Melbourne Cup Weekend MK IV

Ian Payne	Honda CBR1000	Ha Du	Honda CBR600
Misho Zrakic	Honda CBR1000	Dennis Lindemann	Honda CBR600
Paul Southwell	Honda CBR1000	Ben Fuller	Suzuki GSXR1300
John Rousseaux	Honda CBR1000	Rob Jones	Suzuki GSXR1000
Dave Ward	Honda CBR1000	Ross Gellatly	Suzuki GSXR1000
Peter Jones	Honda CBR1000	Bronwyn Manifold	Kawasaki Z1000
Ron Johnston	Honda CBF1000	Cliff Peters	Kawasaki ZX10
Ben Warden	Honda CBR954	Pina Garasi	Yamaha R6

“Getcha motor runnin’!...middle of the highway, looking for adventure, and whatever comes our way!” 14 psyched up rev heads gathered at the Berwick servo in the morning sunshine, all smiles and ready to rumble.

· 2083km door to door—an extra couple of hundred for Ben, Cliffy and Misho who took the long loop to Adaminaby.

· Bronwyn got a rear tyre rock puncture on the first day about 20 kms from Dargo, and then had to return home the next day for work. Whilst lunching in the Eden heat and listening to a jazz band, we got an update from Dave that Bronwyn was still on the road to Melbourne with her heated grips on to try and bear the cold and rain; rear tyre was ok. We did think of Bronwyn and how much it must have sucked for her while we sat in beautiful Eden.

· Dennis and I ran out of petrol twice. Poor Ian-hotpants-Payne got a real work out in the blistering heat as he huffed and puffed and pushed my bike several times on a straight stretch to get it going. You gotta love him.

· I saw Ben kill a magpie. He veered left, so did the bird, then he veered right and so did the bird, and that was that.

· We came across all sorts of weather conditions, from hail, heat, rain, thunder and lightning to swarms of flying insects (the group couldn’t agree on whether they were termites or flying ants) that splattered nearly every centimetre of our visors and other riding gear, got inside our helmets, up our noses and eyes, and I think Ian might have said that he swallowed a couple. Robbie Jones’ friends, Ben, Ross and Julian, joined our ride from Adaminaby and then left us again at Bruthen.

· Imagine waking up in Orbost, having breakfast and within five minutes from the cafe you’re straight into the twisties. I was loving it! Especially the 8km high speed packed dirt later that afternoon.

· All roads were absolutely awesome every day, except the 12km multilayered gravel on the second morning and the road on the last day coming down Falls Creek with loose gravel, but all good experience in the end.

· Misho discovered a nail in his rear tyre just before we took off from Adaminaby on the third day; Ben stayed behind to help sort it out.

· My clutch cable broke up in the hills. I had to roll start the bike down the hill 3 km back to the spot where we’d grouped only moments before to so I could safely U-turn and ride clutch-less the remainder of the way to Tumbarumba. Thanks to the dude in the lawn mower shop who provided us with two clutch cables from a couple of RX100s, Ben, Cliffy, Misho and co sorted it all out.

· Ben and I saw three wild horses galloping away from us up in the hills heading towards Tumbarrumba, it was such a marvellous sight. Different story if they were galloping towards us.

· Oops, I did it again. Stupid Mitta Mitta.

· We all copped a bit of a surprise on the way back through Glenmaggie weir when the road was blocked at the other end of the bridge by two uniformed men doing breathalyser checks.

· On the last day heading to Tyers, we encountered extreme wind which picked up mounds of dirt and momentarily prevented us from seeing the rider in front—we were sitting pretty close together!

· Robbie Jones provided much entertainment with his stories, and everyone got picked on for a laugh at some stage or other.

Outstanding long weekend! I could do with another couple like that. Thanks to Cliffy, Ben, Dave and Paul for leading the rides, and thanks to all the rear riders too!

Ha Du