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VIC AMTRA Public Forums => Ride Reports => Topic started by: Willbar on August 13, 2011, 11,09:14 PM



Title: HTFU 3.5 Neerim Sth13/8/2011
Post by: Willbar on August 13, 2011, 11,09:14 PM
Will where is that track again Munro Ride Leader
Mat Potty Mouth Creasey 1st Tailman
Gary I wish I had some new spark plugs Clarke 2nd Tailman
Seano Most improved, but still have trouble on Hills Douglas 3rd Tailman
Dennis I need a bigger fuel tank Dihm
Rossi I should have brought my excavator along Ranyard
Bill I love to swim in bog holes Toan
Frankie Im so glad there is a track named after me Reefman
Dave Feck Bill for draggin me along on this ride Lombard
Zeb who likes to pull out whilst ahead Colic
Peter why am I so quiet Dunlop
Mark how come I did the most corners for the day Judkins
James why does no one want to ride near me Creasy
Colin I hate long pants Pearce

Well what can I say other than what a hard day on the trails or should I say the foot peg grabbing rutted supposed to be trails.
It took us 1.5hrs to do the first 18klms, we set of from the car park and turned right up latrobe river rd and about 2klms up took the rutted out poo hole track on the right and followed to just about the end where we took the unused overgrown track on the right that leads you down to 7mile track better known to us as Frankies track. We then headed  east along it back to Latrobe to go up onto High tree to get to the north end of Frankies track where we proceeded down it, this is where the fund began, Frankies track needs to be closed it is stuffed, ruts so deep but so narrow everyones bikes where getting trapped, wet slippery slushy crap with exposed tree roots in every rut now, I managed to flip my bike on one of these such tree roots whilst I was trying to rock over it the bike got traction and out from under me it went straight up into the air and landing on the the LH side of the bars bending them down about 15degrees which made for interesting riding for the rest of the day. Even Pommy Mat turned into a Potty Mouth bum hole from it, and proceeded to inform everyone that Neerim really sucked now.
I had a quick scan of everyones body language and there were 13 other blokes looking like they had just done the whole ride, it was at this point that I decided to head for some open tracks and get some air over them so we then headed back to Hi tree but rather than go right we went left and headed for the plantation to find a couple of unused very over grown tracks, it was here where I was having trouble finding the tracks I really wanted to do to make it a little easier on us, I did manage to find some really nice slippery bits which kept everyone on there gaurd.
We eventually made it to the bog holes which lead upto Spur Rd, it was not getting much better here than at Frankies track, I managed to turn the KAYTM into a U boat in one hole with a few of the guys having to come and rescue her.
We eventually made it threw with all of us covered in mud and all having wet feet, we had an early rest stop at the end of them to let everyone catch there breath.
We then headed of and into Spur Rd and making our way to and down into Bilstone where we did a great unused overgrown track and then stopped for lunch.
A quick bite to eat and some much needed rest and we where  straight into another unused overgrown track and then onto sawdust and down to the stair case where we just slid from top to bottom and for a regroup on Bilstone, to find Seano coming towards us from the wrong direction, Garys bike is dead was the word, so I sent him of on the loop to collect the rest of the group whilst I went off to see what was up with Gary, Just a fowled plug , ok u stay here and I will bring the group to u Gary so of I headed to get the rest of the group and then back to pick up Gary were we then headed for the Paris area where we did some of the still good tracks and the awesome unused one that winds through the Pines and brings us out onto Paris.
Paris is another of them stuffed tracks and I managed to find my way into a weird sort of rut that ended up with me taking a roll down the hill side when I had to put my bike down for a little rest.
Gary helped me back up the hill side back onto the track and onto the bike and we were off once more, well thats what I thought until at the regroup there was only 10 of us.
After about 15minutes the missing four turned up Garys bike stopping for the 3rd time as they pulled up, swapping and cleaning plugs still no good so Gary pinched Zebs spare plug and of it went but he decided that he should head back since he had ran out of plugs so we escorted him to within a couple of KLMS from the cars. I did not want to go back to the car park as I may not have got the group back on the bikes as it had been so hard upto that point.
As we waved bye bye to Gary some thought that cause there was a .5 in the title that they only needed to do a Half day ride so next minute Zeb revs his bike up and says Im going with Gary and took off as I took off in the other direction for a quick loop around Young track up to Hard Up Hall I had a quick regroup to find that Bill and Dave also got soft and headed for the Pub. This quick loop turned into a lot more harder stuff than planed with everyone having trouble on the 60 degree climb up to the top end of Hard Up Hall, about 1/2hr we were all up and then headed down Hard Up and made our way to Stoll and did the sweatwater loop which we found half of it had been graded and was like trying to ride on ice, we had a few on reserve at this point so we headed back but with some needing a top up along the way from some of our fellow riders. We get back about 4.30 with just over 100klms of torture most of us headed of to the pub for some well earnt refreshments and tucker.
As much as I and most others have had a lot of fun riding at Neerim over the last couple of years the time has come to say goodbye to Neerim , it is just to well used now and the great tracks are no longer great and as much as I and most others still had fun yesterday it is just getting harder and harder to do great loops out there with out big hold ups from rooted and rutted out sections, I just want to thank everyone who attended yesterday and all my previous rides at Neerim and look forward to you all joining me on new trails soon.
It was also great to see most still had there sense of Humour with them by the time we got back to the cars , well done everyone, even the 3 softies who pulled out early had done a great job up till that point.


Title: Re: HTFU 3.5 Neerim Sth13/8/2011
Post by: flipper on August 14, 2011, 04,12:11 AM
Thanks Will for organizing another great ride, and to our tailmen for the day – I had a ball!

Now I’d better address this title that Will has bestowed upon me – ‘Peter Why I am So Quiet Dunlop’ – I could say I was just ‘absorbing the ambience’, but in truth, by the time we’d arrived at the pub I was feeling exhausted, mostly from being too excited to sleep properly the night before. This was the first run on my newly built up ‘Wide Ratio’ YZ and I was really looking forward to it.

The YZ got it’s baptism in slimy, sticky mud, and there’s no other way to describe the conditions except as ‘challenging’! Slime filled ruts and bog hole after bog hole seemed to be the order for the ride, and I managed to wear a lot of the mud from the riders in front trying to keep their forward momentum up as the goop tried to swallow them. At one stage Frankie's chain was even being forced off it's rear sprocket by the build up of mud.

The tight track through the pines was great, as was that newly-graded greasy track (speedway style riding!), and it felt so much easier to keep the lighter 2-stroke bike on the lines I wanted.

I came off a couple of times in the muddy ruts, and both times the backpack I was wearing broke a strap, so I’d pick up the bike and go to take off, only to suddenly have the chest strap trying to strangle me whilst I was trying to accelerate! Stupid el-cheapo back-pack!

I checked my fuel level at about the 75km mark (hadn’t yet hit reserve), and estimated that there was less than a quarter of a tank remaining. I let Will know there was probably only about 20km more distance that I could do, and waited for the ribbing to begin! Luckily, within 10 minutes two other bikes went onto reserve and suddenly I wasn’t the only one concerned about fuel levels. It turns out that bottom part of my tank must hold more than I thought, as even after getting back to the cars with 100km on the clock, I still hadn’t gone onto reserve (or maybe the fuel tap doesn’t work properly).

Gary, I hope I can take you up on the offer of a test ride on your CR next time to check out its suspension. Hope your spark plug problems are sorted out soon!

Thanks guys for a fun day and next time I’ll try to be more vocal!


Title: Re: HTFU 3.5 Neerim Sth13/8/2011
Post by: Zeb Colic on August 14, 2011, 05,30:31 AM
Quit while ahead is a fair call good choice in the end for me I think , had a great day thanks Wilbur,Mat , Gaz and Seon for looking after the tail.

Physical tough day in he saddle but somehow enjoyable
slammed my shoulder trying to copy Wills accident on the origional HTFU 3 but woke up with sore legs funny that just glad to escape a trip to the Docs Ohh and PS thanks Gazz for choosing to lay your dike down instead of running me over.

Cheers

Zeb




Title: Re: HTFU 3.5 Neerim Sth13/8/2011
Post by: seano on August 14, 2011, 07,01:43 AM
yes ,well what can i say bike swallowing bog holes ,lifting pulling ,pushing and just general hard work .By the end of the ride i was falling off my bike for no aparent reason other than exhaustion.All this aside i had a ball ,touch wood bike went well.thankyou will for another entertaining ride and to the other two tailwoman and thank f@#k we aint doin neerim again ta seano


Title: Re: HTFU 3.5 Neerim Sth13/8/2011
Post by: jarrod k on August 14, 2011, 08,25:24 AM
well guys looks like you had an ace day ;D.
i really am pi55ed that i had to work and missed it. so i did it today, i think i got most of the tracks u lads did and i was amazed how slick the stair case was to ride up. dont give up on neerim shes still a good area for a quick ride


Title: Re: HTFU 3.5 Neerim Sth13/8/2011
Post by: Gary Clarke on August 14, 2011, 10,09:03 AM
Thanks Will for  another great ride, even though I had to depart early with the trusty Honda chewing out plugs, thanks Zeb for the extra plug to get me back to the cars,
Sean had a big smile on his face while watching me have all the bike hassels for a change !
Finally I agree with you Franky, Frankie's track is really bad now and not worth the effort any more.
Cheers,
Gary.


Title: Re: HTFU 3.5 Neerim Sth13/8/2011
Post by: Btoan on August 14, 2011, 11,05:52 PM
Thanks Will for leading and all the others that did tail duties and also everyone else who gave assistance when needed, made it a great ride. To be honest I was very glad Sunday morning that I pulled out at the 75K mark (i don't think Dave wants to come and play again) ;D....I almost needed a hydraulic lift to get me out of bed....it took me about an hour to loosen up my legs :) :).....Sh#t!!! some of those ruts were deep ;) ;)...I'm not sure wether I should be washing my riding gear or just burn it and for the bike I can not tell what colour it is supposed to be ;) ;)....My biggest aching pain of all at the end of the day is my jaw from laughing so much  ;D

To everyone thanks for all the laughs and I will be back on the next ride to give you all something to hang sh#t on and laugh at!!! :D :D :D


Title: Re: HTFU 3.5 Neerim Sth13/8/2011
Post by: Btoan on August 15, 2011, 05,29:20 AM
3 hours to wash my bike and gernie my riding gear and I don't reckon I have got all the mud of the bike....it sticks like sh#t to a blanket....not fun!!! ::)