Gorilla’s in the mist ride 8/11/09 West Wallsend

[Anonymous]

I thought I would start the thread off because I am back early.

It was wet, slippery and muddy but I had a great time.

The funniest part of the ride for me was when Eagle rode over me. Why does everyone do that? (It might be something to do with me falling off in front of everyone else)

This was on the Range Road and there were two guys in front of me who had slowed right down so I braked real easy because it was in that red clayey stuff. Then I started to speed off because I thought that had moved on but they hadn’t so I braked but the rear tyre just overtook the front and I ended up on my back. Then I hear Eagle who was not far behind me yell out ‘Stay still’. He thought that he might have been able to get around me but it was just too slippery and one of his wheels hit me and my bike and pulled me around again. There was carnage but it was very funny. Poor Murph. I hadn’t ridden with Murph before so he probably expected me to be crying or something (I have never cried on a ride) and me and Eagle were pissing ourselves laughing because it was just the funniest thing. I think Murph was very relieved. As a result I got very dirty and TB has some good photos of it (I actually look like a turtle).

The only bit I didn’t enjoy was the section where I took my goggles off and then my glasses got all dirty and fogged up. I couldn’t see a thing and as a result had a shocker which was very frustrating. Up until then I had been going really well. I had a couple of off’s but other than 1 I got myself back up and going again no problems. I can’t tell you how pissed off I was about that bit because I never struggle like that.

However it was a good thing because I got a huge burst of anger adrenalin and flew up the road that you go past the gun club at Wakefield jumping up the hill and at one stage realised that after I had landed I was riding with the front wheel up in the air. I was soooo impressed because I was wheelyng effortlessly. Mind you although I felt like it went for ages in reality it probably went for like 3 seconds :laugh:

I was sorry to hear that Todd had to head back early because of his back. If I had of known I would have offered him some pain relief. My back was playing up so I had heaps of tablets on me (BTW thanks Justo for the Panadeine Forte ).

Anyway thanks everyone for a great ride but I can hear a bike out the front so I must go and get all the goss.

[glennMember]

Hey princess
You just seem to be a good target to run over,,LOL :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

been there done that :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

[Adrian LeeMember]

I love the sound of wet,slippery and muddy.Down here in mexico its about 35 degrees,dry and very dusty.it sounds like you guys had a great ride but then again i dont think theres such a thing as a bad ride,as long as everyone makes it back safe.

[Dwayne OMember]

101ks of riding for me today, I actually commuted over to the start point & back so take off about 8 or so ks for the loop.
Great to meet up with some old faces again, and meet a couple of new ones too

Thanx Dan for the ride You did well mate, especialy for the conditions out there!!!

Wet wet wet was the order of the day once we got underway & hit the forest.
It turned out to be a bit of a ride of attrition :laugh: with a few droping off throughout the day as well, even a DRZ with a badly leaking shaft seal that didn`t make the start :huh: :dry: :blush: Relax Boony we won`t harp on too much about that one

Credit to all the guys that turned out for the ride, with the overnight downpour I expected to see a few less even!!!!

I had a good day, despite seeing some Walls loooming a couple of times (thanx AustBlue for coaxing me along that little bit up that hill) I pushed on and admit that I was somewhat relieved when the Kato started to not play, so we had to tow it out & call it day
I think there were some others feeling the same way just quietly

Big Thanx to TB & Bob as well for the grouse hot BBQ sangas at the lunchstop :cheer: Sure beats lugging food around as well in the wet sloppy clay,,,,

Sorry KD for the little bump that I gave you too :laugh: But you will plsy Ninja Breakdancing Turtle in front of me on the trail :laugh: What am I supposed to do ???
Wish Murph had helmet Cam, that would have been the funniest OBT crash ever, Double Crash even

I am done with the cleanup of the bike & gear, Now I am gonna relax & soothe the aches ready for the new job start tomorrow !!!

Cheers for Now

[corey heatherMember]

2 good reports now must of been a ride well worth it. Must hook the trailer up and do a run down one weekend i feel

[Dwayne OMember]

We know how to have a good time down this way Corey !!! As do all other Old Bulls in their respective areas :cheer: or so I hear

Come on down sometime indeed
Cheers

[ianMember]

Corey8 wrote:well grab that cousin of mine and nathan when you do corey , you can stay at my place and we can go for a ride down this way!!

Quote:

2 good reports now must of been a ride well worth it. Must hook the trailer up and do a run down one weekend i feel

[glennMember]

God invented cameras so we could see pictures from this ride,,,,,

SO WHAT THE :angry: 😆

[PaulMember]

Relax Boony there was a helmet cam running but I dont think there are a lot of still shots, we were very busy in the mud and rain having a blast.
Funny that, once you’re soaked and filthy there’s not much else but to have fun regardless.

Eagle; I was glad the Kato stopped when it did, that was when I started to hit the wall and I banged up my knee in a little sideways action that got out of control :blush:
You did well to finish the ride mate, there weren’t many of us who actually rode to the finish line

Add my bike to the list of bikes which ended up with no back brake pads and the fronts are almost gone too.

Fantastic ride Dan.
Well done TB with the BBQ (shoulder and all) and driving the salvage vehicle, a real sterling effort

[TrentMember]

No pics from me but Im uploading some video right now I have 2g of footage but I’m only uploading a couple of vids tonight because it takes about an hour each.

i’ll write up a report later but I just wanted to say thanks to the old bulls for a great day and especially thanks to those that helped me get my broken bike out at what became the end of the day. Once I got past the depression of my bike dying I was smiling again and remembering all the good stuff from today and yesterday.

Great old bull spirit shown by many

p.s hondas rule :dry: :side:

[Anonymous]

I was a bit hasty in submitting my earlier ride report but I need to thank DanD for leading and organising the ride and TB and Novice for cooking a fantastic lunch for a good cause (even though mine was crunchy because of all the mud over my hands mmmm gritty).

Thanks guys!

And we do have pictures but they will have to wait until tomorrow night.

[TrentMember]

This is just the first one I grabbed but there’s a few. I haven’t edited it yet and pardon my swearing at the beginning but I have a feeling that many of the clips are going to have me saying f!@# me here and there – When you come a gutsa in the first five minutes of the ride and land in a knee deep swamp you tend to react that way to the sight of lakes of that magnitude!

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAP2EiTjxXU[/video]

You might here me wimper when Kylie heads the wrong way but at first I thought she mustve spotted a different line then I heard “I cant see” and thought oh – this should make good footage!

[todd westburyMember]

hey guys an girl that was the best FKN ride I think i have had up until my back went sorry about that i went from having a ball to a CAT in seconds but back problems are something most of us will experience anyway dan that was a great way of saying WELCOME TO THE OLD BULLS i can not wait for your next well exacuted ride. and i would like to thank rest off you guys and gal for puting up with my slow riding and my soft nes thank you all. and TB for the BBQ that i did not make it too

[PaulMember]

Better late than never….

Homegrown Goggle Anti-Fog Techniques
Soap
Take a bar of non-abraisive soap and soak it in a bit of hot water for a few minutes to soften it up (liquid soap works just as good). Once soft, scrape off a bit of the softened soap and put a light film of soap on the inside of the goggle lens. Once the film is dry, carefully buff the lens clear with a soft cloth. This is usually good for several hours of riding.

[Anonymous]

First of all thankyou to everyone that made it on Sunday. This was my last OBT ride for 2009.

The conditions were treacherous, but everyone was still keen to get out there and get dirty.
I did have some better loops organised and pre-run but with the shitty arse conditions it made it a bit impossible to get to them all. Next time.

The dust suppression was a little bit too much and I will try and organise less next time.

You don’t get to see much of what goes on when you lead a ride but from what I have heard there was some carnage along the way.
I know I had plenty of moments that were “oh crap” that’s gunna hurt but considering the moistness of the ground they were all OK.
The issue of fogging goggles (and glasses) was definitely an issue on Sunday and in some instances riding along the trails with no goggles was as bad as having fogged goggles on. Especially along the range road, how dark was it going through there.
The ride to the Gap was an interesting one, in the dry it is a fairly decent paced ride but when you add water (lots of it) it makes for some decent riding. There are a few clay hills that you can usually zip up no worries but with the addition of water it makes them like riding on oily glass. Everyone got through though with a bit of a push and shove just to keep things on the up.
Kylies fogged up glasses and goggles gave her a bit of grief on the ride, with a little bitch fit at the top of one hill. Although after her little tantrum and swearing session she seemed to of found the zone. I was sitting down the bottom of a hill waiting for the group at one stage and a familiar bike came scooting down the hill. It was Kylie well out in front of the rest of the group. Way to go Kylie. We sat waiting for a fair while before everyone else joined us.
When we got to the Gap servo a few of us topped up our bikes and had a quick drink before heading onto Mount Sugarloaf where a snag sanga and drink would be waiting for us. I filled my bike up but didn’t worry about putting any fuel into Kylies bike, as it usually only sips the fuel. Kylie must of been giving it a fair flogging as the fuel light came on shortly after leaving the servo. My bad KD.
We made our way back towards Sugarloaf along the range road, there are a heap of little off shoot tracks that we could of done but with the crap conditions and near nothing vision I decided a quick scoot along was in order. That and TB and Bob were waiting for us at the top with lunch on the go.
We made it back up to the top of Sugarloaf and found TB and Bob under a gazebo with the BBQ cranking and the snags good to go.
When Kylie and Eagle came in I noticed Kylie wearing a mud pack all over her back and Eagle looking like he just shit in his pants. There was clay everywhere. Had they decided to mud wrestle along the way? No Kylie had a little lay down and Eagle didn’t want her to feel bad about it so he ran her over and then joined her on the ground. I wish I was there to see that one.
With lunch done and Kylies bike topped up with fuel it was time to keep moving. Kylie decided to bail at this stage heading for home as her back was giving her a huge amount of trouble.
We headed down from Sugarloaf to drop off the side of the road. I missed the track and we ended up going down the road a little bit further then we were suppose to.
The decent down that side of Sugarloaf was a fairly slow as it is both steep and it was wet. We got to the bottom and headed back into the bush, we done some of the same tracks as what we did in the morning but different if that makes sense.
The tracks under the powerlines have recently been bulldozed and graded but the four wheel drive in breeds are making short work of what would be some really good fast riding. There are some excellent looking drainage mounds been put in which will make for some serious airtime when it dries out again. Both me and Moto agreeing that we are going to go out for a blat one day to try them out. When its dry that is.
We were heading for a single trail loop that was going to be it for the day when some trouble struck AB’s bike. The majority of the group had made it off the main track in and were waiting for the rest of the pack. We sat at the bottom of a hill waiting but nothing, we waited some more but the rest of our group hadn’t turned up yet. Justo went for a look back along the track to find out what was going on and came back not having found the rest of the group.
Moto gave us some entertainment while we were waiting with a show of never give up riding attitude. He hit the hill on nearly every available line until he nailed it. I don’t think the standard issue rear tyre was helping the cause any but he got up the hill regardless. Eagle was another one that showed the never give up attitude on the same hill different angle. He kept going and going at it, me and Moto gave him a bit of a hand as there was a bit about ¾ the way up that you would need a trials bike to do it.
With Moto and Eagle at the top of the hill the rest of us waited at the bottom for the rest of the group. Eventually it was decided that we would all turn around and go back and have a look. We made our way out of the offshoot track and headed back the way we had earlier been. We found the rest of the group at the bottom of a gully with a dead Kato. AB’s bike had no spark what so ever. With a bit of head scratching on what we were going to do, it was decided to give TB a call as he was at my place and get him to come out with he trailer to rescue the dead bike. With the recovery vehicle sorted, we had to get AB’s bike out of the bush and back to the road. WikdBeemer had a tow rope so the BMW was the first tow bike of the day. It was at this stage that the group decided to call it a day and disperse. Some went back trough the bush while me, Moto, Wikd, Eagle and AB headed back on towards the road to get the broken Kato floated back to the cars. We made it out to the road after the tow rope snapping several times. TB in the fast response vehicle was there at nearly the same time that we got to the road. We tied the Kato onto the trailer and I doubled AB back to his car. Gotta say though AB you suck as a pillion.
We got back to the cars and loaded up the bikes after a bit of bench racing. With fair wells done it was back to my place for a rum and a Vitamin B for me, Moto, Wikd and TB.
On the way back I went onto reserve so it was probably a good thing that we didn’t do all the trails that we were going to do.

I washed the bikes and inspected for any damage, I know both of the D bikes need some new brake pads and some straightening of rear ends. I will have to do some more reinforcing of my back guard as it is swinging like a monkey in a tree. The cable tie fix is not cutting it anymore. Kylies bike is a little bit bent on the back but she is going to learn to drop it on the other side now to straighten it.

I have to say thankyou to everyone again that made it as the conditions were a bit crappy for riding but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves (I think)
TB and Bob for making sure everyone was fed and watered at the half way point
Moto for giving me a hand throughout the day
And to everyone that put on the sweep vest.

Looking outside today the suns out and we should be going riding today. Never mind I suppose.

Hey Eagle, I guess TB cant give you anymore stick about not completing a ride now after yesterday.

Dan

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