Melb: SUNDAY 28th AUGUST - Reefton & Black Spur Ride

It's a Netrider organised ride but by the look of the weather this Sunday, it'll be an awesome ride! First official ride for the upcoming Summer i say; so clean up that bike, lube that chain and meet us for a blat in the hills.

NETRIDER LINKY LINKY

I know i'm there (well 95% there... damn uni! <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_sad.gif" alt="" title="Sad" /><!-- s --> ).
It'd be good to get a couple of FZR's along to show all those damn CBRRRRRRR & ZX2R riders what we're made of. Although, no SOBIL re-enactments please. (Sorry Simon! <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_sad.gif" alt="" title="Sad" /><!-- s --> )

 

Most of the time if you need to get back to the city by 6pm you should make it even with the extended lunch break we usually have at Marysville. If your in a hurry to get back quicker then i'd say just skip off early from Marysville and you should be back by 4'ish.

All depends on how many people we have and their experience level really. If it's a noobish ride then we tend to be a little slower due to corner marking & checkpointing; however as most of us have done this run with eachother before, it should be a smooth ride.

If your anywhere near the city and would like to meet up and ride out to Dandenong, just gimme a holler and we'll set something up. I leave from Collingwood and then just skip down Citylink and the S.E Freeway.

 

Might be a good idea to read a group riding guide before you head out on Sunday then if your not aware of corner marking, hazard warnings, and brake warning.

A quick run down...
GROUP RIDING 101

- Ride staggered in a single lane. Don't occupy more than one lane - it annoys traffic. First rider goes to front right, then behind is left, then right, etc etc.

- Corner marking is the system whereby there is a ride leader, and then all those behind are followers. The leader guides the group. Any time a corner is turned (as in, one that requires indicating), the rider behind the leader should pull off on the side of the road with their indicator flashing to indicate the direction the leader went. When the tail end charlie (dedicated last rider) comes up to the corner marker, the corner marker can take off again. If you are the rider behind the leader, make sure you mark the corner! AND WAIT FOR THE TAIL END CHARLIE!!!

- Hazard warning is done by using the palm of your hand down and making a stroking motion left and right; used to indicate loose surface or gravel on the road. Either way, you should TRY and pass on the indication as long as it puts you in no danger to do so.

- Brake warning; if you can see a hazard up ahead that will require braking... or you wish to warn riders behind you of potentially something up ahead; tap your brakes twice quickly (brake-brake) to flash your brake light. Again, this should be 'passed back' through the group to indicate a potential problem up ahead.

- If you are feeling pressured by a rider behind you, wait until a straight in the road and then move to the centre/left of the lane and 'wiggle' your foot out in the direction you wish to be overtaken (99% of the time, right foot out). Give them enough time to overtake you - and don't be annoyed if they don't overtake immediately, they may be waiting for a safer place to overtake.

Other simple rules;
- Don't overtake the ride leader.
- Don't overtake another rider mid corner.
- Don't overtake another rider in the same lane.
- Be courtious of other riders, your all there to have fun.
- It's not a race, it's a ride. Take your time and if there are faster riders in the group, let them go! You'll meet them at the next checkpoint.

Hmm... mods might wanna add that bit to a sticky - it's kinda important information if you intend on riding in a group.

 

Well it was a bloody good day today! <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s -->
Had a heap of fun, although the size of the group kinda ballooned out to something ridiculous (2 groups... or so... totalling maybe ~50 riders!).

Met up with Bizz and had a bit of a chat... mate you've gotta get a matching side fairing on that bike. Give TBone a PM and see if he can fix up your old one (if its not too rooted) or pick you up a 2nd hand one.

I ended up skipping ahead of the pack and going up through the Reefton Spur with NovaCoder, Tenoq, and a dude on a YZF600 (sorry didnt catch his name). Nova & Tenoq did their thing; with Tenoq attempting to scrub in his new leather pants with kneesliders (no luck today! <!-- s:roll: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_roll.gif" alt=":roll:" title="Rolling LoL" /><!-- s:roll: --> ), leaving me playing the chasey game with the YZF600. A helluva lotta fun!

Warning to anyone going up that way... there's horrible really fine gravel just after the Reefton Spur (past the turnoff to Lake Mountain?)... got a little shaky and quite sideways through there - not nice.

23º started to annoy me when we stopped in Marysville after having lunch, so TBone, Tenoq & myself set off through the Black Spur. Got a little stuck in traffic but still had a luverly blat! <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s -->

Commuting strips thoroughly worn out again now, and me thinks its now time for a new rear tyre. Had both front and rear a little too hot today, but they were sticking like on rails! <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s --> Loving that 15 tooth front sprocket aswell.

We'll have to organise another run and get some more reps fom the FZR community there.

 

Unforunately that was part of the Netrider thing.
Manny (Hayabusa) is currently in intensive care after being heli-lifted out of the spur. He's not in a good way to say the least but everyone is wishing him the best of luck possible. Word at the moment is that he blacked out mid corner whilst staring to overtake Alana. Ran straight off into the rock face wall and then the bike bounced back off and collected Alana (R1).
Alana has some bruising but is ok albeit a bit shaken. Her R1 isnt in a good way but probably isnt a write-off. Manny's 'busa is most likely a write-off but thats the least of our worries at the moment.

Head on over to Netrider for more news and updates as they come.
Fingers crossed for Manny. I've ridden with him a fair few times now, he's a top bloke and a great character. To see him happy, healthy, and back on a bike again would make alot of people including himself very very happy.

 

Six incidents on the Netrider ride?
Well for starters it wasn't really just a Netrider ride, there were a few other groups involved that joined up to make the mega group; but anyway.
The conditions were excellent for all but a few hairy sections of road, of which i have not heard of anyone coming off. There was some fine gravel in one section that just called for a bit of patience and some careful riding, and a few wet mossy patches that were more visual deterrants than traction problems - although i wouldn't like to test them.

Yes, it was the first nice day in a while. I was expecting a big group, and it was. I was expecting an incident or two, and there was.
I generally dislike riding in big groups, and even on that day i didn't end up riding with the main group for longer than 10 minutes. I was riding in a group of 4 or 3 for the majority of the ride. Everyone i ride with i know fairly well... and thats the way i like it. Riding in places like the spurs with people i don't know and can't tentatively predict scares me. Atleast in my mini-group i know if the person in front of me is likely to jump on the brakes before entering that corner we're both rapidly approaching (safe distances apart of course).

 

Ok, just to clarify you've got a couple of double-ups there.
- The guy on the 996 was not with/a Netrider... AFAIK he was just another rider on Reefton. It was one of the the Netrider groups that were behind him when he took the spill on the diesel.
- The 'Busa rider IS Manny (the R1 rider is Alana). The story behind that one is a little complicated as i'm sure you realise, but he did not clip nor hit the R1 whilst riding.
- On the way to the meet point? Well i'd hardly call that a Netrider incident, more an unfortunate accident (as are all accidents).