Bellingen 4 day Ride/Flood report

[MARTIN TWINEMember]

Well boys,what a sterling effort by you guys to make the 4 days riding through some of the wettest conditions i have ever seen in photos. It reminds me of a Sunny Corner Rally a few years back.Looks like i missed out on a top ride.

Great photos and report too,look forward to hearing more as the week goes on.

Count me in for next year thats for sure.

[Craig HattonMember]

BellingenEv wrote:

DAY 4
After Bob somehow bought wheel bearings in Coffs at 900 pm on a sat night

wheel bearings again bob, whats doing

Hato

[terryjhaynesMember]

Yeh! top effort there guyes drowning bikes,slipry mud hills,trees down,but you kicked on :cheer: yu better men than me. great report n pics.
cheers teza.

[Mick DMember]

Bob, you are a spinner! :laugh: Said in the nicest possible way.

I wish I was there, I love those sort of conditions and so do XR650’s. When things settle down here at Chez Micknmeld, I will be keen for another blast up on the Banana coast, no matter how wet.

Well done guys, it has made for good reading.
Cheers
Mick.

[EvanMember]

Bob wrote:

” he would have had 10+ gos at a hill even if he never looked like making it.”

Apparently i never look like i’m going to make it , but some times i suprise myself and others

might have to cable tie my feet to the pegs ?

Good one ev

looking forward to the next one

The last hill at macksville took me ten goes maybe thats why our bikes look the same.

[Mike WyethMember]

Yeah great effort guys and some great vids and photos, there was certainly some water down there :woohoo:

Mike

[Adrian GaleMember]

[attachment=3109]SANY0230KTM.JPG[/attachment]

Bello 4day 2012
Day One-Bello Sth
The weekend got off to a great start with Bob (WR450) sleeping in an hour but this was made up on the run up the coast, even with a short cut that turned out to be a dead end. From Bathurst to Bello we came across 14 fun stoppers which kept the cruise control on the speed limit! Bob was happy to hand over the reins of the diesel Prado at times and man it impressed me with the pulling power and 6 speed box.

We met up with Ev (WR450) and LC (FE450) geared up and headed into the rainy Bello forests. Ev ran us through some fire trails to get a feel for the terrain and I would say it was smooth and grippy but would easily turn slick. This was my first experience of the infamous lantana of this region. I found myself spending half the amount of time ducking under this pest looking at my seat and the rest looking at the trail ahead. I can see why King STM (Lantana Man) puts the time in to maintain his favourite trails!

Ev pointed us to his favourite hills and we tackled them with gusto. Making hard work of the first hill I was waiting for the heckling or at least a helping hand to arrive. Neither came, so that set the order for the day. No one was coming to help if you couldn’t do it on your own! Well it was a grade 5 ride in the Bello rain. LC put his Berg to good use by cresting the summit on most hills. Bob was managing to put some more scratches on the WR, not that he would cry about it. Ev usually kept the right line a secret until we worked it out for ourselves with Ev declaring “wait 30 seconds before you go”. I found the combo of a new inter rear tyre with a hard mousse not to my liking in the conditions. The rider skill had nothing to do with it.

We headed for a low level bridge crossing that would lead us to the promised land of Nth Bello, but it was well under. “It will be down in a couple of hrs” was Ev’s call.

Ev showed us his hill climb section of a newly logged area. A ton of different climbs were on offer. They were still slippery as. One climb had Bob ¾ up, before he turned around and got bogged. The WR was banging on the limiter shifting soil until mother nature loosed its grip on Bob’s beast.

Soaked, knackered and muddy we headed for the Bello bridge to suss out the water level along with a dozen of Bello’s locals. Stopping in sight of the water we headed for the cars with Bob clutch starting his beast right beside a local who was chatting on his phone. The guy shat himself when the WR coughed out a flame and roared into life. Ev will have a hard time smoothing that one out with the locals!

We gathered at the cars with LC coming across the sight of Bob washing his man tackle in his birthday suit, at a tap at the park. More work needed there Ev!

The local was our home for the next few days with Ev joining us for the night with all roads out being underwater. We partied on with the six locals at the pub chillaxing to the Hottest 100 tunes in the lounge area. The widow maker was on the radar the next day so an early night was in order. :S

[RoyMember]

Well done boys. Was on holidays in Hervey Bay avoiding most of the rain when this was on. I did think about you all and was wondering if it would have gone ahead in the wet whilst I was savouring a beer at the aussie day festivities.

Well done Ev. Looks like a great ride. Sorry I couldn’t get there this time. I’m certainly not avoiding you on purpose. Will have to get over some time after the 12 hour.

[Matt BakerMember]

Magic weekend of riding.

Thanks to Ev for organising, Scotty for a guided tour of your backyard and Bob and Galey for showing up.

Don’t think I got wet once all weekend, maybe just my boots from splashes in puddles :laugh:

Loved the fireroads, singles and hills, didn’t even mind the slippery logs

The river track where Bob went for a swim was a highlight, and so were the singles on Sunday, even though I was a little (read a lot :sick: ) under the weather after partying too hard with the local Bello nutters in the pub Saturday night.

[Adrian GaleMember]

Day Two – Nth of Coffs
We geared up at a servo with our wet smelly gear; I brought an extra two sets for such a weekends ride, when King STM arrived with his fully sick blinged up Yammie 250.

[attachment=3112]SANY0234.JPG[/attachment]

Then I noticed that a truck load of new DRZ tyres was parked up for the weekend.

[attachment=3113]SANY0246.JPG[/attachment]

The King led us up to the banana plantation and out of sight into his playground. Bob managed to come undone by choosing the wrong rut on a red clay downhill and went over the bars with the beast ending up on its back. I saw a drowned rat while marking a corner and I wondered what was ahead of us. A few creek crossings were aborted with The King walking any that he had doubts about. We dived down into the valley and ascended up onto the ridge lines. A couple of cheeky hillclimbs had us on our toes with an easy one turning hard for me with poor line/gear selection. Three goes later and plenty of encouragement from the bros I made the summit only to turn around and do it properly.
[attachment=3114]SANY0235_2012-02-01.JPG[/attachment]

The 2 steps were next and this was a little tricky one for the King, Bob and I with all three needing a push up the last step. LC and Ev made short work of it again. A nice peek into the valley was our reward.
[attachment=3115]SANY0242.JPG[/attachment]

LC squeezes under a huge tree.
[attachment=3116]SANY0245.JPG[/attachment]

Taking on a washed out bridge. This will soon be lost ,so King will have a nice little creek crossing to put in .Two creeks met up just to the left of the pic.

We headed for the widow maker with me having visions of a monster hill that smashed bikes into submission. It was impressive alright. Ev showed us the way to do it, twice, while Bob tried his best a dozen times, left and right side, with one spectacular slide with a roll over onto the first step. The King was crying about the bike more than Bob. LC played it safe and was happy to watch the carnage, while the King got a itchy throttle hand and had a run getting to the first step. It was wet and traction was missing on the day for the tourists, but we have promised to return on a drier weekend. I tried it fast in 1st, slow in 1st, fast in 2nd and slow in 2nd and I only got to the first step using the left side. Next time my friend, next time!

The King had one last hill climb for us to conquer and it reminded me of my local rocky hill climbs with big loose round rocks strewn over it with nary a clean line to be seen. LC, Ev and Bob smashed it from my vantage point at the bottom, with the King returning halfway down for another charge at it. I took it too easy at first and couldn’t keep the forward motion going so gave it another hit and succeeded. Once at the top we made haste for the King’s local takeaway for a burger so we rode out on the fire trails.

With full bellies and our hunger for riding satisfied for the day, we headed for Coffs to get some spares for the WR. If only Ev had of noticed his front sprocket was knackered and bought a fresh one , it would have helped for the next day’s ride.
[attachment=3117]SANY0251.JPG[/attachment]

A pensive LC watches the flood water recede.

All cleaned up at the local pub we settled in for a couple of bevy’s and with the Bello Ping Pong Championship being held that night with had a bash with the author besting all comers. With the pub shutting at midnight another early night was had.

[GregMember]

Nice write up Galey

TB

[Adrian GaleMember]

Cheers Mate. Days 3 and 4 in progress.

[Aaron WildeMember]

Great report guys plus pics and vids sweet . Hard conditions to keep your goggles on :pinch: just a tad wet. Great commitment by all.! :cheer:

[Adrian LeeMember]

Well done guys,one of the best ride reports i have seen. Great vids and pics

No way in the world i would have gone out in day 1 conditions

[corey heatherMember]

Yeah they delivered those tyres to me on the monday Galey. after all the DRZ would have been the only bike that would have the power to be turning those tyres

[Author]

Posts