WATAGANS 25 OCT RIDE REPORT
BY OLLIE
3 and 4 days before the big ride it had been pissing down cats and dogs ,it cleared up Thursday Arvo and bright sunshine all day Friday, Saturday was going to be a low twenty something with plenty of cloud cover,and it was ……Puuurrrfffeeecccttttt!!!. I didn’t get to bed until 1130Pm as I was sorting out shit for the ride and when I finally did the misses was snoring her head off, the mozzies were doing raids on my exposed ear lobes, the bastard adopted cat was purring like a train and some Poxy blackbird was making mating calls all friggin night!! Not to mention I was really excited and tossed and turned all night. I got up at 5am and started getting my shit in one sock,the car was all packed and the RMX was sitting on the Ute already. Gili rocked up soon after and we loaded the WR and his gear and we were away pretty quickly after that. As we turned into Martinsville rd we could see the great turnout of cars parked on the side of the rd after quick intro’s and finally putting faces to names we all headed up to the pines. Every one unloaded heir bikes and got ready for the days ensuing action. TB gathered everyone around and gave his this a trailride, leave your Lawyers at home speech then everyone except me were ready to roll,I was still trying to sort out the helmet cam but gave up in the end.
We then headed into some of the tight twisty single trail close to the Pines camp area,there was still plenty of water laying around to make things a little interesting and also lots of greasy logs laying across the tracks to keep you on your toes. Everybody was setting a pretty good pace considering there was close to twenty people in our group,the cornerman system was working really well and everybody had the right attitude to todays ride andd that was to have some serious fun. We headed for a sandy section of the tracks which was pretty wooped out to get a few photo’s,I saw a couple of close calls from a few of the boys, I went through them at a pretty good pace,I had only just had the suspension setup quite firm and the RMX was doing it easy, The bike was nearly at full throttle and a couple of guys commented at how quick it looked, it was then that I had to fess up….. the throttle was getting stuck on the rough stuff and I was just a passenger hanging on for all I was worth LOL at the next rest stop I publicly told everyone to get out of my way if they hear some screaming coming from behind them.
We then headed over to the Northwest and up some single trails and a bit of roadwork before heading into the mountain area’s, I was lucky enough to be a cornerman at on area and was facing the boys as they came down a hill into a sharp left hander,it was here that I saw Champo try and pull off a move up the inside of Chris and his Kermit mobile, unfortunately for Champo he left his move a fraction to late as Chris moved over on him and shut the gate which caused Champo to bite the dust LOl Chris got out of it unscathed, good to watch. The area we were riding in was Primo and Gili and I will have to get out and do a bit more exploration as we don’t know it as well as the southern Watagan area. We had to go through some serious bog holes and decent uphills where the throttle was always wound on, We eventually came out to this really nice camping area where we could see right down into the valley, we all had a snack and a quick chat and headed off again.it was this next section where somehow I got my first puncture I noticed it at the top of the hill and I had to ride it all the way down through all the boulders to the other side of the creek before we could get to a clearing suitable enough to do the tube replacement. We got the repair done in under twenty minutes which for me was a pretty good effort, thanks Gary for the help,the boys did their best at rippin the piss out of me whilst this was going on also LOL. Gili then made several attempts at testing my homemade Carbon Fibre pipe guard on the log the bike was resting on….cheers mate. We then set a pretty fast pace to catchup to the guys in front of us, this was awesome because this is some of the best tracks ever to ride on and the boys wernt holding back, yeeeeeehhaaaaaa!!! We then made our way back along Tinys’ trail,it was here that Mr Blue (I think) noticed that I was having problems with my throttle getting stuck again and had a good ol laugh at my expence, trust me when I say I had the spincter well and truly slammed shut !! lol we then headed down into the basin for another stop.
Afer a brief stop we got back into some tight single trail on and off the main rd heading back to the Pines, The open Rd gave the big fourstrokes a chance to have their head and it sounded awesome as they roared past me while I was sitting on the side of the road as a cornerman again. We headed into some more well used single trail where I came around the corner and dropped off into a rut which I didn’t realize was as deep as it really was,luckily I had plenty of momentum and I kept the throttle on and worked my way out of it, as the photies and Video show a couple of others were not so lucky. Just after this I nearly ran over an Echidna who was running down the track towards the oncomimg traffic, I jumped off the bike and herded him into the side gully out of harms way, I myself nearly got cleaned up by Ferknerkel (I think) trying to save the little fella. Moto had just gone onto reserve so I offered to follow him back to the Pines in case he ran out of juice. We made it back in time to the smell of snags and onions on the Barby being cooked up by Chopper and Tracy. We all got stuck in and had a good feed. A couple of the boys couldn’t do the afternoon loop due to mechanical failures. Tracy wanted to also have a go on the trails that we would be riding on, see she headed off with champo following her and me as Sweep,she had a couple of little moments but soon was travelling along quite well, I think she may have thought she was holding us up so she decided to cut us away and spend some quality time with Champo LOL.
We then got stuck into some more single trail heading east back towards lemon tree, a lot of this was all new to me so I have it stored into my memory banks for future reference. It was here that I heard the sound of metal on metal and realize that my pads were gone,I had only just replaced them for this ride bloody hell!! As well as a new disk. Due to my fingers being a bit shorter on my right hand I tend to overuse the rear brake and steer with the backend in the tight stuff, the combination of lots of single trail and copius amounts of mud was to much for it. We come up to an intersection where Mr Blue is amazed that a couple of guys went totally in the wrong direction to where he was pointed, as I was sweep I told him to wait and I will go and find them, I came across another tour guides group and ask them if they have seen a couple of our guys, they hadn’t so I returned to our group, we had determined that the two riders were probably from another group of guys.
We then do a bit of dirt road cruising before heading down into some sweet twin trail, to my complete amazement I realized that I had got my second flat tyre for the day “Faaaaaaarrrkkkk” I had a chat to Ferknerkel and he took over the sweep role,I didn’t feel like changing the tyre so I rode it back to the Pines at a rather slow pace knowing my day was finished,it must have been about a twenty K ride as it took a while to get back.When I had arrived Gili had the WR loaded and was reading ragazines keeping chopper and Champo company. Tracey was cutting laps on her TTR getting quicker and quicker,which was good to see.We had another feed of snags on a roll before loading up the RMX and decided to head back.
In Conclusion it was a great day,we travelled on some awesome trails and met some really good people.The pace that was set was pretty good for such a large group of guys and the level of skill required probably averaged around the grade 3-4 (competent to seasoned trailrider) None of the sections were so demanding that it was not fun and everyone got in and helped each other out as the situation required.
A really good ride that I am glad I was a part of. Thanks TB Moto Chris Chops Tracy and Champo for your efforts, thanks to everyone else for being a part of it.
Now where is my Air rifle Ive got a bloody Poxy blackbird to sought out!!
Cheers Ollie
