Two day nav ride report Feb 2013

[jim cadyMember]

I do Eagle,and as a matter of fact theres still not a lot of improvement need to get a better sleep tonight was still too wired :blink: last night despite being tired :laugh: .

I will definitely be back for more :woohoo:

[Amy HarburgMember]

Part 1

To say I was excited about this ride was an understatement, thankfully all expectations were exceeded in every way. :woohoo:

I had my bike packed and prepped on Thursday night so all I had to do when I got home Friday was to change and jump on my bike. A quick 300km run down to Mittagong on Friday afternoon was a good warm up :blink: . I think I got there at about 8pm, just in time for a meal and a few catch up drinks with the crew.

The usual Old Bulls humour was in full swing and the banter was flying. TB was loading GPS and making sure everybody was ready for the next day.

Saturday morning was an early start for TB, PTW and me. :S TB wanted to be out on track at 6am so we could get a head start on the group to make sure the course was clear and to set up any warning tape or detours. We rolled out of the Mittagong Pub bang on 6am.

It was a stunning run through Natti Nat Park and Wombeyan Caves. The fog wasn’t too bad for us, I think we were there early enough that it hadn’t really rolled in and the Kangaroos were thick on the ground so we took it easy. :whistle:

The aim of this ride was navigation and TB put in some cracker little side tracks that required good navigation to find them. These included a sharp little hill just of the main track and the power lines trail, both sensational to ride!!! Then into the pine forests and more navigational challenges, but our true test lie in our arrow making skills. :laugh:

A couple of big trees were down across the track and after we managed to move one (by some miracle :blush: ) the second one was truly impassable the track had to be detoured.
TB was the first to show off his arrow making technique, and while I scoffed at his effort, the group consensus was that it was clear enough to understand. I was next, so by virtue of being a female and therefore blessed with ability to improvise, I made my arrow using the backing of a large piece a bark. This was voted the best.
I would talk about PTW’s effort but it barley rates a mention. Poor PTW’s arrow was voted the worst :silly: . I have to mention that he did help me (a little :whistle: ) with my arrow, so perhaps it was a team effort…thanks PTW.

As the day warmed up the tracks just seemed to get better and better with incredible trails through Abercrombie River National Park with it culminating with “The Mecca”. There was also great River crossings at Dingo Dell, Kowmung and the Hippy Camp. Then the run into Burraga for a hamburger, and a pleasant chat to the charming lady at the general store, NOT. :kiss:

Next into the store were the Boulder brothers (Boulder and Fish), followed by Wolf Man, Jason, and Peter. After a while the majority of the pack had arrived and everybody was in great spirits talking about the incredible trails.


News was also filtering in about a drowned CRF in the Kowmung river and few people getting a little lost. Everybody made in safe later, of course with great stories.

By the time we headed off again it was getting a bit late and a decision was made to group everybody at Bigga for a corner man system across the front of Wyangala dam to the fuel stop. Wolf Man led the way with the Boulder Bros sweeping, and everybody in this group rolled into the Woodstock pub at about 5pm.

The guy at the Woodstock pub was just wonderful and really went out of his way to make us welcome and comfortable.

All in all, a top night, made all the more special replaying PTW’s stunning lowside around a corner, caught on camera by TB. Thankfully he was OK with only a little bark off his hip. So we all proceeded to take the piss for the rest of the weekend.

More Soon!!!
Flying Fish

[Amy HarburgMember]

EAGLE`02 wrote:

Trailboss wrote:

EAGLE`02 wrote:

Sun – Woodstock to Newy via the world 542k :whistle:

Amy rode her 250 from Singleton to the start and back from Wisemans, harden up :laugh: :laugh:

Was good having you there but mate

TB

I know that,,,,
But she also told me about a day off to recover :laugh:

All good, it was a great weekend, magic route
I really enjoyed the Woodstock to Oberon section, never ridden that before.
The section from the hole in the wall down the valley is magic, and hadn`t been there since the Caves wet wet wet weekend actually :whistle: Brilliant

Cheers, gotta run into town now ,,,, report coming later

Who’s counting KM’s, it was epic for all!! I would do it all again to repeat that weekend and to catch up with everyone.
Eags…….i fronted up to work today in relativity OK shape…tomorrow?????

[Dave WigginMember]

The last ride was a massively steep learning curve for me. I thought that curve couldn’t possibly get any steeper. First schoolboy error of the week end. It could and it did.

A slightly later departure from the northern beaches due to a last minute decision to get some fresh rubber fitted saw me nicely ensconsed in a traffic jam from Brookvale to Mittagong (or so it seemed). Took five hours (I normally do it in two).

Not to worry, the anticipation of the ride and beers at the Mittagong Hotel had me grinning from ear to ear.

I arrived to find TB in residence in serious pre-ride fuelling mode. The garlic prawns and sausages never stood a chance. The Old Bulls were even still talking to me after the Bathurst week end. Things were looking up.

As the beer and the banter started to flow, the promise I made to myself of an early night evaporated and it was a slightly dusty Wigster that emerged in to the early morning light.

Flying Fish, my previous ride partner was off the leash for this one, up the front duelling with the greyhounds (TB and Pete the Wulf as a greyhounds? Now there’s an image!) so I was teamed up with Ace and Eagle for this one. Two great blokes who shepherderd me around the course with a mixture of encouragment and jelly snakes.

It started off in familiar territory, with the road to Woollondilly, where the main danger is being cleaned up by oncoming family campers. Things soon started to get interesting on the fire trails and I felt my pace had picked up a bit from the previous ride (as it needed to).

The first challenge was a steep hill that Ace spotted was on the route, just off the main track. It look steep but Ace made it look easy. I made it look less so but I gave the Trumpet her head and she powered up with that lovely whining turbine sound (well I like it).

There were some really steep descents after this that had me a bit worried but I stayed upright and for the first time began to enjoy the technical challenges rather than hanging on and hoping for the best.

I rather embarrassingly stalled in the middle of the Kowmung but managed to get her over with plenty of outrigger action.

There were some slippery off camber trails along power lines and some loamy bits but still upright so so far so good.

We realised we were not going to get fuel at the dam, so went via Cowra for fuel and back to Woodstock for the evening festivities. Great pub and feed, re-living the events of the day but I was pretty tired so it was a relatively early night, like the one I should have had the night before. Couldn’t be buggered to put the tent up so it was on the pool room floor for me.

The second day was a ripper. Mainly fast open trails with some great twisty tar for us former road bikers it was all brought to a grinding halt (for me) by the ascent of Mount Irvine. Steep and badly rutted I was harving a hard time with the bike as it had developed an idling problem and kept stalling (that’s my excuse). One time I went to put my foot out for a judicious dab and I felt nothing but air as I fell sideways in to a hole so big it seemed to swallow the Tiger and leave her wheels pointing uphill.

There was no way I could lift her out of that so I waited for another couple of guys and we managed to get her out and the right way up.

I was still only half way up, but decided to adopt a more aggressive approach. Doing it “properly”up on the pegs with plenty of momentum I bounced around like a pinball, sometimes getting the line wrong and thinking there is no way I’m going to roll over this hole/rock, but she did and I made it to the top without further mishap.

I stopped for a breather and Ace swept by on his Latte machine. “Too easy” he yelled. He was being ironic. I think.

So more fast open trails. I was in the lead for a bit and I really gunned it, revving the Tiger out for a good twenty minutes of fast riding. Surely I’ve put some distance between me and the boys now I thought. But no, I looked in the mirror and there they were, Ace, Eagle and the Boulders, line astern, right up my clacker.

I tell you what, If I had pulled a bank heist I wouldn’t want to be chased by that lot. For a number of reasons actually.

Anyways, it was over the ferry and on in to Wismans for the end of the ride and a celebratory beer.

What an absolutely outstanding week end.

I can only echo Wolfie’s comments on saturday night regarding TB. There are people out there charging hundreds of dollars for what TB does. And all he gets is a couple of apple ciders and a rum or three. He deserves a gong, and next time I talk to the Queen I’ll make sure he gets one.

Massive thanks to you Sir.

Thanks to Ace and Eagle too. Hope I didn’t slow you up too much. I’ll bring the snakes next time. And Chicken for driving the ute!

See you all on the next one.

Wigster

[Jeffrey SmithMember]

Video of Day 1.

Unfortunately I was having too much fun early on to stop and get the Gopro out and missed some of the best riding of the day through the first 170 odd km.

[AndrewMember]

My ride goes a little something like this…

Coast to Mittagong:

I left work early because I was being totally unproductive (leaving myself open here I know). I rang Eagle to let him know and within the hour he called back to say it was go time.
I met up with Eagle at the Oak where I heard the understatement of the weekend. It goes a little something like this:
Ace: “Hi Eagle, are you excited?”
Eagle: “Oh yeah, I suppose”

Rumour has it that he spent the previous night sleeping on his bike in full attire watching re-runs of Long Way Round on his i-phone???

We tootled off to Wisemans on the black top where we met up with Lotsa. We rode along River Rd, up to Cliftonville and then through some traffic to Penrith. Fortunately Lotsa knew a few back roads to Mittagong that kept the ride interesting.

We made it to the pub where we had a feed and a few refreshing ales while TB tirelessly loaded all the GPS’s and gave the riders brief before I hit the sack.

Day 1: Mittagong to Woodstock

I woke up a little dusty on day one but full of enthusiasm and ready to hit the trails for a long day in the saddle. My ever reliable riding partner Eagle and myself were teamed up with ol’ lion heart himself “The Wigster” so the 3 Amigos headed off into the early morning sun.

The trails were a terrific mix of open winding twins with some creek crossings and the odd technical bit to keep us on our toes.

Here is Wigster filling up the kettle in one of the creek crossings. They were all a little deeper than they looked from the bank but we all made it across without incident.

By far the best part of the day was a little off shoot that TB had snuck into the route. Only the really advanced navigators could find this one but it was technically challenging and had the most fantastic scenery up the top. Unfortunately the likes of Mick P, Lotsa, Crash and KR didn’t get to experience the track as they sailed past as we watched from the top.

Thankfully TB, PTW and Amy were doing a sensational job of riding ahead and marking all of the obstacles for us as they went. I’m not sure how TB knows all of these tracks backwards but to make changes on the fly and keep everyone out of harms way is no mean feat…Well done guys(and gal)!

Ummm…somehow my now advanced navigational skills let me down when I actually rode around this 10m long arrow pointing to a detour. I really just wanted the sticker from TB for completing the entire route…the photos above show the damage caused by a mini cyclone that recently hit the area.
The Amigos were having such a relaxing time that when we pulled up for another photo opportunity, we realised that we had taken 6 hours to complete less than half the leg! A bit further down the road, Crash caught up to us and advised that KR was back at the Hippy Camp – very convenient I reckon and the four of us decided to bypass Wyangla dam and head into Cowra for some fuel.

We made it to Woodstock were the beer and stories flowed on for a couple of hours. A really enjoyable day in all with some 500 odd klm travelled through some fantastic trails and without incident to our bodies or bikes.
To be continued…

[Dwayne OMember]

:laugh: Where`s all your pics ACE ??? You took more than I did I reckon :whistle:
Vids of the crosings too would be good I reckon ,,,

It was once again a pleasure to ride with you mate, Wigster too is always a good sport and can be trusted to get through the route (thank god I didn`t have to help pick the tiger up even once)
Sorry Wiggy, I was a bit too far ahead on the Mt Irvine climb when you had your little mishap… :pinch:

I did ride back down halfway though, then back up and walked back down even further looking for Ace, James & Farrier ,,, Damn that walk near killed me :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Hopefully we can enjoy many more trips like that in the coming years

Thanx All, Everyone of you contributed to the fun and laughs as always!!!
I have some very envious mates at work once again, that always ask how & where we go each time .

My usual response is “GET YOURSELF A BIKE & JOIN US” :cheer:

[Dwayne OMember]

Ace wrote:

lotsa wrote:

EAGLE`02 wrote:

Out of interest,,

Did anyone happen to see a small zippered black nylon bag in the Beer Garden on Pub ???
I have lost it with my phone , Scala & I Pod charger stuff :pinch:

Left a message on the pubs phone, so hope to hear back tomorrow maybe ,,,,, :whistle:

Thought I saw someone walking around with one at the tables near the road asking if anyone had lost it. Maybe Amy, not sure. Maybe they handed it in to the pub.

Eagle, KR was trying to find the owner of a Scala? He didn’t have anything else though. I think he gave it to TB

Does anyone have a number for KR ??? I think he was probably looking for the owner of the Gerber pouch he had at Oberon (which was TB`s actually)
Wouldn`t hurt for me to check with him though,,,, o news from the Pub so looking like I`m fresh outta luck :whistle:
Can`t even remember what else was in the bag with all the chargers to tell the truth :laugh:

[GregMember]

EAGLE`02 wrote:

Ace wrote:

lotsa wrote:

EAGLE`02 wrote:

Out of interest,,

Did anyone happen to see a small zippered black nylon bag in the Beer Garden on Pub ???
I have lost it with my phone , Scala & I Pod charger stuff :pinch:

Left a message on the pubs phone, so hope to hear back tomorrow maybe ,,,,, :whistle:

Thought I saw someone walking around with one at the tables near the road asking if anyone had lost it. Maybe Amy, not sure. Maybe they handed it in to the pub.

Eagle, KR was trying to find the owner of a Scala? He didn’t have anything else though. I think he gave it to TB

Does anyone have a number for KR ??? I think he was probably looking for the owner of the Gerber pouch he had at Oberon (which was TB`s actually)
Wouldn`t hurt for me to check with him though,,,, o news from the Pub so looking like I`m fresh outta luck :whistle:
Can`t even remember what else was in the bag with all the chargers to tell the truth :laugh:

Got the pouch, will PM you his number

TB

[Dwayne OMember]

The last of my pics,,,

She`s a bit dry out there at the moment

Met up with Mick, Lotsa & Reece at one point

Had a great feed at Pete`s Cafe Oberon

Last of the wide open spaces

At last, some greenery

At the bridge on Mt Irvine

The switchback halfway up, where I stopped then went back down to look for Wigster :whistle:

The good old 690 got me there & back again incident free

AWSOME WEEKEND :woohoo:
If you weren`t there, You missed out

[Jeffrey SmithMember]

Day 2 Video Part 1

[Andrew RobsonMember]

Looks like you Bulls had a great weekend. Some great stories and really appreciate the pics for us poor soles who couldn’t be there with you.

[Dwayne OMember]

Not for highway use wrote:

Looks like you Bulls had a great weekend. Some great stories and really appreciate the pics for us poor soles who couldn’t be there with you.

Yeah, We were just a stones throw from you too :whistle:

I actually visited your hometown back in October and only realised you were close when I got home :S

How was the Hill End ride mate ? The reports look like you all had fun ,,, It`s a good route that one …
See you on the next one maybe

[GregMember]

Mt Irvine as of this arvo, like I said on Sunday “last time you will ever do it”

Sad day, and the only decent run over the mountains gone

TB

[Dwayne OMember]

:pinch: :pinch: :pinch:

Damn, That really sux !!!
Just glad I got to ride it both directions a few times really, it is a beautiful valley and just a damn shame it went that way

Makes for a boring and often dangerous crossing over the top now :S

[Author]

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