I have read some of the comments here with interest, and since I was with Terbang and our mate for all of the ride (up until they disappeared back up towards SH22) I made some observations...

1. It was the first time that our mate (lets give him a hypothetical name... Bob) had ridden with anyone but himself since owning his bike. He was pretty excited to be heading out onto a fairly unfamiliar road with his 2 mates on a ride

2. Whilst Bob and I were in transit to Terbangs place, I noticed while he was following me, that he was occupying the exact same "tyre track" as myself - I thought to myself "this wont be pretty if I have to stop in a hurry, for whatever reason" - One thing I have learnt from this site, and the other guys/gals I have been fortunate enough to ride with, is the the staggered formation approach, this gives you an out if you need it, by having that little bit of extra distance available in front. The "Group Riding" DVD from the ACC also pays particular attention to this as well.

3. In all honesty, and knowing Bob like I do, I think there was a small element of "having to prove something" to his mates. Now, given my relative lack of riding experience, its not really my place to tell him how he should or shouldnt ride... Bob has a fairly lively amount of experience, and I personally have trouble telling my "elders" how to do things when it comes to this motorcycling habit of mine...

Thats just a few things I noticed - the main thing, in my view, was the state of SH22, and given the sun position at this time of year, there are a heap of gullies that never see any sun, are damp, have mossy patches, pine needles etc ... and this required a lot more attention to my riding than the last time I rode it.
As Terbang pointed out in his first post, I decided I had had my fill of SH22 for one day, and my sensible side won out on the day, with a leisurely ride up SH1 to Mercer - and from there the story unfolded...

my 2c worth