Ride to Monduran Dam: 16th March 2008

by Jamie Elliott

I showed up at quay st. & was the first one there. first two to arrive were two guests, then slowly everyone else came in. by 20 past, we were pretty much ready to roll with a headcount of thirteen bikes. then just before we left, Angela turned upon her ZZR with some fuel cap issues that Warren tried to fix, but ended up snapping the key off in the lock. So warren stayed behind to remedy the situation, while we took off at about eight thirty two. The ride to Monduran dam was slow and steady, probably too slow for most, having changed my front and rear sprockets with different gearing, I thought I was doing 100 kph, but was actually doing 92-94. Due to the sedate pace of the majority of the ride to the dam, there were no incidents worthy of mentioning, excepting the slow guy on the red bike at the front.

After Gin Gin, Dave had been trying to get ahead to take video footage of us arriving at the dam. But I gave chase and decided to have some fun in the faster corners, only to have the bike break down continuously. At the same time I pulled over, three police cars came in the opposite direction. Maybe the Cagiva has some sort of emergency radar system that I don't know about. they must have had something else to do, as they didn't turn around and give chase to the less sedate riders that were previously behind me, and were now in front.
After that, the bike was fine, barring a couple of times later and we continued to have a fun ride to Monduran Dam. Prior to arriving at the lookout to the Dam, Peter discovered that his GSXR 1100 decided to run on three cylinders. Which doesn't run as smooth as it should at a hundred and sixty apparently.

After we all had a good break, with Harry reminiscing about the last time he was at that lookout, sometime back in the nineteen seventies, Peter went his way home, and we headed back to Gin Gin to refuel for the trip to Mount Perry for lunch. The weather was excellent, if a bit windy, the roads were pretty much ours, and we all had a great time on our way to lunch. The pretty big coiled up dead carpet snake in the middle of the road was about the only surprise, and I knew the roads should be pretty safe with 2 orange Hayabusa’s flying at us at warp speed. I arrived at the pub, to find that Vic was already there, and wondered how and when he overtook me without me seeing him. As it turned out, he wasn’t aware of the pit stop at Gin Gin, and had gone straight to Mt Perry. We had only just started our first beverage, when Warren arrived on the big KLR, in time for lunch.

The food was good, but the menu was shortened somewhat, with no buns or eggs left for us. The one overworked chicken had pumped out all it’s eggs for a local at breakfast, and ran dry by the time we got there. The Managers Choice award was given to Wayne on his new Yammy R6, dubbed “The Wasp”, which he humbly accepted before she had even announced the winner. The prize being a $15 lunch voucher.

The rain had JUST started to sprinkle as we were all gearing up to go home, but dried up completely not long after we left. Most of us stopped at the Servo, and we waited for the last few bikes to arrive, before heading home. I knew that Vic was on a quest to find some white port at the winery, but didn’t know who else was going to tag along. Seeing as I had one of the 1st aid kits with me and wasn’t sure who was at the winery, when John didn’t show up, I thought I better go find him. 4 km later I found both him and Roy heading my way.

So all in all, it was a great way to spend a Sunday. Thanks go to John Alexander for being Tail end Charlie.