Merton – Strathbogies 30-8-08

Saturday morning started out looking as a great day for a ride. Blue sky all the way on the trip to Al’s place at Merton. Got there just before 9 and the place was a sea of bikes, about 25 all up. There was the usual big numbers of orange and blue with a couple of DR-Z’s and a Baja XR250 thrown in. Tim had the demo Husqvarna TE450 which quite a few people had a go at on the day (reports were that it was very good but ordinary fuel range). Big Al gave us the usual pep talk about the cornerman system and safety issues and then everyone mounted up and headed out about 9.30.

It was a fast pace from the start (faster than my usual pace anyway) through Al’s special single track across the highway and down the gravel road into the Strathbogies. Not long into it we hit a hill that proved a challenge for some with the people getting stuck creating a challenge for the others following along behind. But everyone got up and we regrouped at the top and continued on. Al threw in a good mix of open firetrails right through to tight single track. At one point we stopped and Al got the map out which brought the comment from someone that we should be slightly concerned.

Alex Peacock took over the guiding duties and away we went. Everything was going well and eventually the tracks opened into a fast firetrail section with logged pine forest on one side and standing pine forest on the other. I came over the top of a crest to find a big group of bikes and a pine tree with some fresh scars. Tim kindly helped to get the injured rider back to civilisation while the rest of us continued on. I remember some great parts through pine forest and one particularly rutted downhill section where too much front brake equalled to a trip over the bars. Also of note was coming around the corner on one part of the track to see about eight wild piglets on the side of the track. A few of us took chase through the scrub and came back with four little piglets. Photo’s taken and we let them go and continued on.

Comments about this time started to creep in about the promised “8ok’s before lunch” as some riders started to run short of fuel. A few of us needed a hand from some of the other riders as we crept into Barjarg for lunch about 2.30. With hamburgers (with buns) and pies all round we refuelled and headed back out.

The afternoon continued with firetrails, flowing single track and some challenging steep sections in the pine forest. An optional hill climb was thrown in which everyone managed to get up OK. The weather was starting to look a bit ominous about this time with a few spots coming down by the time we emerged back at Al’s place. A quick blast through his single track to finish off and everyone adjourned for beer, snags and BBQ’d dim sim’s just before the rain came down.

Thanks Al and Alex for leading a great ride and for Rob Balaz for following as tailman all day. Don’t know all the riders and don’t have a list, just know we started with 25. We did 122 km’s before lunch and not sure after but think it was about 160km’s all up.

News: This is the old AMTRA website. You can only view the topics. Copy and paste anything you would like to the new website.