Coalville             Sunday 27^th  May 2011

Damir Djikic	Honda CBR1000	Cliff Peters	Kawasaki ZX1200R
Ian Payne	Honda CBR1000	Mark Copeland	Kawasaki ZX10
Tony Stegmar	Honda CBR1000	John Willis	Kawasaki ZX1000
Paul Southwell	Honda CBR1000	Jason Wilson	Kawasaki ZX9
Tim Emons (lead)	Honda CBR1000	Rob Jones	Suzuki GSXR1000
Ben Warden	Honda CBR954	Darryn Hutchinson	Suzuki GSXR1000
Pina Garasi	Honda CBR600	Chris Pointon	Suzuki GSXR1000
Steve Mudford	Yamaha FZ1	Cindy Lee	Suzuki GSXR750
Marc Marais	Triumph 675	Peter Ng (5^th ride)	MV Augusta Brutale 1078

I was excited!

Raj had very kindly let Steve take his bike out for a ride whilst he was stuck at the office working on Sunday. Since Steve had his bike stolen, I’ve felt pangs of guilt leaving him at home while I’m off riding with the Club. But not today! Thank you Raj!

I made warm scrambled egg and bacon wraps and took them around to share for breakfast when we stopped by for the pick-up. The sky was looking grey, the streets damp and there were raindrops on Raj’s bike. But who cared? We were off!

At Berwick, I was surprised at the turnout on this cold grey morning. But everyone was up for it; even Ron in his civilian clothes, who showed up to say hello. It was a family weekend for him (birthdays and weddings) but he must have been missing us. It is a 40-minute drive from home to the Berwick servo, he said. Oh boy, he must be hanging out for a Sunday fix.

Speaking of fix … who gave Steve that ciggie?

We were called to attention as Tim launched into his pre-ride spiel. “Damir! Paul!” Ben, Club Secretary and Chief Whip cried out, as they were chattering together instead of focusing on the job. Tim described the route, “long straight roads at the start … our first break … should fill up there …” My attention waned. I just follow (or let people overtake me) and keep going until I see a corner marker… but my ears pricked up when I heard mention of sticks and stones on the roads around Jindivick.  If only I knew where Jindivick was!

Cool! Time to take off! Steve zoomed past me as we hit the freeway. I was going to follow, but changed my mind at the sight of a suspicious looking Holden in front. After my three-point booking last week, I was not going to take any risks. So, I waited until a bunch of bikes caught up and stuck with them (safety in numbers) until we turned off the freeway where I could try for a bit more speed.

There were long straight roads, a few corners, some twisty, undulating roads and then - Yikes! Sticks and stones! Mud and moss! This must be Jindivick. No problems; nothing that slowing down won’t fix.

There were more fast sweepers on the road to Moe as the day started brightening up. I was overtaken by four riders travelling nose to tail, switching right and left and right again around the esses - gotta love group rides! Wishing I could keep up, I struggled to keep my line around the incredibly bumpy corners.

First stop Moe. First stop public loos! I was starting to feel the effects of my breakfast juice, tea, water and energy drink.

After another chit chat, snacks and more coffee, we hit the road to Mirboo North. There was a good variety of roads and corners, as well as a mix of road conditions: dry and clean, gravel, moss, mud and rivulets of water washing across the surface, none of which seemed to slow anyone else down. I really enjoyed the road from Boolarra to Mirboo North. If only it was a bit longer! But Steve had agreed to dink me on the Mirboo North loop and I was looking forward to that.

I pulled into the servo where I learned from Steve that Raj’s bike had copped a hole in the radiator and coolant (which always reminds me of Reanimator fluid) was pouring on to the ground. The leak was too big to fix so our ride was over. The curse of the Mirboo North loop that Pina had spoken of, had struck again. Oh well, I guess that’s life on a bike.

Steve and I waved everyone off with the sun now shining brightly. We rode home two-up on my gixxer to get fetch the trailer. Perched on the rear seat cowl, feeling every small bump on the road, it was a painful two-hour ride home. After recovering the bike, it was 8:30pm by the time we got home. It was an eventful day, but still a good day. And there’s always next Sunday to look forward to!

Hope the rest of the ride went well for everyone else.

Cindy Lee