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Keen for a blast I rose at 5am to see semi clear skies and the first stars I had seen in a week after all the wet weather. I studied some maps as I was considering changing the proposed loop due to some big hills that would have given us some grief in the wet conditions. We had pre ridden some bush the day before and it was bloody wet to say the least.
Soon after I had my first coffee the celebrity rider AKA Tiny got out of bed, I was glad we hadn’t had a big drink the night before as we were both bright eyed and bushy tailed.
We sat on my verandah and watched some ominous looking black clouds roll in from the south. We kitted up and headed to the takeaway for a B&E roll,as we were leaving the takeaway, the rain started again. That confirmed changing the route was a good idea.
We pulled into Mud and Tar to find no one there ,as the rain tumbled down, Tiny and I started to wonder if anyone would turn up at all. It wasn’t long before Old mate turned up with his Kato 300, then Ollie arrived, closely followed by Mud n tar with his Gasser 515 and Pete the Wulf with another Kato 300. The familiar sound of an XR600 heralded Moose’s arrival, then Andrew with his brand new BMW G450X turned up. Stex and Kram140 pulled in with Kram looking very dusty after playing up till 2am.
After the standard intros, everyone kitted up and we were ready to rip. The rain had not backed off at all and we headed of into it keen as!!!.
To say the trails were wet is an understatement, once the group settled in to a good rhythm, I led them up the first of the hills, no problem getting up but Stex had a bit of an off on the way down the other side,no harm done and he was grinning his head off.
We headed up Bago into the clouds, we did some great little trails at the top in the heavy rain and fog. A quick discussion at on of our stops saw us bypassing Jurassic park as there would have been some carnage in there.
Up in the clouds
On one trail we came to one of the biggest mud holes of the day, the water was about a 60cm deep and I tentatively cruised in,as I went to come up the bank on the other side a loud bang came from the XR’s engine and it stopped dead in the water. Water deep enough to run into the top of your boots.
I gave the XR a kick in the guts and it started, just as I went to let the clutch out Andrew pointed out my chain had come off. The boys banded together and dragged the XR out of the water so I could survey the damage. The case saver had done it job but the top bolt had sheared off and a small piece had broken out of the case. A bit of bush mechanicing saw us underway headed for Comboyne.
We did a run along greasy trail which was a real challenge and blokes where doing there best just to stay upright. I had one wild foray off the trail and into the scrub and was lucky enough to make it back on with out crashing. I had a quick glance over my shoulder to see if anyone saw it and sure enough Rod was a witness.
Old Mate and Rod discussing the greasy trail
We headed down Towles Ridge road into some sweet singles behind The Rowans property, then it was time to come up out of the valley. There was a tree across the trail halfway up the hill which had a track around it.That is when the carnage started!! The first to get stuck in the mongrel rut that was there was Andrew on the Beamer, I managed to tractor around him but from there the crew started to bank up and there was a bit of revving and snorting going on.
Eventually the boys started to appear at the top.
Stex styling when he saw the camera
Pete the Wulf
Rod on his Gasser
Moose was hauling arse and in his usual style he made it look easy.
Kram was doing it tough
Tiny took his time and made it.
Once we were up on the Range we headed down a new trail that Old Mate knew about that I had never been down. A classic case of roaring past sweet trails and not noticing them. Rod had a wallaby moment on the trail but both him and the wallaby zigged and zagged at the right time and no fur was lost. The run up under Comboyne rock was awesome and the fog was really thick and the rain was tumbling down. The series of contour mounds heading up the hill are great fun . AS the fog was a pea soup version we bypassed the Comboyne rock lookout and ran down to Swans Crossing.
Then came the sweetest trail of the day in my book, the trail that runs around the bottom of the rock was just perfect!! A short main trail run saw us at the top of “Kokoda Trail”,
It was a bit over grown but would be opened up nicely after 10 bikes had been through.
There is a big mossy rock shelf halfway down and if you hit the brakes on it ,it is all over arse over head you will go. Kram hit the brakes and did exactly that with no damage done. The boys eventually emerged from the thick scrub grinning ear to ear,although a few had lantana damage on their noses,me included.Andrew lost his peak early in the piece.
Kram
Tiny
We stopped for a yarn and a smoke at the bottom of Kokoda
We were on the homeward leg when we came across this slimy little hill that gave a few a bit of strife.
Rod lost traction and needed a hand from Stex
Stex got roosted for his trouble
Kram made it but it wasn’t pretty
It gave Andrew on his Beemer a bit of trouble
Stex tried the hit it at full song and see what happens approach,he made it and it was entertaining to watch
Pete made it with minimum hassles.
Tiny looked like he was gunna make it
Untill he went head first into the scrub.
Old Mate (Lindsay) who was the standout rider of the day, came in hot and lost the front end.
Second go made it look easy
Ollie spun and roosted his way up.
Mooses attempt was a cracker and he didn’t miss a beat, gotta love XR’s for that sort of work.
A quick run through Huntington saw us at Ruttzilla and close to town, most of us had gone onto reserve by then, so the decision was made to run the main trails into town.
That turned out to be a good call as I was waiting on a corner for the first of the corner men when I saw Rod on the Gasser, chugg to a stop, out of fuel. Moose towed him the remaining KM back to town. Then Andrew on the Beemer was the next to run out,100 meters from where Rod had run dry, after milking some juice from Tiny’s bike he was soon underway again.Back at Mud and Tar Motorcyles the boys loaded up farewells were said to new mates and a few of a us retired back to my shed for a beer. That is when Moose pointed out that I had something on my neck. Bastard of a thing!!
For a ride that was looking suspect because of the weather turned out to be the best ride I have had in Bago, possibly ever!!
Thanks guys for coming along I had a ball!!!!!!
How good does Moose go, what a wolf in sheeps clothing
Good looking ride Mick, cant wait to March
TB
GREAT RIDE fellers good to meet a few more old bulls
thanks mike for puttin me up for the night. 
Made it home no problems no traffic at all navman says i averaged 97kmh for the trip home not bad with one eye :huh: thanks again everybody might do a ride report tommorrowWhat a top ride!!! It had everything (except Bollocks) from great super tight singles to erosion mound hill that had us jumping and sliding everywhere. Not to mention the rain!!
Some of the greasy downhill sections kept us all on our toes. Except for Stex that is, somehow he manage to summersault himself and the bike on one downhill run :woohoo:
Thanks Mick for organising a cracker ride and to all that came along to make it such a fun day. Hope the rest of 2010’s ride are as good as this one
Trailboss wrote:
Quote:How good does Moose go, what a wolf in sheeps clothing
TB
A long working relationship with the one bike (12 years) coupled with the fact he has ridden pretty well all his life, contributes to how well he punts that his XR600 along with minimum fuss.
One thing I forgot to mention was that the ride was just on 100km long and the fact that we were hammering along meant that we used more fuel than expected. My XR ran bone dry and stopped, coming down my driveway after doing only 104km.That is cutting it fine. :blink: Normally I can get up to 120km before reserve on a cruisy ride.
WOW what a awsome ride. Thanks Mick and Lindsey for leading us on some fantastic trails,it sure is dirtbike Nirvana around there
The best track in my opinion was the Elkhorn trail,how good was that!It was great to hook up with some new lads as well as the old familiar ones. Good to see Andrew break out the Beemer and have a cracking red hot go on his new bike,ive been trying to get him out there for a while :laugh:
Moose always the gentleman and a laugh a minute guy who can peddle “Burple” along at a good pace.
I decided to give Moose a break from the sweep duties as my thumb was pretty badly swollen and I nearly didnt end up going, after the first 15km’s I was ready to pull the pin because of the pain but I thru some extra Panadiene Forte down my head and they did the trick :woohoo: I also had the steering damper set to hard to reduce the sudden jarring through the bars. My thumb and palm of my hand today look a nice shade of deep purple :blink:
Highlights of the day was seeing Tiny come around an uphill rut and slam into the back of rod which sent him toppling over into the other big rut. Another was tiny again going thru a water crossing which was a bit deeper than he expected and his recovery actions, I saw a lot of tiny’s moments :laugh: didnt help with him having half a rear brake and blurry vision from a stray bit of lantana! The other highlight was seeing Kram go off into the tree’s after hitting the mossy rocks and losing control,then struggle to get the Husky back on track,it was a good effort mate :laugh:
another great ride without any serious injuries that will remain in my memory bank for a few years to come
cheers boyz
Ollie
I can’t believe how we’ve lucked it with the weather this hol’s.
I’d much rather ride in mud than dust anyday
Thank’s Mick for organizing the day’s entertainment, it was awesome as usual.Also it was great fun to have a run in the pack,thanks to Ollie for taking the vest off me
Great bunch of blokes to ride with, there wasn’t a huge gulf in rider speed that you sometimes get.
Santa brought me a new camera, so piccies from the day include..
Micks XR throwing a wobbly(Oh the shame of a Honda breaking down on a ride full of eurotrash.)
Trailside dry out stop
Mick pinching bits off a Gasser to rectify his Honda(Oh the shame)
Ollies dodgy trailside snacks
Swans crossing goggle clean and rest stop.
Andrew on the Beemer
Stex on the Kato 450
Kram on the Husky 310
Tiny on the Husky 610
Pete having inflation problems
Rocket Rod and Stex hauling the Gasser up out of a gully
Kram’s turn
Andrew having traction issues
Don’t you just love it when you get to the bottom of a snotty hill and there is a dickhead up the top with a camera.
All in all it was a great day out in trying conditions. I loved towing the Gasser out after it ran out of fuel, while Mick went back in the bush with a tow rope looking for the Beemer with the same problem. Perhaps the Eurotrash designers need to come with us for a weekend to see what Aussie riders need in a bike. Either that or just copy the XR 600 design plans. Works for me!! :laugh:
Cheers, Moose.Trailboss wrote:
Quote:How good does Moose go, what a wolf in sheeps clothing
Good looking ride Mick, cant wait to March
TB
March? Tell me more.
my eyes are stuuffed im seeing more than double
:laugh: :laugh: singletrackmind wrote:
Quote:Trailboss wrote:Quote:How good does Moose go, what a wolf in sheeps clothing
Good looking ride Mick, cant wait to March
TB
March? Tell me more.
March is Micks B`Day Bash STM
More info to come soon on the eventsjezz that bemmer to some go’s at getting up that hill hey :ohmy:
Hey Moose, it might be the Rums, but all those pics look the same to me :laugh:
Or was the Beemer just hogging the limelight :blink: Typical Euro trash
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