Milton to Araluen and return 2 dayer

[Craig HattonMember]

Part 1 – sorry but as organiser, I forgot the camera,

Well I have been planning this one for a while and have done a couple of recky trips to be organised.
Meeting place was Bewong Roadhouse – ready to leave 6.30am
Travelled down to Milton and left cars at a mates place in Milton – 14 riders kitted up and ready to go 7.45am, Quick riders talk and off we go, me as sweep for the first stint. about 5ks blacktop and into the trails.
We had 1 semi-learner in the mix who was pushing pretty hard trying not to hold the rest of the group up. I kept telling him to take it easy and ride at his own pace, but he kept pushing along.

About 20ks into the dirt down he goes – gets up all is good except for clutch lever, thats ok (i’m thinking)i know he has a spare. He does but it’s in the car ( no bloody good there is it). Anyway a bit of bush mechanic stuff and we are off again. Catch up with the group for a short breather, the dust is the topic of conversation so we decide to head into some nice single which is always wet/damp. Couldn’t beleive it, no moisture anywhere – have never been in there and not had puddles/mud(will be chewin dust all day now).

Had arranged to meet the support vehicle at 11.00am at east lynne, bloody two strokes and their fuel, fussy bastards, had a pie (best home made pies) and drink and time to hand sweep duties over to some other sucker(lots of dust at the back).

The DRZ that had the crash earlier was having a few lecky starting problems, so kicking was his only resort. Tell the support crew to have the BBQ ready for lunch at neligan at 12.30 – we have a powerline run from here on in, although some steep and rocky hills, nothing especially hard and it’s only 20ks. Well the DRZ got worse and worse, which burnt out our not so experienced rider(he was completely shagged). Finally got to lunch about 1.00pm.

As we roll into the park for lunch, here is our support vehicle co-driver, cooking the BBQ with his apron on, beer in hand, and sounding a little charged(lucky we had 1 sensible driver). He then turns around facing away from us to reveal(no pants on under his apron). :cheer: 😆 :S :woohoo: He really is a laugh and was getting whistles from the river cruise boat as it was leaving the wharf behind us. Not a pretty site let me tell you.

With Lunch over with, it was time for me to don the leaders jersey and get us to Araluen. 10 minutes after leaving the DRZ has given up the ghost, no starting no electrics nothing. Get onto the support and get him picked up.

We had a regroup and it was decided to shorten up a little so we sorted an alternate route and away we went. The tracks over that way are really nice flowing trails, with a full variety of terrain, we had a ball and the pace was on.
Got to the top of a lookout and Johnny had a flat front tire, whip it off change and back on in about 20 mins( sweet)
Finally arrived at the pub about 5pm, filled the bikes , changed filters and hit the showers. One of the guys had organised commemorative stubbie holders with nicknames on them for everyone, they were given out, and the beers started flowing.
We decided to have a look at the DRZ and for the next 2 hours we pulled it apart, chased wires everywhere, had lots of opinions on what the cause was, but not 1 solution between us, we just couldn’t it to fire, boardy’s riding was over for the weekend.
There were a few practical jokes played, some fart bombs let off and lots of bench racing, during and after tea (huge baked dinner and apple strudel with ice-cream) till we all hit the fart sack about 11.30 (very quiet night by our standards let me tell you,(I think the heat had got to everyone)

Part 2 to follow

Cheers hatto

[GregMember]

Well Hatto wheres part 2, I am stuck at the pub :laugh:
Great report but where are the pics matey

TB

[Mick DMember]

Great report so far Hatto. Poor bugger on the DRZ, fancy having to kick start your bike all the time, how draconian

[Craig HattonMember]

Part 2
We organised breakfast for 7.30 and what a good breakfast – toast, cereal, bacon and eggs, coffee tea and juice.
Got kitted up and ready to go by 8.30 – it was already starting to get warm, looks like we were in for a hot day.
We decided on a different route and away we went. Leading us out I was very nervous, kangaroos and wallabies everywhere, but was confident on not coming across any other riders(bonus). The tracks have heaps of erosion jumps, so everybody was having some great fun. 5 minutes in , another flat tyre this time a rear, so a short breather was had.
We did a great valley run which finished at a little creek crossing with rubber mats on the exit/entry. This made for some slippery exits which caught a few riders out. We then decided to go a different way, so thought we better let the suppport vehicle know that lunch would be at the same place as previous day and to make sure they had enough fuel for a splash for everyone.
A couple of minor off’s and a husky which didn’t like the water, I had a bark buster moment, but we finally made it to lunch – it was getting hot by now so the break next to the river with the breeze blowing was good.
I opened up the fuel and gave everyone a splash to get us to the next servo, only 20kms away, well I thought I gave everyone enough.
Got going after lunch, little bit of transport section, got to the start of the powerline run back to east lynne and another husky has broken his muffler bracket, melted his rear breakline, so all over for him.
We sent him back with the sweep to the car, while the rest of us waited. While standing around chatting it was noticed that water was coming out of the bottom of another DRZ – hole in the waterpump cover, break out the quicksteel and patch, fill with gatoraid and were off.

2ks from servo at the bottom a powerline hill, the gas gas 4t runs out of fuel, sweep is a 2 smoker and the next corner man about 1 km over the next hill. About 1 hr later we have got him some fuel and finally get to servo. Quick rest, ice block and top up the camel backs and we are on the home stretch only about 70ks to go.
Back at the cars 5.30, top weekend except for the dust, handed out our kamakazi cockhead of the ride award, and hit the road.
Did a total of 368kms, but think it is to hot for riding like that now, will have to wait for next season.

cheers Hatto

[Craig HattonMember]

Trailboss wrote:

Quote:

Well Hatto wheres part 2, I am stuck at the pub :laugh:
Great report but where are the pics matey

TB

I think that is about the only thing I forgot, the bloody camera, Sorry

[GregMember]

Hatto wrote:

Quote:

While standing around chatting it was noticed that water was coming out of the bottom of another DRZ – hole in the waterpump cover, break out the quicksteel and patch, fill with gatoraid and were off.

cheers Hatto

Hatto you best get onto the guy above because if the hole in the water pump was the drain hole for the seal he could now have a bigger problem

Water pumps have a tell tale hole so when the seal leaks the coolant leaks to tell you the seal needs replacing and so the coolant doesnt contaminate anything else

A water pump also has a oil seal, as its driven from within the oil part of the engine, so that seal keeps the engine oil on one side and the water keeps it on its side. Now when you block the telltale hole for the coolant which is under pressure in the cooling system remember it cant escape so it pushes past the oil seal into the crankcase thus filling the crankcase with coolant and contaminating the oil and cause massive damage if left to sit

TB

[Craig HattonMember]

Trailboss wrote:

Quote:

Hatto wrote:

Quote:

While standing around chatting it was noticed that water was coming out of the bottom of another DRZ – hole in the waterpump cover, break out the quicksteel and patch, fill with gatoraid and were off.

cheers Hatto

Hatto you best get onto the guy above because if the hole in the water pump was the drain hole for the seal he could now have a bigger problem

Water pumps have a tell tale hole so when the seal leaks the coolant leaks to tell you the seal needs replacing and so the coolant doesnt contaminate anything else

A water pump also has a oil seal, as its driven from within the oil part of the engine, so that seal keeps the engine oil on one side and the water keeps it on its side. Now when you block the telltale hole for the coolant which is under pressure in the cooling system remember it cant escape so it pushes past the oil seal into the crankcase thus filling the crankcase with coolant and contaminating the oil and cause massive damage if left to sit

TB

It was in the cover which goes over the impeller, this is the second time it has happened to him, Bloody farm bikes 😆 😆 😆

[Anonymous]

Good report Hatto . You had a few dramas though :ohmy:

[Craig HattonMember]

DanD wrote:

Quote:

Good report Hatto . You had a few dramas though :ohmy:

Yeah, it’s funny how you can go on rides for ages with no problems at all and then the shit happens on 1 ride. It still wasn’t too bad though, little things going wrong only add to the adventure.

hatto

[Author]

Posts