Murrindindi/Black Range Ride 28/10/07
I called Peter on Saturday to confirm and book myself in for Sundays ride, Peter told me to meet at 8am at Glendale Servo. That’s 8am day-light saving time; with the clocks changing it meant 8am was really 7am old time…yikes. So it was early to bed and no partying for me Saturday night. Scott Dorman proved he’s still young by partying to the early hours of Sunday morning and still made the ride on time.
13 people turned up for the ride and what a great ride it was, Peter provided a 100km loop through the Black Range. The riding was a good mix of narrow technical trails, some faster paced more open trails, some great hill climbs and only a minimal amount of road to link up the good stuff where needed. The rain that was promised for Sunday only arrived as a short burst about 5 minutes before the end of the ride, so the tracks were nice and grippy all day.
There was not much warm up at all, it was pretty much into the single track straight away. One of the tracks early on twisted and wound its way through the trees with lots of small logs and tree roots to ride over or dodge. It was at one of these bits that I came across Al Mason picking himself up with his bike parked in a somewhat upside down fashion. The dis-mount of the day would have to go to Keith and his DR400, on a short but steep climb Keith launched his bike into quite a spectacular loop. Keith deserves a special mention, as despite being in over his head a bit on the ride, he stuck at it all day and I think definitely saw his skills improve during the day.
Lunch was conveniently timed for Scott to repair a flat rear tire; a piece of rock had cut through the tire and taken a bite out of the tube. With the puncture fixed and everybody fed and rested we headed into the rest of the ride.
The high point of the afternoon was a very long and rocky hill climb, the kind of climb that if you stop you’re stuck. With about 4 riders stuck at various points of the climb there was lots of revving, pushing, sweating, and four letter words coming from within helmets. The ride continued with some more great narrow tracks through the bush and trees, Ken Robinson owned up to a trip over the bars whilst dropping back down onto the track after going around a tree. With about 10km till the end of the ride, the forecasted rain came but did not last long, it was dry again before we got back to the cars to load up.
All in all it was a great ride and Peter certainly knows some awesome tracks. Nathan did a great job of sweep all day, and was always there to help those stuck. Thanks guys for a good day out!
Peter Levell - WR4 50F – Ride leader
Nathan Scott – WR250 – Sweep
Richard Deamer – CRF 250X
Dave Stanhope – WR250
Alan Mason – WR250
Angus Boud – EC250 – ride report
Ken Robinson – FE550
Bob Copsey – KLX400
Brad McDiarmid – TTR250
Dennis Dorman – WR450
Terry Hollibone – YZ250
Scott Dorman – WR450
Keith
? – DR400
