West Of Wauchope, THE REPORT.

After meeting at Wauchope, we all travelled in convoy to “Motel Paradiso” at a secret location West of town. Upon arrival we all quickly got ready to hit the trails.

In no time at all we were off to ride some sweet trails that don’t see all that much traffic due to being so far from town. Straight out the back gate of the property are some great hills to get you up onto the range, 4 separate ones to choose from.

Once up on the range the first “hard hill” caused a bit of carnage but everyone got up under their own steam eventually.

A few boys got stuck halfway up.

PTW, made it look easy

Sideburns also had a good go at it on his Husky.

I think Ferk Nerkle is calling me a wanker in this pic????

We eventually made it to the top of Comboyne Rock for a look see. With the clear weather the view was awesome.

After a look at the Rock we headed east again and linked up a few trails that would eventually see us back at base for lunch. That involved a go at Little Jurrasic.

Strucky, was having some fun in little Jurrasic.

So was Sideburns

Bulls Wool did a bit of swearing in there but still managed to get his XR400 through, with it stalling every time he turned the bars to the left, due to the adjustment on his decomp lever.

Having done about 60kms for the morning we headed back for some lunch.
Just before we got back to base, one rider who’s name I won’t mention, managed to strip every tooth off his front sprocket and he nursed it back to camp.

A quick call to Mudntar confirmed they had one in stock and a quick trip to town saw a new 14 tooth sprocket being fitted.

Here is Ferk Nerkle helping the nameless rider fix his bike.

After lunch Strucky and Sideburns called it quits and headed off leaving just 5 of us to head out for an afternoon loop, that saw us do another 60kms. We watched the sun set from the top of Bago and made a mad dash back to base before it got too cold and dark.

It didn’t take long after arriving to start rapeing the eskies looking for refreshment. I think Pete the Wulf was the quickest.

We then sat on the verandah and watched the last of what was a great day fade away.

Ferk Nerkle was given the job of supplying firewood for the weekend but did one better and bought up a “Volcano” diesel powered heater. It was the Ducks Guts and threw enough heat out, that we could spent the entire evening on the verandah despite the sub zero temperature.

We ended up hitting the fart sack at a sensible hour, so we were reasonably fit to tackle another day of riding the next day. It was a bit frosty when we first surfaced.

The sun eventually rose over the hills and warmed the place up, while Pete got breakfast happening. Thanks for the loan of the BBQ Eags!

After Breakfast we headed out again with no solid plan, only to look for some new singles that I knew had to be hidden there somewhere. It wasn’t long before we struck GOLD!! We found some great stuff that I can use in the future, one trail in particular was about 4km’s long and I have been riding past it for years, oblivious to its existence!

Ferk Nerkle, on the gas in one of the faster sections of the “new trail”

We then wandered off in a south west direction, before discovering another even sweeter trail with a “Bat Cave” style entrance that is completely obscured until you are actually right on top of it.

No the XR isn’t the traffic hazard! There is a monsterous great hole next to the trail that could have swallowed all 5 bikes and more! You can see it just in front of the XR.

It certainly is a sweet trail, very much like those found in Coffs. Nothing but sweet loam!

While we were in that same valley we did a bit more exploring down some side trails and that is when we found the greasy log from hell! I tried wheeling my bike over it and came to grief when my feet shot out from under me and I landed flat on my back with the XR on top of me, pinning me to the ground. Yes, someone has photos that I am sure will be posted later. Once everyone realized how slippery the log was they gave it a lot more respect.
Firstly, a ramp was constructed.

Ferk Nerkle made it over no worries.

Bulls Wool, needed a little help but did it pretty easy

As usual PTW made it look easy.

All the effort to get over the log proved to be fruitless as the trail eventually came to a deadend. Where I saw someone crash their bike and get up so fast, you would swear he had the polka dot jersey on!! So no photo of PTW laying on the ground!

So with nowhere to go we had to turn back and attack the log again.

Ferk Nerkle hit it committed and made it over, it wasn’t pretty though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=V1Ht4h9cais&list=UUGhGy_fYv8dpJhEHCP8Wd2w

Not as pretty as Pete’s attempt anyhow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSqBjAaZFLY&list=UUGhGy_fYv8dpJhEHCP8Wd2w&index=2&feature=plpp_video

Our searching for more trails in that valley soon paid off, as we found another wicked trail that had a pallet bridge, followed by a very cheeky slippery hill straight after.

After 3 goes at the hill, I finally got the XR up it, Pete rode up and down it at his leisure, Ferk Nerkle made it look easy too. Bulls Wool had several couragious attempts before finally making it to the top.

WE spent another hour exploring before low fuel levels, pulled us up for the day and we made our way back to camp, in order to pack up and head back to reality.

We ended up doing in excess of 180kms for the weekend and I am certainly feeling it this morning. :S :pinch:

Thanks to the guys who came along and made it a weekend to remember!