Euroa MK II Sunday 5^th June 2011

Damir Djikic (leader)	Honda CBR1000	Tom Bartus (1^st ride)	Kawasaki ZX1000
Misho Zrakic	Honda CBR1000	John Willis/Lou Tickner	Kawasaki ZX1000
Tony Stegmar	Honda CBR1000	Mark Copeland	Kawasaki ZX10
Paul Southwell	Honda CBR1000	Jason Wilson	Kawasaki ZX9
Ron Johnston	Honda CBF1000	Pierre Ong	Ducati 1098 S
Colin Lacey (2^nd ride)	Honda VTR1000	Marc Marais	Triumph 675
Ben Warden	Honda CBR954	Gavin Chapman (1^st ride)	Triumph 600
Pina Garasi	Honda CBR600	Cindy Lee	Suzuki GSXR750
Raj Malhotra	Yamaha FZ1	Rod Merrett	BMW S1000RR
Geoff Jones (rear rider)	Yamaha R1		19 bikes, 20 people

Hooray! It’s Sunday - a clear day with dry roads to be enjoyed!

I stopped to pick up Raj who lives nearby, then we headed off together for the Whittlesea meet point. Steve had managed a quick repair of Raj’s radiator, so although mildly hung-over, he was up for a blast.

I asked Raj if he was right for fuel and he gave me the thumbs up. After a few calculations I worked out (or rather, imagined) that I had at least 70km of fuel in my tank. So, we bypassed the servo and raced straight for the freeway.

And then… my fuel light came on at the junction of Citylink and Western Ring Road. Cursing, I argued silently with myself about the most appropriate course of action. Eventually, after convincing myself not to risk a run to the Shell at the Hume Donnybrook exit, a light switched on (*ping!*), and I took the Coopers St Epping exit for a BP service station 200 metres from the freeway. The added benefit with stopping was that I could put on a pair of inner liners for my gloves. It was cooooold!

We made it to Whittlesea with not much time to chat. A brief exchange with Geoff, comparing degloving stories, and a quick catwalk spin to show off my winter pants - a second-hand second-hand acquisition thanks to Pina.

And then we were off! Up the fun and fast sweepers out of Whittlesea and through Kinglake West. I was enjoying the pace as we sped downhill towards Flowerdale, trying to ignore the niggling images of red speeding tickets tickets floating around in my head. The red speeding tickets vanished when I felt a soft tap on the back of my hip and my mind quickly became occupied with trying to make sense of what had happened? A quick feel behind informed me that my cowl (that throne I’d spent two painful hours sitting on last Sunday) had come off. Is it possible for me to have an incident free ride?

I slowed down to ponder my next move. What to do? Turn back? Go forward? Move ahead? Tony Stegmar passed and I dropped those thoughts and gave chase. I stopped at Flowerdale where Ron and Rod were corner marking. I mourned the loss of my tasty salami sandwiches that had come free from their wrapping and lined the inside of the storage space with casalingo salami, lettuce and soggy cheese.

Rod helpfully began taping up the opening when Ben and Geoff our rear rider arrived. I was animatedly explaining my story to Ben when I noticed my ducktail ocky-strapped to his bag! It had flown off into the bushes and was recovered by some dirt bike riders who very kindly hailed down and handed over their catch to Ben. What luck! It was lucky that the stupid thing didn’t hit and injure anyone.

500 words and I’m only 35km into this ride … I have to speed it up!

Arrived in Yea and new guy Tom has gone missing, eventually showing up as we were about to leave. He had mistakenly assumed Ben was the rear rider. He saw Jason take off and Geoff pass and patiently waited at the Goulburn Valley Highway corner for Ben who was already at Yea.

I noticed John Willis and Lou at Yea, Lou in her new leathers! She’s gonna have to get her licence and a bike now.

Heading towards Highlands Road (I think) I was alarmed to see Tom miss a right turn and head straight into the gravel. Luckily he kept the bike upright and came to a stop before taking off again. Later, we were travelling through some great twisties I’d never been on before when I saw Tom miss a left turn. He ended up in the dirt but again managed to keep it upright.

Damir had a flat tyre and it was all hands on deck working on the bike. Misho took off in search of Mark Copeland to borrow his electric air compressor. Tony conscientiously documented the incident with his fancy camera and a few spectators provided commentary on and off topic. Tom’s near misses were also discussed and the decision was made that his tyre pressure would be checked at the next stop.

Five bottles of CO2 and 30 psi later, we set off again to Euroa where Mark rejoined us. He had been down to Merton and back looking for us.

Lunch was really enjoyable, not so much for the bakery fare or coffee, but certainly for the company. There was lots of talking and guffawing, including lessons about the finer aspects of printing colour matching by Geoff, a comparison of waterproof-riding-gear, and a description of its failures and consequences by Jason, an emotional diatribe against tripe by Pina, a demonstration of the challenges associated with breaking-in brand new leathers by Lou, and much more.

The pressure in Tom’s tyres was tested at the lunch stop and was adjusted from 45 rear/42 front to 36/35 before commencing our last leg.

As we turned off the Goulburn Highway towards Kinglake West, I was tired and over it. But that fast (although brief) twisty climb up Junction Hill towards Flowerdale was enough to revive me.

Finally! After 900 words - The end! We made it to Kinglake West for 50 million photos featuring 20 happy, smiling faces in the FREEZING cold. Thanks Damir and everyone for a really great day out!

Cindy Lee