Ride Reports

[flipper]

Desert Ride – a Novice’s perspective:

It was with a mix of excitement and apprehension that I made the long haul up to Rainbow on Friday afternoon in preparation for the 3-day desert ride.

This ride certainly included a few ‘firsts’ for me:

-   My first journey into desert terrain on a dirt bike
-   My first experience of riding in deep sand
-   My first multi-day ride
-   Oh, and my first outing on the old TT600 that was longer than 100kms
-   

The Desert

It was astounding to see so many paddocks of wheat and other green crops going right to the edge of the national park where the ride began. That dusty red soil must be very rich in nutrients for things to grow so well out there.


Gearing up, ready to start day 1

In the park itself, there is mostly scrubby terrain with no consistency in soil types – one minute it is sandy, the next you are riding over rocks, dust or slippery clay. The trees are stunted and twisted, with branches that overhang the track and try their best to unsaddle any unwary riders that pass below.

There is an abundance of wildlife out there – we saw roos, emus, lizards, snakes, and a few billion flies.


The Sand

Within a minute of leaving the cars, the tracks began to turn sandy. Suddenly, any semblance of steering vanished and the front wheel was grabbing and trying to make the bike nose-dive to the ground instead of travelling in a straight line. Naturally, I backed off the throttle, and the bike started tank-slapping instead as the front end nearly stopped dead in the deep sand.

I was watching the other guys scoot off into the distance, and here I was almost stationary!

I plodded along, almost dropping the bike every few metres as the front end fought to go left and right when I wanted it to go straight.

Then I arrived at my first corner – as I turned the bars, sand grabbed the front wheel and the bike stopped dead. Kick, kick, kick to get it fired up again and tried to start moving, only to have the steering turn to full lock again and the bike begin acting like a bulldozer with the front wheel at 90 degrees to the direction I wanted to go.

Somehow I managed to get rolling again by doing a pathetic attempt at fish-tailing, trying to follow the same direction of the front wheel as it flicked from side to side.

Next corner – try leaning more into it – wrong – front end tries to tuck underneath and only a quick dab with the foot keeps me upright.

Ok, what about leaning my weight to the outside (like on a quad bike) – wrong again, and I go spearing off the outside edge of the corner and into the scrub.

The tailman, Tayf was riding beside me, seeming to flow effortlessly over the very same sand that I was struggling with – how was that possible!!

After what seemed like an eternity, I made it to the rest of the group who were waiting at a track junction. Here I was given some tips about riding the sand – stand up, weight right back over the rear wheel, keep the front end light and don’t worry about the steering. Weight your pegs to turn, push straight through the edge of the wheel ruts if you need to – the sand will give way if the front is kept light. Oh, and raise the handlebars up a little more vertically.

Everyone headed off again, and I tried to put the advice into practice. Unfortunately, the ergonomics of the TT did not lend themselves well to me standing up. The low handlebars meant that when I tried, my upper body weight was still very much over the tank, rather than over the rear wheel. After trying to make it work for a few kays, I settled for sitting again with my backside at the rear of the seat – that certainly made things easier, and the front end was less washy.


Sand - my nemesis at this point

Now, I haven’t mentioned the ‘whoops’ yet – Evil, evil things that seemed to be spaced perfectly so that my bike became hugely unsettled by the time it hit every third one of them. That resulted in me backing off, causing the front wheel to catch in the sand and the rear end of the bike trying to pass the front.

My arms were aching by now from fighting to keep the bike straight and upright, so I was relieved to see the group again at the 15km mark, and although it saddens me to say it, I was glad there was a problem with one of the bikes, as it meant I would get a longer chance to recover.


Tim's bike with gearbox issues

Unfortunately, the problem was gearbox related, and was deemed terminal for Tim’s (our ride leader) bike, so the backup vehicle was called in for a recovery. Tayf kindly offered up his YZ250F so that Tim could continue to lead the ride and took a seat in the 4WD.

Not long after leaving the 4WD, the tracks opened out, and I was able to pick up the pace in the straighter sections. I discovered that with my weight back, the bike would start to magically ‘float’ above the soft sand as the speed increased to around 80km/h. Finally, here was the missing ingredient – speed, momentum, velocity, thrust, call it what you like, but it suddenly transformed the TT from a beached whale into a featherweight bantam. By the end of that section, I was passing others and hitting 110km/h at times. I still fell to pieces in the corners though, and managed to go back to wallowing though most of them.

Over the course of the 3 days, my ability to deal with the sand improved, and I found that increasing the rebound damping on the rear shock helped immensely with the whoops. On day 3, along the Border track, I was actually enjoying them!

By the end of the ride, I had even started to nail the sandy corners (again, by being more aggressive), so I figure that I have earned my stripes, and can no longer be considered a desert ‘novice’.


The Ride

Tim’s organisation of this ride was faultless. He has a great knowledge of the district, and showed us some terrific tracks throughout the 670kms that we travelled over the 3 days.

Staying in pubs each night was lovely. It gave us a chance to shower, get changed into normal clothes, and unwind without the pressures of getting a campsite set up. The pub meals were pretty reasonable in price and quality too.


Overnight stay at Ouyen

Lunch breaks were our main meeting points with the 4WD backup vehicle. We refuelled ourselves and the bikes in one hit. Many thanks go to Al and Eddie for having such a welcome meal waiting for us each time.


BBQs for lunch

Hattah railway track – my first encounter with both whoops AND corners at the same time. And let’s not forget the low hanging tree branches waiting to take off your head if you get the timing of the whoops wrong. I dropped the poor TT a couple of times on this track, and one stage it kept running whilst on it’s side, slowly ‘bopping’ itself around in a shallow circle in the sand with the sidecover as a pivot point.


Fuelling up after the Hattah rail track

Sunset track – Open, fast, and with a mix of sand, hard-packed soil, and long skid marks into overshot corners!
A good, fun, ‘go nuts’, type of track!


Clarky on his HusaKTM on Sunset track


Our ride leader Tim on Tayf's YZ250F

Border track (part 1) - This track started out as whooped out pair of sandy ruts through the grassland and paddocks heading into Pinnaroo. It was directly after this section of track that I finally realised that my rear shock rebound was too fast, and I probably would have enjoyed this part of the track far more if I had done the rebound adjustment before riding it.


Our venue for the overnight stay at Pinnaroo

The (proper) Border track – a deep white/grey sand track the width of a 4WD. There are no real trees out here, so why the hell does this track need bends in it! There’s even a dead-straight fence line as a guide to getting it right!!!  For me, this track was a fantastic blast once the corners were left behind. I even got airborne over the blind crests of a few dunes!  This is a great track!


Border track - believe it or not, there are curves and bends

There was also a fast sandy track heading away from the SA border that had some interesting features, huge dugouts caused by bogged 4WDs, and my favourite – mallee roots. These little devils hid in the edge of the sandy ruts until you got close and then popped out in front of bike, causing a massive deflection. It was one of these roots that caught out our tailman, Clarky and shot him off into a barbed wire fence. Thankfully, the body armour saved him from any serious injury, but his helmet suffered some deep gouges from the fencing wire.


The Bike

For its age, I though the old TT600 did an admirable job in the desert. It is an ‘80’s era bike, so nearly 30 years of technology has been applied to the machines that surrounded it on this ride.

It held its own on the open straighter sections, but the long fork rake and antiquated ergonomics made it handful in the tighter conditions. There were many times that I was wishing that I had taken my YZ250 instead.

However, the TT was very reliable. It started easily each time, even when dropped (and that happened a few times too many), and nothing broke, fell off, or wore out. The fuel economy was even better than I’d expected, especially as I’d richened up the jetting just prior to the ride. The thick seat was very comfy, even sitting right at the back of it.

Would I take the TT on another desert ride? – Probably not – I think the modern bikes are much better suited.


Packing up for the long drive home again - just a few blisters (and some scuffed stickers on the TT) to show for it

Thanks to all the lads who came along on the trip and helped to make it such an enjoyable time. Special thanks to Al and Eddie for being there as our support crew. And a huge thanks to Tim for putting together a fantastic 3-day adventure into the desert outback.


Peter D

BTW, if you think my report was a bit long-winded, have a try talking to Al’s mate ‘Eddie’ some time…now there's a guy that can turn any sentence into a paragraph.

[Alwr]

Great report and pics Pete!!!!
Im guessing we will see you out there again next year??
Once you've done one of Tim's desert rides the bug either hits you or sends you running. And as for a multi day ride leader Tim would have to be one of the best.
Hope to join you on next years ride.
Al

[Timmers]

The troops mustered as planned at the Rainbow pub on Friday night. Leisurely start as we needed to wait for the brekky joint to open and off to the edge of the desert where we leave the cars. Gear up and off we go. First regroup after about 7 kms we are all grinning and Peter comes out with "I have never ridden anything like this before". About another 8 kms into our travels I come upon Tim stopped on the track. Dead bike - gearbox shat itself.  I ride on to bring Darren back whilst those who know what they are doing commence some open heart surgery. No good - she's dead. Tayf being a top bloke gave up his bike for Tim so Tim could lead on. Thanks heaps Tayf - your a top bloke. Uneventful rest of the day just playing in the sand and the tracks to Ouyen - about 275 kms for the day. A couple of beers and the publican mentions that we should order soon as they are expecting anything up to 150 people at the pub that night from the nearby local horse race meet. Sure enough in they rolled liquored up and full of fun. Timmers you should have been there as the local lasses were dressed to kill and even Miss Race Day was there proudly wearing her banner. Most of us had an early night - Peter was stuffed and was in bed by about 7:30. Some others didn't get into the cot until about 7 hours later. Next day quick brekky and check of the bikes and off to Pinnaroo. The railway track first was a blast and about 20 odd kms longer this year which took us to a shortish transport section and then into more of the same as the railway track for a very long time. Totally stuffed and only mid morning. Transport for a while and then into a fast fantastic tree tunnelled track that leads us to the Border Track. blast down the Border Track grinning that much my face was hurting. Into Pinnaroo, couple of cleaners, fine feed and bed. Not far short of 300 kms for the day. Bakery for brekky and onto the sandy tracks for the day which were purely sensational. Trouble is I found a Mallee root which sent me flying and landing into a wire fence. Picked myself up, untangled the bike from the fence which was no easy task, took a breather - and some photos- up straighten up all sorts of bent stuff, back onto the bike and away again. All good. Another delightful lunch in the pit. Big thanks to Al, Eddie and Tayf for the lunches, support and the laughs. Rode back to the cars along the remaining sensational tracks to the cars arriving about 3 pm and another 175 kms. Have I mentioned how much fun it is riding in the sand ?  Huge thanks once again to Tim for putting on a well organised, heaps of fun ride over 3 days. Load the bikes and a leisurely drive home. Top bunch of blokes and huge fun.

Spewing I missed out going this year but other commitments plagued me.
If i knew 100 enebreated sexy clad women were going to be at the pub...  I probably would of come! Hahaha

Sounds  like the ride was a success good on you Tim Dykes and thanks to tafe!