Wade E
Full Member 2013/2014
Posts: 350
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« on: October 25, 2008, 02,56:20 PM » |
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Story by Wade Evans
Friday night Dave Smith and myself are traveling the Western Highway our destination, the pub at Rainbow which is located 60km north of Dimboola our stop for the night and start point for Big Al's desert ride.
After a cooked breaky 5 riders geared up headed over to the servo for last minute fuel and trail snacks the sun already quite warm.
From here we leave Geoff in his Landcruiser to meet up with us later on for our lunch stop, while the rest of us ride beside the railway line heading towards Lake Albacutya (now dry) some 10kms distant. This area forms part of a national park and has an abundance of wildlife including Kangaroos and Emus which are all to willing to run into your bike and ruin your day if not careful.
After a short break on the eastern side of the lake we made our way north along a track with deep, fine, loose sand that roughly looped around the lake to the western side. After a few more tracks and intersections Al had a regroup at the start of Tank Track, which was allegedly formed by a local driving a WW1 military tank. Used for clearing the scrub for farming, a heavy ball was attached between 2 tanks by chains and dragged through the bush ripping out anything in their path. Tank Track heads north over many steep sand ridges with nasty whooped out narrow, deep sand track in between sapping your energy in the now 30 degree heat. 3 hours and 40kms later my hydration pack is empty and enthusiasm is waning, at about 2.30 just in time we arrive at our lunch stop.
Geoff hands me a cold can of coke while cooking some snags on the BBQ, that lunch tasted so good. Thanks Geoff.
With lunch done and body rested it time to hit the sand once again Daniel more than happy to hand over the Yamaha to Geoff for the trip to Murrayville and one huge sand dune to climb.
As the afternoon wore on the more tracks and intersections that I can’t name but on one particular intersection where Big Al stopped and circled around slowly to confront a Brown snake upright and ready to strike as I rode up it decided to back off into the scrub. No thought was given to the snake until Dave rode over it down the track.
We had just turned down not seeing it the dust, Dave stopped to make sure he didn’t have a passenger wrapped round the wheel, just as I made a new track through the bush to avoid a now angry snake not wanting to be used for traction again. The rest of day every stick and shadow looked like a snake ready to bite, yes the heat and fatigue was getting to me. Along more deep sand tracks and eventually making our way to Murrayville, our stop for the night. At 214km on the trip meter for a day in the desert did not seem a lot, however a shady patch of green grass at the rear of the pub was a great recovery area until we were ready for a meal and a few beers.
After a much needed sleep, a tasty cooked breakfast started the next day and ready to take on a hot desert ride.
A check over the bike, full fuel tank and we were out of town and into the sand. Border Track runs north to south following the rabbit proof fence on the Victorian - South Australian border. Along here easy going for a while until the sand ridges started lining up to challenge us, again very deep sand making their traverse physically demanding. Refreshments and a good long rest at Doggers Hut Camp provided the necessary energy to move on the next 100 odd clicks along the rest of Border Track and Mesh Fence Track to our lunch stop.
Daniel had snags in bread and cold drinks for five hot and thirsty riders, during lunch Al proposed we explore some new tracks heading south of were ever the hell we were. With no objections from anyone Daniel took over the controls of the Yamaha now keen for a ride leaving Geoff with the Landcruiser to find his way back to Rainbow.
Our way back to Rainbow took along a knuckle breaker track, meaning you had the choice of formed wheel mark left or right unavoidably dragging either left or right hand through trackside vegetation, the middle of the track being grass with hidden malley roots ready rip a hole in your tyre. (spell check says tire???)
A flying visit of Mt Herman State park and finally a ride along Outlet Creek. When the creek is running it connects Albacutya and Hindmarsh Lakes any other time it is a bermed, whooped out roller coaster mx track used by the locals judging by the amount of use it had seen, this sapped the last of my energy for the day.
Rainbow loomed in the distance in the late afternoon sun, soon ending another great ride from Big Al. Thank you Geoff and Daniel for carting our gear, fuel and trackside lunches
Desert Combatants
Big Al SXC625 Ride Leader
Wade EXC450
Michael EXC300 Tailman
Jeff & Daniel WR250F
Dave WR450F
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