Hot New Year

Three of the West Coast Procrastinators got together to begin 2008 with a celebratory ride. That meant they needed to behave on New Year's Eve, however, a good night's sleep was not enjoyed by all as we experienced the hottest New Year's Eve ever recorded in Geelong.

Yesterday it was 43C (yes, that's 109F) during the day and incredibly was still 38C at midnight.

I rode solo from Geelong to just near Colac where Steve's property is.

Despite being a total fireban day again, Jan 1st 2008 was, however, a good day to head to the hills as a cool change was on its way.

After last summer's bushfires people are edgynow that it is getting hot - some Gov.t awareness advertising. I hope it works.


I headed from Geelong to Colac. When I left at 9.00am it was already 30C, but I felt OK once I got moving. Andy trailered his bike down from Ballarat. After a brief chat we fired up the bikes and headed off towards Laver's Hill. Here's the route we took (click on map to enlarge), travelling the loop in a clockwise direction.

Two Norton Commandos


Steve on the Gellibrand to Laver's Hill road - on a down hill, negative camber curve that he enjoys so much!


Here's Andy following


We enjoyed a delicious lunch at Lavers Hill. (I had the foccacia though).



As we hit the Great Ocean Road there was a bank of frontal cloud which dropped the temp about 10C and made for really pleasant riding conditions.

We pulled up at the 12 Apostles helicopters helipad - just a paddock with a portable office really. You can get quite close to the choppers though.






We stopped for a breather on The Carlisle River road. Andy


Yours truly. Sorry Steve - pic of you didn't work out.


This is the road we took home, riding in the uphill direction.

Maldon

As many holiday makers are heading for the coast, we decided to head inland for a change. It was a magnificent mild summer's day in the mid 20's. We had lunch in the historic goldfields town of Maldon, having travelled via Blackwood, Trentham, Daylesford & Castlemaine. We left reasonably early & were home by mid afternoon. Approx 330 kms under blue skies. I will add a map when I get a chance later.




Stopped under some nice shady trees.

Drink, defrag & admire the motorcycles in Highton.

Visit to Tiger Angel

On Thursday 20 Dec Marty & I went to the Tiger Angel factory showroom for him to collect the jacket built to his specifications. Whilst the 'shopfront" is not that impressive, the critical thing about Tiger Angel is the excellent quality leathers that they manufacture and the personalised service from Steve Howden (the owner) and his assistant Julie. Oh, and the smell of new leather is brilliant! They have an excellent web site (see my links) where you can design your own colour scheme and custom features for your gear. Julie also mentioned that our VFR800 riding mate Terry had been in on Monday to collect his new pants.

Race leathers after 275 kph get off. Nothing beats the abrasion resistance of leather.
Nice jacket Marty.


Here are some pics of the world's 2nd best motorcycle leathers - it's just a bloody long way from Aust to pick up though!

On the 8th day of summer .....

Some grumpy old men went riding - except they weren't actually grumpy at all! They were very happy as they had all the ingredients for a grand day of motorcycling - perfect weather, twisty roads, mates and each had their motorcycle of choice!

Andy from Ballarat, Jules, and Marty (who was just back from China) left from Geelong to hook up at Steve's near Colac. The 4 of us travelled to Lavers Hill for an early lunch. We then went along the GOR to Apollo Bay, then on to Lorne. Pulled up at the Grand Pacific Hotel with its million dollar views. Didn't have any booze, just Cokes. We then headed inland to Deans Marsh, where we split up & headed home. It was a great mixture of riding and socializing amongst old and valued friends.

Some motorcycles.
Steve's Commando
Andy & Commando


Relaxing in Lorne on the veranda of the Pacific Hotel - believe it or not, but not a single drop of oil was left in the car park!.

This is the Manx replica I was telling you about Steve.

From Bernie Allen

Hot notherly

Day 2 (date stamp is wrong) of summer turned out to be pretty damned hot! It always seems worse when a hot day comes out of the blue after quite a cool week. I just went for a quick spin to Gellibrand via Deans Marsh. It was quite a contrast to last weekend's riding. I took a few pics on the way there - here is a few of them.

There were lots of bikes out today.

Now that I'm home it's 33C here by the coast. It felt hotter inland around Colac, especially in full leathers!
It struck me that the VFR is quite a narrow bike when viewed from behind.



Had a chat with a couple in Gellibrand - him on the ZZR1200 & her on the Sprint. Nice folks who invited me to ride back to Colac with them.

Apostle Whey

Had a great day out today. Went down and voted early, fired up the Honda and headed off to Colac, collected Steve with his recently rebuilt Norton and headed towards the 12 Apostles again via the back roads through Carlisle River. We stopped in at Apostle Whey, a cheese making place just inland from the Great Ocean Road. Tasted some great cheeses and purchased some Camembert to enjoy tonight.
It's springtime and the countryside just looks magnificent at present.



We got onto the Great Ocean Road and headed back to Lavers Hill for a drink and a chat - but no Coke! Blue skies and little traffic made for a great run back to Colac. The bush smelt terrific and the sun warmed us. Had to stop at Gellibrand to get the caffeine levels up.

Short ride to Lorne via Deans Marsh

Took a short ride today. Damn it was hot - just out of the blue.

Saw this nice example of a Suzuki TLR at Deans Marsh - I've always liked these things despite poor magazine reviews in the past.


The bike is a credit to you - Keith of Clifton Springs!