When Aaron says, “If you are looking for a well organised, well thought out ride, then keep looking. This is not it”, he means it!
Six of us met at Carroll’s Lane, and we reluctantly left the warmth of our cars to gear up for Aaron’s pre-ride adventure extravaganza. We hit the first track and let me tell you, it was wet, slippery and wet. Muddy, slippery and wet. Cold, muddy, slippery and wet. Did I mention slippery? I’ll tell you how slippery. It was Pete’s first ride out since his nasty off at the HCR, so he was tip-toeing around like a girly-man. Damian and I were tip-toeing around (like girly-men) ‘cos that’s how we ride. Big John was blasting around making as much noise as possible, whilst making more ground sideways than forwards, and Dennis spent more time on his butt in puddles than on his bike. That’s how slippery it was!
This was my first time riding at Wombat, and clearly the area gets a lot of use. The bog-holes were deep and muddy, just waiting to claim an unexpecting victim. We skirted as many as we could, but had to take the plunge (literally) on some in our quest to create the perfect ride loop. We headed down many tracks, boldly going where no man has gone before, only to be confronted with dead ends or impassable obstacles. We then had to turn around and head back out, bikes ringing like chain-saws in the forest, as we fought for any available traction.
After about 3 hours in the saddle, we decided to head for lunch, passing what looked like a huge mound of saw dust on the way. Aaron decided to have a closer look, and when confronted with two possible tracks, opted for the left one which was deep, but passable. Once on top of the mound, he decided to go down the other track, submerging the KTM up to the gunwales. It was all hands on deck to pull it out, the resulting silliness can be viewed at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49MoEoWtj1A&eurl=http://www.vinamtra.com.au/forum/ride-reports/1608-carrols-lane-wombat-ride/msg3797/, and then another hour to de-water the beast. Once it was fired up, we headed STRAIGHT for lunch at the Pig and Whistle pub for a warm feed and a cool drink.
We met up with Jake at the pub, and he came out for some more silliness after lunch. Pete’s back was playing up a bit, so he and John headed straight for the cars. The rest of us went back into the forest for some more of those slippery, wet, muddy tracks. After another hour or so, Damian, Dennis and I decided to call it a day, and we headed back to the cars, doing a few more side tracks on the way, while Aaron and Jake continued to play Bourke and Wills. We finished up the day with about 80 k’s on the clock, and some good giggles in our bellies!
Thanx Aaron.
Riders were
Aaron R - Leader
Damian K
Serge C
John T
Peter R
Jake (Avo)
Denis K
