Saturday:-
I was up around 6am or so. A cup of java and some brecky was consumed. Over the next hour or so various Bulls began to appear and one by one everyone suited up and began congregating waiting for the brief and start. We set off around between 7:30-8:00am and went the same path to the bush accept this time a different dirt route to the main playground. No time was wasted and we went straight down a long rocky down hill, across a creek and got stuck right into a hill of theirs they call the steps. I was doing fine until about 2/3’s and stalled the bike. Decided to not fight it and I just lied her down. Then turned her around to the last flat spot and continued on. It wasn’t a difficult hill but steep so momentum was name of the game…
Over the next 4 hours we pretty much rode the 70 or so k’s to the berry patch weaving in and out of singles. There were some really fast transport sections and one of the many highlights of the weekend was chasing Aaron down at obnoxious speeds bouncing over water diversion mounds. He lined me up in the previous single and was toying with me. I tried my best to not allow him to get around me and then over took a tight turn and he and ChrisT flew past. It looked like they were having a go then ChrisT pretty much did what I did and he over took a turn allowing Aaron to blast past. Once out on the fast flowing stuff it was game on and I chased Aaron for a few k’s. It was awesome blasting over diversion humps nearly side by side… He always shot way out in front of me though as he is so much quicker around the corners than me. What a massive adrenaline rush it was..
The group flowed really well. 2 man corner man, lead rider and dual sweeps.. Things were running like clock work. There was some discussion around possibly running late but all was well and we arrived right on schedule. The bbq was already fired up and cooking were some really nice sausages, chicken rissoles and chicken wings.. The lunch included drinks and desert as well… What a great feed literally in the middle of no where smack dab in the bush….. After feeding ourselves and the bikes we made the move for the ride back. The boys mentioned it would be faster flowing singles with some creek crossings.. It didn’t take long for me to realize I was fatigued.. I had the mojo all morning and the long rest at the berry patch allowed the adrenaline to die down. I started out taking it easy but just couldn’t help myself on the some of fast flowing stuff… There were a few small bog holes that caught some out and caused some to play spray the bull… Funny as…..
We finally pulled into the last fast flowing twin track that lead to the road home. I had a great day and thought I would finish it off with a blast and some nice jumps off the diversion mounds… The track had a shallow bank that ran along the side in some spots.. I hit the first mound hard and flew what felt like forever and noticed ruts.. I had enough momentum and cleared the ruts and bottomed the bike out… WooHoo that was cool lets do it again… Next one same thing hit hard but this time seen the ruts before launching and backed off a bit and just made it landing at the end of ruts and bounced a little.. You would have thought I would have worked it out by now that there are huge ruts on the other side of these mounds… Nope I blast towards the next one and this time it got me.. I kick the bike slightly to the right in the air and landed dead centre in rut land with the front in one rut and the rear in another. I cracked the throttle upon landing hoping it would re-align me but the rear bit and the front jumped and the bike laid sideways right into the side bank. The bike kept going and I just hit the ground on me left side. It knocked the wind out of me and I rolled over to see if anyone was going to fly over and land on me…. I watched Boony literally jump off his bike letting it crash down and come running towards me. It must have looked a lot worse than it was as him and Aaron got to me pretty Quick and you could see the worry in their eyes. I let them know I was OK just had to catch me breathe and had some loss of pride…
Riding the rest of the way at a much slower pace I notice my bars and forks were twisted to the left as I needed to use a local tree to bang things back in line. I reached the end of the track where everyone else was waiting. Snowy announced that was it and we were heading back… I was sort of glad as I could really feel the fatigue and was a bit sore from the off. We blasted off once everyone gathered and we rode what seemed like forever in a massive dust storm. Once back on the black top the rolling race fun began. I rolled out front with nickj, christ and sam. They all over took me and the 4 of us raced down the hill. I was able to move up a bit getting around a 4×4 on a hair pin dog leg turn. It didn’t help much and I ended up fourth.. Then I had a dumb ass moment and fired the bike up and dropped it into first.. What a dumb ass as the bike screamed its head off I quickly pulled the clutch in… Boony had a good laugh though!!!
Esky’s, showers and change of cloths were the order of the day. We got back around 4pm or so and just completed 6 solid hours of kick ass trail riding. This ride was no doubt one of the best Old Bulls rides I’ve been on. The trails these boys have are definitely worth the term GOLD………….. I will no doubt be spend much more time riding with the boys if they’ll have me. I’ve already have told the wife that a once a month trip will most likely be in order…. 4+ hour drive but well well worth the effort..
Dinner at the pub again and repeat of the previous night… Good Food and Drinks with some great company in a great atmosphere.. The King went around collecting money from the Plebs for a donation to the local fireies… There were also some prizes given away that were donated by Chris72a… After awhile some of us gathered at the fire pit for a night cap and story telling about the awesome day we all just had.
Thanks again to everyone who made the weekend happen.. It was well organized and smooth as on the trails.. The only fault I could find is the dust and that was something out of the locals control.. You guys have it good and thanks for a memorable weekend.
No pics or Video from me as I was having too much fun to be bothered…………………..
