off.
We left Yarra Glen heading for Powelltown. Then on to Neerim Junction for morning tea. The scones with jam and cream went down very well at the antique store rounded off with a cup of char...yum!
I've done this ride a couple of times before and note it seems to have a cult following of some riders you don't see on other rides.
The five minute warning goes up and we're on our way again.
With the recent stormy weather I was expecting a lot of branches and maybe the odd tree uprooted on the roads, but surprisingly it was no worse than usual.
The run up to Baw Baw was going well at a nice pace. I had Paul Southwell behind, obviously taking it easy. Maybe paying him too much attention, I ran wide on a right hander. I planted the gixxer in the soft stuff resulting in a broken blinker and a few more battle scars. Soon we're up and running again.
Made it to the top and all decided that a feed in Neerim South was the go as Baw Baw is notoriously a long wait for food.
A few riders decided to head home at Noojee so the remaining went on to Neerim South and made for the bakery. Bellies full, the last leg was the run to Longwarry North to breakup at the servo.
Thanks to all who rode especially Ronny for leading and Willem for the rear riding duties. The ride length was 320km for the day.
Chris
Pointon