Sunday 20th October – CMCCV RIDE TO “VARIOUS PLACES”, GIPPSLAND.
This ride was on the same day as the GP at Philip Island, and the ride down the Monash Freeway to the Servo at Officer was made more exciting at times by the groups of high-speed motorcyclists weaving through the usual Sunday freeway traffic.
10 members and 1 visitor had gathered by 8.45am and after Graham’s briefing and buddying up he led us onto freeway, with Tom on his three-wheeler as TEC.
The day started cool and cloudy but the sun soon appeared, at least for a while. Leaving the servo some of us copped a spray of cow dung left by a semi-trailer load of cattle heading off on “holiday”. It dries brown on the visor!
We headed east on the freeway/Princes Highway for 15 minutes, then the real ride began:
Graham led us on a ride which could be summarised as, all over Gippsland via the spaghetti route. The corner marshalling worked well throughout, which is just as well because with 11 riders corner marshalling 4 or 5 times, we had around 50 marshalled corners!
The route included Drouin West, Jindavick, Crossover, and Rokeby.
In Jindavick we made a brief stop at a picnic area overlooking a huge paddock with a cricket wicket? in the middle. The view beyond that was amazing with a distant range of hills. The countryside is very green after a lot of rain.
View from Jindavick stop
Approaching Neerim Sth I thought a coffee break was in order. We slowed to 80, then 60, then 40kph, expectations were high, then rode right past one of the best cafes around without stopping!
Same thing happened as we rode through Neerim, then finally we stopped in Noojee at the Little Red Duck Cafe. A good choice. Mike and Peter joined us here, swelling the group to 13.
The little Red Duck Café, Noojee
It was still quite cool (13 degrees) so the coffee break was welcome and many international problems were solved. Distance around 105km.
After this break we set off on a very narrow (one lane?) road which twisted and turned constantly. If it started to go straight Graham would take another sharp right turn to keep us pretty well lost. Speed was not high but the riding was a lot of fun.
We passed Neerim East, Buln Buln, Drouin Sth, Longwarry and Bunyip, and pulled into Garfield for a lunch stop at Brewsters Foodstore and Cafe, where Graham had booked a table.
The conversation was brisk and constant, until the food arrived causing a temporary silence.
Many topics were aired but if you want to hear something really interesting ask Connor how his post office is going!
The damaged gum trees were evident everywhere on this ride, and probably occurred over the last six months. Some had crushed steel roadside barriers, while some had smashed farm outbuildings.
It seems that the different breeds of cows show varying interest in motorcycles: One group of Holstein Friesians peeled away from their boundary fence like synchronised swimmers as we approached, while a herd of Jerseys along another fence stared transfixed by the sight and sound, and looked as if they really wished they could join us. You must have noticed this.
There were a few Danholes (used to be known as potholes) on the ride and a lot of road shoulder damage. While the holes were not too numerous, they certainly had my attention throughout the ride.
In spite of it being Sunday, the back roads we travelled had very little traffic.
After lunch some people made their own way home, and some of us followed Graham out to the freeway where we could refuel, and ride home in the busy Sunday traffic.
Note: At one point our ride became merged with another ride, and some of us nearly followed their next turn! Have we ever considered wearing a coloured armband or similar for easy member ID on the road?
About to leave Garfield
It was a great ride with no mishaps, no rain, no breakdowns and excellent corner marshalling. My total was 308km door to door.
Thanks Graham and everyone.
Brian Boulton
Ride participants:
To widen the column width in HTML, you can adjust the table’s style using the `width` property for each column or apply it to specific cells. Here’s an updated version with added styles for wider columns:
| Rider | Bike | Year | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graham Boulter | CB900F | 1981 | Ride Leader |
| Brian Boulton | Kwaka ZRX1200 | 2002 | |
| Chris Liokes | Triumph | 2012 | Guest |
| Ian Snadden | BMW R1100GS | 1995 | |
| Tom Thursfield | CAN AM | 2018 | TEC |
| Jim Cameron | Yamaha FJR1300 | 2008 | |
| Conor Murphy | Honda CB750 | 1973 | |
| Kay Murphy | Honda CB750 | 1972 | |
| Colin Sullivan | BMW B1200R | 2009 | |
| Jimmy Linton | Yamaha XJR1300 | 1999 | |
| Brian Shelton | BMW F800 | 2017 | |
| Mike Walker | BMW GS1200 | 2005 | |
| Peter Hansen | Triumph Street Twin | 2017 |