This topic contains 79 replies, has 0 voices, and was last updated by 
-
STM, GREAT report, top stuff!
champo35 wrote:
Quote:moto picked up
Moto finally got a duck? đ
Anonymous
There was a lot of carnage just getting to this point. Then this
The bike flipped over backwards and tom dived for it then tumbled down the hill with the bike
I put this bit of tape on a very dusty ktm on Friday and told moto if it not there Monday you are doing something wrong. It made it
[IMG]http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/champo35/Picture081.jpg[/IMG
AnonymousDay 4 report
I got up to see the sunrise and have a look around
Darlington beach park is a sweet place
Plenty of room for our bikes
Go kart friendly
MX track on site
No prohibition
For those of you that have never seen a sunrise. It looks like this
Because we already had our driving suits on; we thought we would stop at the kart track
I spun out first. Then moto let me catch back up. Then he spun out. Then I let him catch back up. Then I brake checked him and he spun out again. We thought we may get in trouble at this stage so we kept focused for the rest of the ride.
Me and moto bypassed the ma and par food stores and had our traditional multi national tortured chook for lunch. (it is a tradition on the moto and champo road trips). That is when we checked out the motard racer berg. Moto really wants one
AnonymousECKS-Man wrote:
Quote:STM, GREAT report, top stuff!champo35 wrote:
Quote:moto picked up
Moto finally got a duck? đ
what goes on tour; stays on tour
don’t tell tigertyneshe was a nice looking duck too. she was out of there before moto woke up though. poor moto
champo35 wrote:
Quote:ECKS-Man wrote:Quote:STM, GREAT report, top stuff!champo35 wrote:
Quote:moto picked up
Moto finally got a duck? đ
what goes on tour; stays on tour
don’t tell tigertyneshe was a nice looking duck too. she was out of there before moto woke up though. poor moto
Here is a thought for you guys, are you sure that is not a male duck? :ohmy:
AnonymousTop reports in a what seems like a perfect location
May have to come along next time as I can crash at relo’s near Red Rock which sounds pretty dam close to the action.
Cheers
Murph the surf
AnonymousIâm trying to figure out how to start a report when so much happened, but being the logical guy hat I am Iâve decided to startâŚwellâŚat the start
Thursday
I was running through my usual pre-ride routine on Thursday night (a couple of litres of wine) when RacyTracy called saying that her and Champo were out on the bike near my house.
They stopped by and we waited for Tyne to finish work and then decided that weâd go have some dinner down the Tavern as Tracy was so hungry she was close to chewing her arm off.
On the way back Champo made an on the spot decision to come on the ride the next day so we agreed a time and for him to meet at my place the next day and were all set.
FridayChampo turned up early and must have been keen because itâs the first time heâs been on time for any ride weâve been on :p
We headed up to Coffs with a quick stop at Wauchope to meet Mick for a coffee/milkshake when we saw Dean (Itsagas) drive past. Mick called him up and we ended up travelling up together shortly after we left Mick back at work doing his thing. Dean was vigilent in noticing that my indicators don’t work….
We arrived shortly after Mike and the QLD boys but spent 30 minutes trying to find the villa after getting a bum steer by the chick at reception :angry: Before we even got parked STM had arrived and we had the intoâs going on.
It couldnât have been more than 45 minutes later and we were geared up and ready to roll. A few short moments later and we were in the bush carving up some single trail moving through at a leisurely pace. Mike had noticed some running issues with his bike and we tried to figure them out whilst STM took Darren to the nearest firetrail as he was having some problems with his knee after jarring it (he only had it put back in on Monday!).
We continued onwards and fought the dust before heading through some sweet single trail sections with sweeping corners and windrows to have a play on. We headed back towards the villa and started up with the beers whilst locking bikes up. If the trails continued like that for the rest of the weekend it was going to a ballâŚ.
Dinner consisted of a Chinese that STM had pre-planned and booked up, other than the fact I turned up to a licensed restaurant carrying a carton of Coronaâs dinner went down very quickly and without a grumble from anyone…even Tom who doesnât eat Chinese food. For $18 it was a great deal and we had the chance to say hi to Len, STMâs dad as he came along too.
With dinner dispatched and bellyâs full we moved on to the local pub for a few brewskieâs and a watch of the footy….amongst other things….before heading back to base camp Delta
We continued the body conditioning by taking on some extra carbs (read beer) in preparation for the next day before hitting the sack.
Saturday
After a dodgy nightâs sleep I woke early and was counting the hours until we could get going. With everyone up we had some brekky and double checked the bikes were ready to go. Someone noticed that my front wheel had a ridiculous amount of play in it and it was clear that the bearings had seen better days (much like my whole bike :laugh:).
Most of the movement was taken out after the wheel was removed and repacked with grease and the bike was ready to roll on time with a personal note to change the front and rear beings before Louee as the back wasnât much better :S
We rode down to the beach where we met with and STM and Ollie. A quick photo sesh and we were off! Once again ripping through the bush and having a ball. It wasnât very long into the ride that I came to tight singetrail section that we had covered on the Friday, stopping to perform corner man duties as instructed by our brave leader I watched as everyone negotiate the rooty section and disappeared into the bush….everyone that is except Darren!
Darren was riding well and getting into the swing of things on the trusty XR400 when a rip of the throttle at the wrong time saw the bike snap round underneath him, take some bark off the tree, throw him into the air and come down for a pretty rough looking landing. I threw my bike down and ran over to help, luckily his knee was okay but the bark buster was pretty wobbly, his rear break lever was badly bent and his toolbag had exploded over the floor.
So far it was the crash of the weekend without doubt. We got going again and kept flowing through more single trail, everyone having smiles despite the dusty conditions.
It wasnât long after this I stopped to adjust my shock when Tom went flying past on the Yammy, deciding to give chase I let the Kato do her thing, I was catching up and thinking about where to try an overtake, my momentary lapse of concentration was to be my undoing as I went wide on a sweeping corner heading straight at an angled fallen tree. There wasnât ever going to be any other result than a trip over the bars and into the bush. With only my pride damaged I managed to pick my bike up and continue on before any saw the âincidentâ.
Since we had arrived at a small stop Mike took the opportunity to drain the float on the carby to see if he could get the running sweet again as he was still having some issues. After all this was sorted STM noticed that Tom had a flat. We got the tyre and threw a heavy duty 21â tube in and got on our way. It wasnât exactly and Ben Grabbham 2.5 minute change but we got there.
Onwards and upwards, weaving through tracks, trails and single trails almost the whole time only stopping to re-group, get some camelback love and then back into it. We came to a section that I liked riding which finished in a short, steep uphill that banked immediately right. Popping out behind STM I was placed at the top for cornerman duties.
There wasnât anyone immediately behind me so I jumped off the back and fiddled so that the bike was leant against my back (I donât have a stand), hearing a bike behind lining up for the hill I continued to proceed to do my business. The next thing I hear is the bike stall and series of expletives from Itsagas (who doesnât really swear) as he laid the bike over on the crest of hill. As he was pretty much at the top I listened as the expletives kept coming and said to him to wait a second while I âshake offâ and Iâd come and help.
Before this had happened I heard some scrubbing of dirt, shrieking from Dean and a sturdy sounding thud, followed by yet more expletives :laugh: I drop my bike and ran to the hill to see Dean doubled over in pain and his bike wedged in a tree :ohmy: He had found neutral, rolled back into the tree and crushed his shoulder between said bike and tree. Heâs a tough cookie though so after a short break he was back on the bike and ripping again
At this point I couldnât decide who should have the crash of the weekend title as both Deanâs and Darrenâs effortâs were commendable!
For lunch we made our way to the beach where we had a blast. Everyone just put their hoon hats on and it was wheelieâs, power slides and donuts galore. Very funny to watch :p
3kâs of beach and we were at the pub for some grub we were met Cory8 and Uncle Fester. The pub was a great spot and the food was great, especially the âspecialâ for $10.
Since we couldnât sit there all day we geared up and headed back out to the bush. I noticed that Uncle fester and Corey8 could both crack a good pace with Corey punting the KLX along particularly well.
As we had come to expect we were still riding some awesome flowy trails broken only the odd log or rut, there was a section where Tom and STM were having a ball and racing each other, stalling off the start I decided to play catch up, I was getting close too until it all came to an end when I nearly hit my second angled log of the weekend, it was a close call indeed! Awesome section of trail though, I think this was everyoneâs favorite bit.
Everyone at this point was in the flow of riding at a good pace comfortably when STM almost had his neck ripped off. It was one of those things that could have happened to anyone and it did look bad because of the blood. He was obviously worried as there was blood on his shirt and gloves and it took a bit of convincing him that we werenât lying about the fact he would be okay. He thought we might sugarcoating it to protect him but Uncle Fester give him the once over which reassured him a bit. Since Dean had hit reserve moments before we turned tail and made our way home.
Since STM is a tuff dirtbiker he got cleaned up by his neighbor and prepared the house for us to visit whilst we were drinking beer back at the villa.
Arriving at half five or so we sat round the fire and STM got the first of the home brews out. After the reports I was sure it was going to be good…for a home brew…but that doesnât necessarily mean much. Well, after my first sip I was very impressed and helped to get through all that was available along with the Eagle Boys pizza.
It was a great night and we all had a laugh about the stories told from the days riding. Since we had gotten lifts to STMâs place we hadnât really got as a far as thinking about how we were going to get back, luckily STM lent us his wifeâs car and drove back to the villa for a few more beers and then some sleep.
The sleeping arrangements were slightly modified from the previous night on the account of people that had left and a bad snorer. I awoke at around 2:30am again and was never going to get back to sleep again with the ridiculous noises Darren and Tom were making, I can truly say I have never heard snoring that bad….whatâs even funnier is that they both whimper like girls in their sleep too!!!
Sunday
A later start Sunday but it had the signs of good things to come, it was the day of searching new trails and doing a couple of hillclimbs STM had in mind for us.
We started off by warming up through some more single track that we were now dialed in for and with a smaller group held a good pace through the bush. It wasnât long before we were at the first part of the first decent hill. It looked shaley and rocky but didnât look like a big deal.
STM took off for the first go and I went behind, it was in fact very slippery and grip was low making momentum key, at all but 3 meteres from the top STM got sideways right in front of me, with some evasive action and a big loss in speed I manged to crawl to the top spinning the rear all the way. Looking back I saw STM about 20 metres down the hill and Tom stranded on the otherside.
STM dusted himself off and I helped him up with his bike, he had broken his brake lever but it was still useable. When he got going I left him too it, only to look round seconds later to see he was he was lying on the floor again! It was pretty slippery.
Champo had an aborted attempt when his bike wheelspun to a stop but made it second go. Mike had 4 attempts and made it in the end through determination alone, his back tyre was pretty low in the knob department which wouldnât have been helping.
We regrouped and STM announced that we had just done the easy part and the hard part was to come! Mike went and scouted the bottom of the hill and I went to have a look too. Turning round I went and had a crack but oversteered the back wheel at the critical time and didnât make it up the rock stepup. I went back down and had a second go, not making the same mistake twice and made it to the top relieved not to have fallen down the ravine on the left (I took the line on the left).
STM was next and made it all the way to the rock step-up where me and Champo helped him over the last section to glory. Tom was next and did the same as STM, stopping just short of the rocky rooty section just shy of the top. This section was still slippery, I fell over 3 times just helping people with their bikes!
Now it was Mikeâs turn, his first run saw him to one side of the hill but he had run out of momentum and needed to go back for another crack. His second attempt was when all the excitement happened. With a great run he got all the way up the rock ledge before stalling the bike in the last metre. Starting to fall backwards (not something you wanted to do) Tom lurched for his wheel. As he did so Mike went to try and swing the bike to his side to save it from landing on him. Tom went flying off the rock face in a perfect 10 Superman position, only to end up upside down on the hill, on his back with the rear of the WR on his leg! We quickly got it off and luckily it was only his ankle that was hurt.
It was probably the funniest and scariest moment of the weekend whilst also taking the award for best crash. I still laugh about it now!
Champo was the only one left to tackle the hill and chose a better line than most making it look all too easy. We had a couple of victory shots as the only 2 to make it up the hill.
We continued on and came out to a road that STM was familiar with (since he had never been this way before). I was sat behind STM cruising down the firetrail when I saw this big knarly looking hill on the right. With the brakes on the boys behind me stopped too and we turned round to go have a look.
It look very steep, very rocky and big mother of a hill. Not the one youâd want to fall off on, having no corners or obstructions it would be a long way down. After a quick look Mike took off and torqued the 450 up the hill showing there was heaps of grip and making it look very easy.
I took off next and hit it with too much speed making me lose balnce and I didnât quite get far enough to the left. Consequently, my back wheel dropped where it didnât want to be and it was shortly over. Trying to turn the bike around was a nightmare, it was steep and I fell over at least 5 times and descended 20 metres backwards on my arse skull dragging my bike trying to lift it up.
When I got my breath back I lined up for a second go and taking it slower torqued to the top just as Mike had done before. Champo made it first time and we were going to come down when we saw STM lining up for a go. STM got about half way up the hill before turning quickly to right and riding straight across the face like the wall of death! :ohmy: :ohmy: Me, Mike and Champo were at the top making gasping in amazement as he did it. He was really close to falling of sideways and going back down the hill, he would have rolled over hard rock for at least 50m with his bike in tow but luckily he stopped, pointed his bike back down the hill, only to line up for another go!
The second attempt looked very sheepish and he ended up in a similar place as the first and he went down for attempt number 3, you gotta love the determination!
On the 3rd go he nailed it and marched on all the way to the top chugging the 250 all the way up. We had one final hill in store and it was a slippery one we had riden down a few times over the weekend. I follwed STM up and he managed to come unstuck right in front of me again
I managed to continue on and got to the top with the others. Whilst sat there we wouldn’t hear STM so I decided to back for another go and to check he was okay. We both went to the bottom and when i heard him get to the top I had a another guy just for the fun of it. All feeling pleased we had survived we made our back towards the road where we split with STM.Me, Mike, Tom and Champo decided another rip up the beach to the pub for lunch again was the go before finally getting back to the villa early afternoon for a laze around by the pool/spa.
STM dropped by for a beer before leaving to go get his wife from the airport and explain why large chunks of his neck was missing. We polished off a few beers that night whilst watching a movie when we had the 2 take of the ridiculous snoring.
Monday
Loaded up, said our goodbyeâs and headed home. As we left too early to go Go Karting at Coffs me and Champo stopped by Port Maquarie and had a burn on the karts there.
It was good fun and apart from a couple of spins we had a good race around. I got home at 4pm ish and unloaded the bikes and gear. Champo kindly offered to do my wheel bearings before Louee for me so he took my bike home too. Thank you!
I was in bed by 8:30pm trying to catch up from lost sleep and an awesome weekend.
In all I had an excellent time, STM had gone above and beyond in every area and really made it an awesome weekend with the variety of great trails, top notch planning and amazing levels of generosity. Heâs a top bloke thatâs really down to earth and easy to get on with, you local Wauchopian boys should get up there to see him. I look forward to having the opportunity to return the favor one day
You and your other half are always welcome down at the bay mate.
End of mammoth report!
Anonymous
Anonymouschampo35 wrote:
Quote:stm even gave us a camal back to give away at louee.
stm can’t even go.it is a a really sweet one too
what a dude
Yeah the Camelback is from his line of work, its in the prize list he is a top bloke but we knew that before the Camelback was donated
TB
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.