Just a quick not for all the afternoon riders. I got a text message from Charlies sister at 11pm last night. He is ok!, but as suspected he has a dislocated shoulder and will be going in for an operation on Thursday!
Our thoughts are with you Charlie. It could have been a lot worse after looking at the tree, your front wheel and the damage to your helmet. Hope you have a speedy recovery mate.
On with the report (no pictures this time as I forgot my camera! what a ride to forget it)
Morning session.
We had 13 riders for the morning session and with no one volunteering to stay in the carpark to bring the numbers down from the unlucky 13, we were in the lap of the dirkbike gods.
After some nice faster firetrails to warm up we started our way into the 'Chickens & Roosters' hill which involved a few large log crossings and some rocky hills, eventually making it to the C&R hill. About 5 guys had a go the the harder side of the hill with only 1 making it to the top. 3 went up the Chickens side and the the rest went back around the peewees trail to the top. The dirtbike Gods did kick in at this point and factored in a broken clutch leaver for the smart arse who made it up the harder side
But after applying about 20 zip-ties the clutch was as good as new and managed to last for the whole morning ride!
After the C&R hill some of the guys were cursing Cobaw, so we did some easier trails until about lunchtime and made our way back to the carpark for a snag or 2 before the afternoon session.
Afternoon
A few of the morning guys had to leave but we had some extras turnup for the afternoon session, with a total of 18 riders. Its pretty hard at Cobaw to do a purely level 1 ride unless you just ride up and back on Ridge Road, but I thought I was taking a reasonably low level loop. Just one or 2 rocky downhills. Some of the guys were having some problems and we found out it was their first real dirtbike ride in the bush! (I should have asked that question in the cornerman speech but forgot this time). So I changed the route a bit to just the easier open trails and the group was moving quite well.
We poped out onto Ridge Rd for a short transport to the North end of Cobaw and about 1/2 way there was a large tree fallen on the road which had broken in half. It left a gap in the middle of the road about 2 meters wide. We had gone through there with the morning group and had no problems, so it really didnt click at the time to put someone there to point out the log. Well I went through and continued to mark corners until no one was coming through. Then the message came. 'Someones hit the log.. he's in the ditch'. Not good news as a ride leader so we rushed back hoping for the best but expecting the worse
Charlie had missed the log on one side but cliped the log on the other side at reasonable speed, performing a long superman and roll into the ditch on the side of the road. Thankfully when I got there Charlie was up, holding his shoulder but looking the worse for wear. We escorted him back to the carpark to pack him up for a trip to the hospital. After helping him get his gear off it was aparent that he had a dislocated shoulder (ouch painfully obvious). Strapped him up, and he was adament that he would be ok to get home. Got a message later tha we was ok but he would need surgery on his dislocated shoulder
After Charlie was off a few people murmed about heading off but I managed to persuade them a short spurt to finish off the day on a positive note. The guys bikes were all looking a bit clean so after we did some nice open trails we finsihed off with one of the few muddy/boggy sections at Cobaw. One of the best bits of the day with some paniced faces and a few laughs.
Hope everyone had a good time and thanks to the Tailmen in the morning and Afternoon.
Dave
