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After a long and busy week at work, it was finally Saturday morning and time to go riding!!
Driving up to the Glenburn Roadhouse in blue sky and sunshine with 29 degrees forecast for the day, we were in for a dry and dusty ride! The first one for the summer i think.
Arriving at Glenburn at 7.45 there were a few guys already there and having a chat, i said hello and went to get myself a coffee and wait for the others to arrive.
By 8.05am everyone was there and we were off to go and get geared up and hit the trails!
With evryone ready to go and the ride list filled out, i did the pre ride talk and a quick head count, i was expecting 12 but somehow ended up with 13, not to worry lets go!
After a dry week this ride would be a little easier than the week before, so the group should move pretty well, Sitting at the top of the first hill i was expecting to spend a bit of time getting bikes up but it wasn't long before nearly all were at the top, Zeb struggled a bit and cooked himself on that hill, but eventually made it to the top.
We set off and hit some fairly technical tracks with rocks, logs, roots and more rocks with a couple of tricky hills for good measure, after waiting a while with most of the group, i decided to go back to see what the hold up was.
Zeb was absolutely fried and had had enough, so we got him out and headed for the nearest fire road so he could cruise back to the cars. And then there were 12.
With Zeb gone we hit some more technical overgrown tracks then things opened up a bit before hitting a very technical downhill track 3/4 of the way down i got stuck on a clump of tree roots and a couple of guys snuck past and took the slippery climb out of the gully, with one flipped bike and a queue forming i took the alternative path out and then a couple others followed me.
After a bit of time we got all the bikes out, had a quick breather and then i realised we had lost Angus. And then there were 11.
We worked out where we had lost Angus and headed back to collect him.
Thankfully Angus was exactly where he should have been, and it turns out that when we went through Stanley Homestead, there was another group of riders heading off and Angus stopped to ask if anyone had lost a number plate that we had found earlier in the day and while he was doing that the tailman not noticing Angus went through and left Angus behind. (mum was right, you shouldn't talk to strangers)
With the group back to 12, Peter Levell complaining of a sore back pulled the pin and headed back to the cars.
The 11 riders set of to continue the loop on some open trails for a little while.
At the next regroup Chris had snapped the kick starter in half on his RMZ 450 and not having elec start he wouldnt be going much further.
We headed off to the lunch stop, where we left Chris to wait for Sam and lunch, while the rest of us went and did a long rocky hill climb, with only a couple of dramas on the hill everyone was soon at lunch.
After a rest some food and a cold drink, we were right to go again. Thankyou so much Sam for bringing lunch out for us, it was appreciated by all.
Then there was 10.
The group minus Chris set out to tackle some hills and at the start of a long downhill we ran into a group that tried to tell me we wouldnt be able to get down the hill because of the amount of trees that are down, i thanked them for the advice but i was 100% certain that we could get through so off we went, and it wasn't long before everyone was at the bottom, so we continued on and tackled some more technical hills. Waiting at the top of a big hill, Peter M was suffering from fatigue and cramps and was stuck halfway up the hill, i walked down and rode Pete's KLX the rest of the way up the hill, and when Pete got to the top he was looking pretty knackered.
After giving Pete a rest we kept going on some more open trails, then i took the group to Jims hill which was probably cruel given that some guys were pretty knackered and were low on fuel, with half the group at the top and half at the bottom we decided to go back down and make our way back to the cars.
Riding back down the hill it felt like the front end of my bike was going to fall off. At the bottom and a quick check of my bike i discovered the front wheel bearings were shot, which explained the dodgy front end.
We headed off for the cars via the SEC road and some more narrow tracks. Back out on the SEC road Pete's arms had turned to jelly so he and Luke took the road back to the cars.
Then there were 8.
The 8 of us took off for the cars via a long rocky downhill and a nice fast flowing track and we were back at the cars at about the same time as Pete and Luke. With 107km on my odo and at 4.30pm i had had a very good ride, with a great bunch of guys. Thanks for coming along guys and i'll see you on the next one.

Riders.
Nathan Stott TE 310 ride leader/written report
Matt Creasey CRF 450X Tailman
Alistair Barrett WR250F
Peter Monty KLX 450
Zeb Colic WR 250
Eric Lama WR 450
Peter Levell WR450
Danny Williams KTM 300
Chris Monty RMZ 450
Luke Monty KTM 300
Christopher Grigg KTM 450
Justin Mangan WR 450
Angus Boud Gas Gas 300
Samantha Winton Hilux SR5 Lunch delivery

Great day Nathan, mate we had a ball. Thanks for the extraction on the hill. Me thinks the brain was fried by that time. LOL

Excellent mix of tracks & a very well planned & managed. Even if we did loose Angus because he chose to stop & have a chat to other riders & got hidden in their group. At least you realized he was gone & found him again. He looked quiet rested.

Many thanks for the excellent lunch & drink provisions, top effort. Next time cool refresher towels as well please! Haha

I have a couple of hours of video but a lot of it is crap, I will find some that represents the quality of this great ride & post it up.

Great group of guys to ride with, who all kept up a strong pace which was fantastic.

Nathan the other group of riders you mentioned who said we were not going to go down the track they declared as too hard, were so sure we wouldnt make it they even blocked the track with their bikes just to underline how serious they were, bloody funny how they sat there as we had to ride through the bush to go around them....hahaha

Hook me up on the next one please, I have to have another go at that prick of a rise that stopped me.

Cheers Pete

Good to hear you guys had a good day, hpefully Chris can get a new kick starter easily enough.
I'll be doing that ride again on Labour day if you guys are interested.

bloody great report there Nath ,i havent been on the bike for two months now so reports like that are a great read. im all gee,d up for buller this weekend ta seano

Thanks Seano, 2 months off the bike! that would be torture, enjoy the buller ride mate and give the Husky a good work out!!

Good ride report Nath and the ride sounds like i mist a good one. See ya on the next one, Al

Man i think i will be scarred for life , back to the drawing board for me and judging by the ride report i am glad i bailed when i did ....

I know where to go if i every wanna check my riding progress ....

I cant say thanks for a great day cause i dont think 1.5 hours of riding constitutes a full day. I will leave it at thanks for showing me a great riding spot , did a bit of snooping around before i went back to the car and that place is like a track mecca something for everyone will befenitley head back soon but i am staying right away from your loop trust me  :D

There is reason why that is my favourite place to ride!... it has absolutely everything and it can be as hard or easy as you want to make it!!! when your ready we'll go back out there and have some fun!

Thanks Nathan for a ripper ride that tested some of my skills, still can't figure how some of those bruises appeared from ??? Big note of thanks must also go to Sam for a top feed and lastly to Matt for eating dust all day at the back ;) Would have been interesting to see how far I would have got today after the rain :P By the way Peter there should be some good footage of a green bike going left,right and backwards from what I heard ;D ;D ;D

thanks nath for a great ride i forgot how dusty it gets at the back ive been washing down dirt with bourbon.great technical ride kind of glad it was dry due to the amount of logs we have to cross.Hope all have recovered well catch you next time. ;D ;D ;D

Nath!
Thanks for a top ride! It was probably the hardest and most technical ive done so far but it was also the best ride ive ever tackled and thanks to a top bunch of blokes to ride with and thanks to matt for tailman. I got real bad hamstring cramps with spasms a couple of times which stumps me because i had 3 endura gels throughout the day as well nearly sucking my camelbak dry :-\. Also special thanks to Sam for meeting us for lunch.
I cant wait to ride with you again and another one of your rides!
Alistair
P.s Zeb you missed out on a lot of 'good' tracks ::)

Thanks Nathan for organizing an awesome ride with a mixture of everything,also thank Sam for the lunch delivery I can't wait for the next ride.
Christopher

Just downloaded the GPS tracks and thought this was petty cool to see how hilly it really was.(http://file:///C:/Users/Kristov/Desktop/KTM/glenburn%20ride%20elevation.jpg)

Al got a bit of work to do before i tackle this level again, techo single really requires spot on tequniqe and i just aint got it dialed yet , even the husky as good as it is couldnt help me in that stuff....  great job in getting the whole day done, that was a hell of a ride and you dont get to the end by sitting in the seat and relaxing so good onya dude kudos from me mate .

(http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/180768_195296737162049_100000451727396_633890_5427329_n.jpg)

(http://www.vinamtra.com.au/forum/gallery/93_27_02_11_2_43_51.JPG)
Here is a Mountain bike race profile for comparison.

Some of those spikey bits would be hard to get over!

 ::)

Funny you should say that? Some of those spikey bits are hard to get over! Good effoert by those who finshed the day for their first ride with Nath. Its a loop that lets you know you have been on the bike for the day. Al

Best you get busy training Zeb, as if you pull out of the HTFU-3 in June, you will look like a real softy  :D ;D :D ;D :D ;D :D ;D

I don't think Zeb will have to many problems on that ride  ::)

 

Will I am carrying a bit of an injury at the moment and dont want to turn a partial problem into forced time of the bike meaning i will miss the HCR....  If Its feeling OK on friday i will still be on the ride on sat becasue i dont want to miss saddle time unless my spot ends up being taken by someone else i will call you to check later in the week ...  Its been a long time since i rode with you guys and was looking forward to it but gotta think long term i suppose.  As for the HTFU -3 in june its only Neerim how hard can it really be  ;D ;D ::)

Thanks Nathan, for a great ride with a great bunch of blokes. Thanks to Sam for lunch and Peter for the light refreshment afterwards. Cheers Justin.

 As for the HTFU -3 in june its only Neerim how hard can it really be  ;D ;D ::)
[/quote] :o ;D

:o ;D
[/quote]
Will! I did some exploring down there with a couple of others last week and we found a real bastard htfu hill that took an hour and a half to 2 hours for us to get out of. Im pretty sure i remember how to get there if you want directions so you can send Zeb in the direction of it :D

Will! I did some exploring down there with a couple of others last week and we found a real bastard htfu hill that took an hour and a half to 2 hours for us to get out of. Im pretty sure i remember how to get there if you want directions so you can send Zeb in the direction of it :D
[/quote]Sounds like Frankies Hill Al which we will be doing one way or the other  ;D ;D ;D ;D

 As for the HTFU -3 in june its only Neerim how hard can it really be  ;D ;D ::)
[/quote]my,my,my arent we gunna have fun with this one he he he he he he he ;D ;D ;D 8)

I hope that all of you guys getting defensive over Neerim noticed that i did use three smilies at the end of the comment .... Stuff it bring it on boys the harder the better after all a HTFU ride should be exactley that plus nobody can do anything to me ( ride wise ) that hasnt already been done in the last three weeks by Al or Mr Stott  . My whole body is numb to pain now so it dont matter casue i learned to block it out . ;D ;D ;D 8)

Looking forward to meeting some new faces ....

PS ; Mr Barrett i reckon you should come along and show me that hill  ::)

No one is getting defensive  ;D, it's just that, not many have experienced Frankie's hill, and for the ones who have, we know that some think the area is a walk in the park but u will find out soon enough my little sore friend ;D ;D ;D

Zeb i'm one of the people that thinks Neerim is a walk in the park and that's because it is.
There is nothing hard there, and with what you've experienced with Al and Myself the last three weeks you should cruise through the "HTFU" ride no worries!

Yeah ditto to what Nathan said Zeb  ;) 8) ;)

The hill that talking about is all criss crossed ruts with no direct line on it as well as a near impossible small bog hole creek just before it and the start of that track is only about 5-10 mins from the carpark and the end of it has a freshly graded loamy decent around the rutted section at the end of it so if thats Frankies hill then yes it is a killer!
Zeb you have really got me tempted to put my name down for it ;)

Common then i know you want to  ::) and you can teach me a thing or ten about staying upright PLUS why wouldnt you sign up its gunna be a great ride ... DO IT  ;D

Here is some footage shot in the same area this feb, it gives you an idea of what the ride is like
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bavx_vDuIEs

part 2
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMAFT4DijdE

Nice ride report Nath..Sounds like I missed out on a good day!

Yeah you did Milk thanks mate ;)