I had my gear packed ready to roll a few days before the weekend. Saturday morning was a relatively clear weather day when I woke at around 6am.
Time for a shower, and do the final packing of the STrawberry Express. Was about to get on the bike at 7am, when Shadow puss made a dart out the door as I was closing it. Took about 20 minutes before she was ready to come back inside. Finally hit the road with light traffic, very little breeze. Was a day to ride, so I left my camera at home. I estimated arrival at
Malmsbury at around 11.30-ish. How wrong I was.
Took a roundabout course, through Condah, Hawkesdale, Caramut. Had a slight traffic holdup after Lake Bolac due to 2 slow trucks loaded with sections of wind towers but they pulled off the road at Streatham to allow traffic to pass.
I rode past Goldsmith to Beaufort, only to come up behind another wide load, a huge tank/grain silo which took up so much of the road that oncoming traffic had to pull onto the dirt, and wait for it to pass. The trailer wheels were halfway across the opposite lane. This truck and escort vehicles pulled aside at Beaufort to allow the traffic to pass also.
I decided to pull into the Wendouree shopping plaza to get some glad wrap to secure the STrawberries, as they were pretty shaken up with the potholed roads that I had travelled. Obviously, there are no politicians living in this area, the roads were deplorable.
Traffic in Ballarat was at a standstill, with a massive traffic jam for at least 2 km around Wendouree due to some roadworks, and hundreds of motorists trying to get to and from the shopping centre. It took almost two hours to ride 4 blocks, and that included riding on footpaths where possible. Police were not present at any part of this congestion, and so it was raffertys rules to get through stationery intersections. Motor was overheating and clutch faded to the extent that I had to turn off the motor, and restart the engine in-gear to make any advance. I have had this problem before in St Kilda with stop/start traffic, no big deal. 5 minutes of open road, and clutch is fully functional again.
Finally cleared the city and headed north through Creswick to Daylesford with clear roads and very pleasant weather. Was in traffic at Daylesford about 1pm when my phone started ringing, but had nowhere to pull over clear of the traffic for a few minutes. Finally was able to stop and take a call, and assured the boys that I was only a half hour away.
When I parked the bike and walked in the door at the Stables, I was greeted by a cheering crowd. Felt terrific.
I went from table to table to greet many old friends and a few new ones, and then finally got to sit and have a cool bottle of squash.
That's when the surprise presentation of the Member of the Year award and the gifted Tas Shirt occurred. Many thanks to all, I will treasure these forever.
Really great to chat with everybody, and pass on the STrawberries.
People started leaving around 2.30, so I decided to to do the same towards 3pm. Had a look at the GPS and decided to run Castlemaine, Maryborough where I refuelled, Avoca, Moonambel to Navarre because _ what the hell? .. it was great weather, and just so damn good to be mobile again.
Started heading towards Stawell, but changed my mind and took a side road (why not?) heading towards Landsborough then decided to go through Joel Joel and then took another left turn at a side road to head east again towards Joel South.
Right turn, Clyde! at an intersection when the road in front turned to dirt, and I found myself heading for Crowlands, Dunneworthy, and Ararat. Arrived a few minutes after 5 pm.
Had a 10 minute rest break there to breathe a little filtered air, and then pushed on towards Maroona, Willaura, Glenthompson , and then Dunkeld and Hamilton.
Met a friend in Hamilton at 6.15pm, we just happened to cross paths at a servo where I purchased another fizzy. We chatted for awhile, and then I rolled onwards again for the final hour of the trip home.
Walked in the door a couple of minutes after 7.30 pm. 12 hours away for the day, 10 and a half hours of riding, and 883 Km covered for the day. Would have been a faster trip, except for the traffic mess in Ballarat.
An absolute pleasure to be back on the road and meet so many friends again.
