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GPS school on Friday arvo, Amy helped out cheers mate
Black Fellows early morning
The big causeway near Sofla
Nice views
Moose’s causeway
Don’t holler for a Marshall holler for Geoff Ballard, jump starting a g from Port who’s name I can’t remember sorry he know Rider X and others up there, nice bloke funny
Plinz up the mountain, Sunday morning looks cool eh
Lance in the pines Sunday morning
Super leader, GPS loader and Factory rider (she forgot her jacket) Amy
Shaun Gillies (super bike racing champion and a bloody nice guy)
Geoff Ballard quietly spoken and very humble, turns out he has done some riding. Loves his Bemmers
[IMG]http://i1316.photobucket.com/albums/t615/rumsoakedstudios/fb081c6d492da6db3e6f9f5b4205ac63_zpscaea19df.jpg[/IMG
Jason Barrett and his 150hp KTM 1190
Thanks to Peter, Shaun and Clubby for the pictures
TB
The weekend for me started off with a solo ride out to Lithgow , with the usual thoughts of anticipation and excitement filling my head space. :woohoo: These rides for me personally are a huge challenge as I am sure they are to others in varying degrees ranging from a walk in the park and something that is done easily and without fear and concerns to the opposite end of the spectrum my end which is shrouded in fear uncertainty, self doubt and the like. Feeling much more at ease than I did on my first Nav ride in Feb, I think in large due to the fact having met a fair portion of the Adv rank participants and seeing the format of the rides I was quietly confident that I would have an enjoyable weekend, and perhaps suffer a little less stress and pressure than I had felt on the previous occasion.
Turning into the track leading too Mountain Lagoon I came across Mr Squiggle, Plinz and Merlin hovering around Merlins 990.Unfortunately for him it would mean the end of the ride weekend. :pinch: Plinz and I carried on to Bilpin NRMA where we inquired about some help but to no avail, it was then the SOS was made to Eagle and team Oldbull swung into action to retrieve them.
A cool trip over the mountains saw us arrive around three, checked into the pub, unloaded the bike and went to the bar. Over the next few hours watched the car park gradually fill with other eager ADVers and soaked up the atmosphere . A car park full of bikes and riders definitely got the adrenalin on the rise.
Dinner, GPS school and riders brief were next, mixed with some introductions both old and new. Several more beers then bed for some needed sleep before the big day.
Morning came and with it the nerves and cold temperature, two ingredients I could have done without, but I knew it should get warmer and we had Lefty in our corner so there was no need to worry. What happened next was funny looking back on it. As the starters flag dropped for team Lefty and his train of Learners Usi’s bike stalled and as I was parked next to him, I realised he wasn’t going anywhere and waited for him as we watched as our security blanket ride off into the distance with four others in tow :blink: . No need for an apology Lefty you weren’t to know and by all accounts you did an awesome job changing tyres and the like anyway, it was fantastic of you to offer your guidance the way you did.
So after the comical start to the day and losing our leader before we even left the car park, :laugh: Usi and I got underway about five or ten minutes after the others. With the new promotion of leader thrust upon me due to my ADV experience outweighing my counterpart by 100% me 1 prior ride Usi 0 things were looking up :whistle: , talk about the blind leading the blind, not to worry only 400 odd klms to go. Off we went and it wasn’t long before it became apparent that Usi was feeling a little over awed by the whole experience not unlike myself on my first ride. We plodded along, making several wrong turns due to my navigational skills and it was Usi that had a much better concept of the GPS and its workings.
We road together for several hours until we passed Deejay in a support vehicle at an intersection where there was another group of riders. I tacked on the back of them and the pace quickened a fair bit and Usi must have dropped off but after seeing Deejay I knew help was close by.
I was behind Wolfman at one stage and nearly binned it big time trying to keep up and it wasn’t long before the inevitable happened and I ended up in the scrub stuck up against a small tree and seeing the handlebars didn’t touch the ground I had a perfect round due to this technicality. Once I had freed my bike from the bushes I was riding solo and lucky for me my GPS skills seemed to have improved from earlier in the day. Not long after this I came across the ambulance and helicopter landing. Hope you are feeling a little better Lotsa, and you mend quickly.
After seeing poor Lotsa and his situation I reined it in a little bit for the remainder of the day skipping the last
dirt section and slabbing the last 60 klms into Orange in the dark and cold.
The start day two for me resembled my day ones beginning with a comedy of errors as you had to navigate to the starting point, this saw me riding round in circles for half an hour aimlessly in the cold. :pinch: Eventually found it to be greeted and ticked off the starters list by Wolfman. Righto underway solo again but not at all concerned as was enjoying the challenge. Climbing up Mt Connobolis the weather closed in big time and it became apparent today may hold some unwelcome conditions :ohmy: .
The single track at the top of Mt Connobolis was something I could have done without, as there were a lot of rocks which had me visualising a tumble and smashing my fuel tank, didn’t happen and was relieved to get off it. The pine forests red clay trails were slippery as and had me sh%tting myself on more than one occasion although the pine single track was fun as it was fairly dry in there.
Cannot remember the exact sequence of events but know that I ended up with Usi again, and Strucky and Crash escorted us into the two fat ladies café. Usi pulled the pin here and headed for Sydney well done on a first effort Usi it was quite a baptism of fire in trying conditions .Left the café chasing the 2 drs piloted by the 2 guys that kept riding when everybody headed for home but I can’t remember their names, needless to say I lost them before the pine singles and had a fair trouble free run until Mt Horrible when the crap weather set in.
Couldn’t see with or without the goggles and the track was really slippery and had me crawling through there at a slow pace, can’t say I wasn’t pleased to get off that track either. It was shortly after here that Crash and Strucky found me again in the pine forest and we made it to the servo and headed for Lithgow.
Somewhere along 30 klm run back to Lithgow I decided to make a run for home feeling a strong urge to get home to the wife and kids :unsure: , not really sure why and in hindsight probably not the smartest decision I could have made seeing what the conditions were like on Bells Line of Road but one I made none the less. :whistle: My reasoning is that for me these rides are hard work filled with plenty of challenges and obstacles both physically and emotionally and I was glad to come through it and wanted it to be finished. So to TB and the boys at the pub I waved too, I hope you don’t think I was being rude not stopping in for a drink but wanted to get over the hill before dark it was bad enough as it was.
Again thankyou to all concerned for making this ride another one to remember, Crash and Strucky on sweep duty, Eagle in the control room, Lefty taking the learners, Deejay and not sure on the other support vehicles name sorry , Wolfie track clearing ,Amy and PTW leading out front, Steve Adv Moto for the voucher and supporting the ride , the Yamaha crew again support, great to chat with you again Peter and of course TB you have done it again and put on quite a show you should all be proud of your efforts .
Cheers JamesTwo day Nav Ride June 2013
For me the ride started on Friday afternoon with a quick run over the mountains to Mt Victoria then across to Bell and up the Bells line of road towards Lithgow. As I was leading a group of riders I thought that I would check out a section at the start of the ride that TB said was a small uphill section that was covered in tree roots followed by a steep downhill. I didn’t have any actual directions but had a fair idea of where we were heading. As it was I found the uphill section ok but took the wrong downhill fork in the road, however I thought to myself that it’s not too bad and started to head back towards the Commercial Hotel in Lithgow. As I was heading on back I bumped into Strucky and Crash as they were pre-running the 1st section of day one.
After booking in to the Commercial and meeting up with TB, Dejay and a few of the other fella’s who should wonder across………Mal 5.1 it was great to catch up and have a chat as I hadn’t seen him in ages and he is a genuine top bloke too. Well mal had to go so Dejay, who is another great bloke, and I decided it was time for a beer or 2 so to the bar we went!
After our beers we headed over to check out where everyone else was and it was onto GPS school being held by TB and Amy. It was great for the newby’s to get an insight into how to use their GPS’s properly and some guidance on how the maps are to be read and so on. I then maet up with James, Usi, Wigster and Isambard who were booked in to the group with me then I met up with RGB (Rob) and Ron who also would like to join. So no worries I said and we had a full house of six other riders in the group. Awesome!! :woohoo:
A good nights sleep was in order so off to bed at around 10,30pm ready for a 6.00am Breakfast!! :dry:
More Later……Left
RGB (Rob) and Ron
Due to the success of the recent Nav ride we have engaged a third support vehicle for the next one
If you wish to drive it please Pm me
Yes we bought a Jeep
Cheers
Strucky
Clean wrote:A big thanks to TB and all the crew for a fun ride and that it allowed us to be able to see some new parts of Oz that I hadn’t been to before.
The ideal of adventure riding, although it has been said that watching ‘Gilesy’ on the VStrom on Sunday afternoon was hilarious. That would have been another bonus!
Apologies to James for not asking him to come with us on Sunday morning – I just didn’t think of it at the time as I was trying not to shiver!Thanks TB and crew, our little bunch of gentleman riders are really looking forward to the next one!
Cheers.No need for an apology Clean,
being by myself kind of forced me to read the GPS instead of just following,by the way I am not even sure who or what group of bikes you were with :unsure:Even more of a reason for you not to worry about it :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: but thankyou anyway
Cheers James
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