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micknmeld wrote:
Quote:What a pleasant surprise!!! I went out to Moose’s place to pick up my bike and found it in his shed all nicely washed and looking a treat!!
Good onya Moose!! What a good fella.Mick, did he also fix the broken headlight, taillight and polish the scratches out for you?
Geez, I thought my knee was getting a bit warm there…
Stings a bit! :laugh:
I did a ride report for DBW here:
http://www.dirtbikeworld.net/forum/showthread.php?p=772839Rather than adjust it for the OBT crowd, here’s the report as it stands. Anyone else who is a DBW member feel free to chuck a few more pics etc on my thread!
Zig-Zag – Hill End Dualsport ride 31 Jan 1 Feb 2009
Myself and a few other DBW’ers heard about a ride from Zig-Zag to Hill End, staying the night at the pub and returning by a different route the following day. The ride was posted on another site (Old Bull Trailriders) – but since most of us are members of both sites I reckoned you’d like to see the ride report here as well!
Kick off time was 8am Saturday, which meant leaving by 5am… alan met me at my place, we hooked his trailer and bike to my ute and we headed off.
The starters lined up, about 15 in all with bikes ranging from a KLX250, DRZ400’s, XR600’s, XR650’s one KTM530 (alan) and two WR250F’s – one of them mine!
We headed off using the cornerman system and straight away it was apparent that DUST would be a problem. The usual two methods of coping were employed – either sit up close to the bloke in front or hang right back behind the dust. Because of the varying skill levels of the riders there was quite a bit of overtaking going on as cornermen picked up the pack and worked their way forward.
We headed to the Lost City for a quick break and some piccies:
Then we headed off again, on to Blackfellows Hands Track and a few other places I didn’t catch the names of!
The leader wore the polka dot jersey.
Next we headed out to Capertee and our first refuel. The servo was probably not expecting a crowd like this lot!
Mick feeding his face! (And what a face!)
Next we headed bush, again I don’t know the tracks and the locations, but it was great stuff. Tight twin track which opened up at times, but generally 3-4th gear with rocky hills, river crossings and beautiful scenery.
Beautiful scenery:
Mick had an incident with the XR trying to burrow under the track…
But was soon underway again:
While waiting at a gate as cornerman, I had plenty of time to snap a couple of generic location shots… the boys behind had a flat to deal with – one of many for the weekend.
Looking forward:
Looking back: (Someone should write a song about that! RIP Slim.)
And then it was back on the bikes, with the occasional rest before heading to Yetholme for a splash-&-dash then back through Sunny Corner and onwards towards Sofala.
A brief stop as Sofala pub where many of the lads partook of the cold beverages on tap!
Sofala is old, man…
About 2km from Sofala we stopped for a swim – actually most swam, I ended up trying to stop my bike from shocking me as I braked… wish it had worked!
Here are a few of the boys pulling in past my corner at the swimming hole:
Parked in the shade of the bridge about to have a swim
Then we were back on the bikes for a blast into Hill End. Well, for those on bigger bikes it was a blast… for the 250’s it was a long haul!
Everyone’s a bloody tourist!
Scenery
Love this, the sign says “Please enjoy your visit to historic Hill End.”
Well, OK then…
One of the DRZ’s failed – suspected carby problem. Good thing we had a trailer really! At least he can say he rode it into Hill End!
A few injuries: Those are splinters in his foot!
Tiny won the Training Wheels award for his supermoto-style get-off right in front of the Hill End pub!
TB’s XR650 was diagnosed as terminal with the countershaft flopping in and out about 5mm… not good!
Plenty of photographic evidence of this because he was giving anything that wasn’t a Honda so much crap!
Work also started on the stopped DRZ – it was to prove a non starter for Day 2
It was about now that I discovered that I had pretty bad heat rash on the inside of my left knee. Turned out it was more than that, but I will explain later on!
We lined up for a meal – some had great meals ($12 lasagne was awesome and the $22 T-bones were worthy of Fred Flintstone) and others choose poorly (Chicken schnitzel – tiny and overcooked…) and the odd cleansing ale!
Some team members disgraced themselves, naming no names (moto) but the next morning most of us were up early for the 7am breakfast that turned out to be 7:30am.
Mind you, the dining table for brekky was nicely laid out!
Then we loaded the broken bikes onto the trailer and ute and the group headed off at a bit after 8.
Is that a Honda on that ute??
Had a smooth run back to Sofala, except for one flat (Chicken’s XR600). Eagle on the KLX decided at this point that his ankle, damaged in a fall on Day 1, was too sore to ride on, so the bike was loaded up and the list of DNF’s grew by 1.
Fixing Chicken’s flat at Sofala
Chicken was leading day 2 after TB’s bike failed.
Eagle’s foot:
We now pointed the bikes towards Kandos and made our way there along a couple of backroads and the railway line service road. Most of this running was not much fun on the little 250, buzzing along in top gear, but the bigger bikes were well suited.
On the railway service road heading for Kandos
As we pushed on, Crash hit a nasty washout on his XR650. His mousse front wheel had recently been respoked with heavy duty spokes and suddenly the wheel turned into a shattered mess, with 8 spokes broken and the hub stuffed. The XR on the ute was turned into a parts bike, donating a front wheel, and we got him back on the road. Refueled at Kandos and headed back the way we had come along the railway service road to Capertee for fuel and lunch.
Then it was a fairly quick, no nonsense blast back to the Zig Zag carpark, slipping up a well worn (almost worn out) single trail just to stuff the unwary, unfit and unwilling! I think I was all three!
Anyway we arrived back safe and sound, minus Champo on the TM300 (Flat front, couldn’t be bothered fixing it that close to the end so stuck it on the trailer).
While it was not really a ride for a WR250F, I had a great time… although now I have a burn on the inside of my left knee! As I was riding along at highway speeds, the heat of the day combined with the heat from the radiator was enough to slowly cook me where my knee guard ends and pants start. Nice!
It was great to meet some new friends and ride some tracks I’d never seen before. Thanks to all involved in organising, leading and sweeping. I don’t think I’ve seen a bunch of blokes consistently smiling and laughing over a whole weekend.
This was my version, but others were there and have their own versions and are welcome to add their part to the story.
What a great ride!
You bugger! You’re making it hard for me to show how much of a clown you are!! From now on if you edit one of my posts you owe me a beer – and a good beer, not bloody VB or such crap!:laugh:
And since I’m a fair minded bloke, every time I edit one of your posts I’ll shout you a beer as well!
