Full Moon Ride - Lake Mountain

squizzy wrote:He might go to the dark side and get an outfit, so some good can come of it! Cheers Ian

Ah, no. Not as a primary bike anyway.

Hi Mick, I was speaking with Richard on the weekend and he still had a sore shoulder, so he was lucky. He might go to the dark side and get an outfit, so some good can come of it! Cheers Ian

Very happy to hear you weren't 'written off' as well, can't say I'm thrilled about riding any more than necessary after dark, however, I can see the appeal in a ride of this nature, just hope your insurance is adequate and you don't end up severely out of pocket for the want of an otherwise enjoyable ride.
Hindsight would suggest an encounter with an animal after dark, so I guess it was lucky more didn't end up as part of this accident.
Regards Mick.

Bike is a write off, bent rear footpeg mount which is part of the frame.

I wish I knew who r055 is cause that was such a good ride report. So glad the ever important TEC was ok.

So what happens every time there is a full moon, you guessed it, all the crazy people come out !!!  

Yep that's right crazy people and that's what happened when Derek put on the recent Full Moon ride.  

Ten crazy people on motorcycles gathered at the BP in Montrose and headed off towards Lake Mountain.

Derek, with Sally in the chair lead the way, stopping briefly in Millgrove, before heading up the Reefton Spur.  This part of the ride was just perfect, the sun was slowly sinking in the west and light from the rising moon made the trees on our right flank look tall like giant celery sticks.  As the dusk turned into darkness and the evening air cleared your head and sharpened our senses, you could hear motorcycle engines roaring as they've gleefully sucked in the night air.

                   

Once we reached Lake Mountain, everybody had Cheshire grins and we grouped together looking for some shelter from the cool breeze that whistled across the moon lit car park.  As luck would have it, the door leading to the Chalet public conveniences was (left) open and after staggering around with torches, some bright "sparkie" actually found the light switch, then everybody sat on the floor and shared thermos' of coffee, nuts, chocolate other saddle bag goodies.  [I'm sure the security camera footage, when viewed the next day would have given someone a laugh]

Then before the moon shadows grew too long, it was time to head for the Golden Arches in Lilydale, and as everybody rolled out of the car park our descent to Marysville was tempered by common sense and a safe braking margin as the moonshine flickered through the trees.  Those familiar with the Black Spur,  didn't  hesitate and quickly passed a few tintops en route to Healesville.  

Then whilst scooting along the "daytime" boring bit from Healesville to Lilydale the Full Moon
Ride took on another dimension.  Yep, you can't help luck good or bad; because a pair of kangaroos, out for full moon cavort of their own, didn't see our TEC.   Sadly our TEC had little time to react and cleaned up the first roo and a split second later the second kangaroo was hit by a car.  

What happened to our TEC you ask, well after hitting the roo he also hit the deck, thankfully he was wearing all the correct riding gear and got up quickly, his steed was ridable, but may have an uncertain future!

So the full moon ride had a sobering end and after midnight as everybody departed for home, I'm sure each of us was glad our TEC was OK.  

That said, the thrill and adventure of motorcycling outweighs any risk, so we'll see you on the next Full Moon ride.  Thanks Derek & Richard.

r055