Nana was pleased that everyone (with maybe one exception) behaved sensibly, and got home safely!
The absence of the 300kph Litre Maniac Club was not missed, and this has confirmed my suspicion that rides should for safety be grouped by bike size/power.
Without the 600+ bikes to "egg people on" it was very noticeable that the 250 riders were quite comfortable at sensible speeds (between legal limit and licence losing). I noticed that the only times when people seemed to want to get carried away were when the 600 sprotsbike that was along went by at highish speed. He was actually behaving well , but just the "Ohh, look at him go, gee I wish I could go that fast" factor seemed to bring on less cautious riding for a bit. That, and a couple of other things not appropriate to mention here have made me reconsider my thinking about the wisdom of capacity restrictions for the inexperienced.
I do not know if it was the absence of big sprotsbikes (I think it was) but it was also very noticeable that riders were being quite slow and cautious in the corners. I saw nothing that would cause Nana alarm. There were a few instances where inexperience got people into difficulties, but they all emerged safely , albeit a bit shaken. I suspect that if there had been a contingent of bike sprotsbikes the "must keep up factor" would have meant that those instances would have turned into crashs.
As it was , everybody rode within their own limits and I think felt comfortable doing so. Which was fortunate in a way for me, since poor Ratty was well outclassed amongst all the 4 cylinders with twice his horsepower. But the slow pace in the twisty bits meant that if I got left behind on the straight bits I could catch it up on the corners without having to exceed Nana's immensely cautious safety margins.
Pity about the rain but I think it was the right decision, there were learners along and tackling tricky roads in the wet could have been unwise.
After the ride broke up at Kaucop, I went off on a wee exploration of my own to Mosquito Bay. No I'd never heard of it either, and wouldn't know now what it was called if there had not been a sign board. Disappointing but, 70km of (quite interesting) seal, 10km of gravel (bad gravel at that, I prefer less loose metal , 16 inch front wheel doesn't deal well with that) , just to finish up in a carpark. I hate it when that happens. "Walking track to beach". Bah, humbug.
Thank you Mr Swanny for organising it, well done all who participated , safe enjoyable riding.
Originally Posted by skidmark
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