Willbar
Full Member 2013/2014
Posts: 2825
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« on: May 12, 2009, 11,48:36 AM » |
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Time to get back on the bike after 23 years break…. Joined AMTRA, attended my 1st club meeting and decided that the best first AMTRA outing for me should be a leisurely level 1 / 2 cruise around Toolangi / Marysville state forest with Phil Randall and Club members who are game to go riding on Mothers Day…
Arrived around 8.30am and found 4 club members already there, following my arrival 2 more members joined us. Around 9.00am Phil gave us a quick rider briefing and with Leo taking the rear for the AM we set off. A short trip up the road and into one of Phil's trails to work the men out from the boys, and my goggles and glasses begin fogging up and I was overheating badly…. next minute with no vision, lost the front wheel in the slippery stuff and found myself laying face first in the mud.
Ditch my goggles and jacket to eliminate the overheating and with help from Leo and Geoff got the bike back to the main forest trail.
I continued up the main trail as Phil and the others cut the corners going over the single trails and I would meet them at the end of these trails.
We then reached one where Leo and Chris informed us that it was a single trail hill climb and that we should attempt it in 2nd gear… I almost got to the top but lost momentum and traction when I dropped back to first gear and got stuck. I turned around and explored the trail below in the hope of finding the trail that the others were on but didn’t… Leo came and got me and we returned to the start of the hill climb trail to be met by Phil and the other 5 guys. We then headed in the other direction to explore some great slippery up and downhill trails and some great tricky sections where I was able to fine tune my light braking skills and picking the best lines in very slippery sections.
We found a lot of the tracks and trails had trees blocking our paths but we managed to go around most, but we did have to turn back on a couple where there was just to many fallen trees as a result from the bushfires.
Everything was going well by mid to late morning when Geoff had a nasty fall causing a fair injury to his right knee.
After a bit of a rest Phil led us on more challenging trails including a great single trail through a large burnt out area where we had to either jump over fallen trees or make new trails around them, which would eventually lead us to Marysville cake shop for lunch.
After Lunch Geoff retired with his sore knee and with Phil leading us and Wade taking the rear for the PM, the six of us set off exploring our way through the forest including the steepest rocky trail I have ever seen or experienced… it seemed to go on for ever and as we approached the top there was a large burnt out tree laying across the trail. With some clear room to the left of the tree, the guys made it through, then it came to me…I clipped a large rock on the trail sending the bike into the burnt out section of the tree and turning me into a tree hugger as I landed face first on the tree.
Chris, Wade and Robert helped get the bike out of the tree and get it going again. We continued on exploring more trails and dodging more fallen trees and branches and eventually reaching Narbathong to refuel for the trip back.
After refuelling, we checked out a guys’ new Ducati 1198 which, at $32000.00 on the road, he had added a further $8000.00 of trick bits to the bike… but it will lift the front wheel in every gear and has traction control and lots of other gadgets and lefts us all wondering about the affect of the world global recession, perhaps no one informed him of it.
Anyway we set off from there to make our way back to the vehicles but Phil had to have a pit stop to drain his carby's fuel bowl, as the bike was starting to miss fire.
He took us back via the hill I failed on earlier, so with more advice and guidance from Leo and the rest of the guys; this time I hit it hard in first gear and just powered the old 600 straight to the top.. what a great feeling!!! Phil told us it would be easier late in the day I think he was just setting us another challenge. We continued to explore more single trails and more challenges when late in the day and about 30klms from the car park my throttle cable snapped.
With the help of Leo and Wade we got the seat and tank off and I started to swap the push cable for the broken pull cable when the other 3 guys returned looking for us. We got it back together to find the cable liner was too short causing the throttle to stick open, so in a combined effort, we shortened the outer liner with great care not to damage the inner cable, we managed to make the bike rideable even though the accelerator would still stick slightly, more so on turns. We made our way back via the main logging trails with Wade and Leo getting a scare as they met a logging truck coming around a blind corner. We got back to the car park safely just after 5.00pm.
Phil gave us a great day full of challenges and places I have never seen before.
Being a new member I was very grateful and impressed with the 6 guys who went out of their way to look out for me, help me and pass on their riding skills, knowledge and encouragement to get me through the day. Big thanks for a great day!!!
Will Munro A.K.A Fatboy.
Riders List
Phil R Honda CRM250
Chris Mc Yamaha WR450F
Robert F Honda XR250
Will M Honda XR600
Leo G Honda CR450
Wade E KTM
Geoff W Kawasaki
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