Mick’s Birthday Bash reports.

[murph the surfMember]

Huge thanks to Mick and the other Wauchopians for what was a pisser of a ride Saturday.
Great tracks Rider X, especialy those ones at the end of the day
Here’s a few shots
The hill

[murph the surfMember]

More happy snaps

What a rough looking crew

More carnage :woohoo:

Smurph and surf

Murph and surf

[TrentMember]

Great reports guys! I had to check I was still in the same thread after reading about TB’s radiator, interesting to see everyone’s view of what happened from their experience and from all accounts there was a lot to experience!

[Mick DMember]

Austblue wrote:

Quote:

Great reports guys! I had to check I was still in the same thread after reading about TB’s radiator, interesting to see everyone’s view of what happened from their experience and from all accounts there was a lot to experience!

But wait there will be more!!!!!It was an epic weekend!!

[mikeMember]

Yeah Mick what a top days ridin on Saturday. The tracks and conditions were unreal. I had the best day from waking up to crashing out that night totally buggered although I felt for TB when his ride was cut short.

Thanks to everyone involved in making it the day it was.
RiderX and the other lead and sweep riders…cheers boys.
Thanks also to RiderX’s wife for all the food, drink and fuel at at lunch and after the ride. That lunch stop was exellent. Also to the brekky couple.

It was good to meet a few more Old Bulls and put names to faces as I only knew murph and smurph from other rides. I gotta say yas are all a real friendly bunch and made me feel welcome. Certainly a cross section of personalities.
Lots of laughing and shit stirring was goin down all day.

Mick thanks for the day mate I loved it.

Great tracks and great ridin and great people equals a great day.

[TrentMember]

After seeing how good the dungog weekend was I was filthy missing this and the soffala ride

[Anonymous]

I know first hand how good this weekend would be after attending last years, I was close to dusting off one of the bikes and making it my final ride.

needless to say I talked myself out of it….seriously regretting that decision now!

[Mick DMember]

Moto wrote:

Quote:

I know first hand how good this weekend would be after attending last years, I was close to dusting off one of the bikes and making it my final ride.

needless to say I talked myself out of it….seriously regretting that decision now!

He who hesitates is lost my good friend. I wont rub it in by saying “sucked in” though. I wish you had of come too mate.

[Stewart SteelMember]

Great weekend, top ride reports !! Not much more I can add except thanks to Rider X,Dave & crew and especially Mick for all the behind the scenes stuff that he makes look easy.The weekend was so well organized.
Good to ride with the away crew & locals alike.It’s funny putting faces & personalities to people you havn’t met before, having only read their posts.
Thanks again folks.
Moose

Oh yeah, go the “Lil’ Punkin’ “

[PuddlesMember]

Looks like I missed another great weekend. shame I had other commitments

[DeanMember]

Day 1 The Adventure ride and magical mystery tour

Dropped off my daughter at Macca’s for the Grandparents,after a healthy McAngus meal I headed out to Micks Shed ( a seedy smoke filled entertainment area usually full of untrustworthy dangerous motorcycle types, needs pole dancers!) I watched on in amusement as Mick went on about making brake snakes and TB started pilfering parts off old XR’s to get his speedo to function. The beers went down a treat (thanks Mick)and when Bollocks rocked up I knew I was ready to be going off to Mooses Rancho Relaxo. Boll followed me out there at about 10:30 or so and we were greeted by a pack of dogs cats and birds,great alarm system there. We met up with Jeffro and Cath and mooses young ones. After another beer or two and some Vids we bunked down for the night, Earplugs and all :laugh:

Friday morning rolled around and a few final bike preps and giving Moose some juice we were ready, Mick rocks up with a fantastic egg/bacon/cheese burger which went down a treat even if I did have 20 sets of dogs eyes looking at me waiting for their share :laugh:

We all got going near enough to the designated time and headed down the Rd a bit of Tar to start with then into some nice singles and rocky uphills, I was following Justo a bit to close when a gooly the size of a baseball hit me square in the chest :blink: I thought F#@k this and over took him on the crest, I didnt realise it was such a sharp drop away on the other side and I landed about 20 feet from the crest and a little skew iff,after clearing my reg grundies I continued on,we went down this big rocky single track and I was following TB, he mustnt of been able to cope with the two stroke up his clacker so he pulled over (he reckons it was boiled rear brakes :unsure: ) :laugh: it was just after this I forgot to duck under some Lantana and copped no less than 5 strands of it fair across the face, I had the stuff sticking out either side of the helmet and couldnt let go of the bars to clear it until we got to bottom of the Rd.
I had to do a bit of a running repair on my boots as the buckle kept coming undone. We pulled up at an intersection and I threw some fuel into the Gasser and met up with Blue 450. We then headed left into some more bush,I was following boulder and the back of the DRZ was all over the place the ground was a thick chopped up clay that made traction near impossible to find, we headed on up the hill through some sweet single tril and up near the top we come across a bloke in a Hilux ute with a esky on the front seat and him chugging one down at 9 in the morning ( bit Suss that one)I think he shat himself when he saw 16 Bikes come up behind him :laugh: we find some more great tracks that have recently had some work done on them,the crossing were awsome with a few deep crossings amongst them,when we reached the top of the hill the grins were a mile wide,truly entertaining.
We then made our way again onto some slippery dirt Rds where myself and Moose had a bit of a crack, he was right up my clacker on Burple all the way. :woohoo: I was following Crash along some nice fire trail when he hits this tree root in the Rd,anyway the throttle is wound on and the 650 slams straight into a small oak tree and falls it like it was knocked down by a dozer :laugh: Crash was a little knocked around but managed to get the flame going again and we had an uneventful ride into south Kempsey.
I met Dean Mavin at Mavin and McNamara’s havnt seen him since I left school 29 years ago so that was cool.
we then headed around to the servo for fuel, I was first there as I was hanging for a crap, get to the dunny and realise that I would have to get nearly completly undressed due to the fact that I was wearing new BIB and brace bike shorts I decided i would hang on.
I took over from here and headed into some railway access rds before cutting into the bush onto some of my more familiar single trail that I ride when ever I am up at my Mums. Had a blast thru most of it but had to wait a while at one intersection,when TB rocks up I ask him whats happened he said MICK ate shit!!lol :laugh: we gathered ourselves up and I led them thru Maria over some perfect creek crossings and fords :laugh: We headed down Scribbly gum trail and Holeshot got a few piccys I think then thru some Latana and vines which nearly chocked my front wheel sorry Boys ,but what better way to clear a track! We then headed off down the power line track which is a flat out straight for about 3 kms and a big test of your Kohunas :laugh: I veered off onto Haydens trail and all was good until we came across this huge log that had fallen over the trail since the last time I had rode it,Moose and Bollocks headed into the bush to try and find a track around it this was the hard option :laugh: Mick cleared a trail around the head of the tree and all the boys got thru. We then went onto some main trails again until we come across Blackwells Knob Rd I headed down there at pace,this track hasnt been used in a while and it was evident by the amount of the huge Freakin spiders that thudded against my helmet and the golden web was like a fishing net :ohmy: It was great fun though. TB started moaning about getting to the Pub so he could have a rum and a feed (blah Blah Blah) so I opened up the Gasser and was cracking along at a fair rate of Knots when I came to an intersection, apparently Mick was right up my clacker and I heard him him yelling “Stopping,Fark Stopping!!” as he shot past my left shoulder :laugh: I got my directions sorted and headed back to Scribbly gum it was just after here that we had to traverse some long sections of flooded trail, as I was leading it was ok I could see what was under neath, TB didnt and had a little moment,he reckons he was just cooling down his rear brakes! :laugh: It was not long after this Boulder threw himself away big time as well.I let Kram lead from here as it was territory that I was not real familiar with. we took off at a great rate of knots again with TB that close behind me he could smell the sweat from my arse crack :laugh: he was going to take me on the inside when I moved over on him :laugh: He nearly had a huge moment!! I cracked myself up!! :laugh: we eventually came out onto Cresent Head Rd where TB decided he wanted to get to the Pub so we cut out some of the best and normally in accessible trails out to do some Black Top to the Pub which was probably 8-10 kms down the Rd.
TB pulled a good wheelstand in front of some school kids much to the disgust of the Lollip Lady(term used loosely) :laugh: and we had a good feed at the Pub.

We then made our way to The back of Krams place and had a great time in the rutile sands and creek crossings, I went down the centre of one and was going good until the last 5 metres where it dropped away and nearly swallowed me up,had to roll the throttle on and hope for the best,it was close!! I followed Kram to the left of a crossing and he got a bit stuck,so he opened up the throttle on the Kato and gave me a healthy dose of fill in :laugh: I then got stuck on the same spot only this time The Birthday Boy was in the line of sight of the rear wheel, suddenly the Newcastle song started ringing in my ear :laugh: “dont you ever let a chance go by oh lord dont ever let a chance go by” so I held onto the front brake and held the throttle open and big globs of thick sandy mud covered Mick from head to toe :laugh: I could hear him calling me names from under the roar, Crash who was well behind him also said he had to duck for cover :laugh: it was “the best fill in Ive ever done” Im sure he will get me back soon enough :laugh: We then got into some more open sandy stuff and the pace was on I was trying to get Crash who was flying along on the big 650 eventually going up the inside and taking him,he said he didnt even know I was there,otherwise he would have taken a wider line :laugh: Just after this I was Chasing Phil (the Rowen) thru the tight stuff on his Husaberg,it was wheel to wheel stuff and Phil was getting a little loose :laugh: I over shot a corner and had a minor dirt nap :laugh: and he was waiting for me at the next stop,totally spent. We then headed down to “big Hill” beach for a photo opportunity and Hole shot headed off down the Plommer road maintenance track for some Photies. This track looked like a warzone all the big craters were full of water from the recent rains and some would near on swallow you up, I was chasing mick who had got a fairly quick pace going it was all good until I hit a hidden rock and jarred the begeezus out of my wrist,that slowed me up and allowed crash to overtake me as well. When we stopped all the boys were whooping and hollering and carrying on it was obviously a great part of the ride and was to be the last of the dirt sections we would be riding on today We made it to the ferry and had a good time to cool down and take in the serenity,it was then a blast back into Wauchope and then to Mooses place. All up we covered about 245 km’s.

We had a few beers at Mooses place then got headed into the RSL thanks cathy for the taxi service. Had a good feed and a few beers before heading back to Mooses Rancho Relaxo. Phil had to move location thru the night as some one was snoring :blush: I got up in the morning to see Phil on the Berg and Moose on the New Kato off. I chose a puppy for my daughter thanks again guys and headed back to Kempsey kinda feeling sad I wasnt riding Saturday as well.
Thanks everyone for making it a great ride even tho the 2 stroke is probably not the ideal bike of choice for this type of ride I sure did have fun. A big thanks to Moose and Cathy for the hospitality and Mick for the Toasty sandwich.

Ollie

[Mick DMember]

Great write up Ollie!!………..Yeah you are right though……..when you least expect it…you are so gunna get it my friend………XR650’s can move a whole lota substrate in a short period of time.

[Mick DMember]

Day 2 continued.

After lunch a few guys decided that they had had enough and pulled the pin and headed back to Wauchope for a beer or three,.(Bollocks headed back for a Nanna nap). Ash had swept for pretty well all morning, so I donned the sweep jersey for the afternoon and followed the pack off down the trail.

We headed in towards Little Jurassic park, a tight twisty little section through a thick rainforest that leads onto Greasy Trail, which immediently indicated to me that RiderX planned on taking them up Prick Hill a long rocky hill with a steep almost perpendicular start to it, covered in rain water rutts. On my arrival at the bottom of Prick Hill, I looked up to see Lotsa in all sorts of bother on the first steep pinch. Cross rutted and struggling to get the bike pointed up the hill, he eventually got it pointed in the right direction and managed to get going again, much to my amazement.

Al our token Old fella at 68 years old was the next to hit it on his Kato250 and he made it look so easy it was ridiculous, man that old bugger can peddle!! I was the only one left at the bottom at this stage and I took off and followed Al’s line and also made it easily, so easy that I wish some one had been there to see it, as I have done this pinch before and had never done it that easy.

Once I got right to the top of Prick hill I knew what was next. The Massive single trail down hill what is Phone Hill. Phone Hill is so steep that dislodged rocks over take you and arm pump reigns supreme!! Once at the bottom the boys relished in the prime conditions through the rain forest, little did the know what was awaiting them further up the trail. ROWAN”S HILL!!! The Hill, that features in Murph’s Photos in an earlier post in this thread. Rowan’s hill is directly out the back gate of Rowan’s property. When you arrive at the bottom of it and look up it is an intimidating sight, especially when it was littered with fallen bikes and riders like it was when I arrived there on Saturday. At that stage I think RiderX was the only one at the top and in his usual fashion he was squarking and coaxing guys on. We stood back and watched on in amusement as each rider took on the hill and failed.There were some courageous attempts,like Crash’s attempt, where he hit it at full song on the Big Fiddy, truly a sight to behold seeing the big fiddy in full safari kit, bouncing and bucking its way up the hill only to come to a stop just short of the first summit. Al on his Kato was awe inspiring as he had a crack at it and make it with in a bee’s whisker of the top, close enough that his bike could be dragged up the last few feet. At this stage there had been guys contemplating taking the easy way out and riding around the hill but once a 68 year old had made it there was no backing out now.
I decided to have a crack at it and use a totally different approach, I decided that I would leave the Fiddy in first gear and tractor up, whilst peddling with my feet. To my reliefand everyone else’s disgust, the big girl had enough torque and she made it to the top easier than I expected!! Once at the top I did a little victory dance with my chest pumped out and decided it would be best if I went back down and helped the lesser skilled riders than myself on their inferior machines to get to the top..LOL

What ensured was an hour of uphill madness that was fun to be part off!! I am sure that everyone that was there was glad they attempted and conquered the Rowan’s Hill.

After the first pinch ther are some sweet singles that lull you into thinking that you are at the top until you come to stage 2 of The Rowan’s Hill a rock bastard of a thing covered in big loose boulders the size of a bowling ball. When I got half way up it and was committed I came across Justo in a bit of bother,I tried to not loose momentum and go around him but clipped his back wheel and speared up the bank and crashed.
The pig didn’t want to play and wouldn’t start for a while, she even let out the mother of back fires that the boys at the top heard.

As it was getting late in the day and everyone was about rooted it was decided to cut out about 20km’s of trails and head back to town, which still meant that there was 40 odd km’s of trails to go. RiderX went of on his merry way leading the crew through some of our sweetest trails that see bugger all traffic other than us all year.They would have to be some of the most fun trails you could wish for. I think a few of the visiting boys were amazed when we got to the bottom of Kakoda trail and RiderX went over and closed the end of the trail by covering our tracks and hiding it from any passers by, that is how we keep our trails good by minimising the traffic they see.

Crash Mal and I left the ride at that stage and made our way to town so we could get cleaned up and be ready for a few drinks at the Farmstay. By the time we got there the bench racing was in full swing and the beers where flowing,it wasn’t long after that that all the great food supplied by Wauchope Country kitchen arrived. What a top way to finish off a great days riding!!! A special thanks To RiderX , Dave and Jay for leading the Old Bulls through their trails. Thanks to Helen for the top job she did with the catering and thanks to Barry and Shirley from Brekenridge Farmstay for putting up with us all weekend. The Biggest thanks goes to everyone that came up to ride and party and make my Birthday the awesome weekend it was!!!

After most of the crew dwindled off, it left just a few hardcore stayers on the turps with me and didn’t we have some laughs and a great time!! The Life of Brian re-enactments had me near pissing myself, Bollocks, Kram and Jeffro You are a units!! Oh yeah thanks to whoever it was that took me home, I think it may have been Lotsa, it was time I went when I did I tell you!!

[scott bockingMember]

Saturday through the eyes of a mid pack specialist.

I had my alarm set for 5.45am but the power blew in the kitchen with a loud pop at 5 so I lay awake pondering what the day may bring. I had a quick look outside and through the dark I could see light rain falling. I beat the other boys to the shower and sat down for first round of breaky with Kram. Luckily the power was back!

Rooms emptied out as others arrived and before long the banter had begun and it was only 6.30am. Time to unload a very clean but soaking wet bike from my ute and assemble for the rider briefing.

Racer X layed the law for the day and made the wise call to run two man cornerman. With over 30 bikes the two man kept things running really smoothly and we flowed through our first singletrack of the day. The trails were pretty greasy and as the sun was starting to break through the humidity was at max. Keeping moving was the only hope of keeping your goggles clear and the good flow continued until we hit a newly graded hill with a couple of logs in the run up.

I saw the unmistakable polka jersey round the corner, disappear and the view of TB was replaced by a massive plume of smoke. He had either pulled some sort of David Copperfield shit and completely vanished or he was on the ground with a broken bike. Unfortunately for him it was the later as he dumped radiator coolant all over the log the BRP landed on. TB out! Most people would be hunched over there bikes with the shits but TB encouraged me when it was my turn to ride the slop and suggested I take off in second. It worked and I joined the others on top while we waited for TB and his bike to be dragged out.

It was only 8.30 and we had a lot of ground to cover so RiderX led the troops away. The next two hours were slipperier than a proctologists finger and there were plenty of moments had by all. Two man cornerman also turned into a great opportunity to meet more crew or get to know others better. It was also about your only chance to remove the mud from your goggles. Considering the conditions the bikes were running well and carnage was kept to a minimum as the ground was soft everywhere.

The mid pack was full of little battles and very funny moments and just when you thought you were on it someone would smoke by just to put you back in your place. Any section that was even remotely dry you felt invincible after having to be so gentle on the throttle all day. After a regroup at the swollen Bloodwood it was more of the same, epic singletrack. You would come up to a cornerman and realise it was someone you had a beer with the night before and you would try and lay it over that bit harder or drift a little further out of the turn. This had mixed results but was always good fun.

After 5 hours of epic trails we pulled into a grassy clearing and had a great lunch and a cold can of drink. I had to head back to Coffs and missed the last two hours but I was completely satisfied with my day and my bike.

A big thanks to everyone behind the scenes who contributed to such a great weekend and to RiderX and his reliable sweeps for getting us all around. I wish I had some chopper footage of some sections as 30+ bikes on the pipe through the bush would look epic.

I am glad it turned out such a good weekend for you Mick and it is proof that Karma is in working order. You deserve it!

See you next year. :woohoo:

STM

[Jeffrey SmithMember]

Top weekend all round guys, thanks to Mick for organising it all and to Moose and Cath for putting me up on the first night.
I rocked into Wauchope Thursday evening and headed into town to grab some food then rang Mick to get directions to Rancho Relaxo. After getting the good oil from Mick I founsd what I thought was the place and banged on the door, this fella walks around from the back and I says “Moose how are?” he say “who?” so I say “I’m looking for Moose from old bulls”, he say “what’s his real name?”, I look at him and say ” :huh: I don’t know :dry: “, he say “what’s he look like?”, and I say “I don’t know, never met him before”. Turns out it was Mooses new neighbour and Moose wasn’t home anyway so I rang Mick again and he heads out to meet me and bring me back to “The Shed”. Crash, Mal amd TB had turned up while Mick was picking me up and were unloading their gear.
We had a couple of drinks and a laugh while some bike preparation was undertaken then Moose got back from “Sydney”, later on Ollie turned up with his dodgy dutch beer which he dumped into Micks fridge and got stuck into the good beer :laugh:. Holeshot turned up as well. Moose headed home to get Burple in the mood for the next day and I followed him soon after where I was met by the menagerie and his lovely wife Cath and children. Once burple was ready (after taking a litre of oil :S ) Moose put on some bike DVD’s and not long after Ollie and Bollocks arrived (I was a bit disappointed Boll didn’t look like his avatar) and we talked for a while before hitting the sack at midnight, and yes I wore ear plugs after the tails of Ollie’s thunderous snoring abilities.

The run the next day was brilliant, I swept all day enjoying just cruising along at the back after not much riding for a while it was a good chance to get the feel for it back. Couldn’t tell you where we went but it was all good. Thanks to Moose, Mick, Ollie and Kram for leading at different times, we all had a ball, Justo’s off was ripper, he was lucky the tree stopped him or the bike may have gone a lot further down the hill. I had the helmet cam on but was too far back to see anything, actually I ended up with nearly 40 minutes of footage altogether which I downloaded to the computer and watched but when I went to watch it again later on and edit out some of the boring bits they wouldn’t work again so I don’t know what I did there, I only got a couple of photos for the day as well but hopefully Holeshot got some good ones. Actually Holeshot went ahead to get some shot on Plommer road and set up at one of the biggest puddles, now I don’t know about everyone else, but when I got to the big puddle I slowed down and went around it so there won’t be any good action shots of me. Ohh and I must apologise for hitting a puddle at pace as I past him momentarily at one point but I was having a bit of fun barreling through some of them although 1 or 2 nearly had fun with me as well :ohmy: :S :blush: . Thanks to all the Friday crew for a good ride. Friday night at the RSL produced a top feed but I was a bit weary and not up for too much of a party knowing day 2 was looming.

Day 2 and I again slept with the ear plugs, breakfast was called for 6.00am but with the earplugs in I didn’t hear a thing until 6.40 and so was last to be ready to go and in my rush forgot to fill my camel back. The ride headed off through some private property and into the forests and it wasn’t long before I was slipping and sliding all over the place. At times it was like being on ice and with humidity everyone was having trouble seeing with goggles and glasses fogging up the moment you put them on. We hadn’t been going all that long when TB had a drop and destroyed one of the radiators and his day was finished. We pushed on with some of the slipperiest trails I think I have ever ridden, the sweat was pouring out of me and it wasn’t long before the camelback was dry, fortunately we came across a nice flowing little creek where some of us refilled. At one point Riderx asked if I was having fun and at that point I wasn’t but just after that we crossed into Bago and the tracks were more free flowing and less slippery and things became a lot more fun for me. We pulled up for lunch where Mrs X came out with delicious chicken salad sandwiches, drinks, fuel and water for all the guys. After lunch Bollocks and I had had enough and STM needed to get home so we were going to head back on the blacktop but then Oldmate was heading back as well as he had things to do and was good enough to lead us back via some fire trails. Bollocks and I were giving the bikes a quick hose down and packing the gear away, I finished about 2 and went inside and Boll was already in bed so I had a shower and jumped into bed for a half hour nanna nap then went into town and grabbed a few things, came back and read the paper, talked to the lady at the farmstay for a while and watched some tv and still no Bollocks. I was starting to think I may have to check on him to see that he hadn’t had a heart attack in his sleep. Eventually he got up at 5, just as the beer turned up (coincidence, I think not). Anyway the afternoon evening was a good time with Mick the last to go home leaving just the farmstay crew to empty the esky, then restock and re empty it having a good old laugh about different things. Then Bollocks and Kram started with the Life of Brian skits, what a laugh.
Sunday was too much for me so I decided to head home in the morning instead, I figured with the near 3 hour drive home and possibly the same amount of time to get all the mud off the bike that enough was enough. Thanks to everyone for a great weekend, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a birthday than doing something you love with a top bunch of people.
(I upload the photo’s once I find a lead to connect to the computer.)

[Author]

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