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I had no intention of riding this weekend, after riding the last 4 weekends in a row. I was going to give my shoulder I dusted up on my birthday ride, a bit of a rest and do some chores around the place to regather some brownie points.
Well those plans went out the window when some guys I know (Tripper’s mates from the pub) who I have never ridden with ,invited me out for a short Saturday blast around Bago and up to Comboyne Rock. Tripper got wind of the fact there was a ride on and was keen to come along too. So Tripper and I kitted up in the shed and was at the Meeting place at 7.45 am as decided.
As we munched away at our Bacon and egg rolls, about 8 guys on MXers started to rock up and unload at the same place. No sign of the three clowns from the pub though, we waited and waited for the other guys but no show by 8.15am. While we waited, we struck up a conversation with the other group of guys who where kitting up and they said they had no idea where they were going and where there for an exploratory ride. I told them where we were going and that it appeared that the rest of our group was going to be a no show and that they could tag along with Tripper and me if they liked.
An invitation they readily accepted. Only a couple of them knew how the cornerman system worked, so a quick rundown and we were off, with me leading a group of 10 bikes and Tripper sitting at the back as sweep. They were a mixed bunch as far as ride ability went, there were three of them that could really ride well and the rest ranged from fair to average. I lead them up onto Bago via a trail that is relatively easy, at the top I stopped for a regroup,the three guns were there with me in no time and the rest straggled in over the next 5 minutes. Some of them were obviously lacking any bike fitness and were already red faced and puffing,10 km into a 80km ride.
One guy on a WR450 was wearing a T shirt and was already bleeding from both arms, from Lantana scratches and he was already looking 2nd hand and I thought to myself,”mate you aint seen nothing yet”.
I took them through Big Jurassic and over the big log and into little Jurassic, before we headed back up the range and linked up with the after lunch section of RiderX’s boot camp ride.The ride was flowing well until we got to the big hill that caused all the grief on my birthday ride, my first attempt went pear shaped when the XR cased out in a rutt and came to a stop. I turned her round and made it easily on my second attempt, the three young guns made it no worries and the four of us sat at the top to watch the other guys have a go. Two guys hit the hill together absolutely pinned and it was looking pretty impressive as their bike kicked and bounced their way up over the rutts. Untill one got stuck and the other ran dead smack into him and all but tore his radiator off! With steam and coolant spraying from the bike he started it again and made a b line for the top of the hill.
Once at the top we checked out the damage and it was obvious that the radiator was stuffed. Some of these guys didn’t even have drinking water so the chances of them having tools was minimal. I got my tools out and we went to work on the YZ to se what could be done, as we were 23km from town.
We worked out that we could remove the radiator and run the bike on one. There was some fancy bush mechanic work done which included sticks being fabricated into plugs for the hoses and a 10mm socket and two hose clamps managed to join two hoses together.
Fabricating some hardwood plugs
No one was especially keen to donate what was left of their drinking water to fill the radiator again as it was getting bloody warm.
We were just near where a mate rolled his ute prior to Xmas and I remembered that there was a 2 litre bottle of water there from when we retrieved the ute. We used that to top up the radiator and we where away again with the YZ125 running on one radiator and the other radiator in my camelbak.
We finally made it to Comboyne Rock only to work out that we were missing two riders, a KTM125 and Tripper on the XR. The KTM rider turned up and told me that Tripper was back about 2km with a blown clutch as he had no drive.I headed back to find Tripper and sure as hell the XR had no drive,no matter what gear you put it in and the clutch lever was flopping about like the cable was broken. This was at 11am and I told my missus it was only going to be a short ride and we would be back at noon, no later and we were now 35km from town. BUGGER!!
WE finally worked out what had happened, the chain slider had come off the swing arm and gone through the front sprocket, in doing so it managed to expand the chain out enough that it had hit the stator case and squashed the case enough to jam the clutch actuator arm, which in turn wouldn’t allow the clutch to disengage, a quick whack with a shifter spanner and she had clutch again albeit a very heavy clutch. With my noon deadline quickly approaching I made a b-line back to town the quickest way I could think of. We were about 10km short of town when the KTM125 broke its chain and had come to a stop. Once again, out come my tools and a spare 520 link I had been carrying around for a while for just such and occasion and we were away again.
We finally made it back to their utes at 1.15pm, I told the young fella that owned the radiator where I lived and that he could have his radiator back when he returned my 10mm socket and his mate replaced my joiner link, with that Tripper and I took off and headed home to face the music from our wives. As punishment my wife made me drive her to Port Macquarie to go shopping for the rest of the arvo, which to me is the ultimate punishment for being late.
Although there was carnage, it was still a good ride and better than being at work!!!
pays to carry gear doesnt it
well done mick ,, old bull spirit at its best,,everyone comes home..
Your my hero mick
i would be stuffed if my bike broke down,i dont have any mechanical idea at all.I would love to learn how to do some work on my bike myself.
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