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Daves view of the 2008 hcr

Well in the up and coming weeks to the ride i kept looking at the bike
saying i should service it, after about a week of this i pulled my finger
out and got to it, New oil, tyre pressures full net and bolt check
tank off rocker cover off to check the tappets, all good no loose bolts tappets still
good as new. Go the new yamy

It was Thursday night Rowen and I loaded up the car at about 4ish, on the road up there was very little traffic and only 2 speed cameras.

We got to abbeyard about 11:30 i think, where damo and brad had set up some quick shades for up to roll our swags out under.

Unloaded the car and had a wonder around, said hello to the people on the hill, after a few cans and some gas bagging i decided to hit the hay.



Friday


Bright and early start in the morning went and caught up with a few of the other boys and somehow got convinced into riding the Saturday loop ...

So we geared up and off we went there was about 8 of us?
All blue only one ktm

The dust was terrible we got fairly spaced out so not to need new lungs by the end of the day
we rand the normal corner man system with a few of the boys checking the route sheets again
all flowed pretty smoothly for the day, We had 2 punchers and a few get offs (not me)

lunch at bright and returned to abbeyard we did about 180km
 

Once back I changed my tyre to a bran new bidgy 404, thinking ive never tried this tyre before and being in the high country im thinking good?? Bad???
See how much is left after tomorrow


Next it was down to help out with dimmys and beer
and not just eating and drinking them... :-)

More and more people come in the projector was going, the beer was flowing and people
were having a great time.

There was never a queue at the dunnies, and Kenny was with the truck all night attending to it if required, (what a poo of a job Lol) nahh he did great

By the end of the night it was me and Dennis Kelly left, After running out of bourbons and beer we decided it would be a good idea to get some sleep so we wondered over to turn of the genny, hard to find the thing.
How quiet was the one we got this year we will have to put this in the book to get the same one next year!!



Saturday

 


Up bright and early for breaky, great job from all the breaky crew!!!!!!
Geared up and away we went with the cameras, there was 6 of us with cameras of sorts
we stopped on Shultz track for the first film spot for the day

we had heaps of stops for the day, you people know who are the film stars :-)
Check out the web site to order you DVD www.vinamtra.com.au

filled up in bright and off to clear spot, Firstly i went up the hard hill witch the hard part was getting around all the people spread out over the hill, at the top i found Rowen with the camera had a chat and then i went down to film the easy way.

At the easy hill people were making it not look to easy, so up i went and out with the camera brad caught up with me at this stage and he got a heap of stills shots, they will be on the web as soon as i get them off brad.
After about a hour of filming fantastic crashed and great monos up the hill we moved of to lunch, once again a great lunch by the school
great roll,cake,drink,fruit it was perfect, the cake was even good on the Sunday
i kept my bit for then it didn’t look like cake but it tasted like it lol

We headed back to abbeyard with some more filming and photos, the battery was running low
so i kept it for camp creek.
We used up the rest of the video at camp creek where we caught 3 bikes having a swim
and then we headed back to abbeyard.

 

Sunday (pack the snow jacket)

 

Up early again with the back a bit tight from 2 days riding already it was a slower exit from the swag, but soon fired up into gear and it was off to brad to get a new tape for the camera for the day

Down to get breaky, sitting down in the huge tent as it raining on and off as it has been since 9 pm Saturday night I was quite happy I fitted the new rear tyre.

After breaky I geared up and grouped up with the others where brads xr wasn’t starting so I jumped on and roll started it down the hill in the end we got it to go.

Brad and I headed to the first hill, which was straight off the road up razor track

Passed Brad and Rowen with the cameras, Brad and I parked up further on the hill, it was bloody cold and wet standing there waiting for the bikes to come.

Then it was on mud flying everywhere it was a hoot bikes snapping sideways power sliding up the hill, after a few bikes we mover on to the next spot.

I got up this hill where 2 guys were having trouble so instead of helping them I got the camera out and filmed them hehehe , I was helping to better there riding by filming them so they could look back at what they were doing wrong….
After a bit they got up and a few boys came back the wrong way, they had had enough of the slipping and sliding in the mud. I tried to convince them to keep going but to no avail, told them to go very slow back and remember there’s 248 more riders coming (I found out that was wrong ill tell you later)

I got to the end of Razor track and there was about 40 people their talking and telling crash stories it was carnage for some and great times for others.

I headed off up to phone home hill met up with Rowen on the way, we then did out usual filming routine down to wonengata station were Damien, Dwight, Peter and Charles were

Looking after a nice warm fire, they managed to score a crf 250 that had some valve issues.

They had the bbq cooking some snags, we couldn’t steal any food off them so we kept going, It was good to see most of the people went and has a look at the old station and ruins, a lot of you have probly heard of the widow maker hill, well that’s where it is!!

Back on the bike with probly the most slippery section for the day it was an absolute blast, one moment the whole bike would be in a drift then it would grab a little rut and then lay it over give it the gas and power slide the rest of the way, It was about now I thought stuff my new tyre this is to much fun!!

I think it was Humphreys track we turned down and there was river crossing and another and another and another well you get the idea, We found a guy with seized wheel bearings and we did what we could which was not much we give him our used pages of route sheets so he could get his fire lit, it was going but I think it would have taken about 4 hours to cook 2 minute noodles with the temperature of the day and being stuck in a river bed it was freezing.

We came to a snotty hill it wasn’t a big hill just enough to make it hard if you stuff up in the slightest you will know about it, I ripped out the camera and the first lot of victims were coming up the first guys in the right rut with one coming up behind and one in the left

The 2 guys on the right made if up mind you the guy behind will be picking mud out of his eyes for weeks the guy on the left went bush with the bike, Its amazing how it can be on the track one second then 1 meter up the bank the next.

Once at the end of the track we turned onto water spur track, Now this hill we had some trouble with a hurt rider last time and tim gave everyone a good warning with it..

There was a hunter on the just coming down who said he managed to just clip a drz when he was sliding down out of control, Putting bad thoughts in my head I thought only one way up so wound on the throttle kept the feet on the pegs and up I went stopped a few times with the camera till I ran out of battery’s I took 2 today and they both ran out

Might have been the cold?

 

Nearly at the to and im thinking its getting colder next thing I know its snowing!!! We were riding and snowflakes were building up on the goggles…

As much as it was cold it was great, its things like that that will make you never forget the ride!!

We got to the top were the check point was, We warmed up by there fire for 5 min then headed of,
I couldn’t see 20 meters in front of me the fog and snow was that bad, Up the next tack it was a magic sight the wheel tracks in the snow you could throw away your rout sheet you could see the way to go as clear as day
there were a lot of extra trracks were people couldnt stop for corners and went straight ahead Lol.
The biggest problem was all the snow on the goggles.

Thinking it was very hard to film people for the day everyone was too spread out we actually figured it out later as to why. Only 130 out of 250 riders went out on the Sunday, but it dose show how rain can change a ride level from level 2+ to clubman +

As we got lower down the hill to the heli pad then to the top of Shultz track we could feel our fingers again then the pace picked up me and Rowen got into a bit of a race probly not the best place but it warmed us up in the process a bit unaware we left brad behind, We got to the end of Shultz track and we waited for brad……we waited more… Found out he had a bit of a off and busted up his bark busters and had a few more attempts at the hill the he was all good

Once we all cleaned the goggles we headed back to abbeyard, most of the people had cleared out after having their lunch and packing up they still had a long drive ahead.
(Me and the 3 others i went up with didnt get home till 2:30am)

Thanks to all the amtra members who helped out for the 2008 hcr

And the weatherman for the rain and snow on Sunday

Hope all the entrants had a blast I know I did

 

Cheers Dave Smith