Mick’s Birthday Ride

[scott rixonMember]

hey guys, big thanku to mick, moose, n the other leaders n sweep riders for a tops saturday ride. had a blarrrst, n will do it again and again n again. rain hail or shine.
also, cheers to all you guys i met, chattered to at the corners, n laughed with at the end. being my first official old bull ride i felt very welcome, and am happy to ride with any of you anywhere.
cheers again and see you at the next old bull meet.
scott… white 1992 WR200

[Adam RodgersMember]

I have a couple more thankyou’s to do.

Moose for sweeping so well Friday and Saturday, and the lead and sweep boys on the first out ride (that I missed), the other guys all said it was great. And to everyone else that was there, the laughs, jokes, general banter, and even fashion tips made for a totally memorable weekend And a special thankyou to Murph for graciously providing me with his lap to place my head in

A few tips:

Before accending a steep and slippery hill with a log across it half way up, send Pauly to the rear of the pack :laugh:

If accending said hill and the first tip isn’t followed, after the traffic jam has cleared halfway up, return to the bottom of said hill for a bigger runup so you don’t have to thank strange men for a loan of their lap :blush:

Slow down for slippery logs except if their halfway up said hill :laugh:

Don’t fall off without someone watching :huh: (there’s no one to help you get back up :laugh: )

Thanks again Adam

[Mick DMember]

Dragged my sorry arse out of bed Saturday morning way before daylight and Crash, Chicken and myself sat on my back deck having a coffee, when a gust of wind blew up from the south closely followed by a torrential down pour. I straight away knew that because the bush was already pretty wet this rain was gunna make things interesting to say the least.

Undeterred, we kitted up and headed to Breckenridge to meet up with the rest of the crew, when I arrived, the farmstay was a hive of activity with blokes arriving, eating, kitting up or walking around scratching their nuts. The rain continued to belt down and some guys didn’t look keen at all and it was obvious that some were going to pull the pin.

I set Kram to work, doing the rider registration and taking payment for the catering thanks for that Kram as it made things a bit easier for me. There was also a few NO SHOWS as well on the list. This threw a spanner in my works as I then had to try and sort out two new groups. This actually gave me the shits and in future I will do things differently when setting up another big ride. Payment for the catering,up front, in future, or no getting on the list. We catered for 40 and just over 30 turned up, at this stage I was wondering why I even bother.

Everyone was kitted up ready to go and it was still pissing down rain.

The loop I had worked out had a few nasty little hills in it, so I had to work out a way around them to avoid any carnage and trail destruction due to the wet weather. As it turned out our group ripped along nicely considering the conditions, there was one hill that had a bit of carnage on it as there was a small log across it and as I waited at the end I could hear all sorts of revving and snorting coming up from the valley.

This pic will give you an idea of the sort of trails we rode.

We then headed down into the valley and played in a tight rainforest section and the humidity was getting extreme

So back into the hardwood section of Bago we went, there was another hill climb in there to negotiate, the steep little pinch at the top had a small log across it that rattled a few riders. The lead rider came to grief here after successfully getting over the log he had a gumby moment and rode into a big rutt and got stuck within a meter or so from the top.

I had to go back down and have another go at it and did the same thing again, this time dropping the XR and getting stuck under it. At this very moment Chicken sticks his ugly head up from out of the long grass and asked if I wanted him to ride it up for me, between gasping breaths I managed to tell him to get F**ked.

I eventually got to the top where everyone was taking a breather waiting for the stuck riders to get to the top. This is where we noticed a bike had a flat tyre, so while they set to work fixing the flat Old Mate (Lyndsay) lead a few of the real keen guys through a short loop while we waited.

From there we made our way down into Huntington towards the famous Ruttzilla, a nasty rutted little pinch that actually looks worse than it is. One more trip up and over Bago had us almost back at the farmstay, we had a little bit of main trail to do to get there. This main trail has two perfectly formed erosion mounds which I saw Crash hit at some ridiculous speed and he jumped further and higher than I have ever seen a XR jump before. It was awesome to see, well done Crash!!

We arrived back at the farmstay wet and tired as I found the last 10km’s of the ride I was so fatigued that I was riding my hardest just trying to keep my bike upright such was the treacherous conditions. I looked around and saw a majority of the guys were out of their ride gear and I thought that they wouldn’t be keen for the afternoon loop, which suited me fine as I was rooted. I had a rude shock coming. There was a group of hardcore dudes that were chomping at the bit to get back out there. In hindsight I am glad we went back out again as it was probably one of the fastest and best trailrides I have ever had. I will do a report on the arvo loop later.

[glennMember]

Mick.

it looks like a top weekend was had by the people that were lucky enought o attend, a bit of rain never hurt anyone,

you mentioned in your report the issue with catering and people pulling out at the last minute or just not showing up, This exact issue is why i wont be providing catering on any ride i hold in the future, i will risde to a place where people can purchase food, but I will not be organizing anything more than that.

Last nundle ride,,berry patch was expecting around 25-30 riders, 16 turned up, some people have still not let me know they wont be there on the ride.

i appreciate things come up and stuff changes. hell even i had to pull out of the birthdy bash, but at least i rang someone as soon as i knew and let them know, I even cancelled my accomodation the same day.

Some people should try and run a big ride and see just what goes into it, not to mention its our local bussines we also let down.

sorry about the hi jack but surely a phone call to say i wont be there when you know you cant make it wouldnt hurt.

Boony

[Mick DMember]

AS I said before, upon arriving back from the Saturday morning quagmire ride, the 60km of the morning and the 260+ kms from the day before (not to mention the dozen or so schooners at the RSL) where starting to take their toll on me and I couldn’t have cared less if no one was keen to ride the afternoon.

I had some lunch and a can of Coke and kind of got a second wind and was half keen to go again. Twenty riders were keen to go out again,so assembled in the rain we headed off, little did they know the lead rider, at that stage hadn’t exactly made up my mind were to take them.

Knowing the crew I had following, I realised I had a group of very good riders hot on my heels and the pressure would be on for the entire afternoon. In order to space the group out I tried hitting a main trail first and gave the 650 all it was worth trying to put a bit off a gap on them, that didn’t work. I then jammed a bit of single that I know really well into them to try and gap them, that didn’t work either and I could hear the ring a ding ding of Gasits 300 on my tail. So I reserved myself to the fact that the arvo ride was gunna be fast, real fast.

I then led them up onto Bago via a sweet hill that we had already done twice that morning. That had the boys hooting and hollering as it was awesome fun.
From there we hit the She Oak trail,which is a great little single that goes forever up a hill towards the face of Bago. We then dropped down the southern side of Bago into Ducks Knob and Little Jurrassic Park before heading back up onto the range towards Comboyne, where we then hit a trail we have Christened “Madam Lash” as you get constantly whipped by Lantana. Very few blokes at this stage, still had their goggles on as it was that wet and steamy, so nearly all of us had blood coming from wounds inflicted by the scourge that is Lantana. A quick run up to Quarry road saw us in some open high speed singles that lead to Rock Knob where I lead them down a secret trail through dense bush, in here you have to be on your game as there are angled logs strewn every where ready to catch you out. A very fast run through more open single finds you back at the Banana hut and dropping down into Cedar Creek. The other group had been through earlier in the day and opened it up a bit. The thick green grass we know as “Mystery Grass” had been flattened and allowed us to rip through there at an alarming pace,the greasy hill up out of there was fun. One minute you are ripping through lush rainforest, the next you are dealing with a mad rocky down hill again.
Another run up the South side of Bago found us at it’s most Eastern peak that has an endless rocky down hill that is always a challenge. Once at the bottom it is a matter of about 2kms of main trail back to Breckenridge. We arrived back absolutely shagged but pumped after such a good workout. Not one hold up in 80kms of trail, saw us back after about 3 ½ hours, a couple of cold beers sitting around STM’s ute finished it of nicely.

The plan was then to hit Bago Tavern as they had a band on for the night, what a great night that turned out to be, a hens night supplied some more entertainment as the OBT boys checked out what was an exceptional array of eye candy for Wauchope. No sooner did I have a sip on my schooner there was another full one lined up ready to go. Thanks Boys. The band and all the pubs patrons sang me a rendition of Happy birthday and that topped off what was a great couple of days. Who bought me that can of Jim Beam?? A mistake that was!!!!!!! I don’t remember leaving the pub.

A few people need to be thanked for their help in putting the weekend together.
My main man Moose, is a great helper as he sweeps nearly every ride we do, a thankless task to say the least. Thanks Buddy.

Kram for his help with the rider rego.

Lyndsay (Old Mate) for sweeping as well.

Brown for leading the other group Saturday Morning.

TB for keeping the thread up to date.

Breckenridge farmstay, Barry and Shirley went out of their way to ensure everyone was fed. We raised $65 for a Charity of my Choice and then Barry gave me another $155 towards it, in a great gesture. So we ended up with $220 for charity and I have chosen to donate it to Beyond Blue for various reasons.

A big thank you to all you guys who made the trip to Wauchope and made my birthday the great weekend it was.

[DavidMember]

Thanks Mick for a great weekend.
I arrived Friday afternoon to meet up with some Old Bulls that i’d met before and some new ones.
We waited for everyone to come back in from the Friday ride then stormed onto the bus to the RSL.
Good food, good conversation, good drinks.
Saddled up on Saturday for what was going to be a wet ride.:dry:
I was in Brownies group and it was all good even the lantana flogging.:huh:
Had a chance for a chat on cornerman duty and met a few more Old Bulls.
Got back from the morning run and decided that i was going on the afternoon ride.
We took off into what was going to be an even soggier ride than the mornings efforts.
A few kays into the ride is when i realised my enthusiasm was far greater than my ride fitness.:whistle:
Threw the bike away twice in some pretty easy stuff and then at the top of one of the hills i found the main bolts holding the handle bar mounts to the triple clamp had come loose.:blink:
At this point i knew that someone was trying to tell me something and as i hadn’t taken my antiwoostamines for the arvo ride i headed back to the farmstay with Brownie and Old Mate.
Got back and had the second best hot shower i’ve ever had and joined the bench racing team for the rest of the afternoon.
When everyone was back we headed to the Bago Tavern for a great night of food, fun and good music.
You could tell the Old Bulls in the crowd by the lantana lacerations.:laugh:

My thanks go to:
Mick, TB and all others who organised.
Barry and Shirley for looking after us at the farmstay.
Brownie and Old Mate for leading and sweeping in the morning.
The guys who literally ran into me when i got stuck on the hill in the arvo ride, stopped me from sliding back down.:lol:
NickJ, Hatto, Paully and STM for realising i was missing from the arvo ride about two hours after i’d already gone back.:laugh:
Kram for offering to help pay for the $760.00 steak at the RSL. (apparently a mistake or so they said).:unsure:
Sam for putting up with my dating suggestions on both nights.:lol:
And all the new OBTs i met and the ones i had met before for making it a weekend to remember.

Rebore.

[Gary BloxsomeMember]

Hi Mick,

Thanks for putting on a great ride on Friday. Though I struggled quite a bit in the single section (not planned), I did enjoy myself until the last off that I had. But in Old Bull Spirit, nobody seemed to mind waiting about 45 minutes for me to get it together again. I must admit, I was totally toasted and was even wondering if I was going to be able to ride out of there. A special thanks to Moose who looked after me all day and nothing was a problem for him. The Farm Stay was sensational, slept well and good food. Taking in the scenery during the ride even though in some parts you couldn’t see 2 foot in front of you was also a highlght.
I met a lot of Bulls that previously were only names on a site to me and all great blokes.

Once again, thanks for the opertunity and hope to catch you all again some day.

PS. I hope Allan got his tyres.

Gaz

[Mick DMember]

No worries Owl 02, the single that caused all the problem isn’t normally as wet as that. It was freaking greasy,probably the greasiest trail I have ever seen. It was a challange to everyone on Friday. Moose is a good man, that is why we run him at the back as sweep. Dont worry about any percieved hold ups mate, everyone needed a rest after Snowy’s Greasy trail of Doom.

Yeah we got Allan’s tyres sorted

[simon burkeMember]

Nice report Guys….must have been a cracker of a weekend :cheer:
last years was awesome.
Still spewing i had to work

Welldone to all

Bol :woohoo:

[WayneMember]

Agree with all that’s written above…….it was a great weekend.

It was a “Packet of Allsorts” Weekend!

It had everything you could wish for……..leaf covered ice rink stuff, muddy slop, rain forest single, swamp, “Baja Open” (as Mal5.1 would call the quicker stuff) uphills to heaven, downhills to hell, forest twin, windrows, all size puddles, rocky, narrow/ wide trails, thickshake fog, mist, stunning views, waterfalls……..etc etc etc.

The Friday ride was terrific. The country was beautiful. The company was just as good. A ripper of a late lunch at Gingers and a sprint home. Moose threw the Sweep Vest away coming home and was able to mix it up a bit to get rid of any cobwebs that may have accumulated in the XR………it was sweet…a few of those ‘going in a little hot’ corners……but hey, you gotta check the rev limiter on the old heart every now and again.

Saturday was just as good. A fair bit wetter, but it didn’t curb anybody’s enthusiasim. It was great to be out with a heap of fellas enjoying themselves in such crap conditions. A big thanks to Moose for the ‘Rental XR600′, I had a ball on Ol’ Burple, she’s a beauty. I was a bit slow getting the front wheel in the air over some of those slippery diagonal logs and paid for it with a drop or 5…..and stalled it plenty of times too……all operator error! Anyway, getting a flooded 6hunge restarted without decomp gave me plenty of rest breaks!!!!
Chicken & I were at each other all weekend…….it was brilliant. I haven’t laughed so hard for so long ever…..seeing some of the situations the said Chick ‘Houdini’ en had to escape from!…..GOLD!!! He threw plenty of rocks too….my black eye can bare witness to that! see below.

It was great to ride again with all the locals blokes, thanks for sharing the lush tracks. It was also good to catch up with all the OB’s again and the newer ones.

Thanks Mick for a job well done, loved scaring the crap out of you when you looked so lonely out front on your own! Thanks also to your family for allowing me & chicken to crash.
Thanks again Moose for the rental and for all your patience and encouragement of us all.

Thanks Hatto & Pauly for there big effort to come all the way up, ripper blokes……..and for the Hatton Fully Portable Spare Parts and First Aid Warehouse Facility carried in Hatto’s backpack!!!!!

Hope you do it again next year Mickyboy!

Crash

[Clive CarreMember]

Thanks to Mick and Moose for all there hard work over the weekend {Happy Birthday Mike and Jeffro} and to all those other guys who helped out. My weekend started out really well with boulder and me heading to the RSL on Thursday arvo grabbed our first beer slipped next door to the TAB placed a little bet on shrieksdonkey which came in paying 110 to 1 picked up $1104 yeee haaa :laugh: hadn’t even started my bike yet and had a smile from ear to ear.
Friday was a great ride I had a ball,after being away from riding for six years and this being my second ride I was a bit rusty and still have a long way to go !!!! but just loved being back in the saddle and bench racing with a few beers back at the farm stay and some really great blokes.Thanks to those guys who pulled me and my bike back up the hill so I could head back down the track.
Just want to say thanks to all you guys for making feel so welcome I will be back next year for sure.
Cheers FISH

[Nick JacksonMember]

Unfortunately I couldn’t make the Friday ride but after a quick drive from Yamba to Coffs where I met STM we could still make the bus to the Rsl for the Friday night beers. It was great to catch up with everyone again and here about that days ride.

Saturday 5am and it was pissing down but what difference could it make after the last few weeks weather, everyone knew it was going to be slick and it was that for sure !! :ohmy:
I haven’t done much riding in the really sloppy stuff and after a while realized their was actually a lot of traction if you took it easy on the throttle and breaks :woohoo:
By the afternoon loop the pace was on and I was enjoying the mud more and more , it was great to be riding amongst some top riders and try ( but mostly fail) to keep up. This loop is up their with the best of them for me and Mick and Moose did an unreal job of making a large group flow really well. Thanks heaps guys !!

Saturday night at the Bago Tavern was huge and judging by the hangover I nursed all day Sunday we had good time!! :sick:
Thanks to Mick,Tb,Moose, Browny and sweep for yet another well organized and executed ride!!

Looking forward to more Wauchope singles :woohoo:

Nickj

[Stewart SteelMember]

How good was that!! I relly enjoyed Fridays loop, with my highlight probably playing catch the lead rider with Crash on Knodingbull road. Great stuff.

Saturday was a little dampish, which probably made it all the more fun. Sure was better than sweeping in the dust though.
Arvo ride was a cracker. Mick’s local trail knowledge really came to the fore. Welldone mate.

Great to see everyone, and yes the lantana noses at the Tavern did look really funny!!

Catchya on the trails

Moose

[murph the surfMember]

Big thanks to Mick and all the crew involved in creating a great days riding
Nothing much to add but some photos, so here they are.
You all know who you are???

Cheers
Murph the surf

[Mick DMember]

Now my head has cleared a little and I have gone over the weekend some of the highlights and memorable moments for me were in no particular order.

1.The Usual pre ride shed gathering on Thursday night
2.Meeting new members before the rides
3.The pea soup fog at Comboyne and trying to find my way across the paddocks
4. battling with young Sam in the sweet section of singles at Elands
5. Snowy’s greasy gully of doom.
6. Seeing the two big black snakes doing the rumba
7. Hunting along as fast as I could go on Knodingbull road,thinking I am the fastest rider in the world, only to have Moose and crash round me up.
8. Dickies big highside off on the Elands road
9.Nearly highsiding my bike on the dry tar 30 meters from home.
10. catching up with everyone at the RSL.
11. everyone lined up under the awning in the pissing down rain on Saturday
12.lying to Snowy about how easy the rest of the ride was going to be…hahahah
13.Adam,doing a face plant in Murph’s lap
14. making it back to the farmstay after the morning loop
15. Seeing Crash jump an XR600 further than they should be jumped!!!
16. Heading out on the arvo loop thinking “this is ridiculous”
17. how good the riding in the arvo loop turned out to be
18. getting back after the arvo ride and enjoying a beer at STM’s ute
19. only dropping the XR once after over 400kms for the weekend
20. the cracker night at The Bago tavern, the band was great.
21. Waking up Sunday feeling better than I deserved.

Thanks everyone, some of these memories will stay with me forever!!

[Author]

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