After fitting the new Whipp’s bash plate to my bike,I got all keen to do a shake down ride.
With no real set plan,I took off at 8.30am on my own , headed for Port Macquarie,a 20km tar run broken up with a few road side singles and bush tracks I know.
Put the bike and me on the ferry across the Hastings River, once I got there instead of turning right to go up Plommer rd, I turned left off the ferry headed for Maria river road ,a 34km section of gravel road, that will eventually have you in Crescent Head.
Maria river road had just been upgraded and it is very wide and straight, it was in mint condition and I did a 20km stretch standing on the pegs at 100kmhph (gotta love the XR’s for that sort of work) any corner on the road can also be done at 100kmph in a sweet drift.
My ol mate Kram140, happens to live up there, so I dropped into his flower farm,where he was currently harvesting Kangaroo paws. I had a cup of tea with him and his lovely family (thanks Penny for the cuppa) and I was off again.
From Kram’s place I headed into the Limeburners National Park,(200 meters from his gate) which is a Banksia coastal heath, so I was riding in sandy swamp. Even in this dry time, there are still monumental bog holes happening in there, which pay to ride straight up the middle, other wise you end up in deep water rutts left by 4WD’s. I managed to frighten a family of quails, a goanna and a wallaby while I had a ball blasting through the sandy loam.
The trail leads to Big Hill on Plommer road, made famous by the lack of maintainence the road has had over the last 20 years. An old rutile sand mining service road that is about 11km long and is a continuous succession of solid whoops about 30 ft apart and sand drifts. Normally the whoops have up to 2ft of water in them but today they where dry and sandy. They were great fun to jump on the XR,as soon as you landed you where on your way up the face of the next jump. As I was riding on my own I took it a bit easier than I would if I had company, but am confident that I maintained an average speed of about 60-70kmh ( doesn’t sound fast I know but fast enough to get caught out on that road) I had a minor moment when I baulked at a sand drift and lost momentum and had the front end slapping a bit,but other than that I had a great time and I was puffing at the end.
Once back off the ferry, I headed back to Wauchope via the trails I headed out on and was back in Wauchope at 12.30pm after doing 119km for the morning.
The missus is away at Coffs for the day and wont be back to 7pm, so when I got home I jammed 4 beers in me and had some KFC for lunch with the young fella, while watching MX on TV. Now I am gunna have a nanny nap.
What a great day!!!!
