AMTRA.com.au

 :D
THe gods must have been happy! Saturday started in very crisp style, a frost that looked just like a good cover of snow! I think in the video I am posting it will show the sheets of ice in the puddles! LOL Yep the ground was slick & cold.

Early rain during the week had settled the dust!  The Frost had seen the wet conditions form a nice hard layer on all the track & roads.

Our group of 17? I think was a mix of ride capabilities, all the guys were great to ride with. All fell victim to AMTRA ride humor! LOL But to recap one discussion I had during the day, "its nice to ride with a group that sticks together & ensures everyone get through"

Patrick has a fantastic knowledge of this ride area & had picked tracks to suit the average ride ability. But then thought better of that & challenged a few with some slick, red hills tracks. All got through, it wasn't pretty but they all got through.

The sun shone all day, the exposed tracks were grippy & fun, I had a ball blasting up some of the open ones. Pat knows one track I rate as A1, it flows for kilometers along ridge lines & its easily read. So you can have some fun! Right up to the point of finding some hidden 90 degree turns! LOL

Not sure on Km for the day as I didnt check my bike, but i think it was about 80 KM or so. Many thanks to Patrick for running this ride in this area as I think its under rated! Could be prejudice though as its local for me! BUt I know I had a ball & it seemed everyone had a great time with some fun challenges.

Nice to ride with all you guys. Catch you on the next one.

Cheers Pete      VIDEO up today  :P

My first ride in this area,I put my hand up to do the sweep, what better way to check out Pats play ground,you are right Peter, that ridge track was a blast,yes I agree this area is very much underrated,I had a ball on those slippery tracks, doing the sweep ya get to see every thing thats going on, a few in the group kept me entertained doing the slippery hill climbs, ;D

In my opinion, riders should have their bikes set up, like static sag & riding sag, when the bike is set up correctly you'll be amazed how better the bike is to ride & how much more grip you'll have, also in the real wet conditions like it was, I wouldn't run tyre pressures any higher then 8 pounds in the rear & 10 in the front, with uhd tubes.

Thanks Pat for putting it on,& everyone else for making it a great day.

Hi Frankie, yep I agree with your set up comments. I saw heaps of problems with suspension set ups yesterday As well as tyre pressures.

For that mater I think we could knock up some videos in the members section for new riders to look at that cover all the little things that sort your bike.

If there are any of the experienced guys out there who would like to offer their sane ideas, I think it would be helpful.

I will leave it to all the new riders or other level riders to comment if they want to have access to this sort of information.

Cheers Pete

With the making of videos, can we just get permission from DIRT ACTION magazine to place there core skills dvd on the web site.The one that comes out time to time with there mag.The last one (I am sure it was the one with hrc right up)covers changing a tyre,suspension set up,cleaning your filter,maintain your controls and oil change as I see these as something that all dirt bike owners need to know.
ps sounds like you all had a great ride cant wait to get back out there.
Darren

First video I have from this ride 2nd video added

Here's the link, sorry the YOUTUBE option here doesnt work anymore!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANFxnyk06NU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTx_sL2N6-8

Seems like a plan, saves a lot of work. Over to the committee

Good vid as always Pete. Noticed some advice added as well as your usual suttle commentary. Al

Good work with the clip, Pete.

And yeah, what is it with the feet?

Next time you are riding have a look how many riders have their feet out for no reason, It’s like following Humphrey Bear

Well done Pete on the vid, sounds like you were in your element hangin' it out !!! You've seen me ride, would it make a difference if i moved up to a 450 ?? I open this question to any rider ? Cheers, lefty...

What do you want a 450m for Lefto you never ride the 250 past half throttle , oh i get it get a 450 and ride it quater throttle to save more fuel and ride futher right ... Sorry mate you leftied the door wide open for that one  :D

Hey Lefty,
Do you feel that you are working the 250 towards its maximum a lot of the time? If so then yes you might benifit from a larger capacity bike. I know Shane Watts spoke about this at his rider training & felt a 250 was good for weight upto about 70-75kg & over that he felt they had to work too hard. So thats a power to weight ratio to think about.
But having said that Al rides his 250, up, over, under & around anything & never has an issue. I know Ive seen you ride up anything as well, so given that. You have to look at what you like to ride. Tight tech stuff is A1 on a 250, the 450 in that sort of stuff is more tiring. But that is the bike I have so I ride everything on it.
Chris rides a 450 RMX 4 speed & does all sorts of riding on it, I think it was way too well set up for supercross to be used on anything else, but thats what he owns so he has to do all sorts of riding on it.
After saying that Luke has a new 300KTM & I found it fantastic. Importanty you dont have to work hard to do a ride.
So there is no swift answer, if you want a squirt on my 450 next time we are out, just ask. Mine is prety well sorted & a whole lot of fun. Now that I have learned to ride it.

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Cheers Pete PS my bike is for sale soon!  8)

Good vid as always Pete. Noticed some advice added as well as your usual suttle commentary. Al

Haha yea I was hoping the sound track covered that bit up! LOL

Cheers Pete
Oh the new gym membership is getting a workout! LOL Bring on the 2 day

Lefty, take a 450 for a ride and work it out. I havn't ridden one i like enough yet to buy one. As Pete said you seem to ride up anything, and i should know between Nath and I we have thrown most of it at you. I worked my 250 fairly hard in the desert to achieve what the bigger bikes did with ease. But still did everything they managed. Im still keen to step up to a 310 like Nath's. I beleive if you can master a 250 in all conditions, it then makes it easier when you step up. And most people you see struggling on bigger bikes, seem to be the bike riding them before they have their skills in hand. Ive never found something my 250 hasn't got up or over, due to it been a 250. But i have run out of talent before and fail to get up and over something. Just my thoughts Lefty. Ask for a ride of something different and different bike of the same model and size change from rider settings? Al

In my younger days I used to race a 175 KTM, enduro's, desert rally's I never wanted anything bigger, they were plenty fast enough,now I'm older more cc's are good,with a few more cc's I don't have to work so hard....I don't want to say this to loud otherwise everyone will want one ;D you can't go past a Kato 300 2 stroker, love the 2 bangers.