Many thanks to Pat for his ride last Sunday.
The weather report was for death & destruction. The reality was some of the best ride weather you could order.
Me thinks there are some weather forecasters laughing all the way to the bank, being paid to predict stuff I can work out by sunsets, sunrises & kookaburra,s
LOL
I hadnt ridden this area before so it was a nice change of scenery. Pat was there well before everyone and was checking to ensure his chosen routes were all passable as there is a lot of fallen trees in the area.
He returned in time to see the others ready to go. I know I met Leo, Serge & ? Dave? Sorry forgotten. But I will be reminded LOL
Pat lead at a nice rate, cornerman system in place & because there were only a few of us it was a nice steady pace. Starting off on slick well packed wash clay that saw you looking for grip were ever you could. Then to change quickly into grippy hard packed surface.
We spent very little time trying to round fallen trees as Pat had worked his route well.
A nice mix of old trail, fast open stuff & magnificent views around Buxton, Taggarty & the like were all big plusses.
By lunchtime the heat was starting to be felt. I know a few of the guys were sweating. But at least everyone was enjoying themselves.
Earlier in the ride Leo provided a couple of the fellas some comic relief with his turtle impersonation as his parked his honda ontop of himself. But desipite a sore leg because of this he maintained a good pace all day. Well done mate.
I decided at one point while following Serge and stopping on a hill that a side diversion around a large tree was called fall. Anyway after falling off my bike rolling down the hill picking it I provided everyone with a good laugh.
But the best part of the day was discussing at lunch how on TV last week a trail rider filmed himself smashing his foot to bits, then they showed the resulting hospital stuff etc. ( Rider films himself nearly loosing his foot) Not 15 minutes later as I was passing serge on a fast downhill what should happen but a log ( seemed like a 200 year old red gum) caught my right ankle. It went completly numb in a nano second. Which was not a good sign as I was standing up on the pegs at reasonable pace. Between thinking I was soon to be on idiot TV and trying to sit down, control the bike & my brain I saw pat parked on the side of the hill indicating as I went passed that I was going the wrong way.......
But my ankle wouldn't let me stop!
As I was silly enough to take a helmet cam I tried all day to film bits with other riders. But using the cornerman system meant that Pat pissed off every time I came to a road junction, then I moved off & I filmed a lot on my own.
In a couple of nice flowy ridge tracks I managed to get some footage of the rest of the riders at work.
This was my first ride with Pat, I found his ride management was spot on, his local knowledge was great & he sorted a day that I enjoyed.
I would recommend anyone wanting a great ride to hook up on one of these as i know I will.
Top effort to everyone. Cheers Pete
One of 2 videos of the ride here. The 2nd in a couple of days .
