April 13 was the old bike ride to the Warrion Ti Tree Hotel. I couldn’t make it for the ride but did drop in to Maccas to take a few shots at the start. Not many ‘old bikes’ unfortunately. Geoff had his BSA Super Rocket and there was a nice Triumph Trident.
A few of the regulars
A ride report from John T and some more pics in the next edition of Exhaust Notes.
by Michael Belleville.
A beautiful sunny day was just what the doctor ordered when no fewer than 20 riders headed off under the leadership of Geoff Lenton for a lazy and approximately 300 km journey with the destination being Gellibrand.
We made our way from McDonalds at Waurn Ponds and in formation we wound our way to morning tea at the café in Coorooroke via Winchelsea, Alvie & Red Rock. After a cuppa and something to eat we were back on the bikes (well most of us were) –it was at this point that we needed to give a rider a helping hand with a jumpstart. This was to be the first of many – Bob, told you that I would make you famous or is that infamous?
From this point we headed down to Gellibrand for lunch at the café (see photo) via Colac where petrol was the next order of business before we hit some reasonably twisty roads.
After lunch with the sun still shining & enough heat coming off the tank that it could fry an egg we made our way back to Geelong through the tiny hamlets of Yeodene, Gerangamete, Barwon Downs & Deans Marsh before we finished on Blackgate Rd. It was at this point that we said our farewells and headed home before we were to gather again for the AGM.
If my memory serves me correctly Bob needed a few more helping hands along the way but that’s riding.
Many thanks to Geoff for leading the ride and to Graham who was Tail End Charlie – a great day was had by all.
Now it wouldn’t be a ride report from yours truly if I didn’t give the Suzuki’s a mention – how many you can count?
Michael
DAY 1 – Wednesday 16 December
The Rawson overnighter organised by Graham A was a week later than usual this year, commencing on Wed 16 Dec. And we really benefited as the weather was excellent for both days, which was a nice change from last year’s day two rain. OK, below is a map to give an idea of the brilliant Day 1 route.
Nineteen riders gathered at North Geelong Maccas, with one of the Club’s numerous Peters (we had 5 Peters on one recent mid-week ride!) only riding until lunch time, but then collecting another two at Healesville.
Graham leading off at Maccas.
We headed to Bacchus Marsh for morning coffee.
Graham then led us on a really good route to Whittlesea, skirting around the north of Melbourne and avoiding all the traffic. From Whittlesea to Healesville, via Kinglake and Yarra Glen, the scenery and roads just got better and better. And just to add to the enjoyment it was all blue sky and around 22C ambient for most of this section – perfect riding conditions. Healesville has a large ‘Beechworth Bakery’ franchise with tons of parking around it which was perfect for our lunch stop. This is where Stan and Marlene joined us, having come down from Bendigo I believe.
From here on the roads just got better and better. The ride from Healesville through to Powelltown, Noojee, Hill End, Willow Grove and then past Blue Rock Lake and beyond is motorcycling Nirvana. Some of us rode the twisty roads at a nice brisk pace whilst others just bopped along at their own pace and comfort level. This really was traffic free, week day riding at its best. As we neared Yallourn North for drinks, BBQ supplies and fuel the temp really picked up and was in the low 30C’s. From here it was just an enjoyable short run via Tyres through the bush up to Rawson. At Rawson bikes were unloaded, stubbies were opened and the good times off the bikes commenced.
Irish John was unstoppable getting a big fire going, which served as the focal point for the evening. It was a really nice balmy evening for cool drinks in great company.
OK, just some random pics of motorcycles that were of interest, but also illustrate the diversity of machines that ultimately all serve the same purpose.
John’s new Honda ST1300 – what an awesome long distance touring machine.
Below: Stan’s Triumph triple
Marlene’s Beemer – I’d never seen one of these with ? Ohlin’s suspension and Brembo brakes
DAY 2 – Thursday 17 December
Some stayed up late and partied Wednesday night. However, most didn’t given that it had been a hot afternoon in the saddle and the departure time had been set for 8.00am on Thursday morning for those returning to Geelong with Graham.This departure time was based on the forecast 36C temps for Thursday. Poppy and Peter were heading on to Bright via Mt Hotham and left early. Bill and the ST1300 crew had decided to head for the coast and spend the night at Phillip Island and lingered longer. Another couple of riders just didn’t make the 8.00am departure!
We headed off in the cool morning air down through Erica and retraced our route through the bush to Noojee for early morning coffee. It was another absolutely brilliant ride at a ‘brisk’ pace with virtually no traffic around.
Downtown Noojee on a Thursday morning
Even though it was early, the sun already had some sting in it and there was no doubt it was going to be damn hot. The lovely old lady at the Noojee store dutifully made coffees, dispensed pies and sausage rolls from her ancient pie warmer and even offered a packet of mixed biscuits for free for the fellas. Talk of travelling back via the Reefton Spur was replaced as and the collective wisdom was to get home expediently to avoid the worst of the heat. Jimbo decided he would take a more scenic route home and the brains trust gathered around his map to assist his route planning.
Above: Men at work
Graham led the rest of us via Yarra Glen, Christmas Hills and Kangaroo Ground, I think, to Diamond Creek. At this stage I didn’t know that I was writing this ride report and I really didn’t pay much attention to the route! At Diamond Creek we had another breather and from there on it was home via the Western Ring Road and Princes Highway. The traffic on the Ring Road was actually quite heavy and the ride was less than pleasant, made worse by the heat and a couple of downright homicidal drivers. Once off the Ring Road it was a short run back and we pulled over for a hasty debrief in 36C heat.
Once again the Rawson ride was a great success and one of the best Club rides for 2015. A great bunch of people, brilliant roads and no rain or rider incidents, what more could you ask for? Thanks again to Graham A for organising and leading and to Phil R for tail-ender duties on both days.
Some pics from today’s poker run.
Briefing at Waurn Ponds – I believe Mac had two routes in mind!
First stop at Maude
Morning tea stop on the outskirts of Geelong.
Our motorcycles were kept under surveillance
Unfortunately I don’t have any pics from lunch at the end of the ride at Balyang sanctuary.
A big thanks for a great job by Mac and Mal for organising the poker run and the catering. And the women were the big winners, picking up three of the top four hands!
I picked this up from the Ulysses Club web site. Some nice scenery and great to see Malcolm Campbell riding!
John’s Otway’s ride was really a ride of two parts. The first was an enjoyable run up to Lavers Hill for lunch (after a bit of early mayhem). The second part was more challenging – namely riding the Great Ocean Road to Apollo Bay and the Forrest Road (or more GOR depending on which choice individuals made) in the wet.
Morning tea at Deans Marsh.
Wet in Apollo Bay
Above: New member Nick did a great job of riding the challenging conditions, even though he’s only on L’s.
Over the past few weeks I’ve had some new tyres fitted to the ZX14R. First a front a couple of weeks ago and then a ‘new’ rear today. But just how ‘new’ is new?
As I was re-installing the rear wheel I caught sight of the manufacturing date stamp on the side wall of the tyre which has the numbers 4014. My understanding is that what this means is that this tyre was manufactured in the 40th week of 2014. Therefore it’s about a year old. So is a one year old tyre really a ‘new’ tyre? I don’t know what the industry standard is. Any suggestions?
I had another Michelin Pilot Road 4 fitted to the front of the big Kwaka as I have a few multi-day rides coming up. Check out the aerodynamic shape of the fairing with the front wheel removed.
Wednesday we took a club ride to the Mill Market at Daylesford via Steglitz and Ballarat. It was a great run in perfect riding conditions. Well led and well done Jim.
A pic from the post ride ‘defrag’.
A good turn out of the Geelong branch met up with the Melbourne, Whittlesea and Echuca branches in Lancefield for a group ride to Yea. Gentle did a brilliant job of navigating down scenic back roads that most of us had never been on before. After some early fog in Geelong, it became a perfect Spring day with the temp hovering around 18C – 20C for much of the ride and not a cloud in the sky.
Below: Pic of me leaving Lancefield, courtesy of John Cook
“You must be nuts” is the response of most people when we said we were going camping with our regular camping buddies in the middle of one of the coldest Victorian winters in years. And furthermore, there was an Antartic blast forecast for the weekend when we were leaving. Our original destination of Robe was dumped due to the dire forecast and so we headed for Mungo National Park, about 110 kms North of Mildura. The road in has 88 kms of dirt road which was slushy in places on the way in and just horrible sticky mud after rain on the way out.
Video courtesy of Margy R
Lots of emus, ‘roos and wild goats around.
After a few days at Mungo, we headed back to the Sunraysia National Park near Ouyen and camped at the Pink Lakes – Lake Crosbie specifically.
Lots more pics by clicking HERE, then select ‘Slideshow’
Tarsnakes 