Before I start this report, I'll place a caveat that I didn't take many photos, cos I was too busy ridin'!

Pat had planned this ride ages ago, and after several mis-starts due to lock-down regulations, we finally got the green light to go, go, go!

The plan was to meet at the Kinglake United at 8:00 in the morning.  Working backwards, I figured an hour to get there from my place (7:00) and an hour to get up, shower, breakfast etc which meant a 6:00 rise.  I haven't been out of bed at that time during the whole lock-down period!  This was gonna hurt.

I met up with Onion and Bruce in Eltham and we made our way to the meeting point, on-time but the last to arrive.  10 souls had already gathered and we spent a little time catching up with faces we'd only seen on Zoom screen over the last 10 weeks.  That done, it was time to hit the road.  We fired up and headed off and it wasn't long before we were in the dirt.



Pat took us through the Black Range, with a selection of gravel and dirt roads/tracks.  Nothing overly tricky, but the pace was hot (for most) from the get-go.  Months of no riding and everyone was ready for a squirt.  I was taking it a bit easy, given this was the first real ride on my new bike and certainly the first time taking it 'off-road'.  Switching from 'road mode' to 'enduro' mode was simple and I assume the bike looked after itself with regard to it's electronic trickery.   Pete was buzzing around on his new KTM 2-stroke, Rob punting around on his new T7, Onion enjoying the off-road capabilities of his new 790, while Dennis and I rode our new mounts at a more gentlemanly pace.  Everyone else was doing their own thing and settling into the ride.

After what seemed like a relatively short time, we arrived in Alexandra having not spent many ks at all on the bitumen.  A credit to Pat to putting together a route that kept us away from main rides to get here.  A plan had been made to meet up with Col'n and Oscar at 10:00, so this seemed like a good place to stop for a coffee and a sweetie. The boys were on time, so after a short break, we hit the hwy en-route to Bonnie Doon.

The lake level was up as we crossed the bridge and soon after the pub we turned right and headed back into the bush.  We traveled off-road around the back of Mansfield, and pulled up for a re-group at the Stringybark Creek memorial for our historical interlude into the life and times of the Kelly gang and the unfortunate Policemen who pursued them.  We stopped for around half an hour, then back-tracked a bit as we made our way to Whitfield and onto Cheshunt for lunch.



Rod left us after lunch (to join up with another group for riding and camping around Abbeyard), and the rest of us headed towards Dandongadale, where we took the SEC Access Tk to Goldies Spur Tk.  Now, the last time I did Goldies was on my WRF, so I was a little un-sure how it would go on the Big Girl.  Fortunately, the track was dry and conditions were good, so up we went.  Pete pulled up next to me and we chatted as we rode along, cresting the erosion mounds and enjoying the scenery, when we came across Bruce, who was looking at his bike laying on the ground.  He'd gone over an erosion mound and seen a little puddle on the other side. naturally, he sh!t himself and hit the front brake, washing out and gently stepping off his bike.  No damage to man or machine, so Pete helped him right the bike and we were off again.  I believe this was the only time a set of bars touched the ground on the whole trip! 





Despite my trepidation, the GS handled the track quite well and I know everyone else had a hoot as we swapped stories at a re-group at the end of the track.  Dennis (who tailed the whole weekend) came in eventually, and like me, took the track carefully but enjoyed the challenge none-the-less.   From here it was onto Bright for re-fuel, the onto Harrietville for the climb up and over Hotham.  The weather had been warm and sunny thus far, and the run up Hotham gave us all a chance to have a play on the twisty road to the summit.  It never surprises me how warm you can get doing this kind of riding, but as we went through the tunnel and slowed down through the village, I became aware of the temperature.  it was 24 deg at the bottom and had dropped to 9 deg we we re-grouped!





Once again, we swapped stories as we were pulling on an extra layer, looking at the sky and hoping we weren't gonna get wet on the downhill side.  Sufficiently rugged-up, we were off again.  Now to say things got a little silly on the way down would be an understatement!  The pace was REAL hot as we went though Dinner Plain.  I know I saw a 1 and a 4 on my speedo (may have been followed by a zero!)  And was grateful of those twin discs up front.  A group of us pulled over at one stage, to have a breather and let the gimbles in our eyes re-set, having been thrown around on this stint.  this run was a hoot, but we were all aware that the day was drawing to a close and now wasn't the time to lose concentration.  So we took it a bit easier on our run into Omeo, re-grouping once again before the final push into Ensay.

As luck would have it, it started to rain as we left Omeo and the final section was wet.  I switched my bike to 'rain mode', as the failing light made the ground look treacherous! It wasn't bucketing rain, but it wasn't a shower either, and deep puddles around the place suggested the area had seen a bit of rain recently.  We pulled into the pub around 6:00 (?), wet but safe and happy the ride was over.  We parked the bikes under-cover in an old shed and made our way to respective rooms to change.  We were greeted by Big Rob L, who had ridden across to meet up with us for Saturday's ride.  I debated a shower, but decided on a beer instead and headed to the bar to enjoy a brew, poured by a man from a tap!  that hadn't happened in a long time!  We sat around (socially distanced), drank and chatted about the days ride.  Soon enough we ordered dinner and had a great feed and a few more beers.

We pulled up stumps around 10:30 and headed for bed.  Having gotten up at 6:00 and ridden some 530ks, I was knackered!

More to follow.

As usual, a great report. Thanks Serge.

Day 2:

The rain from the previous night had disappeared and we woke to a sunny and cool morning.  A quick breaky at the pub then it was off for a re-fuel and real breaky at the Crazy Cow in Omeo.







Seems some of the silliness from yesterday was still floating around!



There were plenty of bike(r)s in Omeo.  Lots of guys taking advantage of the easing of lock-down.  But it didn't feel busy out on the roads.  We headed off towards Benambra, taking the familiar mixture of tar roads, gravel roads, clay roads, hard sand roads and one soft sand road (track).  Now, I wasn't ready for this and a little bit of poo may have come out as my bike squirmed beneath me.  Others, I know revel in this stuff, but my feelings towards sand are well known...nuff said!

We made our way to Limestone Road and the long ride to McKillops Bridge where we stopped for lunch (which we carried from Omeo).





After lunch,  we headed towards Bonang and then onto Bruthen for our overnighter,  The pub here is great,  good rooms and a fantastic bathroom!  Also, good outdoor seating/meals area where we parked the bikes and spent the evening.  Old AMTRA mate Aaron came over to spend the evening with us and after dinner he and Big Rob made their respective ways back to Swan Reach where they both live.  We dinned and drank till around 10:00 again, then headed for the sack with another 400ks done.

Day 3:

Final day dawned with another early start.  A quick, continental breakky at the pub and we were off (again).

It all becomes a blur after a while, but we left Bruthen and headed towards Bairnsdale.  More of the same collection of terrain, more silliness and more fun.  Onto Maffra and the weather was starting to look a bit sus.  We hit rain in Maffra and made for some shelter to don wet weather gear and re-adjust our plans.  Dennis and Rob had stopped earlier to put their gear on, but by the time they met up with the rest of us, the rain had passed!  We though about making a more direct route back, and decided to head to Conwarr and the road up to South Face Road over Baw Baw.

We arrived at Brunton's Bridge and using an ingenious collection of pulleys and levers, ropes and fulcrums, managed to get all our bikes across the gap.  Some other motorcyclists had actually RIDDEN over the bridge!  We walked back across to get some photos.



https://i.imgur.com/ns88Rys.mp4





We headed into Walhalla for lunch, then up and over Baw Baw, down more twisties into Noojee for a final re-group.  from here, the group started to split with folks heading in different directions.  Most of us went on into Yarra Junction and in my case (and Bruce's), we headed all the way to Maroondah Hwy and the agonizing ride back into town.  By this stage, the temp had risen to 30 deg and coupled with stop/start traffic, was a bummer of a finish to what was otherwise a brilliant weekend.  A further 390ks to add to a total of just over 1300ks.  A little shy of our hoped 1900, but no one was complaining.

Many thanks to Pat for putting the weekend together and persisting with the concept in the face of ever-changing situations.  Thanks also to Dennis for bringing up the rear all weekend, we know you like it from behind!  And thanks to the rest of the crew (Bruce, Onion, Col'n, Oscar, Big Rob, Lil Rob, Pete and Tony) for making the weekend such a hoot!

Thanks Serge for another terrific report and many thanks to Pat for organising it all and leading us on a great range of roads and tracks. Thanks also to all for putting up with me being slow on many parts of the ride and I also appreciated that all kept on eye on me to make sure I was going ok.

Hektik weegend, fully siek riding.

Enjoy!