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Written by:
Neale Bayly
08/02/2008 - 01:25 PM
Charlotte, North Carolina
Bayly's ride for the trip in 1978 was Yamaha XV1000. (Photo: David Peach) ยป More Photos
During the course of our lives, there are certain people and places that make a permanent imprint on our soul, leaving us with pleasant, lasting memories that can be replayed at times of quiet reflection. As the years pass, these memories tend to grow rosier, provoking the question: “Is it prudent to go back, or are these memories better left alone?” With these thoughts competing with the 600 mph roar of the Australia bound Boeing 747, I closed my eyes and drifted back to my first visit to the land down under.
The year was 1987, and I was piloting a Yamaha XV1000 through the twisting suburbs of Sydney. Ahead, my buddy David Peach was riding his immaculately restored 900SS Ducati. We had met six months earlier in San Francisco while traveling around the world in different directions. Dave had been driving to New York to take a plane to Europe; I was booked on a flight to Japan. Now we were riding together in Sydney, and cresting the hill at Kurrajong on the Bell Line of Road Dave was hard on the gas, as I ducked down to give chase. In a few days I would leave to ride around Australia, and Dave would go to work on becoming a successful businessman. But that was a few days away, and with some serious curves to straighten out, it
The squeal of stationary airplane tires hitting the moving runway jolted me back to the present, and within an hour the sun was burning its way into my bones as I waited for ground transport to Sydney. I was back in Australia to ride Yamaha’s new R1 at the Eastern Creek racetrack with the world’s press, and had a two-day ride with Dave planned afterward.
The day of the test, the weatherman was promising 115 degrees. No worries, the track was awesome, the bike out of this world, and around mid-morning Dave arrived. He had lost some hair, which was now peppered with gray, and everything was closer to the floor, but the “G’day mate” smile and handshake were unchanged. Dave is a regular track rat at Eastern Creek, and trying to jam nearly two decades and the best way round the track into my 30-minute rest period, I knew immediately it was a good decision to go back. Both self-employed with kids, we are also both still fiercely passionate about motorcycles.
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