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I knew it was going to be a challenge, I knew it!

But the weather god looked down happily on us & 13 riders headed off on a quiet country jaunt!

Phil Randall WR 250
Seano Douglas TE449
Brendan Collins CRF450
Rudi Webel KTM 300
Con Feyen KTM300
Nigel Cropper KTM525
Darrell Clark WR450
Lynton McPhar WR250
Andrew Petrie KTM 300
Stuart Mackey WR250
Scott Young TE250
David Stanhope WR250

First I have to thank Lefty for the tail man duties as without him the day would have been a shambles with some of the ride breaking up into 2 groups to tackle different routes. Best part is the tail man went up the bastard hill that stopped the ride leader! Ha ha ha Well done mate

We started out fairly hard I guess with a good testing 400 meter hill & looped back to the cars to see if everyone was traveling OK

WE had a couple of riders depart due to a mechanical issue & a healing major injury.

The weather had been dryer than I thought & the tracks were pretty tough in patches due to dust & loose rocks, those tracks from a week ago with water on them & sticky conditions were now very loose & torn up from 4WD's.

We traveled at a strong pace till mid morning break with a stop at a great view point & the wind providing a fantastic cooling breeze. Brendan was getting in the groove now & working the 450 as it deserved to be treated.

Some tighter tracks saw everyone picking their pace up & the pressure started to show as some people stopped mid line & others were threading their way around them. A few bikes were starting to show a little steam.

A couple of smaller streams provided a nice cooling splash.

Lunch saw us group at the foot of a little bit of an up hill, & we had a contingency plan ready for anyone wanting to give it a miss.

After a quiet lunch, of caviar, crayfish & oysters washed down by freezing cold ale served by some of the best looking bar maids you have seen we all cruised up the hill to the top effortlessly. No overheating bikes, no loop offs, no downed bikes, no swearing, no sweating....nothing just a great easy ride.

About now you know that " all pigs are fueled up & ready to fly" because only half of us got up the hill. The second group lead by me diverted to a B line hill which was easier ( on paper) Factually it was even harder than the first hill. So our group had to come back down & travel quiet a distance to meet up with the rest of the crew.

Anyway we provided a few guys a well deserved rest.

The remainder of the ride went smoothly, although I did miss a track junction & ended up taking our group a little off the planed trip. After some more tighter tracks Nigel on the 525 broke his gear lever & had to shorted his ride up as he only had one preselected gear. The rest of us continued into a great track that has 1 or 2 tree's across the track, which sharpened the afternoon riders resolve a little. LOL

Heading back to the cars we had some riders who choose the short route due to low fuel but the rest of us continued & returned to the cars about 3.30.

We only managed around 70 k's for the ride. A little shorter than planned. But given the route I think everyone had ridden the ride to their own enjoyment.

Cheers Pete  8)

From here

Pete I,m stil smilin now  :D I had an absolute ball today mate .The type of stuff you couldn't let ya gaurd down on ,great workout ,I won't have to go to gym this week thats 4 sure . Glad your happy with talkin up the alt route to the big rocky thing ,I s,pose you have to seens ya didn,t make it ,oh well 8).Lefty my friend absolute brilliance all day thankyou for your tail duty ,100% big effort thanks mate.  ;) Pete whens the nexty ? :o

Silly me !.
  When all else fails, read the instructions.  I had somehow interpreted that Sunday would be a low key mapping and exploration day.  I havn't been up there for a while and my grasp on the area has faded a bit, and I am hoping to get up there a bit more often.  However imagine my surprise when we headed straight for Rocky Hill.  It always was a bit daunting, though I used to go there quite often on my old DT200, but that was a long time ago, and my current confidence is a bit fragile!!.  So it will go down in my book as probably the shortest ride I have ever done, less than one km !!.
  So, non the less thank you Pete and all, and sorry I could not share  the day.
  Phil R.
.

Thanks Pete and Seano, kind words. Yeah, I had a great day, as I think everyone did. Cant believe the dust !!! Doesn't take too long for the damp conditions to fade. Great mix of tracks Pete and I love those tough singles with the trees down, they certainly test the stamina. We didn't seem to stop too much but the time just flew, I didnt want it to end until that last down hill before the car park, ouch, shoulders are still aching !!!

Till the next time, Lefty.

Thats Ok Lefty, its close to christmas so we have to be kind!  :D :D :D

Mate, you have rang me, I would have been more then happy to meet up with ya & go for an easy ride.

I reckon you & Ted & myself should get out on a ride & get ya back in form.

Yea sorry Phil, it was a baptism of fire as we hit up the first hill with 100m of the start & didnt give anyone a chance to warm up.

Enjoy your christmas
Cheers Pete

Thanks for a great days riding & workout Peter,lefty & others who helped. I loved it;D except for hitting that log & leaving my gear shift behind but that would be a small price to pay if it was all the day cost me.:-\ Today(Monday)after xrays & ultra sound I found that I torn a tendon in my right thumb & may need surgery.:o Lucky its Xmas & I'm going away for a few weeks, no more riding for a while...>:(..have a great Xmas & see ya all again some time in the new year.:D

Nige

Good old rocky track it's a ripper , Peter you are a so and so for making it the first track at least when we did it the last two times it was the start of our Arvo ride  ;D

Thanks Peter, and everyone on the ride, best ride Iv e been on yet with AMTRA. My little Honda came home with less and scratches and bruises than I did. But all good..  Thanks again for a great ride...

Brendan..

Hi Peter

Thanks for a ripper ride great selection of tracks.
I had an absolute ball.
Thanks to Lefty for Tail man duties and thanks to all for making it a great day out.
Wish you all a merry christmas and hope to see you on the trail next year.

Cheers

Rudi

When I used to rode there in the eighties, that rocky track wasn't so rocky, I could quite easily motor up there on the pipe in 4th gear on my 175 KTM, the last time I was there I reckon I'd be doing well if I got to the top without stopping. ;D

 Thanks Peter for a great days riding and Lefty for tail duties.
 You say theres more of those tracks to link together,bring on the next ride at kinglake.
 If Clarky is reading I will bring your coat to the next meeting.

 Lynton

Thanks Lynton. Leave in your ride gear bag - no doubt we will go for a ride together again soon.