The cyclonic weather we had Thursday and Friday, that had dumped more than 4 inches of rain on the area, which was followed by a gale warning on the Saturday morning, all pointed to the fact that maybe the bush was the wrong place to be on Saturday afternoon.
During the week I had made contact with new Old Bull member ParkerG (Guy) who had just moved to Wauchope from out west and we organised to meet and have a short ride around Broken Bago.
The weather wasn’t looking all that good with 50 knot winds and heavy skies but we decided what the heck ,we will stick our heads in and see what it is like. What could possibly go wrong??
So at 2 o’clock I made my way to Guys place, made the mandatory quick introductions and headed bush, which was less than a minute away from Guy’s house.
Having never met Guy before and not knowing how well he could ride the KTM 300, I stuck to the fire trails for a short while to test him out, as it turns out there was no need to worry as Guy peddles the Kato along well considering he had only just got it, after a 4 year lay off with out a bike.
The gale force winds had dropped a heap of sticks and logs in the bush, so even on tracks that I know well, I got the occasional surprise from a new obstacle to negotiate and the rain had filled every creek and bog hole to the top.
All the trails had water running down them like mini creeks and the loamy sections were slick as, which kept us on our toes but was excellent fun.
Once we got to the top of Bago, it was obvious that Guy goes well, so the first single Trail I took Guy through was the She Oak Trail, which is a 1st and 2nd gear track up hill through a small She Oak scrub for about 1 km, when we got to the top of the trail Guy was slightly red faced and puffing due to a lack of ride fitness, which is understandable after a 4 year lay off.
We had a spell at the top of the lookout and then made our way down through the Black Boy trail, which was still really wet and had some bog holes you could loose a 4×4 in. While trying my skill at hitting a bog hole at speed, I got myself cross rutted and high sided the bike and landed Camelbak first into the mud, which was fortunate as I didn’t get all that wet and muddy. I attempted to pick up the bike before Guy got there and pretend nothing had happened, but the cloud of steam dissipating around the bike was a dead giveaway that it had taken a swim.
As it turns out the rain had made for excellent conditions and we made our way back to Wauchope through Huntingdon via the Fence trail and Ruttzilla. When we got back to town we headed to my shed for a few beers and a yarn.
There is a perfect example of the Old Bull site doing what it was intended, linking up like minded people for a ride and some good times, if it wasn’t for the networking this site allows, even though Guy and I live in the same small town we may never have crossed paths.
