Ride Report: Glenlyon / Daylesford 21 Nov, 2009
The weather girl promised us rain, but I didn’t believe her. All the way out to Glenlyon, Paulie told me it was gonna be a wet afternoon. I didn’t believe him either. And as we geared up in a steamy 22 degree morning, I still couldn’t see any sign of rain! Everyone avoided wearing jackets, and as Big John gave us his pre-ride talk, he suggested keeping gear to a minimum, and warned us it was gonna be dusty.
23 of us (some first timers, some repeat offenders) fired up and followed John out onto the tar for a short squirt till we hit the driest, and dustiest road I’ve seen for a long time. We spread out a bit, and then through the haze I saw a cornerman, signaling the first of the single tracks we were to tackle on the day. Off we went! The pace quickened, and the scene was set for an exhausting ride.
John linked together an amazing array of trails, some of which could hardly be recognized at times, but for the morning, he put a relatively flowing trail after a tight single track to give both rider and machine a little time to cool down before the next onslaught. Sean’s husky was hissing coolant early in the piece, due to an over-filled over flow bottle, but this soon sorted itself out. At the first re-group, helmets were off, sweat was dripping and faces were red, but we were all rearing to go. Phil, the only one to wear a jacket, had removed it and strapped it to the back of his new bike, where it stayed for the rest of his ride. We took off again (trying) to follow John as he twisted his way over, around, under and through the trees, jumping logs and dodging rocks as we went.
We battled on like this for a while, then stopped for another re-group. We had waited for quite some time before Wiggo went back to see if there were any problems. Not long after, everyone was back at the re-group with Phil shaking his head, still having troubles getting used to his new bike. I offered to swap for a while, but Big John said to wait till after the next hill.
I arrived at ‘said hill’ just to see John crest the top of it. Others followed. Some made it, some didn’t! Simon had 3 goes, and made it on his third. I had 2 goes, and stopped after that. Rob had 3 cracks and gave it away. Dustin was looking good on his first go, until he flipped it at the top, and ran back down the hill, tripping at the bottom and landing with a splat! It looked nasty, but he said he was ok, so we continued on. Those that didn’t get up the hill skirted around it and re-joined the group. By now it was getting onto lunch time so we headed back to the cars.
On arriving back at the car park, we were greeted by a familiar face. Peter Ross had come out to give his leg a try, so we ate, drank, re-fueled and headed back out.
Peter promised that he would take it easy, but this lasted about 500 meters. The front wheel of the Berg was already complaining that it was over worked and needed a rest, so up it came….and stayed there! Back into the dust, we followed John again through a couple of longer single sections, with no breaks until we came to another steep hill with a very soft, loose covering. We all got up, one way or another, but the message came that Phil had had enough, and that Peter had taken him back to John’s father’s farm. So off we went to Pick up Peter and give Phil directions back to the cars.
We continued on another couple of great tracks, one following a creek bed, dropping into it and climbing out of it as we went. This was a hoot! It finished with a very steep drop which many completed on their arse (like me), or their belly or many other ways, other than on their bikes!
We had another re-group at this point, and once again we waited for some time befor John went back to see what the hold up was. Turns out that Nathan had been a puncture to fix, and decided to take it back to the cars. Another Husky went out in sympathy, so the group was reduced slightly for the last couple of tracks. The rest of the ride continued without incident and we arrived back at the cars at about 4:30. Given that there were no great dramas for the day, Peter and Paul decided to do the AMTRA Happy Dance!
We had completed 90 k’s for the day, (35 in the morning session). And that rain we were promised…well, we had the slightest sprinkling during lunch and that was it! However, on the way home the Heavens opened, and overnight the Trentham / Daylesford area had between 70 – 100 mm! That would have been fun!!
Thanks to John for a great day out and thanks to mark for tailman duties all day
John Theisz TE 570 (ride leader)
Rob Broatch YZ 250F
Mike Robbes DRZ 400
Dave Armstrong KTM 450
Sean Douglas TE 450
Chris Skzelinski KTM 400
Mark Clark FE 550 (tail man)
Rob Copsey FE 390
Nathan Stott TE 310
Jure Giapo CR 125
Luke English WR 450
Peter Cerasuolo KTM 300
Serge Coffa WR 250F
Dustin Finch RMX 250
Peter Devilee WR 300
David Theil WR 450F
Paul Wigginton WR 250F
Dean Fergie KTM 250
Paul Lacy KTM 250
Matt Bruce TE 450
Phil Randall WR 250R
Peter Trainor TE 510
Simon Kermode WR 450F
Peter Ross Berg 2
