So now it was simply a matter of getting back to Melbourne. Sylvain looked at me, I looked at him, he looked at my lovely shiny VTR250...Kim and Sue started laughing.

"Looks like you're going 2-up on the Honda."

It was a very long ride back to the Melbourne. We nearly got blown off the road every time a semi-trailer went past, and Sylvain was frustrated by a lack of horse-power, somehow the VTR’s 32hp, 23.5Nm torque just didn't match the 118hp and 100Nm of torque the Speed Triple could punch out...and so he perfected the art of the slingshot. Yep, just like the movie Talladega Nights, Sylvain would creep up to the car in front, hide in the slipstream, and then find the 4th-gear sweet spot on a downhill turn to rocket past at a speed at least 5km/hr faster than the vehicle being overtaken. Ahh, good times...

7am Monday morning and we were back on the road to Halls Gap, this time with a rather large trailer and a Commodore. After making it past the caravan parade that came streaming past us in the opposite direction, we rolled back into the caravan park, and so began the last charge of the Triumph for the weekend. Sue, Kim and Sylvain made fast and thorough work of the loading and tie-down so by early afternoon we were ready to rock 'n' roll....

"Can you still see it?"

"Yes, it's still in the trailer behind us."

"What about now?"

"Yep, still there."

"It looks ok?"

*sigh*

Needless to say we were tailgated the entire way home by a very tall, very red, Triumph Speed Triple.

And so the ballad of Sylvain is told...thanks for reading!

Kate

PS - I would gratefully like to acknowledge all the efforts of Kim and Sue, for helping us get everything sorted, for a lovely lunch but most of all for their smiles and support. Thanks to Ron (for future note to others, Bluetac is rendered an awful sticky substance when mixed with fuel) and thanks also to the mystery couple, two-up on the red tourer, who offered the use of their van to get the bike to Ararat if all else failed.

No fix today Up on the trailer Locked and loaded

Time to rock ‘n’ roll Rear view mirror Finally on the way home