dennisd
Full Member 2012/2013
Posts: 222
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« on: April 28, 2009, 01,17:32 PM » |
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Ride Report Fumina 18th April 2009
By Dennis Dorman
Eight of us met up at Fumina for Al Masons ride on Saturday 18th April. It is a 2 hour drive from Greensborough and nearing the area we encountered light rain, but by the time we reached the car park at around 8:30 it was fine but overcast. We set off around 9:00 am. There was not much dust and the trails were excellent. It remained fine but overcast all day, so it never got too hot. It was just about ideal riding conditions.
It was not long before we got to the first river crossing, the Latrobe River I think. It was reasonably deep but we all got across with no drama and with dry feet. Very soon after and were into some tight, narrow, overgrown tracks. There were at least 2 more river crossings that I recall, but none caused us problems. Some of the tracks were a bit wet and slippery, but I recon they would be hell after a lot of rain.
We had lunch on the trail at around noon and after about 66 km. We had very few re-groups, with I think only 2 in the morning and another 2 in the afternoon, which worked very well with the size of the group. The only technical problem was that our tail man lost the spring from his side stand, but he back tracked and surprisingly he found it and was able to refit it.
One of the many narrow overgrown trails in the area leads to this narrow, dilapidated bridge over a small creek. There is a drop of around 2.5 metres and there are several large gaps in the rotten old bridge. Apparently on the previous Fumina ride Brad came to grief on this bridge, with his front wheel stuck down between broken boards with the bike resting on the bars. Inevitably this had led to Brad sailing over the bars. Unfortunately this also broke several of the remaining planks, so this time the option to ride over was not taken by any of the group. We all carefully walked our bikes over.
We were back at the cars at around 3:00 pm having completed almost 130 km of great riding. There were open flowing tracks, tight over grown tracks and plenty of technical challenges to keep you on your toes. It was a fast ride and I admit that I was totally buggered at the end of the day, but very pleased that I came and completed a great ride. I thoroughly recommend this ride for some great tracks and Al knows the area very well and really links the ride up well.
Ride List:
Al Mason WR250 Ride Leader
Dennis Dorman WR450
Brad McDiarmid WR250
Scott Dorman - KTM300
Rob Cecelsa WR450
Rob Srbinovski XR400 - Tailman
Dave Armstrong KTM450
Rob Broatch WR???
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