[MalMember]

Nice report Murph.

As usual Murphsberg strikes again. 15 started and only 9 finished. We’ll have to make a DVD of your rides mate.

[MalMember]

Donna still thinks I wont grow anything. She’s been just staring at my face all day. I thought it was love but she would start laughing. :laugh:

I haven’t shaved since 6am Friday morning and my Mo feels like 1200 grit emery paper. 😆

I not going for any look. I’ll just be happy to have something at the end of the month.

[MalMember]

I think of it as the retired porn star look.

[MalMember]

Trailboss wrote:

Quote:

mal5.1 wrote:

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could have ended in man tears and pain. :ohmy:

No, man tears had gone back with his wife Athough Crash tried out the pain bit :laugh:

TB

That’s a bit harsh on Mr man tears, he would have been so cold. I don’t blame Dan for going back for a coffee with his wife.

And poor Crash. I’ve ridden with him twice and he has crashed twice. That was a spectacular off, watching his left leg overtake his head is something I wont forget. The last guy I seen high side like that was at Wakefield Park and he broke his leg and never retured to work (he was riding a KTM). :ohmy:

[MalMember]

I’m all registered. :woohoo:

Sadly though I only have to shave twice a month and that’s just to make me feel manly. But I’m happy to get involved and Donna has some ideas on making the most of it, but I wont post it yet.

Come on guys, if the baldest one is making the sacrifice surely the hairy ones can. :dry:

[MalMember]

Trailboss wrote:

Quote:

Thanks Mal great report there was a heap more sweet singles out there on the Sunday morning location you can ride around there for about two days worth but in reality it was to cold wet and slippery and I selfishly wanted to get home in one piece for yesterdays operation

TB

We’ll just have to go back out there when you’re up for it mate. And you cramed a heap of great and varied riding in two days anyway. :woohoo:

It was probably time as Rocket, Scotty and I were getting faster and closer together on that slippery stuff and that could have ended in man tears and pain. :ohmy:

[MalMember]

Good see all went well mate. I’ll come down soon for a counter lunch.

[MalMember]

Trailboss wrote:

Quote:

Crewing for a 4 day is hard long work if you are doing it to really help, in 2006 our crew was up some mornings at 4.30am and still doing things at 7pm at night :huh:

TB

Ture TB.

Last year for medogrocket I was up early making his drinks and getting food ready. I actually made breakfast for him and drove him around so he could concentrate just on riding. He’s not the fastest bloke in the world, nore is he the slowest, but I wanted to give him the best chance to finish. Then at night we would wash and oil the air filters and get fuel ready and pack an esky for the other service crew to have for him. It’s punishing just to ride so much for 4 days.

Out at the service points I found the main issue is geting the riders to eat and drink. We would force them to drink their gatorade and endura at every stop and then feed them pieces of banana and energy bars.

I don’t want anyone to have misconceptions about being in a service crew. It is hard work if you take it serious. If anyone wants to come for a pissup, spectate and ride around that’s cool, you just can’t do it as a service crew. Medogrocket and I aready have one crew member in Donna but we will need at least one more to help and preferably someone with bike knowledge. We will be teaching Donna over the next six months and if we get enough riders to enter a team then Donna may become the team manager. There are rules and regs for the service crew as well as the rider and if caught breaking any of them the whole team is out.

I don’t want to scare anyone off, just sharing my experience from last year. I did really enjoy doing the service crew thing and at the end of the event shaking the hands of two guys that finished the A4DE.

[MalMember]

white rocket wrote:

Quote:

sounds like a good excuse for a old bull pissup at mals hay boony

Boony your welcome to come and pit crew. It’s piss easy as you can’t work on the bike just refuel and feed the rider. You can assist with fluid changes like oil, water and fuel. You can also inflate tyres for the rider. If they have to refuel areas it’s beat to have a couple of people at each as it get boring sitting around by yourself. I’m sure there be enough Old Bulls (and bullets, read Donna and hopefully Tyne) to help out.

And the piss up at my place is a given anyway. :woohoo: :woohoo:

[MalMember]

Hey Moto, you’ll have come for a ride here and Medogrocket and I will show you the type of terain that will be ridden.

We were taliking about it tonight and working out a training loop so I don’t stop every 15 min for a chat.

I’m sure you can run bark busters. You have to have a mirror, working horn and working head and tail light. Your helmet gets inspected for any type of damage.

[MalMember]

white rocket wrote:

Quote:

top report mal should have seen the looks on some of the peoples faces on the footpath when crash could not get going in the mainstreet of orange .some looked real worryed pitty none of us where .

Thanks rocket.

The shoppers probably thought we should be helping him but I was laughing to much to get off my bike. :laugh:

[MalMember]

Day 2

Bikes at the pub. (thanks for locking them up Dan and TB)

Up early, dressed and sitting out the back of the Pub having a muesli bar and a litre of water for breaky. The day looked perfect you could see some clouds building and rain was expected. We took the same road back to Orange I think but it took on a different look. With a bit of light rain and going the other way there was new scenery and sometimes no scenery when the mud spray from the bike in front covered the goggles. Watching Mal from Suttos pull huge wheelies at any chance was a real highlight for the day. Man he makes it look easy.

We stop off at the Ophir Caves for a bit of touristy stuff, walk in the cave, take a group photo and walk out in the dark. Nice to see though.

Back to the cars for a pack swap and the rain is constant now. Novice calls it a day here. Thanks Novice, it was good to meet you and ride with you.

We set off to the pie shop for brunch. Pie and chocy milk goes down nicely. Mal (Suttos) and Andrew decide to head home and say their goodbyes. We head out of town for Mt Canobolas in the rain and it’s freezing. The view from the lookout would have been nice but we were all too cold and wet so TB leads us back down and into the pine forest. Kylie and Dan leave us to go and warm up.

TB, Crash, Whiterocket, Scotty and I (sweep) head off into the pines for some of the best and slipperiest riding ever. TB knew most of the tracks and then just went looking for what ever he could find. On some of the open tracks TB and Crash were way off in front and Rocket Scotty and I were riding in single file but pretty close. Going around just about every corner was like watching synchronised dirt bikes. Rocket would slide into and out of a corner then Scotty and then me. At one big long corner all three of us were sideways into and out of the corner. It was like the OBT precision riding team and a massive amount of fun. All of us had warmed up to the point of sweating. Then we get to the big hill where TB blasted the big girl up about half way only to rest her against a tree. Rocket had no chance with his slick tyre on. Crash had a couple of goes and got heaps of wheel spin. I think Scotty nearly got as far as TB only to loose traction. I was just sitting at the back trying to clean my goggles and thinking I’m not even going a attempt it after all that carnage, when TB yells out ‘your go Mal’. Crash pointed to the best line and says get some speed and hang on. The pressure was too great and I had to at least give it a shot. Decided the goggles could sit behind the headlight and fired up the Sherco. Chose second gear to gain a bit of speed (thanks for tip Crash). I hit the rut at the bottom and nearly came off then just kept the throttle at about 50% and used/abused the clutch all the way to the top. Man it was hard work just staying upright. It doesn’t look to stylish on the video but it’s not a fashion parade, it’s about getting to the top and beating TB.

After all that we headed off for some more great slippery singles and then out onto the fire trails where we were sort of cruising/sliding around when all a sudden Crash’s bike slides way left then way too far to the right and then ejects him clean off it. I’m sure I saw his left leg touch his helmet on way over. One of the most spectacular crashes I’ve seen in a long time. We race over expecting to see Crash snapped in half and he jumps up and says that was a little unexpected. He fixes his broken brake lever and we decide it’s time to head back.

First zig

Then zag

Then fix

It was a bit cold riding back into town on the tar. We are suppose to meet Dan and Kylie at Maccas so TB takes us down the main street of Orange. At a red light right in the middle of town we’re all waiting looking at all the shoppers looking at us. The lights change green and TB roars off, Crash on the other hand didn’t notice that his front brake lever was jammed ‘on’ the barkbuster and front wheel slides for a metre before going so close to dropping the 650. He straightens up the bike and does the same thing again. Rocket, Scotty and I are having a good laugh and the guy behind us is tooting the horn. Crash gets going and we’re off to catch TB. Dan and Kylie had left Maccas to go back to the cars, so we cruise back to meet them doing a couple of loops of singles again but now wet and pack up.

I had a great weekend. The riding group was excellent. The ride was very well organised. The tracks fantastic. Thanks TB and Dan for leading and the sweeps for sweeping. Mal (Suttos)for the wheelies. Thanks Crash for the lift up and back and the lone of the Bluetooth gear.

Cheers
Mal5.1

[MalMember]

Well here’s my version of events. Sorry it’s a bit long winded, but once I start typing at 4am it’s hard to stop.

Huge thanks to TB for organising and him and Dan for leading.

Day 1

The weekend started with a phone call at 7am from Crash “I think I took a wrong turn somewhere”. He had but it was ok, I talked through it and he turned up to the house within minutes. We hooked the trailer up and off we go. Chatting away on the road and we get to the first intersection and Crash seemed like he was going to turn right and said do we go left here, I say no we go right and pointed to the left. We had to go left and he was turning that anyway. Not the best way to start a weekend away. Out on the highway and we’re coming to the meeting point servo and I’m just about to tell Crash we’re here and he says here comes TB. TB flies past, jumps on the brakes and pulls into the servo. Crash says typical TB, has to be first all the time.

With breaky done and a dodgy coffee poured into the garden at the servo we were off to Orange. Getting there a bit early TB decides to grab a couple of spokes for the 650. We all wait around for ages thinking he’s selling Old Bulls to the bike shop. But he comes out with a handful of old spokes and greasy hands.

We meet up with Whiterocket who has his signature giggle hat on and as we pass he has his head out the window with the biggest ‘I’m going riding’ grin on his face. The guy is always smiling and happy. Good on ya Rocket. Once at TBs mums place (thanks TBs mum for the use of your paddock) after several attempts at installing the wrong shaped spokes it is noticed that TBs rear wheel bearings are shot. With the bearings out Dan and Kylie shoot off into town for new ones and we all hang shit on TB for not keeping the maintenance up to the 650. Then we quietly go and check our bikes for sloppy bearings.

With bearings fixed we’re off into the bush not far from the cars. Some excellent singles though the pines and the natural bush. A little dusty but if you hang back a bit the slight breeze cleared the track. A couple of little rocky up hill sections certainly warmed the body up. Novice was struggling a bit with the tighter tracks and was giving some tips which he put to use and found a bit of rhythm and enjoyed the riding a lot more. After a few loops of singles and fire trails we headed into town for lunch at the Pub. Crash and I had a hamburger with the lot and it would have to be one of the best I’ve had.

Crash had wired me up to the Bluetooth headset so we could talk while riding. What a fun bit of gear. My helmet had too much wind noise at higher speeds to hear what Crash was flapping his gums about so I’d just say yeh or laugh when I thought it was time for me to say something. But in the single tracks and slower fire trails we had a great laugh talking shit and hanging shit on each other. Crash was like a rally navigator telling when a turn was coming up and what was on the tracks. Then when I was in front he asking me to tell him what was on the tracks and I said your right behind me have a look yourself. Thanks for wiring me up Crash it was great fun chatting on the tracks. I’ll be getting a set of them in the near future.

We then headed off for some more sweet tracks. I think this is where I nearly had to put on the SCUBA gear to retrieve the Sherco. Crash was chatting away in my ear and I was following Scotty when he hit a heap of fine dust and causing a whiteout behind him and in front of me. Just then Crash says stay right of puddle. I jump on the brakes and stopped just in the water of the puddle. I think it won’t be that deep and decide I’m too far in and couldn’t be bothered to get off and to back the bike up. So in I go and it gets deep, real deep. The Sherco’s wheels disappear under water and I decide to stop and pull the bike out. All this time Crash is laughing his arse off in my ear. Thanks mate you’re a great help.

Dan

Kylie

Rocket

We get back to the cars to swap packs for the run to Hill End and someone has a flat. I think it was Rocket. That fixed and at the driveway it’s noticed that Novice has a flat. That one fixed as well and someone else got a flat before we left I think.

TB thoughts on KTMs

Then we’re on the way to Hill End. Once on the dirt it gets very scenic. The tracks are wide the riding fast, a nice way to end the day. The crossing at Long Point was interesting, you just ride in not been able to see the terain in the water and alls good. Then towards the end you can see the rocks your riding on and I got a bit nervous and wobbly. Made it through ok. Kylie rode it like a legend as she thought it was a cocrete causeway when she seen it.

Dan waiting in the middle for Kylie

Novice

Crash freshening up

At the Pub we get the rooms sorted, had a shower and off to the bar for refreshments. Had a great T bone with some dodgy looking salady stuff and more refreshments and then Crash wants a quick game of pool. The pool table antics have been described pretty well. The only thing I’ll add is that Crash sent more balls off the table than he got in the pockets. As Crash said the locals were playing both kinds of music on the jukebox. I’ve heard enough LeAnne Rimes to see me to the grave. Crash and Scotty got some rock music in here and there. By the end of the night Crash and I were playing the ‘old’ style games with our left over coins. We were telling the young barman (who was turning everything off around us) how we remember the days when you could go to the fish and chip shop, get a $1 worth of chips and put a $1 in the spacy machine and fill in a Sunday arvo. He didn’t care and said it was bed time.

Crash doing his best to concentrate

Dan and Mal (suttos)

Kylie to pool shark

Crash nailed by TBs balls :laugh:

TB all tired and emotional

If you look close you see the lean on the table. The floor in my room had a ‘V’ shape to it.

Oh and the rums were shit but they got a little better as the night went on. :woohoo: :woohoo:

Day 2 next

[MalMember]

Moto wrote:

Quote:

I’d ride your Sherco Mal, at least you’ll know you’ll get to the finish :laugh: And the big dog did tow the little Kato to safety when she was poorly

We’ll have to keep an eye out on entries, wouldn’t want to miss out!

I’ve been waiting for that comment. Thanks Moto.

I think once the Husky is fixed it’ll be a good thing. I have plenty of time for testing anyway.
The Sherco will be the waiting in the shed.

[MalMember]

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

Picked mine up from the post office (Cob & Co. TB) today. I’ve just left them sitting on the kitchen bench for now. That way Donna can admire them as well. :laugh:

I’ll fit the Shercos tomorrow and the Husky whenever the F#$K they fix my bike.

Thanks Mick for organising and Battyes for the bulk buy deal.

[Author]

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