“The Gippsland Greenery Ridge-Back Ride”
Today is a mixed bag of roads, everything from freeway to tight twisties and as usual, all the assembled group have to endure traversing Melbourne suburbs wearing out the clutch, to get to the “good bits”. Paul Clayton was going to be ride leader but he is unwell and we all miss you Paul and hope you are doing OK, and wish you the best for a speedy recovery. Scott Oldfield has stepped in to lead, following Paul’s planned route and guidance with Tom Thursfield clocking on for his valued Tail-End-Charlie job.
Thank you to Scott for giving me the route maps so I can detail the exact roads here for anyone looking for a great Ridge Ride before Winter, while Victoria’s fine summer weather that we enjoyed today, continues well into Autumn. Yes, of course there were roadworks halting our progress at Traffic Light Trailers, but there is always some somewhere. No complaints, at least someone is doing something about some of the bad roads in Vic.
Stage 1. We haven’t had a ride out of Officer for a while, so it’s good to go back and revisit Gippy. We use the Princes Freeway to the Labertouche exit and onto Princes Way at Longwarry North, to Drouin West where the road becomes The Old Sale Rd. This is a good curvy trip and a stark contrast to the dry parched straw-coloured planes in Western Victoria on the recent Rambling Rally – Everything here is GREEN. We ride through the lush grazing farms and bushland of Brandy Creek, Buln Buln and Shady Creek. We turn south on the Willow Grove Rd and it’s a straight ride to Trafalgar trying to hold the bike on its line against strong gusty cross-winds blowing the Willow trees almost horizontal.
Stage 2. Along the Princes Highway on the eastern side of Trafalgar we turn left onto Sunny Creek Road and then right on the Childers-Thorpdale Rd heading south enjoying the medium paced twists and turns. We go through the Childers intersection onto McDonalds Track that weaves around to the Mirrboo North-Trafalgar Rd that opens out to wider faster curves continuing when we turn onto The Strzelecki Highway going into Mirrboo North. The hot-spots for lunch are Jimmy Jambs Café and Strzelecki Bakery.
Stage 3. We continue on the Strzelecki Highway (Mirrboo North’s main street) for about 4 K’s and turn right onto The Grand Ridge Rd which lives up to its name. Road respect needed here, it’s tight with continuous corners and often mud and gravel on the road at farm/paddock driveways. We twist our way over the hills and across the top of Gippsland above the green valleys bathed in sunshine, and many trees changing their summer shade foliage into rich Autumn colours. We ride through Allambie South, Hallston, Trida, Seaview and Ellinbank, making a right turn north onto the Leongatha-Warragul Rd. We stop at a side-road area about 1 Kilometre from Warragul to finish the day’s ride.
One of our members has a new toy …
In the year 1901 a couple of friends in their late teens went to a bawdy Vaudeville show in Milwaukee USA. During that show, the famous voluptuous and vivacious singing star of the Ziegfeld Follies Anna Held, was propelled across the stage on a 3-wheeled, single cylinder engine driven device.
These red blooded young American men were understandably VERY excited, not by the exotic flirtatious Anna, but by the machine used as a stage prop. The men happened to be a certain Mr William S. Harley and Mr Arthur Davidson who were young engineers with a fascination for building engines and putting them in bicycles, and were now sparked into action to build proper “Motor-Cycles”.
Arthur Hampson, where is your Triumph? He has traded in the “T120 Black” on a big tall V-Twin “Adventure Bike”, all in black with no name badge! Hang-on, in tiny letters on the Cam-Boxes is “Harley Davidson”. This is Harley’s new “Pan America” go anywhere bike and it doesn’t have the usual logos and big badges “in-your-face” everywhere, but maybe this is a new subtle marketing strategy. With an alarming drop in sales of their traditional big “cruiser” bikes, Harley Davidson has made a giant leap into the popular Adventure Bike market, far removed from their traditional V-Twins built from 1909.
Arthur is loving the 2022 Pan America 1250 Special, heaps of power (150BHP), smooth, comfortable, with high tech cornering ABS, mode selectable traction and active suspension with electronic ride and seat height adjustment. Reviews put performance up there with high-end BMW’s and KTM’s. The characteristic big Harley V-twin “throaty” exhaust is still there, giving more excitement than Anna Held’s performance?
There were many smiles-per-mile on members heading home in all directions after a great day out in this perfect riding weather. Many thanks to Scott and Tom, and all of you for the patient and effective Corner Marshalling, friendship and a good time.
Ride Safe, David and Mez.
The Triumph Trio – Mez, Peter & David (photo courtesy of Mike Walker Photography).
CMCCV Midweek Ride Participants, Tuesday 15th April, 2025.
| Rider | Bike | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scott Oldfield | BMW R90S | 1975 | Ride Leader (bike now 50 years old!) |
| John Addy | Triumph “Trophy 3” 900 | 1994 | |
| Jim Cameron | Yamaha XJ900S Diversion | 1998 | |
| Mike Walker | BMW 1200GS | 2005 | |
| Colin Sullivan | BMW R1200R | 2009 | |
| John Killingsworth | BMW R1200GS | 2011 | |
| Terry Hoare | Honda VFR800 | 2014 | |
| David & Mez McLennan | Triumph Thruxton S | 2016 | |
| Peter Hansen | Triumph Street Twin 900 | 2017 | |
| Gary Moore | Indian “Vintage Chief” | 2017 | |
| Tom Thursfield | CanAm F3 | 2018 | TEC |
| Brian Mapleback | Triumph Speed Triple 765RS | 2021 | |
| Arthur Hampson | Harley Davidson “Pan America” | 2022 | |
| Graham Boulter | Triumph 900GTP | 2023 |