John T's rides are worth the AMTRA membership cost alone.
In the morning, we did the south side of Glenlyon. We started with some single that I like to call "Sadist John's Single". It really got us warmed up. (Didn't it Stuart!)
We then did a mixture of trails and single where JohnT had an impressive "off" right in front of me, only to turn around and see me standing there grinning (albeit with an empty space where my helmet cam would normally sit.)
We did a muddy firetrail section, until we came to "Dustins Hill". About half the group had a go at it, sometimes with spectacular results. Karl showed us his bashplate, and Trev showed us all how it is supposed to be done.
Mikey's DRZ had an argument with a tree on a downhill section, smashing the DRZ's cluster in the process. An expensive excercise.
In the afternoon, we headed to the north side for some stunning single, some nice tricky downhill sections, and some flowing stuff. The people that have been on this ride before will know the experience of flying through the valley on this part of the ride, popping over logs. Awesome.
We got back to the cars well spent.
Many thanks John for leading and Mark for tailing. Special thanks to Denis for getting "lost" 3 times. I had to go and find him, and I had a great time doing new tracks and also got to do some of JohnT's tracks twice, and even some in reverse. I think I did about 20 kms more than anyone else. It is good that Denis has his name on his bumbag, as it will make identification easier.
(Note to AMTRA committee: I motion that we buy Denis an EPIRB. I know that JohnT will second the motion. The cost of the EPIRB will be more than offset by the fuel savings the rest of us will experience.
Thanks to Mikey for the post ride beer as well. I had run out of fluid about 2 hours earlier, and I reckon that beer was one of the ten best beers I have ever had. I know how much it hurt him to relinquish it, which makes me appreciate it even more.
Many thanks to Jeff for letting me have my first ride on a 2 stroke (and first ride on a KTM as well)
Many thanks to Stuart for the trip down memory lane. Some people would have been asking for directions back to the cars after "Sadist John's Single". (We have all been there!)To his credit, he stuck with it, and not only got through the morning, but came out in the afternoon as well. Not your average whinging pom.
Photos and video below.