Day 3 started without too much drama, we made our way back into maree and fueled up! The trip into to town was fantastic! The sun rise was awesome and only interrupted by the odd roo or emu, a splash and dash, but not before a look at the old mail truck of Tom Kruse ( I think that spelling is wrong), what a great Aussie legend, RIP.
We headed out to birdsville, and the first half of the trip there was reasonably uneventful, some great riding when we turned on to the detour to the ferry!
From the ferry to Mungerannie road house was great! I hung back with Boulder and watched the mistro at work! It was a another great road, twisting and turning through sand, eventually make it’s way out to the main track!
The Mungerannie road house was a nice pub, which I Saw none of as I spent the time we were there filing out a washer to fit TB’s head set bearing. But oh well, better to do it properly yourself then die wondering! Nice of the guys to lend us there tools!
We hit the road again, and the first 100 or so K’s flowed really good, and we stopped for a regroup and a quick chat! After which the Birdsville track will never be forgotten! We hit the road again and not longer after we stopped for TB to vent some of the gas out of his Klim jacket( bit wofty by the end lol)! Well it was like running wide on a corner at Bathurst Fish and Boulder pounced and took off like scalded cats! It was good to watch them but I had no chance of catching so I settled back in and watched from a distance!
I rounded a right hander, then a left, to see Fish pulling over! So naturally I pulled up to help! He told me of the spongy feeling he got through the last corner, and he pulled up! Sure enough his rear was flat! He described the way the bike felt and as he was saying it, I thought well mine felt much the same! I turned around to see what everyone hates. A flat rear! No great drama, I helped Fish for abit until Lotsa, Mick, Krusty and Gaz turned up to help as well!
I looked for a rock to sit the bike on but could get it to sit, so Krusty the good bloke he is, held the bike while I ripped the wheel off! I pulled the tyre off to check for debris, as NickJ found some in his and that was fresh in my mind, and couldn’t see anything! Good as gold, chucked it back together, with some help from Boulder as he got worried and came back! The E09 was bait tricky to fit even hot but all good! We hit the road again, and went about 20k’s.
I was crusing along and it got the shakes up! Pulled up to check, and sure enough another flat! I put it down to a pinched tube and didn’t think much of it. Pulled the tube out and sure enough it look pinched, oh well, no great drama! Back on it went!
Much the same 20 or so more K’s and bobs your uncle the shakes again!
Pulled up and this time I knew it was going to be bad! We pulled the tyre off to find a rip, a third of the way around the tyre at the tread side of the side wall!
Well I was lost for words and could not think of n e thing to do! Sure enough Boulder springs into action! We cut open the last flat tube, used it as a liner and layed in another tube! (good luck if u ever have to do this it was hard work getting that tyre back on)! there was no two ways about it, over 70 odd K’s left to travel, the tyre was not going to make it!
We hit the road and this time the Boulders Hung back and I moved ahead to get as far as I could before it went! Things were going good and I was about 50 K’s out of town! When it went flat again, with no sense in fitting another tube, I rode it in flat! I took my top bag off and Boulder carried it on his bike! Again it was going ok, if the speed was constant, Fish dropped back to check to see the Tyre and Boulder moved ahead to get into town! Fish rode up beside me and gave me the thumbs up, not ten seconds later the tyre blew both tubes out the side, rapped around the swingarm, locked the back wheel up and jammed rubber in between the brake and disc! What a ride that was pulling it up! I was happy to have stayed upright and off the track!
We struggled to untangle the mess of rubber as it was red hot. We got the wheel turning again, and we decided as it was all but dark, to abandon the DR and head for town! Fish dumped his side bags with my bike and I sat on the back with legs dragging up the road, and twisted to the right as I had my camelbak on, trying to hold my legs up but struggling when the bike bottomed through the cause ways! After a hick up with boulders bike, we got going again, this time a bit more comfie!
It was the longest 45 K’s I reacon, I have done! But we made it!
We got to the pub, and there was people asking questions and confused looks bike, and only one man had what I was looking for! Lotsa had beers! Never tasted anything so good, as I ran out of water after the first flat!!
The night was great, plenty of laughs, plenty of beers, and great company! It was a great way to end a crap day on the track!
More to come!
Dejay
