Well what a great day,, the weather was text book perfect.
Bob left our place at 7 am to head to the Woodside Servo to guide in those travelling on the Sth Gippy Hwy that needed directions to the off loading area, I waited in Traralgon for those heading in on the Princes Hwy to guide them to the off loading area on Big Tower Rd, and guess what it's right next to a big tower -duh. Poor Bill, his Maxima is more suited to the bitumen than the dirt road we took,, the high spots on Anzac Rd are much better now thanks to the grading job he did with his sump guard.
With the ride list and indemnity forms filled out and a quick ride briefing it was time to do what we came to do-ride!. As this was the first ride I was to lead I must say I was a little nervous,,thanks for the calming words of advice from gary,al and Zeb, it was good to know that I had these guys encouraging me all the way.
With a huge downpour on Thursday night the tracks were in fabulous condition, nice and grippy and a few puddles thrown in to keep things interesting,, and maybe a small boghole or two,,Bills bike succumbed to a bit of a dunk with his E-start playing up,as a call from Gary on the UHF told me they had problems and to hold the ride until it was sorted,, Menaces finger was used to good effect in aiding the starting process, I think he mentioned $10 a start,the check is in the mail I believe
. while we we waiting for Bill there was a bit of mention about arm pump and how much more of these whoops was there going to be -suck it up boys
the ride is only 20 minutes old. With Bills bike going again we were once again underway, A quick ride past our roving camera person (aka bob,aka sandra)and onto a nice tight section of track that has a gully system running through the middle of it, most of this area is basically flat and then all of a sudden where did the track go? it can catch the unsuspecting punter out as from a few comments at the next regroup it sounds like it did
. It cuaght me out too -Seano took great delight in witnessing me crawl out of the scrub to retrieve my bike out of the mud at the bottom of what was to become a 'problem" hill for one or two more riders. A quick run back to the trailers for lunch and a refuel via the same track that had claimed Bills bike, the puddles had'nt dried out any and I arrived back with wet feet
..Rossi was waiting for us as he couldnt make the morning loop-happy anniversary mate
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A few guys pulled out of the afternoon loop for various reasons
, was nice riding with you blokes and hope to see you on the next one
.,So with Rossi champing at the bit it was off we go, after a guick tight section it was a reasonably long road leg to the next track-I really must find a better way of getting there as if I could link the tracks up without using the road it would allow the ride to flow much better-working on it chaps
. A dozer has opened up a fairly long section of track in preparation for fuel reduction burn-offs,so this has taken out a bit of the fast whooped out tracks, but it has also turned these tracks into a super fast drag strip, lotsa fun
.. It was around here that a stick decided to give Paul a love tap on his foot, poor bloke thought he had broken something there for a while, his limp was certainly impressive. A quick wave to Mrs rossi and Mrs johnny(aka carolyn and aka bob) at the Helipad,they were following us in my ute to try and get some action shots. A nice tight section of track from there saw fatigue take it's toll on a couple, and after Pauls bike decided it would run better with teeth on the front sprocket ,he and they called it quits for the day,, thankfully Bob and carolyn were still close by so with Pauls bike in the ute and the other 3 heading back via the road, and then the Sth Gippy hwy (I will leave this part of the story to someone else to tell
), It was then a quick blast along what I call an intense
section of sandy whoops, and then more whoops and then more whoops, magic!!.
A balls out fang back on the dozer cleared tracks and then it was decision time, do I cut the ride short or not??? after 2 wallabies skipped across in front of me and it was getting on in the afternoon,I made the executive decision to road leg it back to the trailers, I would have been more than happy to keep playing until I ran out of fuel. Arrived back at the trailers around 5pm and no Bob and no ute and no other riders,,,hmmmm where can they be
.like I said I will let someone else comment on this
.So after everyone was accounted for a surprise was in store for me,, a birthday card, a couple of cold beverages and a birthday cake were presented to me along with many handshakes and onya johnny..
There you have it folks--- exactly the way I wanted to celebrate my birthday, leading my own ride, riding with a great bunch of people.. turning 50 wasn't the end of the world after all
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Big thanks to Gary for his encouragemnet and advice on putting together this ride and for morning tailman, big thanks to my mate Jordo for afternoon tailman,, big thanks to Al for all of his encouragement and advice on putting on this ride,, big thanks to everyone who came along on this ride and last but not least big thanks to Bob for the "surprise" ..
Got to love dirtbike riding hey.......
