Lancefield Sunday 10^th April 2011

Willem Vandeveld (rear)	Honda ST1300	Trevor Harris	Yamaha YZF1000
Paul Southwell (leader)	Honda CBR1000	Dave Chisma	BMW F800 ST
Misho Zrakic	Honda CBR1000	Peter Ng (4^th ride)	KTM 950
Tony Stegmar	Honda CBR1000	Paul Milo (1^st ride)	K1200RS
Pina Garasi	Honda CBR600	Jon Miller (1^st ride)	Ducati Multistrada
Marc Marais	Triumph 675	Roman Biaroza	Kawasaki GPx250

So I messed up. I just didn’t see Paul at Lancefield and kept on going. My reward: this article!

Let’s start at the beginning. Saturday 9^th April. I’ve been looking forward the whole week to Sunday’s MSR ride. The weather has been fantastic, looking out from my office window, but the forecast for the weekend doesn’t look good. Not that it really matters. The MSR will ride rain, hail or sunshine. I decide, unless it really pouring down on Sunday, that I’m going. I don’t care!

On Saturday afternoon it starts pouring and it rains for most of the night. Next door to my place there is an athletics track and they have a ‘Run for Life’ charity relay going through the night. They sent out a letter asking residents to excuse the noise. I look out the window and feel sorry for the poor bastards! I considered going over and giving them a donation but I get distracted watching a movie. I digress.

The weather report is looking crap for Sunday. A cold front, which has just hit Melbourne, is causing all the rain. Even though it will be gone by tomorrow, there’s a low pressure system hanging around which is supposed to bring ‘some showers’. Time will tell.

Sunday morning. I look out the window to see that it’s dried out! The poor sods at the athletics track are still going, but at least the weather has improved. They are probably more relieved than I was. So, I kit up and head out to Whittlesea. For some unfathomable reason, VicRoads et al have decided that the start of the school holidays is an excellent time to close the Bolte onramp, ensuring everyone is late for their flights out of Tullamarine. That was yesterday and I figured they’d be done by now. But no, it’s still closed. So it’s going to take a bit longer to get to Whittlesea. I just make it.

After arriving, I spend most of the time explaining what my latest gadget is – an ‘e-cigarette’, a vaporiser that allows me to get my nicotine fix without all the other carcinogenic stuff in tobacco. Hey, after so long trying to quit, I figured that while I’m failing, I can at least minimise the damage (‘harm reduction’). Everyone was fascinated.

The ride was great: good roads, no incidents, no unwelcome attention. The roads were less bumpy than I remember. There were a few wet spots (which no one likes, especially on roads ;).

When we arrived at Lancefield, I looked for Paul who had nominated Lancefield as the first break but I can’t see him. He must be ahead, hiding behind a car. I figured the plan must have changed and kept going. After a while I realised that Misho hadn’t come flying past at warp speed. I pulled over with a first time rider behind me – not a very good impression. I make a U-turn and head back to Lancefield at warp speed to find everyone sipping their lattes and having a good laugh about it.

No harm done, we soon headed off to Seymour for lunch. Just before Seymour the road was closed, so we made a detour along a dirt road, a common occurrence on MSR rides. I suspect it’s because we prefer to ride on the back roads.

Lunch at Seymour was great – it’s the first time I’ve had one of those burgers. The one with ‘the lot’ was huge – a coronary thrombosis in the making.

After lunch the ride headed to Whittlesea and we encountered our first rain for the day. Other than this brief shower, the weather was perfect. The ride was excellent, as usual, although the pace was a bit slow. But it’s not about speed, it’s about the twisties! Well, for me it is.

Thanks to Paul for leading and all who attended and made it a great day. I’m looking forward to next week’s ride!

Marc Marais