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markjudkins
Full Member 2013/2014
Posts: 49
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« Reply #2 on: November 24, 2013, 11,39:44 PM » |
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Goughs Bay Ride 23/11/2013
I rolled into the BP at Mansfield at 08:20 Saturday morning. Six eager guys just finishing of their coffee and breakfasts were waiting for me.
I noticed Anthony in particular had taken heed of his mother’s advice about a hearty breakfast and was polishing off a white confectionary type bun with pink icing. Very manly.
Introductions done, we headed of in convoy to our starting point, just off Walshe Road heading towards the Pines near Goughs Bay.
Unload bikes, suited up, quick pep talk and we are off. Weather conditions are perfect. Probably around 20 degrees, blue skys, bit dry and dusty.
First off was Allens Peak track. This has recently been graded and has some massive erosion mounds. Although with fairly steep ups and downs is relatively straight forward. Caution is required over some of the erosion mounds. I don’t mind if my wheels leave the ground a little bit, but I’m not keen to launch myself 5 or 10 metres into the air. Nitro Circus guys could do double backflips off them.
Regroup at end of track. Everyone smiling.
Next, a steep rocky descent. Arm and hand pump. Along an overgrown trail cut into side of the hill and pop out onto a track where a trench digger has been. No problem for us. Bikes have been through here before and a path is being worn through the piles of shale and rock, Then we had a steep hill climb, over the top and down the other side to a fearsome looking hill where the trench digger guy has been again. (Somebody needs to stop him, he’s ruining the place). Fortunately there is a track off to the side. This track sort of goes up in 3 stages and eventually brings us out to the top of a ridge on a main track. It’s a bit steep and tricky in places.
I heard Will did an unorthodox dismount along here somewhere and pulled half his thumb nail off. It makes me shudder to think about it. Will and Andrew head down to wait for us at the top of the fearsome hill I mentioned just now, while the rest of us take off and complete a loop that includes another huge rocky downhill. You really need good brakes up here. We regrouped back with Will and Andrew and decided to have lunch.
Paul decided to give the fearsome hill a go. 2nd attempt and he made it. I decided not to give it a try. Not because I’m scared, I’m just being sensible and conserving my energy for later.
After lunch Will headed back to the car and the rest of us followed Anthony to go do battle with some more hills. We took some very overgrown tracks down to Walsh road, then worked our way along Walsh road, taking tracks off at intervals. It became a bit of a blur. I just remember some hills that looked vertical from the bottom but we all powered up them without any issues. Did a few technical overgrown tracks. At one point I popped out of some bushes to find a steep little bank to climb with Rob stuck under his bike half way down. Helped lift the bike off him and we pressed on.
One hill that stands out was a steep grassy hill with a bit of a cut out near the bottom.. Paul went first. Straight up. Anthony followed, no issue. I was next. Stuffed it up a bit on the cut out but managed to get far enough up the hill to sort of angle off to the side and fudge it up the rest of the way. While I was doing this a couple of the others had tried but failed. Still catching my breath I saw Rob try a different approach from the left. He made it look easy. Then it started to rain.
After several attempts Andrew made it up the right hand side. Just Lefty still at the bottom. Eventually Anthony got Lefty’s bike halfway up and with everyone pushing and pulling in different directions and a tow rope being brandished about it was up at the top just as it stopped raining. As Lefty said, If we had just waited a few minutes for it to stop raining he would have just ridden it up.
We stopped at the top of Highett Ridge track for a look at the view. Awesome!!!
False alarm at this point regarding a punctured tyre which just turned out it needed some air. Brief squabble between Rob and myself about who’s tyre levers belong to who and we were on our way. I only remember one more really steep downhill. After that it was a straight forward run back to the cars.
Back at the cars at 16:00.
Thanks to Anthony for leading the ride and Lefty for tailman duties and Rob, Paul, Will and Andrew for a great day out.
What a fantastic place to ride.
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