Page 25 - March 2022 Exhaust Notes

March 2022 Exhaust Notes - Edition No 311

Timboon Ride Report— 09/03/2022

Report by Peter Townsend

15 riders assembled at Waurn Ponds Maccas carpark to take part in today’s ride – we actually
had 16 however “Dodgy” apparently doesn’t look at the Ride Calendar (you know, the one that
Mark puts heaps of time and effort in keeping up to date!) and thought today was just a Wed.
morning coffee ride. So then he decided to join the ride till our coffee stop at Forrest and then
at the last moment contented himself with just doing a lap of the carpark and then heading
home – ah, sometimes you gotta wonder what goes through the mind of BMW riders!?
Anyway, after outlining our plan of attack and a happy snap taken by our “official” club
photographer “the Lens” (– yes folks, he’s retired again!) we mounted up and headed offski
with Raff (on a brand new and highly desirable matt black Triumph Speed Twin) volunteering
to have the longest ride of the day!

We headed out on the Colac road, and after regrouping at the truck and rest stop on the
freeway continued on roads well travelled through Moriac, Deans Marsh, Pennyroyal, Barwon
Downs and into Forrest for our morning stop at Platypi Chocolate. Weather was a coolish 18
degrees but dry with a fairly gusty South Easterly breeze to help us along.

After morning coffee (and in some cases deconstructed hot chocolate – whatever that is!?)
Wayne headed home and 14 of us continued on through Barramunga and Tanbryn where we
stopped to regroup before tackling Turton’s Track. Unfortunately it didn’t occur to me to let
Raff know that Wayne was leaving the group at Forrest, so Raff held back waiting for Wayne
to hit the road, only to see him eventually head off in the opposite direction to everyone else!
(As I mentioned before, sometimes you wonder what goes through the mind of BMW riders!)
Raff then had to play “catch up” to join us at the start of Turton’s Track – as a ride leader you
live and learn!

Turton’s Track was its usual damp, slippery, leaf and bark littered, adrenalin inducing ride
that keeps you on high alert for 15 Klms or so, and we regrouped at the end of the track to
make sure all was well. As we were about to head off again, a logging truck came towards us
and headed down the track – perfect timing from a very relieved ride leader! (I did a “reccy” of
the ride route last week and encountered one of these trucks coming towards me on the track
– these truck are bloody long and wide and the track is bloody narrow – it almost caused a “
wish I had brought a change of underwear” moment!)

We headed down to Lavers Hill where we joined the GOR and on past Princetown where we
turned right on the Princetown Rd and then cut across undulating dairy farm country
eventually finding Timboon, via Melrose Rd and Cooriemungle Rd. Parking in the IGA
supermarket car park we attacked the local bakery for lunch which we then had in a small

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