Well, A mate had to pick up a 1198S from the city just after lunch today, so I decided to take the arvo off and join him for a short strop through the hills on the way back to his place up near Lake Eildon. It was an opportunity to really test out the new textile suit, prior to going away on a big trip and finding it lacking while away with no choice but to put up with it. Oh...and I was also lucky enough to be able to do 50k's on the new 1198s as well!!!! More on that later!
The forecast was for more crap, much like Sunday and it didn't dissapoint!!! It did provide an excellent test bed though. It's not often you are going to have to ride through 4 degree temps and pissing rain, so it was a test in the extreme!
We met at Ducati Melbourne @ 1pm and cruised out of town towards the tullamarine Fwy. We linked up to the ring rd and took that till it's end, where we turned left for Diamond Ck. The plan was a run up the St Andrews Rd (kinglake Nat Pk Rd), turn left at the top of the hill, through to Kinglake West and then up to Yea via Flowerdale and Strath Ck. We were then going to run across the Whangregaran Rd (Molesworth Rd) to His place at eildon. It didn't end up being all that however, as an impromptu requirement for fuel, had us backtracking to get to a fuel stop before the Duck ran dry!
We climbed the hill from St Andrews to Kinglake and about half way up the weather closed in and it started pissing down. At that point, I couldn't have imagined how shitty it must have been for my mate on the Duck, with it's race oriented ride position. A later ride by me confirmed this!!!
We got to the top and rode through the devastated community of Kinglake. Halfway to Kinglake West, my mate pulls alongside me and points to the tank!! I stopped a little bit up the road and asked what range he had left...20 klms was the answer!! It wa about that down to Whittlesea, so I decided to head for there, rather than trying to milk it till Yea. We would never have made it! So down to Whittlesea we rode. the roads dried out about 1/3 of the way down, enough for us to have a decent play. My mate was a little cold, so we headed into town and grabbed a warm drink, inside a warm cafe!!
While chatting, he mentioned he had seen an old ute for sale on the way into Whittlesea, so after the drink and his bones thawing out, we jumped back on the bikes and headed back up the road we had just ridden down, top check it out.
I decided at this point to can the Yea Molesworth loop, as he wanted to be back before dark. It was at this point, that he motioned towards the new 1198S sitting quietly by the rd on it's side stand. "Want to ride the Duck" he asked! Oh......OK....you talked me into it was the reply. I normally don't ride other peoples bikes, but, this guy is a good mate, so I relented. I can handle having to fix a good mates bike, as they would know, that if I did bin it, there would be a pretty fucking good reason for it, rather than me being a twat!!! So we went back up the hill and across to Kinglake, with me riding the 1198!!! I gotta say, as a track bike, it would be a fucking hard thing to pass! I'll post up some impressions in a seperate thread.
From there we travelled across to Toolangi and then down the Myers Ck rd. and despite what Mal says, it's in good nick and is much cleaner than the Chum Ck Rd. That chum ck rd always has a stack of mud everywhere, from 4X4 drivers who drive out of the bush and onto the rd. It's slimy, slippery clay when it's wet and is pretty much like riding on ice. So it was nice to run down Myers Ck rd without all that do deal with on top of the howling rain!
The road dried out towards the bottom and we tucked into some bend swinging. My mate is handy enough and was 1198S mounted, so it was a great run down. At Healesville we parted company, with time getting away from us. I backtracked through Yarra Glen and the Christmas Hills, before popping back into town through templestowe and arrived back about 5.30pm having covered around 350klms door to door!
Now at this point, you may be wondering where is the report on the new suit. Well, the best thing I can say, is that I didn't even notice it. I was warm, dry and bloody comfortable. Regardless of if I was on or off the bike!! I even walked a klm or so down to a cafe in town while waiting for my mate, and back up, without getting all sweaty! I think part of the reason it works so well, is that the Goretex minimises body sweat. This means that once back on the bike, there is no moisture against the skin to become chilled from the wind.
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me" Hunter S. Thompson.
There are really only two questions in life. 1.Which way do i go? 2.What is the lap record?
by Strika » Tue Apr 28, 2009 8:52 am 
