Phillip Island Ride Report

VTRgirl · Post by **VTRgirl** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 12:22 am

Well, the time had come. I am Australian. I am a motorcyclist. It was necessary to make the pilgrimage. I booked a mansion on Phillip Island, I sold off bed space to OzFireStormers & thus the journey began.

On Friday the 5th of October, I packed my gear & set off, meeting up with one Stormer I knew & one I do now, about an hour into the trek. I wanted to do the pub thing for accommodation, but the wussy boys insisted on motels for "comfy" beds

. Waste of money IMO. Saturday we met up with Saz (an occasional poster here & the Kaz of OzFS) & I got stung by a bee

. We'd just overtaken a bunch of cars, so I was too stubborn to pull up, despite have varied reactions in the past. So the bugger's dying deed was to rob me of most of the feeling in my right hand & leave me with a very swollen & rock hard forearm for several days. The others spent Sunday at Bathurst for what's probably Australia's biggest car race (some of you would've heard of it), while I wussed out in favour of sleeping (go the night-shifter's holiday

).

Monday saw us scoot a lap of Mount Panorama (the Bathurst circuit) before visiting the Janolan Caves (I believe the biggest & definitely the purrrdiest in the Southern Hemisphere or something like that). Man did the Storms sound fantastic putting through there!

The tour through the caves was somewhat reminiscent of a school excusion, only I believe the giggling & jokes were several shades sadder... Then some inconsiderate cager ran over my favourite sunnies, just because I'd inadvertantly dropped them in the middle of the road several kilometres back... Schmuck.

Next stop, Dalgety, near the Snowy Mountains, where we met a further five Stormers, one of whom had volunteered his beautiful cottage about 15km out of town.

Wednesday morning saw another one join the ranks before breaky at the pub & a quick scoot through to Jindabyne where my very favouritist Stormer "happened" to turn up at the servo!

The best days riding I think I've ever had followed...

but unfortunately finished with our newest member on his two-month old FireStorm hitting a roo & writing off the bike on the way back.

After a little nursing to refresh my skills (lucky sod got off amazingly lightly), another night at the cottage & a long time travelling a short distance due to some serious canvas & a popped plug,

we made it, albeit a little soggy, to The Island & our wonderful, comfy beds.

Friday night saw a multitude of Stormers from across the country unite for a killer bbq (the left-overs of which fed the rest of the house for the rest of the stay). Yeah, the weather was a tad dreary, but not the spirits! Saturday was a rest day for a few other slackers & me (except for the obligatory trip into Cowes that night -- on the back of what may as well have been a one wheeled VTR1000). This is where the town gets overtaken by bikes. They bring out the mounted police & have bike cops on every corner at least.

Sunday brought blue skies & a lot of wind (no, not that sort...). I confess I'd only really been going for the atmosphere of the whole trip since the actual bike racing didn't particularly interest me, but suffice to say, I got rather into it & had an absolute ball on all your behalves! We had a great spot between turn one & the Southern loop from where we could see a lot of the action. The fly over by that big planey thing had people running for cover, but the sound of those 800s was magic! Little Casey was brilliant, as expected & three cheers for Ducati (the FireStorm of the rich)!

First (on the left) & Second

Casey!

Hopefully we'll soon see the wonderfully Italian Rossi riding the equally wonderful Italian bike before he tootles off & joins the cagers.

Bit of bargain merchandise shopping & a trip to the chocolate factory on Monday before pointing the bike home with just one other on Tuesday morning in the rain. Pub accommodation all the way! Flying visit to my 98 year old gran and a rather overdue new rear tyre on Wednesday & we pulled up at a pub about 500k from my place for the last night where we met up with a couple of lads en route from the Island to far north Queensland. CBR1000 & R1, both with turbo! Needless to say, my companion suggested hunting backroads for the final leg of the journey (the turbo boys were staying in my home town that night) & riding together. All was agreed & I'm proud to say the splendid Honda steeds thrashed the pants off the go fast guys to the extent they couldn't even get anywhere near us on the straights! ...until I punctured my new tyre anyway

Great sports though, shaking their heads at the thought of telling their mates they were beaten by a chick on a sports tourer!

Home Sweet Home Thursday evening & straight back into work Friday night for me.

Truly a fantastic trip in every way & there's already been talk of a marquis & a track-side site for next year...

All in all, I covered about 5,500kms in the less than two weeks I was away. Dang. Guess that means it's service time again!

Anyone else clocked up more than 30,000kms on a bike less than a year old?

Stratman · Post by **Stratman** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:09 pm

Thanks for a great write up. Looks like a great time was had and I am more than a little envious!

Kitch · Post by **Kitch** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:05 am

Excellent.

Roos huh? the suicidal Deer of the outback. Lucky guy.

Twinnie wrote:a very swollen & rock hard forearm for several days.

I've suffered that too, but never from an insect sting.

VTRgirl · Post by **VTRgirl** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:38 am

Flamin' solid, those roos! Emus can be worse though. Just huge balls of solid rock held up by enough pathetically skinny leg to keep them at body height. They run bl00dy fast right beside you & then dart in front at the last minute. Good luck finding a rider who's lived to tell the tale of hitting an emu!

As for your ummm... injury history, Kitch, well... perhaps I suffered the sting so I could empathise with the whole of male-kind.

Post by **sirch345** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 1:33 pm

A good write-up and great pic's too VTRgirl

Thanks for that

It sounds as if you all (well except for the guy involved in the Roo incident that is) had an amazing trip

Chris.

VTRgirl · Post by **VTRgirl** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:30 pm

Actually, Chris, even he had a blast. He was still lying on the road when I asked if he still planned to come to The Island. "Hell yeah" was the reply. After x-rays & a proper once-over that night, we got him the last 700-800kms via car (some wuss & his gf trailored their two Storms down...) & he hobbled around the whole time before catching a bus the couple of hours into Melbourne & flying back home. He really deserves credit for keeping his spirits up. His bike only had about 2,000km on it when he left home! We blame the Suzuki key-ring

which was duly tossed into the wilderness at the scene of the crime. (I bought him a cute little kangaroo keyring to replace it...)

And you have to be grateful for small mercies... We really did have the most fantastic days ride before he roo'd it! Doubt he'll ever experience that again.

Post by **sirch345** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 6:28 pm

VTRgirl,
Good on him for keeping his spirits up

I liked the Suzuki key-ring bit, although I'm sure the problem was the roo

How do you stand insurance wise when your bike gets written off because you hit a roo, do they still pay out

Chris.

VTRgirl · Post by **VTRgirl** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 10:44 pm

Yeah, they cough-up. I guess it'd be the same for you guys & deer? I don't think there's anything they won't pay out on unless they can prove the damage was deliberate. I think if you have canvassy tyres & one goes bang you might be up the proverbial creek too... That kind of thing. But I guess you'd just go & swap it for a mate's before you claim... hypothetically, of course...