My first report wasn’t very in depth so here are some of my thoughts on the weekend.
An early start saw Moose, Gassit and me on the road to Louee at 5am with Moose at the wheel of the VW transporter, what a awesome little truck for the job at hand!! After about 3hrs at the wheel Moose had enough of driving after a big week behind the wheel of his big truck,so Gassit took over the driving duties and Moose and I cracked the first of many beers for the week end.
A quick stop at Denman saw us in the local IGA stocking up on supplies for the weekend, as we were leaving the store Kram rolled into town only to find out that there was no auto gas in town so he had to head off to Muswellbrook for fuel, from there we headed for Lue.
At Byalong we rounded a corner to see three vehicles loaded with bikes parked at the servo and it turned out to be some of the OBT contingent, a quick stop and hand shakes all round saw us back in the transporter and we joined the convoy and made our way to the shearers quarters to dump our gear.
From that moment on, the weekend became a blur of great times and camaraderie.
The highlights for me were, in no particular order were;
Meeting up with old mates and also putting faces to some of the names from the site.
The first trail we rode at Louee, was rocky and dusty to say the least and I was thinking to myself, I dunno if I wanna ride in this shit all weekend but I soon warmed to the place after a few laps of the Thumper track on the 650. Up until then I hadn’t really jumped the pig very far and I was having a ball getting some air on the big girl.
Friday arvo saw TB, Crash, DanD, KylieD, Kram140, Eagle and myself hit the trail up the big hill for a blast. The trail had a blue arrow? on it at the start and I remember thinking this trail is getting pretty gnarly for a blue trail as we headed down into the gully on the other side. As it turns out I hadn’t seen the black arrow that indicated we were now on the expert trails. At the top of the first widow maker hill which the pig tractored up quite easily,I stopped at the top to gain my breath and for some reason I lost my footing as and I lost my balance and the XR and I took a tumble backwards down over a rocky hill. The noise of the rocks grinding into my body armour and the XR as we slid down the hill together wasn’t a pleasant noise at all!!! When XR650’s land upside down they are not only hard to stand up again they are bitches to start. Thankfully the BRP wasn’t that hard to start and I was on my way again, only to be confronted with another hill that the XR tractored up relatively easily but judging on TB’s video of me I didn’t make it look real pretty. There was some pretty feral country up there and I was thinking to myself “I bet if mushrooms grew here,even they would have thorns!”
By the time we got to the top, most of us felt the need for a beer and we headed back to the Shearers quarters to start the evening’s festivities.
The circle of madness out the back of the shearers shed was great as the banter flew thick and fast, a highlight for me was when I flamed TB with the Admin thing during Dan’s speech. LOL
1.30 am saw me hit the deck after too much to drink,7am saw me feeling rather 2nd hand but keen enough to hit the trails again.
Moose, Gassit, Rocket and I joined ol mate (who’s name escapes me at the moment) from Trailrider magazine for another black arrow enduro loop which was a ton of fun especially when I tractored the XR up a hill past a few young blokes that were stuck on a hill, the look on their faces upon eventually arriving at the top when they realised an old fart on a 6fiddy made it up a hill that bought them undone was priceless!!
As stated before, the poker run was great fun but I am glad it was only 5 laps as I couldn’t keep that pace up for much longer. I am glad it wasn’t a race LOL. Yes it did piss me off a little when I got a little outa shape on the rocky hill and Ollie seized the moment and overtook me.
The consistency sprints were a blast, although I binned the pig on a sandy, off camber left hander. Luckily the pig landed with the clutch pulled in, so it had miraculously not stalled, only costing me mere seconds in the scheme of things. That was a good thing as not many people saw me crash and I didn’t have t wear much shit slinging at all.LOL
After the sprints we headed back for a well earned drink which once again was a hilarious affair. I don’t think I have laughed so much in years as I did over the duration of our stay at Louee.
Sunday was a bitch of a morning and I wasn’t all that keen on riding so I did a lap of the poker run track on the new 300 dinger Kato,then another on the 450 and I was over it and keen to get on our way for the long drive back home.
Thanks once again to everyone that came to the party it was a blast!!
Special thanks to TB and Moto, for the ground work that went into organising such a successful weekend of riding, drinking and general madness.
Thanks also goes to Moose for the use of his Transporter and Gassit for his piloting of the vehicle while Moose and I indulged in some fizzy drinks on the journey.
