Ride Report Neerim South 1stth of February 2009 by Brad McDiarmid.
Advertised a last minute ride hoping the heat wave would abate for Sunday.
There were 6 starters on the day all as keen to get out as I was, the plan was to start early (a comment was it was still dark at 7.30am) and finish before it heated up.
The weather god smiled it was a cloudy 21 degrees at the start and warmed up into the upper 20’s later in the day as the sun started to come through.
Borrowed the Clake bike and took it out with most people having a go on it. Takes a bit of getting used to, only locked up the rear up twice in the learning process as I tried to grab a fistful of clutch which was now a Clake.
For me its main advantage is steep down hills, definitely easier and the gear changes popped faster with the Clake hydraulic clutch.
The ride was going pretty well except for the dust. There has been allot of track grading, some fire breaks cut and the area is being logged in the lower Pine plantation.
Found a few new narrow tracks that will be incorporated in the Neerim Sth ride in two weeks time creating some good figure eight type loops and a challenge hill.
Couldn’t find one of the tracks and did some backtracking where we decided to head down to the river as a spot for lunch. It was about 10.30 when we ate at the Hawthorn Bridge camping area and found Leo floating in the river with all his gear on to cool down.
We were heading up Hard Haul Up road and came across a group of riders who we had passed on the way down to the camp ground. One of them was injured and on the ground.
We were asked to lend a hand; two of us assisted having Level 2 first aid certificates, thanks to the clubs training policy.
The guy will recover the accident was attended by two Ambulances one from Neerim South and the other from Warrigal. The Air Ambulance with Paramedic attended and air lifted the patient to an emergency Hospital in Melbourne.
The Ambulance services of Victoria are to be commended for their speed and efforts.
Some of the rescue filmed is posted to
http://www.youtube.com/user/BradAMTRA there are four Air Ambulance clips: Air Ambulance hook up, Air Ambulance Patient lift, Air Ambulance Patient winching, Air Ambulance Patient Loaded
This may serve as a reminder for all of us to be alert, to take care and keep safe when riding out there!A few hours later we were off again and reached a point where the group split in half, three continued and the others headed home.
In search of that track we couldn’t find earlier when came across a logging truck being loaded and was not safe to pass. Scott had found a narrow track a little ways back which we explored and brought us out right where we wanted to be.
This would be another addition to Neerim Sth ride in two weeks time.
Everything went well and we started to do some exploring in the area near the cars where we found some great tracks and finally called it a day as fuel was becoming tight.
In all we covered 110Km and finished around 5pm, pretty good day after those hot days.
Thanks to me, Marc and Dennis for the Leading and Tail man duties, it was a great day out!
See the AMTRA web site under Gallery for the pictures I took on the day.
Ride list:
Brad McDiarmid CRF450X Ride Leader
Dennis Dorman WR450F Tail man
Scott Dorman KTM300 Exec
Leo Giannini CRF250X
Marc LeBrun CRF450X River Excursion Leader
Mike Grebe KTM450 Exec
Foot note:
Since this ride I have learned that the locals, DSE and Parks Vic are keen for all riders in the area to ride from the Latrobe River Rd Trail Bike Visitor Area in best the interests of all parties.
http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/dse/nrenrt.nsf/Home+Page/DSE+Recreation~Home+Page?open
